Gopher Softball 2018

I saw Allister watching 16U a few years ago. She was at a local ASA qualifier and we saw her again at ASA nationals in Chattanooga. I think Kemmetmueller was playing in both those tourneys so that may be why she was there. Merchant came out to watch some 18U games a few times last year. Far fewer coaches watching 18U.

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Merchant and Ritter are the recruiting "spotters". Allister is the "closer". Like most schools you will see the assistant coaches at various tournaments and around multiple fields looking for new prospects. Once a kid has been offered or they are considering an offer the head coach will continue to watch them in order to close the deal. Head coaches do some new recruiting but their main focus is to sign the kids they have already been recruiting.
 

It will be interesting to see how the recruiting philosophy might change with a new HC. I talked to Allister about recruiting at a clinic shortly after she got here and she told me she was going to focus on midwest players. She said she would obviously take good players from anywhere but she thought the players from our region were athletically just as good as any from the west coast or the south she just thought they were a little more raw sometimes. She also mentioned she likes athletes. Anyone who has ever seen her watch a youth tournament has seen her with her stopwatch out. One look at last year's roster and the incoming recruiting class shows that she did bring in a lot of players from Minnesota and nearby states.



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If Merchant gets the job, I see Taylor LeMay staying on in some capacity. Even though Lindaman was not the greatest defensive catcher in the world, the improvement from fall was easy to see. That's LeMay's work.


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Probably a dumb question, but does anyone know if Allister is interested in taking either Merchant or Ritter with her?
 


Lindaman was not the greatest defensive catcher? That is an interesting comment considering she was named All Big Ten Defensive team and NFCA national catcher of the year which is a defensive award. She committed 5 errors all season with a .989 fielding percentage. In comparison LeMay had 6 errors and a .987 fielding percentage as a senior.
 


Merchant has been asked to go with her as her top assistant.
That makes sense. There is rumor that Merchant has also been offered the HC job here.

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Merchant has been asked to go with her as her top assistant.

The cost of living is so high in the Palo Alto area she would probably need to triple her salary for an equivalent standard of living. I was at Stanford a month ago and folks had been living in old RV's parked on El Camino Real, the street that runs outside the campus.
 



Some other potential coaching candidates:
Tammy Lohmann - Associate head coach at Cal. Maturi asked her but she was one of 4 to decline
Jenny Condon - Head coach at Cal Poly SLO. Edina native, played at Iowa State. Another asked by Maturi, but declined the offer.
Mickey Dean - Head coach at James Madison. Great track record, but a native of the JMU area - may not want to move.
Shawn Rychcik - Head coach at North Carolina State. Has had great success in the ACC. Might be interested in moving from the ACC to the Big 10.

I still would like Merchant to be given the job.
 



Reliable sources say she has already turned it down. I am sure they can better the offer but it will be hard to change her mind if she is set on leaving. I hope she has a change of heart though. Best option in my opinion.
 



Reliable sources say she has already turned it down. I am sure they can better the offer but it will be hard to change her mind if she is set on leaving. I hope she has a change of heart though. Best option in my opinion.
Thanks for the update. I think it was Thursday that I heard she was offered the job. Too bad if she turned it down.

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Maybe the length of the contract was too short. If Coyle is interested in attracting a high quality coach, he is going to need to offer incentives. That means salary, number of years, benefits, etc. He's going to have to pony up anyway so why not give Merchant a good offer.
 

One benefit to hiring external instead of promoting Merchant- chance at fresh start for marketing combined with Win Anyway or other taglines from tournament means a pretty good chance at expanded seating in the stadium. Once the training facility construction is done there's room for bleachers in outfield
 

Well, if Merchant has turned it down, I guess we're looking at a whole new staff with the possible exception of Ritter, who I REALLY hope is retained.

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Ritter wants to stay - but if there is a new staff that is probably not her choice. But I have been around this game long enough to know she is a top 3 pitching coach in the country and knows how to develop young arms into All Americans. We need her and hopefully the administration directs whoever is hired to retain Piper.
 

Ritter wants to stay - but if there is a new staff that is probably not her choice. But I have been around this game long enough to know she is a top 3 pitching coach in the country and knows how to develop young arms into All Americans. We need her and hopefully the administration directs whoever is hired to retain Piper.
I would be completely on board with that. With that said, most coaches like to hire their own staff, so we'll have to see how it works out. Still, I'm hoping whoever ends up taking the job tries to keep Piper as pitching coach.

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Allister was definitely smart enough to keep her. The next coach should do the same.
 

I guess that is why she is coming back home. She was also smart enough to con a bunch of young ladies to minn knowing she was going to leave. In the end she is not a good person, someone that basically screwed over a good program and dedicated players in a selfishly manner.

Funny how college coaches talk about players need not be selfish but those rule do not pertain to the coaches. Kind of like a classic undercover boss episode. What is good for you does not apply to me. When will ADs hold coaches to their commitment as they make players sign these contracts.
 

I guess that is why she is coming back home. She was also smart enough to con a bunch of young ladies to minn knowing she was going to leave. In the end she is not a good person, someone that basically screwed over a good program and dedicated players in a selfishly manner.

Funny how college coaches talk about players need not be selfish but those rule do not pertain to the coaches. Kind of like a classic undercover boss episode. What is good for you does not apply to me. When will ADs hold coaches to their commitment as they make players sign these contracts.
How did she con anyone? Are you talking all the players on the team? Syd Smith specifically? The incoming freshmen who committed to her and signed but will never play for her? The verbal commits who may or may not have their commits honored by the new staff?

I am pretty sure she didn't know she was leaving until recently. This is big-time athletics and big kid rules. Coaches leave all the time. If a player feels "conned" I guess that is their right, but you should definitely commit to the school and not the coach.

I am certain that the new coach will be a good coach and most of the players will be happy to be Golden Gophers.

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You obviously have never met and do not know Coach Allister. If you did you would understand how foolish and uninformed you sound right now. And I guess in your career if you were offered a chance at your dream job you would turn it down because you don't want to "con" anyone you have worked with/for over the last few years. This decision was not easy for her and it is not easy for the fans and especially not easy for the players. But attacking Coach Allister's character over this decision after all she has done for this program and these kids is out of line.
 

You obviously have never met and do not know Coach Allister. If you did you would understand how foolish and uninformed you sound right now. And I guess in your career if you were offered a chance at your dream job you would turn it down because you don't want to "con" anyone you have worked with/for over the last few years. This decision was not easy for her and it is not easy for the fans and especially not easy for the players. But attacking Coach Allister's character over this decision after all she has done for this program and these kids is out of line.
Thanks grudgeguy. You said that very well. Coach Allister is a very classy person and I am sure it was a very difficult decision for her.

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Jaime Traschel just announced on Facebook as new hc
 




Some quotes from Jamie in a January interview. I like that her values are very similar to those that coach Allister has. I don't know if she will bring her assistants with her.

Despite having served with “head coach” in her title for more than half of a decade, Trachsel’s first few months as a solo leader have been full of many new things, many changes – and far less sleep: “There are a lot less full nights of sleep; you think more when it’s all on you,” she says. “Lots of things to delegate and balance that out. I work harder, I work longer. But our goal is to get better, teach kids, and bring about harder workers.”

One of Trachsel’s biggest successes already has been acquiring two veteran coaches to fill out her staff – she hired Randy Schneider away from Wisconsin and brought pitching coach Brynne Dordel with her from North Dakota State. “It’s a great staff that is like-minded and capable of building a top-20 program,” Trachsel said. “We are a teaching staff who believes in doing things the right way. Between every member of our staff, I believe we have a strength in every area of our program needed to be successful.”

“Greatness is unwavering,” Trachsel said. “You can’t cheat the work… if you want to be a champion, you have to be willing to pay the price.”
 




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