@Captn_Ag05 had a wonderful suggestion of the staff to rename the thread I started earlier this season titled:
"AGGIE Softball vs Auburn - Run Ruled in 1/2 Inning"
The thread had taken on a more more "General 2019 Season +" theme vs what the game specific title implied.

IF the staff renames it as requested by @Captn_Ag05...Wonderful!
If not I decided to start this one to carry on.

Subjects from the original thread include:
-2019 Season: How it Ends - Making the Post Season
-Future of Jo Evans at A&M
-Possible HC Replacements
-Possible implications of a coaching change as a result of Woodward taking his flat bottom boat to BR

As of 4-19-19
AGGIE Softball is 3-13 in conf play; 25-19 overall - Tied for last place with Miss State.

Remaining Schedule:

4/19 - @Mizzu - 6:30 on ESPN+
4/20 - @Mizzu
4/24 - DH vs Incarnate Word
4/27 - Arky
4/28 - Arky
4/29 - Arky
5/3 - @Tenn
5/4 - @Tenn
5/5 - @Tenn

5/8-11 - SEC Tourney - Davis Diamond

AGGIES lost game 2 in run rule fashion 8-0. (Series win for Mizzu)
2 costly errors...walks...0 offense (4 hits all singles)

In other news LSU lost game 2 (and the series now) vs Arky 11-1.
Ole Miss beat MSU 21-0 in game one...Lost game two 6-0
Bama beat Florida 3-1 in game one...game two just starting

Hard to see a change being made now with the departure of SW. I doubt R.C. would touch this especially in an interim capacity.

If a change were made, maybe the Ole Miss coach should get a look considering the turnaround they have made.

Stagecoach said:

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I wish staff would change the title of this board to Texas A&M Baseball. Softball deserves its own board.

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Because a WCWS appearance followed by a very narrow Super Regional defeat and then one pretty bad season just simply isn't grounds to lose your job. If next year looks the same (which it probably will), then I'd say it would be fair to replace her. But I think Jo's record at A&M has earned her the opportunity to try to prove that she still deserves the position.

Keep in mind that all 13 SEC softball teams made the NCAA tournament just a couple years ago. That included 6 teams with losing conference records and a last place team who only won 6. So, yes, last place in the conference looks terrible on paper but in the SEC that could still land you in the NCAAs. The team currently has an overall winning record and a RPI in the 40s. It's really not as bad as it looks.

HaHa

Yes it is as bad as it looks. Calling Anything about this season pretty or down playing how poorly coached this team looks, is simply making excuses...

Our state is in the top three in the country for recruiting softball players... to only have three wins at this point is beyond ridiculous wouldn't you say?

Can anyone Give me one bright spot from this year?

Two of our wins were against top 10 teams.

TxA&Mhunter said:

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Yes it is as bad as it looks. Calling Anything about this season pretty or down playing how poorly coached this team looks, is simply making excuses...

Our state is in the top three in the country for recruiting softball players... to only have three wins at this point is beyond ridiculous wouldn't you say?

Can anyone Give me one bright spot from this year?

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The only two bright spots are come back Sunday wins vs LSU and Bama. I emphasize Sunday because in each of those two series the 2 games prior were not pretty. Meaning the team could have easily NOT shown up on Sunday...but they hung in there, didn't quit and grabbed 2 wins that I know both Beth and Pat want back right now.

The SEC as a whole is down this year. 2019 is OU - UCLA...then everyone else. The SEC should get 2 teams to OKC if the brackets fall correctly (LSU and Bama). Tennessee, Florida...a toss up.
This is not an excuse for Coach Evans...just facts.
What will become an issue in regard to recruiting is the team in Austin. Mike White's tenure was jump started by the 4 player swing from Oregon to Texas. The series in Austin this weekend vs OU was a great one. Not so much in regard to the results for Texas as they were swept. However the games were close, exciting...over flowing crowd...All things that accelerate the momentum in the Mike White era.

Two games of grit is unfortuabtly not a trend or a pattern... hoenstly it should be expected and required not a bright spot.

No one has asked or has been able to answer the question of why is our talent level appear to be subpar compared to others in our state and our conference?
Forget about pitching for a moment, and look at every position but it and evaluate what you see on our team cs others. What do you see?

TxA&Mhunter said:

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Two games of grit is unfortuabtly not a trend or a pattern... hoenstly it should be expected and required not a bright spot.

No one has asked or has been able to answer the question of why is our talent level appear to be subpar compared to others in our state and our conference?
Forget about pitching for a moment, and look at every position but it and evaluate what you see on our team cs others. What do you see?

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You had one of the best offensive recruiting classes we have ever had graduate and most all other key players left the program for various reasons to various other programs

As for the softball program under Evans we will need a dominant pitcher along with a nice solid recruiting offensive class to fill in some gaps. She gets this year and if no real improvement is made after the 2020 season could be very interesting.

Unless there is a current in the AD to replace Evans that hasn't surfaced publicly, I don't see how RC is going to replace her after this season. And unless SW lined up her replacement prior to his announcement, I don't expect her to be fired now.

I'm also in the camp of giving her another season. Folks have discussed her past record, which is very good especially considering that up until this season her facilities were a dump. They barely got the new ballpark last season, so she this is the first year she has been able to recruit with those in place. I will accept that the SEC may be somewhat down this season, but it has historically been at the top regarding the whole league. It's an extremely tough competitive environment - IMO, harder than baseball.

I don't know the inside about what went on with the transfers, that really wrecked the potential team this season. I do know that Show wasn't pitching well and Milligan was batting at the Mendosa line when they were benched last season. If it's on the coaches, then that has to be considered. If you just ran into an immature group of young ladies who all happened to show up at once, then your judgement becomes more lenient.

A final consideration is that of athletic department money, which I don't know in detail. Keep in mind is that Blair and Henry are both in their 70s, so the new AD would have to have replacing them on his or her mind. The amount recently spent on Jimbo and Buzz will also play a factor.

The new AD will have interesting decisions to make.

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A final consideration is that of athletic department money, which I don't know in detail. Keep in mind is that Blair and Henry are both in their 70s, so the new AD would have to have replacing them on his or her mind. The amount recently spent on Jimbo and Buzz will also play a factor.

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I really hope this is not the case. Considering we just spent close to $30 million on a new stadium, a coach's salary is going to be a drop in the bucket in my opinion. We're pot-committed at this point, and to go on the cheap now would be silly given what was spent on facilities.

If this was the case, then there's a huge risk in replacing a known quantity in Jo Evans with a likely up and coming coach hired on the cheap.

The more I think about this, the more I'd really like to see us take a run at Gerry Glasco. I'm not sure we would have to try and money whip him, and he's obviously a really good softball coach.

Giving her another year as a likely "dead coach walking" will negatively impact recruiting. The place to be for elite Texas softball talent is now 100 miles down the road. Why concede the next class?

sharpdressedman said:

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Giving her another year as a likely "dead coach walking" will negatively impact recruiting. The place to be for elite Texas softball talent is now 100 miles down the road. Why concede the next class?

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I think that getting the right coach in here is so much more important than one recruiting class that it should be the only consideration.

Just firing Evans for the sake of firing her is kind of shortsighted, unless they hire an AD in the next couple weeks that is capable of pulling off a big move that quickly.

I think Jo is starting to change her recruiting with 3 of the 6 signed players from out of state with 2 from California and 1 from Arizona. Maybe she felt she couldn't do that before with the facility we had. I can recall only 1 freshman from out of state the last 10 years and that is Kayla Poynter. Every other out of state player we had transferred in.
A new coach might not be able to upgrade the talent right away unless that coach brings 4 starters with them from a WCWS team like the new tu coach did.

Take these players at the expense of the rest of the team?

mullokmotx said:

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I think Jo is starting to change her recruiting with 3 of the 6 signed players from out of state with 2 from California and 1 from Arizona. Maybe she felt she couldn't do that before with the facility we had. I can recall only 1 freshman from out of state the last 10 years and that is Kayla Poynter. Every other out of state player we had transferred in.
A new coach might not be able to upgrade the talent right away unless that coach brings 4 starters with them from a WCWS team like the new tu coach did.

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We've brought in a couple freshmen from out of state in the last 10 years but they transferred out. Miles a couple years ago and a pitcher a few years ago both from California.

How many runs have been scored in conference play ?? Would these three players alone with homers amd RBIs surpass our team total of in conference room scored ?

In all fairness to the some of the players, there's talent there that isn't being played for whatever reason. Jo's winning strategy is apparently outdated and obsolete.

Belton Ag said:

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sharpdressedman said:

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Giving her another year as a likely "dead coach walking" will negatively impact recruiting. The place to be for elite Texas softball talent is now 100 miles down the road. Why concede the next class?

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I think that getting the right coach in here is so much more important than one recruiting class that it should be the only consideration.

Just firing Evans for the sake of firing her is kind of shortsighted, unless they hire an AD in the next couple weeks that is capable of pulling off a big move that quickly.

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I don't disagree.

I commented on another thread dealing with the likelihood that RC and the new AD will not make any moves regarding Jo until after next season. My point was that if magic happened and the right coach became available and would take the job, whomever the AD is would very likely take advantage of the opportunity and make the change this year. Hence the next recruiting class could be much better than what Jo could produce, and the gap with tu would not increase.

I'm hoping that money, facilities, climate, state recruiting pool, the appeal of Aggieland, and the 12th Man culture can, together, create the synergy necessary to turn a top coach's head in our direction, sooner rather than later.

BigBubbaAggie82 said:

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In all fairness to the some of the players, there's talent there that isn't being played for whatever reason. Jo's winning strategy is apparently outdated and obsolete.

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Your comment is very intriguing. Please elaborate. I appreciate that you intend no disrespect to any specific player(s), but I am interested in any observations/suggestions you have that could mitigate the severity of this mess.

We have 1 outfielder on the roster that is of SEC quality - Fortenberry!!!

Our RPI dropped to 49 after getting swept at Missouri. I now think we need to win our last 2 non-conference games, and get 1 win this weekend over Arkansas and 1 win at UT the last weekend. We need a win at UT because we are 1-9 in road games.
8 of the 13 teams in the SEC have been run-ruled in a conference game. We lead the way with 5, then MSU with 4, Arkansas with 3, Florida and Tennessee twice, and Auburn, LSU and South Carolina 1 time each.
On the radio today, Louie Belina described the next 2 recruiting classes as "stellar" I think he said. Time will tell.

cocacolaaggie68 said:

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Take these players at the expense of the rest of the team?

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have yet to hear someone expound on this stance. unless the majority of the team was going to transfer, i dont see how the 3 aforementioned players and the numbers they are putting up make us worse.