fscmoc

Right It's called recruiting.

:)Matte, sorry, you're correct Jeff was a senior and is now in pro ball. Brian will be a senior and will be gone when Woodworth arrives in 2006. Still, the catcher's position has been promised to Pardo, I wonder if Woodworth knows.

Interesting, they have Jeff Baisley-senior catcher-coming back. Supposedly the #1 catcher in the Bay area, Braulio Pardo coming in this year as a freshman and been promised playing time. Karns coming back and LeRoy as well. Hope they get someone to play ss and 2b. Cost at least 10 games this year.

Have heard that Pryor is transferring to Tennessee. Too bad. Davis Bilardello and Ray Garcia also pitched well for the Winter Park team in the Florida Collegiate Summer League.

ESPN and Gary Thorne have lost a lot of respect from viewers as well as coaches because of the Oklahoma incident. Texas had some great pitching and I'm not a Gator fan but they did score more runs per game (2) than Texas allowed the other teams-around 1.5. To say that Florida did not deserve to be there-as some have stated-is ignorance. BTW don't ya think the ASU players could have used a little more eyeblack? Especially the pitchers for the night games-the glare from those lights must have been really bad.

The Orlando Slantinel really tried to pump him up-full page spreads during HS season and making him player of the year.

Sorry, I guess I'm not making my thoughts very clear on this subject. I didn't mean to imply that the quality of teams were the same between D1 and D2. It's obvious that they are not when taking both divisions as a whole. However, the bottom 32 teams that made the baseball regionals for D1 this year would have tough time getting a winning percentage against Florida Southern or UNF. The comparison is made about coaches coming in and recruiting players to facilities that are not even close to a lot of their competition in the same division. It is also a comparison to coaches not getting the best players in HS but being able to see "potential" and developing those players to their fullest so that in 2 years they will become topline players-and continue the pipeline to success year in and year out. Good coaches develop what they have to work with-they don't make excuses-and yes it really does help if you can recruit the best talent available. Contrary to much opinion on this board-This year's baseball team had as much talent as almost every team we played. We were lacking at short and second but our hitting "potential" was second to none. Our pitching "potential"-although young put it to UF in two straight games and was brilliant at times. Consistency was the key and the question needs to be asked, "Why were we able beat Florida twice, take Tulane into extra innings twice(beat them the third game), play well against other CUSA teams and lose to teams like Eastern Michigan and Kent State?" The answer is NOT facilities, folks. We have the talent now. It needs to be coached properly. Woolard is committed to improving all athletic venues so it IS going to happen, but if all it takes is having a nice place to play why do we need coaches? Again, it is not one or the other-it is both together. But until that happens the coaching HAS to make up the difference.

"Anyways, you can't compare a Div. II school's winning to a Div 1 school. Totally different scenario!" ??? Respectfully, I don't see how you CANNOT compare the two. Why does Florida Southern continue year after year to produce top 10 teams-same for UNF,Tampa,Rollins? They don't always get the top players-actually rarely do. They do it with good coaching. D1 schools will not play them. They can't afford a loss to a DII school and believe it-it has happened.

Using facilities as an excuse is really getting very old. Florida Southern College in Lakeland has NEVER had their own baseball facility. The locker room is THE SAME as it was in 1966-no improvements. The players have to take a bus to every game at Henley Field approximately 5-6 miles each way. They practice on an open field that the school plays intramurals on. Yes Henley's playing surface is nice-so is USF"S. The stadium is the same one that Babe Ruth, Al Kaline, Mickey Mantle played in years ago. The only improvement is they brought in some seats that SEA WORLD got rid of a few years ago. They now have 9 National Championships in Division II!!! Just beat UNF this month(BTW has a great facility) They won their first World Series in 1971 and had to get donations from local business for expenses to Springfield, Mo. Hal Smeltzley, Joe Arnold, Chuck Anderson, Pete Myers never used facilities as an excuse and all have World Series rings. Enough already!

USFBull83-I guess you missed my point. I don't believe I stated that Anderson was equal in talent to Upton. I compared the running speed, of which, Anderson has has been clocked faster. I made the point that there must have been other skills that were "lacking" that allowed him to drop as low as he did in the draft. BTW I can compare apples to oranges if I want to as long as I show the differences . Not having seen Anderson play(I have seen Upton in person) I was posing a question as to where the differences might be.

What kind of student is he? How academically motivated? 9th round money is under $100,000 normally. Obviously speed wasn't as important to the scouts as the other baseball skills must have been. He is faster than the No 1 pick, Juston Upton so there must be something else they considered. If he is any kind of student he should choose college at this point because once he signs he'll just be another number with all the rest. At USF he'll be BMOC for at least 3 years, get to mature a little and put on some muscle and be drafted again. For $500,000 or more it would be hard for a kid to pass up but not for the numbers he's going to be offered.

If facilities and recruiting are the most important factors in producing a top 25 baseball program then I suppose we could get anyone to put a lineup together and meet at home plate before each game. They both go hand-in-hand with the MOST emphasis being placed on coaching. If by some chance Jim Morris-UM, or Mike Martin-FSU, or Augie Garrido-UT, decided they wanted to move to the Bay area and would love to take over the baseball job at USF, how many of you would say "No way!". If they would come under the same circumstances that already exist would you turn them away? Please don't come back and say they would never come under these conditions-it's all hypothetical but maybe it helps to understand that coaching is first and foremost in any program's desire to be at the top. I've stated this before and had no response but again, how is Duke so successful in basketball with an awful facility.? Also, I seem to remember a young football coach a number of years ago go to Duke and turn the program around and after he left it went back to the cellar. You're all fooling yourself if you don't think coaching is the #1(by far) reason for a team's success.

The contract of University of Florida softball coach Karen Johns will not be renewed, Athletics Director Jeremy Foley announced Friday. The search for a replacement will begin immediately. "We would like to thank Karen for all she has done on behalf of the Florida softball program - she is a wonderful person that truly cared about the Gators. We wish her the best in her future endeavors," said Foley. "But after an honest and open evaluation of the program, it became evident that this program was not achieving the success that we envisioned. I feel a change in leadership is necessary to have the Gator softball program be in a position to consistently rank among the nation's best." Johns took over the Gator softball program for the 2001 season. Florida registered 41 wins in each of the last three seasons, with the team achieving its best winning percentage under Johns of .672 (41-20) in 2004. Eight Gators have picked up a total of 12 All-SEC honors and five were named to National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-Southeast Region teams since 2001. There were allegations about sexual discrimination that may have played a part in the dismissal as well, but 41 wins three years in a row is not good enough in Gatorland.

Heard from a couple of "knowledgeable" sources that USF doesn't even own the SunDome and actually rents it for athletic use. Anyone know for sure?

As far as recruiting goes-the Bulls have a number of players that were recruited heavily by Miami, Florida, FSU,UCF,Stetson, South Carolina, Clemson, and Tulane to name a few. One freshman even committed to U of M and came to USF for a lesser scholarship. Another freshman had a full(including academics) scholarship to Tulane and turned it down to attend USF. Recruiters have done a good job-very few HS players get to college and succeed without improving from the HS level. That's what coaches are for. Facilities have very little to do with improving players' skills. Good coaching will produce a winner if he only has a cow pasture to practice in. Again, How does Duke recruit and win with an awful facility?