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2018 Softball

Does anyone know where the 2019 big ten softball tournament is? Are future locations listed anywhere?
 
Has anyone heard about other assistant coaches under consideration? It would have been great to explore the Kirkwood coach if he was making a leap but he's headed to DePaul. I would love to get someone with Iowa ties to come back like Megan Blank. I had a wild wish that maybe Gayle would come back for a year or two. Thoughts?
 
Has anyone heard about other assistant coaches under consideration? It would have been great to explore the Kirkwood coach if he was making a leap but he's headed to DePaul. I would love to get someone with Iowa ties to come back like Megan Blank. I had a wild wish that maybe Gayle would come back for a year or two. Thoughts?

Gayle is winding down her lessons over the next year or two to officially retire. The odds of her coming back are near zero.
 
Does anyone know where the 2019 big ten softball tournament is? Are future locations listed anywhere?
It's at Indiana in 2019. They go alphabetically suggesting it will be at Iowa in 2020. However, Illinois was skipped this year (facility issues I understand). I don't know if that means they'll go back and let Illinois host in 2020.
 
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Rick Definitely knows Iowa softball and was probley hired just for that. He has good ties around the state and knows alot of coaches. This was a hire just for the state I think. I am going to wait and see how Coach G does before judging her hires and choices. I feel she will be great here but who knows. Yes Gayle is getting to the end of her teaching time, she spends alot of time traveling to softball events and Coaches events. I think she enjoys coaching and teaching so much it will be hard for her to totally let it go but I am very sure she will not be on the staff at Iowa. She may consult with them now and again but not a staff member.
 
Know what also would have built inroads into the state of Iowa? A high-quality assistant coach with tons of experience in the COLLEGE game. Is an Iowa high school / club coach more likely to recommend their athletes sign with a friend of theirs, or one where the kid can grow as a player in the college game and play for championships? I'd like an assistant coach that can recruit California as well as Iowa. Maybe it'll work out, but I'm very skeptical.
 
The new Iowa coaches have strong relationships with JUCO coaches . They are in on several JUCO players that already have commitable Power 5 offers.
 
Know what also would have built inroads into the state of Iowa? A high-quality assistant coach with tons of experience in the COLLEGE game. Is an Iowa high school / club coach more likely to recommend their athletes sign with a friend of theirs, or one where the kid can grow as a player in the college game and play for championships? I'd like an assistant coach that can recruit California as well as Iowa. Maybe it'll work out, but I'm very skeptical.

What if the coach can recruit and develop? After the disaster of Looper and her inability to attract Iowa talent I am optimistic
 
Know what also would have built inroads into the state of Iowa? A high-quality assistant coach with tons of experience in the COLLEGE game. Is an Iowa high school / club coach more likely to recommend their athletes sign with a friend of theirs, or one where the kid can grow as a player in the college game and play for championships? I'd like an assistant coach that can recruit California as well as Iowa. Maybe it'll work out, but I'm very skeptical.

If we had kept most of the top players in the state (now playing for Minn. and Wisconsin), we would have been a much better team. Football has recruiters by area, so why not softball? He can help lock down the state and others can recruit out of state.
 
https://hawkeyesports.com/news/2018/8/8/softball-duncan-tabbed-as-volunteer-assistant.aspx

Duncan, a Long Grove, Iowa, native, joins the Hawkeye staff after 10 years at Pleasant Valley High School, where she won numerous Coach of the Year awards and made the state tournament three times (2011, 2012, 2014), including two runner-up finishes (2007, 2016). As a high school coach, Duncan has a proven track record of sending players to the next level with seven of her players going on to play Division I softball.

Prior to Pleasant Valley, Duncan spent four years as an assistant coach at Louisiana State University under NFCA Hall of Famer Yvette Girouard, where she won three SEC conference titles, one NCAA regional championship, and made two NCAA Women's College World Series appearances.

In her first stint as an Iowa high school coach, Duncan captured a first state championship in 2002 at North Scott, while finishing second in the state in 2003.

Duncan played softball collegiately at University of Southwestern Louisiana. She was a two-time team captain and first team All-Region shortstop in 1997 and 1998.
 
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Looks like we've got more depth at catcher coming this falll.
Kate Claypool
She hit .540 last year against CIML pitching.

Not sure why only only she is the only Freshman listed...
 
Although Emory is a big-buck elite D-III, in a conference with Wash U-St. Louis, U of Chicago, New York U, Brandeis & others. (Wash U.'s WBB coach is Iowa alum Randi Peterson Henderson.)

On the whole, a nice rebound for her IMHO, given how bad we'd been during her time at Iowa. Perhaps she'll hire Looper as pitching coach.
 
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Agree. D 1 to D3 may be step down. Assistant to head coach could be considered a step up
 
Most cases a D3 head coach goes to be an assistant coach for a D1 program. I am sure its a stepping stone position.
 
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