HEAD COACH KEN ERIKSEN WILL LEAD USA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROSTER

[BrassBulls12]

OKLAHOMA CITY (April 9, 2018) – USF head coach Ken Eriksen will lead the WBSC World Championship roster in 2018, USA Softball, the National Governing Body of Softball in the United States, announced.
 
Eriksen will lead his team as it competes in tour stops and international competitions. He will be joined by Howard Dobson (Baton Rouge, La./assistant coach at LSU) and Heather Tarr (Redmond, Wash./head coach at Washington). All three return to the WNT program after guiding the U.S. to the Gold at last year's Pan American Championship in the Dominican Republic. 
 
A highlight of his Team USA coaching resume includes being an assistant coach in the 2003 Pan Am Games which won Gold and going on to coach at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens where the U.S. Olympic Softball Team would put on one of the most dominant performances in Olympic history. Eriksen tacked on another Gold Medal as an assistant coach at the WBSC Championship in Caracas, Venezuela. In 2011, Eriksen took over the Women's National Team Program and ushered in a new era of USA Softball with a roster comprised of international rookies.  Eriksen continued the legacy established before him, leading a strong U.S. roster which produced a Gold Medal at the 2011 Pan Am Games in Guadalajara, Mexico.
 
In his tenure with the Women's National Team Program, Eriksen has amassed two WBSC World Championships Silver Medals before reclaiming the Gold at the 2016 WBSC World Championship in Surrey, B.C., Canada.  He also boasts four World Cup of Softball titles and a Silver Medal from the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

 

Full Article:

[BrassBulls12]

Where does Eriksen land on your list on all-time coaches at USF.  Has anyone done more in their given sport? 

[CousinRicky]

4 hours ago, BrassBulls12 said:

Where does Eriksen land on your list on all-time coaches at USF.  Has anyone done more in their given sport? 

Probably not.  Jose is moving up the list though.

[NewEnglandBull]

Wonder if he will

be the Olympic coach? 

Edited April 12, 2018 by NewEnglandBull

[BrassBulls12]

9 hours ago, NewEnglandBull said:

Wonder if he will

be the Olympic coach? 

I would say yes, especially if this goes well. 

[Rex Havoc]

With our coach being part of Team USA, why isn't our team better than it is? Seems like we'd be ranked more often? I'm guessing our conference plays a big factor in this. I know very little about women's softball. Not trying to be negative...just curious.

[Apis Bull]

7 hours ago, Rex Havoc said:

With our coach being part of Team USA, why isn't our team better than it is? Seems like we'd be ranked more often? I'm guessing our conference plays a big factor in this. I know very little about women's softball. Not trying to be negative...just curious.

I have the same questions.  You would think that the chance to play for the coach of team USA would entice the top players to come here.

[BrassBulls12]

18 hours ago, Rex Havoc said:

With our coach being part of Team USA, why isn't our team better than it is? Seems like we'd be ranked more often? I'm guessing our conference plays a big factor in this. I know very little about women's softball. Not trying to be negative...just curious.

 

10 hours ago, Apis Bull said:

I have the same questions.  You would think that the chance to play for the coach of team USA would entice the top players to come here.

He has been pretty good. 20 plus years, 12, 40 or more win teams, 12 NCAA appearances, and 8 teams ending ranked in the top 25. Not bad for coaching here.

from a top talent prospect perspective, you can play for coach Eriksen and Team USA, and still play for UF or any of those big Pac12 schools. Even team USA fights P5 bias.  However, the one time he did get a local star to stay, they went to OKC.  UF and FSU and hard to compete with recruiting wise. 

  

[Orlando Bull]

I'll offer a couple of reasons...

1. Prestige - softball has become a rich/entitled kids sport. USF isn't exciting to the brand of kid playing these days compared to an SEC school with $$$ to burn. Let's just say that kids start at 10, playing year-round until they are 18... probably 15 tournaments/year. Average family probably spends $500/tourney for travel, food, etc. People have $60k in their kid's softball career by the time they are off to college. I 100% bet that's a LOW estimate. When parents put that kind of money into something, they treat their kids like royalty and only the best for their little princess when it comes to picking a college.

2. Facilities - not necessarily now, but, USF failed Ken by putting his team on a rec field for all those years. He was winning 50+ games per year while half of the SEC and ACC were thinking about starting their programs. They quickly left USF in the dust on the recruiting trail.

These are my opinions, could be totally off base. My sister played for Ken from 98-01. I worked with the team and directly with Ken for 3 years as well (01-03). He's the best I saw back then. Smart man, very cerebral. Treats players differently based on their motivational needs (which can cause issues, but, generally gets the best out of everyone), plays mind games with opposing players and coaches, looks for any edge to help his players succeed. I don't think there are many coaches better, I just think that for some reason, he can't get the players to compete at the highest level.

I'm not sure if he's still running any trick plays, but, I have seen a trick play of his not actually work one time because the player didn't fall for it, only to see her coach SCREAMING at her for not "falling for it"... this was a legendary coach too. It totally flew over her head that if the kid did what she was screaming at her to do, the trick play works. One of my best memories of seeing him just completely out smart the coach on the other side of the field.

[BrassBulls12]

7 minutes ago, Orlando Bull said:

I'll offer a couple of reasons...

1. Prestige - softball has become a rich/entitled kids sport. USF isn't exciting to the brand of kid playing these days compared to an SEC school with $$$ to burn. Let's just say that kids start at 10, playing year-round until they are 18... probably 15 tournaments/year. Average family probably spends $500/tourney for travel, food, etc. People have $60k in their kid's softball career by the time they are off to college. I 100% bet that's a LOW estimate. When parents put that kind of money into something, they treat their kids like royalty and only the best for their little princess when it comes to picking a college.

2. Facilities - not necessarily now, but, USF failed Ken by putting his team on a rec field for all those years. He was winning 50+ games per year while half of the SEC and ACC were thinking about starting their programs. They quickly left USF in the dust on the recruiting trail.

These are my opinions, could be totally off base. My sister played for Ken from 98-01. I worked with the team and directly with Ken for 3 years as well (01-03). He's the best I saw back then. Smart man, very cerebral. Treats players differently based on their motivational needs (which can cause issues, but, generally gets the best out of everyone), plays mind games with opposing players and coaches, looks for any edge to help his players succeed. I don't think there are many coaches better, I just think that for some reason, he can't get the players to compete at the highest level.

I'm not sure if he's still running any trick plays, but, I have seen a trick play of his not actually work one time because the player didn't fall for it, only to see her coach SCREAMING at her for not "falling for it"... this was a legendary coach too. It totally flew over her head that if the kid did what she was screaming at her to do, the trick play works. One of my best memories of seeing him just completely out smart the coach on the other side of the field.

Completely agree, Cool story too.