2019 Recruiting - Softball

[zztx1]

A couple of comments on this thread.

First, top academic schools like Stanford rarely provide full rides to athletes. Maybe a pitcher, but they do not hand out those scholarships so freely. Texas has an advantage because the tuition is $10K so there is less money to make up when you grant a scholarship.

Second, Connie would tell players that she was taking their scholarship away because of performance. Hence, the player dropping off the roster and becoming a ghosted player. Many of them finish with a Texas degree, but there is no incentive to stay on the team and ride the bench.

Third, no surprise some players did not make the Mike White cut. About 20% of Connie's recruits were extremely one dimensional. Could hit but not play defense, etc. Select coaches were surprised when these recruits were signed to Texas but since it gives them a boost in their program, they were not honest with Connie. I assume White asked the coaches and he got the answer, so that has resulted in the attrition. It does not take much to assess a player's ability to transition to college if they are weak in select and high school play. Top select teams face the same pitching that ends up going to OU and UCLA.

 

[racerx5908]

A couple of comments on this thread.

First, top academic schools like Stanford rarely provide full rides to athletes. Maybe a pitcher, but they do not hand out those scholarships so freely. Texas has an advantage because the tuition is $10K so there is less money to make up when you grant a scholarship.

Second, Connie would tell players that she was taking their scholarship away because of performance. Hence, the player dropping off the roster and becoming a ghosted player. Many of them finish with a Texas degree, but there is no incentive to stay on the team and ride the bench.

Third, no surprise some players did not make the Mike White cut. About 20% of Connie's recruits were extremely one dimensional. Could hit but not play defense, etc. Select coaches were surprised when these recruits were signed to Texas but since it gives them a boost in their program, they were not honest with Connie. I assume White asked the coaches and he got the answer, so that has resulted in the attrition. It does not take much to assess a player's ability to transition to college if they are weak in select and high school play. Top select teams face the same pitching that ends up going to OU and UCLA.

Agree 100% on your points. My wonder is:
1) for the ghosted players who were "cut", then Connie why'd you sign them in the first place. If they didn't work out their very first year, what did you see (or not see) of them when they were in high school? [rhetorical question]
2) Someone else on the thread that Connie was scarce at various tournaments - maybe that's the answer there
3) For the player's Mike White "flipped", in such a short time what made him see something worth going after these players? Something that Connie didn't see? Or she never saw?
4) The one thing that puzzles me is that in multiple interviews with players who transferred from Oregon and Mike White himself, he mentioned that he had "money for players" i.e. scholarships. If so, then who got dropped? Or was there just some dusty, unused scholarships laying around? Or was someone's scholarship "halved"?

 

[zztx1]

Connie was great for the program initially, but later in her career, she became more corporate just like Mack Brown. Not going to many tourneys, not making offers until the best players were committed to A&M or Baylor or even Texas State or Houston. College softball recruiting happens in the soph year and you cannot wait until a player is on the gold team because by that time they are recruited and committed. You have to recruit from the 16U teams. In her later years, Connie expected players to wait for her and many of the top stars on the teams in Texas would have come to UT if Connie had offered. These players took their teams to great wins and would have easily made Texas a CWS contender.

I know some of the ghosted players so I am not making any specific comments. Select coaches could not believe some of their players signed to Texas. They often had one great aspect to their game but not the complete package. Connie did better with some of the pitchers and out of state players. And worse in state.

Commitments are not binding so a player can always withdraw and then begin recruiting. Most coaches will not talk to a committed player but once they have told their team, they are still recruiting, it opens the door. Where does MW find the $. Players who leave early or sometimes the university can find needs based money for the existing player and then they can release the scholarship funds to a new player. Blair Luna was first signed to a books scholarship and quickly converted to a much better deal. I know a players whose family had money and the Texas Tomorrow Fund and so they did not take the athletic money. It is not that hard to find 10K at Texas. It is much harder to find 50K at a private school.

 

[Vol Horn 4 Life]

2) Someone else on the thread that Connie was scarce at various tournaments - maybe that's the answer there
3) For the player's Mike White "flipped", in such a short time what made him see something worth going after these players? Something that Connie didn't see? Or she never saw?

I'll help here since my daughter plays elite level softball.

2) My daughter is 17 and I never saw Connie at any tournament ever.
3) At the first fall tournament last year I saw Mike White all three days and at two of my daughters games recruiting our top pitcher.....most of the fall got rained out after that.

Connie seems to have recruited based on reputation while White is out doing the grunt work.

Example: My neighbor (we buy our hay from them) is Chelsea Seggern the three year starting 3rd baseman at Tennessee. ESPN just said during the post season she is the best 3rd base in the history of Tennessee softball. She begged to go to Texas but Connie wouldn't give her the time of day because she went to a small school. She ended up picking Tennessee and then comes ole Connie on the trail. By that time she was pissed at Texas and we had no chance.

Now that I think about it this is the exact reason our pitcher is going to Colorado State. She wanted to go to Texas but by the time White called she was already committed and didn't want to back out. Connie wanted nothing to do with her.

Connie had no clue or was just plain lazy and this is another reason I sent my letter to Del Conte at the end of last year's season.

 

[Vol Horn 4 Life]

Connie was great for the program initially, but later in her career, she became more corporate just like Mack Brown. Not going to many tourneys, not making offers until the best players were committed to A&M or Baylor or even Texas State or Houston. College softball recruiting happens in the soph year and you cannot wait until a player is on the gold team because by that time they are recruited and committed. You have to recruit from the 16U teams. In her later years, Connie expected players to wait for her and many of the top stars on the teams in Texas would have come to UT if Connie had offered. These players took their teams to great wins and would have easily made Texas a CWS contender.

I know some of the ghosted players so I am not making any specific comments. Select coaches could not believe some of their players signed to Texas. They often had one great aspect to their game but not the complete package. Connie did better with some of the pitchers and out of state players. And worse in state.

Commitments are not binding so a player can always withdraw and then begin recruiting. Most coaches will not talk to a committed player but once they have told their team, they are still recruiting, it opens the door. Where does MW find the $. Players who leave early or sometimes the university can find needs based money for the existing player and then they can release the scholarship funds to a new player. Blair Luna was first signed to a books scholarship and quickly converted to a much better deal. I know a players whose family had money and the Texas Tomorrow Fund and so they did not take the athletic money. It is not that hard to find 10K at Texas. It is much harder to find 50K at a private school.

Spot on! I posted before I even read your post and we said pretty much the same thing.

 

[Ellis21d]

Gosh we get some great comments on this string! Sure wish the string for women’s basketball had people with such informative and sensible comments. It has gotten downright stupid.

 

[racerx5908]

I'll help here since my daughter plays elite level softball.

2) My daughter is 17 and I never saw Connie at any tournament ever.
3) At the first fall tournament last year I saw Mike White all three days and at two of my daughters games recruiting our top pitcher.....most of the fall got rained out after that.

Connie seems to have recruited based on reputation while White is out doing the grunt work.

Example: My neighbor (we buy our hay from them) is Chelsea Seggern the three year starting 3rd baseman at Tennessee. ESPN just said during the post season she is the best 3rd base in the history of Tennessee softball. She begged to go to Texas but Connie wouldn't give her the time of day because she went to a small school. She ended up picking Tennessee and then comes ole Connie on the trail. By that time she was pissed at Texas and we had no chance.

Now that I think about it this is the exact reason our pitcher is going to Colorado State. She wanted to go to Texas but by the time White called she was already committed and didn't want to back out. Connie wanted nothing to do with her.

Connie had no clue or was just plain lazy and this is another reason I sent my letter to Del Conte at the end of last year's season.

Thanks for your anecdotes. I remember watching Samantha Show beat us the first time as an Aggie in the Regionals thinking yet another Texas-bred player that Connie missed out on. And then the fact that OU keeps sucking up the great players from Texas as shown in the recent WCWS.

I know there's going to be a 2-3 year transition phase as the "Mike White" players trickle into the lineup, since he's got to start recruiting at the freshman, sophmore levels.

 

[racerx5908]

Gosh we get some great comments on this string! Sure wish the string for women’s basketball had people with such informative and sensible comments. It has gotten downright stupid.

Because there's only 4-5 of us that care about softball!

 

[racerx5908]

Did a little googling and stumbled across this article about Grace Green.

Extra Elite 100 Pitcher Grace Green Overcomes Painful Knee Injury to Commit to Mike White at Texas - Extra Inning Softball

One of the confusing things will be that we have a "Grace Green" to be (pitcher) and OU already has a "Grace Green" (2B) was was Big 12 Freshman of the Year.

 

[racerx5908]

A high school (senior) all star game roster:
https://www.flosoftball.com/articles/6519366-pgf-2019-high-school-all-american-teams-announced
OU has 4 players on there
Tech as 1
And we have...zero.
Will take some time to claw back to relevance, with recruits

 

[Ellis21d]

A high school (senior) all star game roster:
https://www.flosoftball.com/articles/6519366-pgf-2019-high-school-all-american-teams-announced
OU has 4 players on there
Tech as 1
And we have...zero.
Will take some time to claw back to relevance, with recruits

It will be at least the 2021 recruiting class before Coach White gets Texas any elite commitments. Softball players commit as Freshmen and Sophomores in HS. A totally different scenario from Girls Basketball. I expect him to build using transfers in the short term. It would be interesting to know who they are pursuing in the transfer portal today. We need hitters, hitters and more hitters. Plus maybe one elite pitcher. I am confident he will build Texas into a consistent champion over the next few years.

 

[ViperHorn]

I agreed; not liked. The interference and pressure from the club team coaches are what keeps the players in line once they commit. I have seen it live and in person, and it isn't right for the athlete. No athlete should be bound by a verbal commitment they make when they are 15 or 16 as life changes greatly when you are 17/18.

 

[Vol Horn 4 Life]

I agreed; not liked. The interference and pressure from the club team coaches are what keeps the players in line once they commit. I have seen it live and in person, and it isn't right for the athlete. No athlete should be bound by a verbal commitment they make when they are 15 or 16 as life changes greatly when you are 17/18.

It amazes me the relationships these clubs have with different universities to funnel players to that school. Its totally the players choice, but the pressure is real. I know of a High School girl from Texas committed to OU. OU responded that if she wants a chance to play when she gets there she has to play for a club team based out of California so she did it. Fly in for tourneys and fly out. Totally baffles me.

To get the best players White will have to do a lot of relationship building.

 

[racerx5908]

I agreed; not liked. The interference and pressure from the club team coaches are what keeps the players in line once they commit. I have seen it live and in person, and it isn't right for the athlete. No athlete should be bound by a verbal commitment they make when they are 15 or 16 as life changes greatly when you are 17/18.

I've been watching the list of names in the transfer portal for softball. When I see a name, I'll look it up and see that either they had little or no playing time this past year OR that they were an every day starter and wonder...hmmmm, what's the deal? And then you'll see batches of players leaving a school and that's not a good sign.

So yeah, I see freshmen players entering the portal and maybe where they committed too so long ago isn't what they thought it would be 3 years later when they showed up.

 

[racerx5908]

Just a little perspective of 2109 players from Texas, who just finished their freshman year and entered the transfer portal (with different ratings from different softball sites)

#4/#5 Baylee Klingler, OF A&M (of the Houston Cougars Klingler family fame): Played all 55 games for A&M her first year. Led the team in HR. Transferring to Washington.

#2/#5 Makinzy Herzog, P/OF Florida State (Texas Gatorade Player of the Year): 10-2 as a pitcher. Her main competition is another freshman who went 13-0. Star pitcher Meghan King graduates. Unknown landing spot.

 

[Ellis21d]

Just a little perspective of 2109 players from Texas, who just finished their freshman year and entered the transfer portal (with different ratings from different softball sites)

#4/#5 Baylee Klingler, OF A&M (of the Houston Cougars Klingler family fame): Played all 55 games for A&M her first year. Led the team in HR. Transferring to Washington.

#2/#5 Makinzy Herzog, P/OF Florida State (Texas Gatorade Player of the Year): 10-2 as a pitcher. Her main competition is another freshman who went 13-0. Star pitcher Meghan King graduates. Unknown landing spot.

I just don’t know if Coach White would pick up another pitcher? We have 3 pretty stout pitchers for next year in Elish, O’Leary and Grace Green coming in. Someone would not be happy about playing time but hard to pass on a ringer! But he’s got to build the program and that may result in some hurt feelings!!

 

[zztx1]

I'll help here since my daughter plays elite level softball.

2) My daughter is 17 and I never saw Connie at any tournament ever.
3) At the first fall tournament last year I saw Mike White all three days and at two of my daughters games recruiting our top pitcher.....most of the fall got rained out after that.

Connie seems to have recruited based on reputation while White is out doing the grunt work.

Example: My neighbor (we buy our hay from them) is Chelsea Seggern the three year starting 3rd baseman at Tennessee. ESPN just said during the post season she is the best 3rd base in the history of Tennessee softball. She begged to go to Texas but Connie wouldn't give her the time of day because she went to a small school. She ended up picking Tennessee and then comes ole Connie on the trail. By that time she was pissed at Texas and we had no chance.

Now that I think about it this is the exact reason our pitcher is going to Colorado State. She wanted to go to Texas but by the time White called she was already committed and didn't want to back out. Connie wanted nothing to do with her.

Connie had no clue or was just plain lazy and this is another reason I sent my letter to Del Conte at the end of last year's season.

This is spot on. I could name more players who became All Americans in other conferences who went to UT Camps, loved UT, played state tourneys at McCombs, and got no love till their senior year and by then it is too late. They would have put Texas into the conversation with the best teams in the country.

Coach White will develop the relationships with the top 16U coaches in the state and they will tell him which players are the ballers. We will be fine in a matter of a couple of years. The pent up demand for playing for Texas is real. We love softball and we try to see Texas play whenever we can. So glad to see then back on track.

 

[Ellis21d]

Alyssa Popelka playing in the PGF girls high school all American game in Huntington Beach California. Shea O’Leary at the game!
Premier Girls Fastpitch

 

[Ellis21d]

Made a nice play on that one!

 

[MajesticII]

Texas needs a third baseman, a first baseman, and a couple good outfielders...and they all need to be able to HIT the ball.

 

[Ellis21d]

Another clip of Alyssa hitting in the all star game.

 

[Ellis21d]

Texas needs a third baseman, a first baseman, and a couple good outfielders...and they all need to be able to HIT the ball.

Mary Iakopo, Taylor Ellsworth and Coleen Sullivan are all big bats that I suspect will be in the line up. One will be at catcher, one probably at DH and one most likely first base? I don’t see them fitting anywhere else.

 

[racerx5908]

Mary Iakopo, Taylor Ellsworth and Coleen Sullivan are all big bats that I suspect will be in the line up. One will be at catcher, one probably at DH and one most likely first base? I don’t see them fitting anywhere else.

Most of the infield needs to be looked at again:

Catcher - Mary was hot, then cold, and then hot when we needed her at the end of the year. Her biggest weakness are the errors throwing to second on steal attempts. And Taylor hadn't hit for like 95% of the season, so who knows if she's still got "it".

1st - Lauren started off hot and then slowly cooled off as the season progressed. Typically want a taller person (or longer arms) at first. Was hoping that Espinosa might eventually get there. I thought Schattle should have been given another look there.

2nd - Jenae is pretty solid there. A few errors, but the strongest of the infield.

Short Stop - Aye Carumba. Slack/Parker both middling at the plate. With the arm that MK Tedder has, I was hoping she would get another look at the infield.

3rd - Shannon hits hot and cold and had a high number of errors

Errrbody needs to be re-evaluated.

 

[Jacob Johnson]

Im late but I was just thinking of a player right in austin who I believe is one of the top players in Texas. She was offered only a partial scholarship to Texas but eventually chose Colorado state because they gave a full scholarship. Her name is danielle serna and she is a pitcher that attended Austin high school. She struck out 514 batters which is the most of any pitcher in the country over 219 innings. If you seen her play then you know exactly why she could have came in and immediately made an impact for Texas batting, pitching and a great short stop. I just had to say it because Texas let a great one get away

 

[racerx5908]

Im late but I was just thinking of a player right in austin who I believe is one of the top players in Texas. She was offered only a partial scholarship to Texas but eventually chose Colorado state because they gave a full scholarship. Her name is danielle serna and she is a pitcher that attended Austin high school. She struck out 514 batters which is the most of any pitcher in the country over 219 innings. If you seen her play then you know exactly why she could have came in and immediately made an impact for Texas batting, pitching and a great short stop. I just had to say it because Texas let a great one get away

To be fair, and maybe you knew this, if she is a 2019 player that meant she had to be recruited in 2016-ish timeframe. That meant Connie Clark recruiting, when Texas was slipping. Also in this class (pitchers) for Texas was Alana Vawter, flipped to Stanford. And Grace Greene, who still ended coming to Texas (and since Mike White is such a pitcher's coach, he must like her). But hey, take a full scholarship over a partial! Good for her.

 

[Jacob Johnson]

Anyone know the Texas softball fall schedule? I cannot find it anywhere

 

[racerx5908]

Anyone know the Texas softball fall schedule? I cannot find it anywhere

I was going to say, "Eeeh, it's too early for schools to put out schedules" and then I see OU has put out their Fall Ball schedule: 2020 Softball Schedule - University of Oklahoma
Phooey. And, I'm jealous.

 

[Jacob Johnson]

I was going to say, "Eeeh, it's too early for schools to put out schedules" and then I see OU has put out their Fall Ball schedule: 2020 Softball Schedule - University of Oklahoma
Phooey. And, I'm jealous.

Yea LSU put out there schedule as well and they play Texas on Oct 18th but other than them I didn't see any other opponents

 

[Ellis21d]

Here ya go!

 

[Vol Horn 4 Life]

Im late but I was just thinking of a player right in austin who I believe is one of the top players in Texas. She was offered only a partial scholarship to Texas but eventually chose Colorado state because they gave a full scholarship. Her name is danielle serna and she is a pitcher that attended Austin high school. She struck out 514 batters which is the most of any pitcher in the country over 219 innings. If you seen her play then you know exactly why she could have came in and immediately made an impact for Texas batting, pitching and a great short stop. I just had to say it because Texas let a great one get away

My daughter was catcher on her Texas Bombers team. She and her family are really awesome!! And yes, she is a shut down pitcher with every tool in the book and has a serious bat too. She's a good person and I love that kid. She went to CSU because Connie botched her recruitment. Lots of details I won't get into. Mike White spent several weekends last fall at almost all of our games trying to get her to change her mind, but she said when she committed she is committed. All of us Longhorns did our part to try to get her to rethink it, but she didn't even want to discuss it so I respect her for that.