iowa softball.
- Thread starter BRANDONJ8
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Stacy May Johnson is no longer listed as an assistant coach. As is commonly seen in other sports, great players do not automatically make great coaches.
Adrianna Bagetta is still there; OTOH all the graduated seniors are still showing on the roster. Hard to imagine the end-of-season meeting with Barta went well.
Adrianna Bagetta is still there; OTOH all the graduated seniors are still showing on the roster. Hard to imagine the end-of-season meeting with Barta went well.
Stacy-may might not be the best coach on the team but she is definitely a Coach young recruited players can and do look upto. As I said on the other forum, she is more the face of Iowa softball then Looper. This is a downward spiral for a program that was not that long ago a pretty good team. Looper is the problem here and it will only continue to get worse now that they let good young likeable coaches leave.
I certainly thought it was a plus to have her on the staff, but with the exception of Blank, Zoeller (and Luna who had a nice senior year) we've put a collection of mostly .200 hitters in the lineup. And with Massey graduating our only returning pitcher has an ERA in the 5's. So I have no doubt she's someone to look up to, but the recruiting impact hasn't been there.
It appears two players have left the program as well. Micaela Whitney (p) and Michaela Johnson (c/PH) are no longer on the roster. That leaves the pitching staff with Starkenburg and true freshman Koral Smith.
I think May-Johnson did some nice things at Iowa. Blank was originally a slapper and she converted her to a power hitter. That has worked out well. Dowling was a power hitter and covnerted to a slapper a couple year back. Her numbers increased dramatically. Steph Ochoa and Katie Keim both saw great increases in their batting averages under May-Johnson. The question is how much hitting talent was their for her to work with?
Someone above said they think Looper is the issue. I agree. She was hired in August and missed out on a recruiting class (would be seniors - Blank is a Blevins recruit). Rumor has it she did not pursue players Blevins recruited. In softball the top players verbal as sophmores (sometimes even freshman) which meant the class of to be juniors and sophomores were "diamonds in the rough" and we're paying the price now. Next year's class looks to be the best - the pitcher from Texas is supposed to be the real deal and the two girls from KC look really good.
Hopefully this year will surprise, but we'll need the freshman (esp the pitcher) to be impact players.
I think May-Johnson did some nice things at Iowa. Blank was originally a slapper and she converted her to a power hitter. That has worked out well. Dowling was a power hitter and covnerted to a slapper a couple year back. Her numbers increased dramatically. Steph Ochoa and Katie Keim both saw great increases in their batting averages under May-Johnson. The question is how much hitting talent was their for her to work with?
Someone above said they think Looper is the issue. I agree. She was hired in August and missed out on a recruiting class (would be seniors - Blank is a Blevins recruit). Rumor has it she did not pursue players Blevins recruited. In softball the top players verbal as sophmores (sometimes even freshman) which meant the class of to be juniors and sophomores were "diamonds in the rough" and we're paying the price now. Next year's class looks to be the best - the pitcher from Texas is supposed to be the real deal and the two girls from KC look really good.
Hopefully this year will surprise, but we'll need the freshman (esp the pitcher) to be impact players.
Incoming Freshman pitcher Koral Smith is not on the roster. As of right now we have 1 pitcher for next year.
That's a recent development, she was there the other day. Although if the talking heads at Ultimate College Softball can be believed, there are lots of transferring players looking for new homes. Missouri lost 4 a few weeks ago.
Unless Smith was a real super stud, we were probably looking at a tough season anyway.
Unless Smith was a real super stud, we were probably looking at a tough season anyway.
Coach Johnson was not fired. She wanted some more coaching experience before she goes for a a head coaching job. According to Coah Looper We should hear something soon about the hitting coach position. She's conducting her final round of interviews this coming week. Losing Stacy sucks bigtime but I'm excited about some of the candidates being considered.
Heard that Looper was trying to get the Dowling pitcher to switch from Grandview (NAIA) to Iowa and got turned down. Confirmed that Iowa only has one pitcher now. What ever administrator is in charge of Iowa softball should be fired for giving Looper an extension. Who knows what happened with the Smith recruit from Florida?
It doesn't look like the Florida girl pitched her senior year in HS, or is pitching for a club this summer. I'm guessing injury. From the info I could find on her, she doesn't look like a B1G-level pitcher anyway, so it may not be bad long-term that she's not coming.
I'm sure it'll get figured out. Kids transfer all over the place any more. We could bring in a transfer or two as late as Spring semester.
I'm sure it'll get figured out. Kids transfer all over the place any more. We could bring in a transfer or two as late as Spring semester.
It sure will be bad short term. Looper has had 3+ years to recruit a D1 caliber pitcher and had been shut out.
I spoke to 4 parents from last year's squad and could not believe the negativity in the program.
It's obvious to anyone with any BB/softball knowledge that Looper is not a competent base/game coach. I always gave her the benefit of the doubt that she was a good practice coach. I think differently now. No improvement from the majority of her players. Numerous games lost by poor coaching decisions.
Incredibly poor decisions that were repeated over and over. Bunting with 2 outs? Not for a hit, it was obvious they were attempting to sacrifice. Squeezing with no outs with one of the best hitters at bat? Taking the bat out of Meagan Blank's hands by bunting is a poor decision in any situation. She did it at least 2x's..
I was surprised that Looper was given an extension. I bet she was, too.
It's obvious to anyone with any BB/softball knowledge that Looper is not a competent base/game coach. I always gave her the benefit of the doubt that she was a good practice coach. I think differently now. No improvement from the majority of her players. Numerous games lost by poor coaching decisions.
Incredibly poor decisions that were repeated over and over. Bunting with 2 outs? Not for a hit, it was obvious they were attempting to sacrifice. Squeezing with no outs with one of the best hitters at bat? Taking the bat out of Meagan Blank's hands by bunting is a poor decision in any situation. She did it at least 2x's..
I was surprised that Looper was given an extension. I bet she was, too.
I remember after one game where we had the tying run on second in the bottom of the 7th with one out we bunted. After the game she said there are so many ways to score from third we had to move the runner. With two outs you still need a base hit or some error on the opposing team (error, passed ball, illegal pitch, etc.) This was after NOT sacrificing with no one out.
Looper's base coaching is awful. I cannot begin to count the number of times we ran oursleves out of an inning due to base caoching blunders.
Looper's base coaching is awful. I cannot begin to count the number of times we ran oursleves out of an inning due to base caoching blunders.
