Who says you cannot win without Facilities?

[Jewbull]

Do not tell that to Ken Eriksen.............I am the first person on this board to bash a coach (E.C.) or call for an administrators head (Veit-Sorry Berman I had to put that one in for you).......Eriksen is the man. Taking these girls deep into the NCAA regional was awesome with the team he had this yr. We were in a rebuilding yr and we were 2 wins away from a super regional. We lost to a team who had won something like 28 of their last 30 games. Its amazing how Ken did it despite the Middle school type softball field we play on.   Hey E.C. and Coach Mac, ask Ken for a few pointers next time you want to blame the facilities on why you cannot win.

[Guest S.  Bien]

Do not tell that to Ken Eriksen.............I am the first person on this board to bash a coach (EC) or call for an administrators head (Veit-Sorry Berman I had to put that one in for you).......Eriksen is the man. Taking these girls deep into the NCAA regional was awesome with the team he had this yr. We were in a rebuilding yr and we were 2 wins away from a super regional. We lost to a team who had won something like 28 of their last 30 games. Its amazing how Ken did it despite the Middle school type softball field we play on.   Hey E.C. and Coach Mac, ask Ken for a few pointers next time you want to blame the facilities as to why you cannot win.

two things, Ken whined like hell about facilities last year.  Even took his gripe to the papers and did seem to throw Woolard under the bus a bit before he arrived.  Also, women's softball isn't quite as profound, and the talent is far more relative then baseball.  Softball isn't played by as many schools and often the talent level is very different by certain conferences.

With that being said Ken's done a good job recruiting and winning.  He's also had the benefit of using his position as an Assistant HC for the Olympic Team to his advantage.  That's something Eddie's never had on his resume and given the short supply of good softball programs that's almost a bigger marketing advantage then facilities.

[ucfknights04]

Also,  Florida has talent and athletes in every single sport.  This is obviously the case in softball too - FAU, FIU, FSU, UF all nationally ranked.  USF, UCF and Stetson and even B-CC are right there with them.  FAMU beat B-CC to wint the MEAC as well.  

It's gotta be MUCH easier keep the countries best softball players in state than it is for baseball or basketball when athletes want to go to the programs with the most exposure in hopes of going pro and signing the best contract possible.    Softball has a professional level, but it's obviously not the same situation.

[Bullpride08]

Also,  Florida has talent and athletes in every single sport.  This is obviously the case in softball too - FAU, FIU, FSU, UF all nationally ranked.  USF, UCF and Stetson and even B-CC are right there with them.  FAMU beat B-CC to wint the MEAC as well.  

It's gotta be MUCH easier keep the countries best softball players in state than it is for baseball or basketball when athletes want to go to the programs with the most exposure in hopes of going pro and signing the best contract possible.    Softball has a professional level, but it's obviously not the same situation.

Although I would say we're more than 'right there with' UF and that crew.  We were ranked as high as 8th in the country last year, and we've won the season series three straight years against UF, and FSU just flat out refuses to play us.

[CyberBull]

You can't field a consistent winner without good facilities.

Why is that so hard to understand?

For all the great things softball did this season, they didn't get out of their regional, while a 4th seed found a way.

Think about it for a minute...if we are very competitive without any facilities don't you think giving our coaches resources that allow them to be competitive would get us over the hump by allowing to sign a few better players?

Don't you think opposing coaches use our facilities against USF?

They sure as hell did in football and we weren't able to sign one REAL QB recruit until the new athletic facility started coming out of the ground.

[Brad]

When the facilities are renovated, let's hope the budgets are at the top of the conference (nation) too, oh yeah, and that the weather is good - er, it is good, isn't it?  

I'd hate to hear that despite our wonderful new facilities, we can't compete with other BE schools because their budget is bigger.  Let's just throw in the towel.

No one argues facilities play a role as does a number of things.  But no one should ever excuse losing because of facilities.  Nor should a stalled program(s) or incompetent coaching decisions be able to hide behind "facilities."  

Everything new today is old tomorrow.  You need to have a little more going for you than facilities.

[CyberBull]

You guys just don't get it. Too bad....b/c you'll probably want to fire the next coach who can't field a consistent winner either.

The facilities upgrades in this state started about 5-years ago. There is a direct correlation between our decline from being consistently good to other programs passing us up.

BTW, this has nothing to do with EC, but more about USF fans having unrealistic expecations.

It seems like for some of you this is personal....

[USFFan]

You guys just don't get it. Too bad....b/c you'll probably want to fire the next coach who can't field a consistent winner either.

The facilities upgrades in this state started about 5-years ago. There is a direct correlation between our decline from being consistently good to other programs passing us up.

BTW, this has nothing to do with EC, but more about USF fans having unrealistic expecations.

It seems like for some of you this is personal....

CB, answer me one simple question.  When is the last time USF fired somebody for not winning enough games?

USFFan

[USFMikeB]

We'd still do better in the long run with better facilities...

[CyberBull]

CB, answer me one simple question.  When is the last time USF fired somebody for not winning enough games?

USFFan

I can't think of anyone fired for lack of performance. However, part of that has been that USF has been realistic and sympathetic to the less than ideal conditions it makes most of it's coaches work under.

Is it really fair to hold someone responsible when they are essentially setup to fail?

IMO, as we start pumping more resources into our programs then I think expectations will and should be heightened.

I guess we could start firing coaches for not winning enough but what do you think that a trigger happy administration and lack of committment to win will do to USF's reputation?