Gopher softball 2021

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Looking at the incoming class, I am a little bit concerned about one recruit specifically.

MacKenzie Denson | Outfielder | Mansfield, Texas | Lake Ridge High School

"I chose the University of Minnesota because of (head coach) Jamie Trachsel," Denson said. "(Coach Trachsel) was hands down the best coach I had ever talked to and I knew that I would want her to coach me one day to make me a better athlete."
 

Well it would be a bummer to lose any recruit, Minnesota does get an extra year out of a bunch of girls, so they would have more room to recruit then normal. I think Minnesota will be ok as long as Piper Ritter stays.
 



Molly Jacobsen, Ole Miss's top pitcher, just transferred to Texas. I'm wondering how that plays into this whole scenario.
 

All this does is expose Trachsel and her BS about "Minnesota is a special place with special people" and so on.

It was all crap.

Most, if not all of the roster will stay I think.

As to the recruits, it's a waiting game. Hopefully they'll at least wait under the new coach before making a decision.
 

Saw a tweet from Sara G that stated she would be open to helping out with coaching upon completion of her Olympic duties. In fact, her exact words were that it would be a "dream come true."

Also, have to imagine Ritter isn't going anywhere and might even be in line for the head job.

There has already been some chatter about Jessica Merchant and Katie Richardson possibly coming back.

If nothing else, I figure Ritter will take over as the "head coach" for at least the time being until a national search can get underway.
 



I meant for this post on the 2020 board to be on this 2021 board:

I keep wishing for the next Carol Hutchins type career coach here that can place her/his permanent mark on the program and keep it great. Maybe that's just wishful thinking.

Who are the hot ambitious coaches that have recruiting chops in the Upper Midwest?
 

Am I correct that all the softball coaches in the B1G are women?
 


Panthadad2 said:
I meant for this post on the 2020 board to be on this 2021 board:

I keep wishing for the next Carol Hutchins type career coach here that can place her/his permanent mark on the program and keep it great. Maybe that's just wishful thinking.

Who are the hot ambitious coaches that have recruiting chops in the Upper Midwest?
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This has been my feeling all along. If Allister had stayed at MN, she was the heir apparent to Hutchins as the dynamo of BIG softball and would've built an empire here over the years. But Carol Hutchins-type coaches are likely a thing on the past, wed to the program.
 



rugger14 said:
Looking at the incoming class, I am a little bit concerned about one recruit specifically.

MacKenzie Denson | Outfielder | Mansfield, Texas | Lake Ridge High School

"I chose the University of Minnesota because of (head coach) Jamie Trachsel," Denson said. "(Coach Trachsel) was hands down the best coach I had ever talked to and I knew that I would want her to coach me one day to make me a better athlete."
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I think since that Denison quote was made Elle Jensen agreed to a redshirt, which takes Denson’s spot for another year so I am a little less concerned if she would follow Trachsel.

The one I am worried about is Ansleigh Holifield. She is the only pitcher in that 2021 season freshman class, and while Fiser’s CoronaVirus return year is a Godsend, pitching depth is not our current roster’s strongest area.
 

Given the negative behind the scenes things I kept hearing, any chance Coyle had some hand in this? Any chance he already knows who he wants to hire as a replacement?
 


I agree, it would suck to lose Holifield. But we do have some good up and comers. Pease has 3 more years of eligibility and was very effective this year. I watched her in person. Good spins and spots. Dueck has 4 years too. She only had a couple of innings but she looked good and was touching 70 according to the radar. Jones is a good player and may be able give some innings. Add Holifield next year and that’s pretty good support for Amber. Hopefully, keeping Ritter will keep Holifield.
 

I heard John Anderson believes a key skill for a Minnesota softball coach is the knowledge for how to coach practices indoors. There may be some truth to that... but on the other hand Allister did just fine and she certainly did not have a history playing/coaching indoors. So who knows?
 

ClassOf98Gopher said:
There could be strategic advantages to that idea given the list of head coaches in the Big Ten.
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Would we hire the only male softball HC in the B1G?

Never mind Maryland... I forgot about him.
 
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Wagner or Tschida ok if you want someone plugged into the local softball community. If Coyle thinks someone like that is really impressive and ready to make the jump to high major D1 softball, fine. The other way to view this is MN is a national brand with a recent WCWS appearance under its belt, and deserves a coach who has already demonstrated success at a lower level of D1. Someone like a Cindy Ball-Malone (hired by Coyle when he was at Boise State and now at Central Florida) might be a good choice if we could get her. I’m sure there are many other successful D1 mid major coaches who will be interested.
 

The big question is how does Amber Fiser feel about all of this? A player with her talent and resume should not have to pay one cent towards her education. With Coyle announcing that seniors will receive no extra scholarship dollars, and her coach bailing, am I the only one who is nervous? If she enters the portal, some big time program will find the $ to offer her a one year full ride, That much I guarantee.
 

MNsoftballfan said:
The big question is how does Amber Fiser feel about all of this? A player with her talent and resume should not have to pay one cent towards her education. With Coyle announcing that seniors will receive no extra scholarship dollars, and her coach bailing, am I the only one who is nervous? If she enters the portal, some big time program will find the $ to offer her a one year full ride, That much I guarantee.
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This may be a bad assumption but I assume if and when they lock down Ritter they can count on Fiser staying. I just gotta believe Fiser’s comfort with Ritter, comfort with her U of M friends and teammates, and comfort with the post-graduation academic plan for her that she already effectively agreed to, in combination with something much more important, her future long-term ability to seriously monetize her ledendary Gopher status, will keep her a Gopher next year. She is a Gopher legend if she stays. She would imperil her legendary status in Minnesota if she goes and with only one year of eligibility remaining she wouldn’t have time to be a legend somewhere else.

I assume, maybe wrongly, that Coyle would make Ritter untouchable by any new head coach for the first few years as part of the deal.
 

Have to wonder if this is Covid related? I have 0 idea how much Jamie made but maybe she said ok I need 500k and they said sorry we don't have that cya.

Also, the quote from Coyle stating he always has a list for every job just incase seems relevant now. Hoping he can move quickly
 

Section2 said:
Given the negative behind the scenes things I kept hearing, any chance Coyle had some hand in this? Any chance he already knows who he wants to hire as a replacement?
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I think so. If he was only offering a one-year contract, he had to know that might be a deal killer and probably had replacements in mind. The big question is who?
 

MNsoftballfan said:
The big question is how does Amber Fiser feel about all of this? A player with her talent and resume should not have to pay one cent towards her education. With Coyle announcing that seniors will receive no extra scholarship dollars, and her coach bailing, am I the only one who is nervous? If she enters the portal, some big time program will find the $ to offer her a one year full ride, That much I guarantee.
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I would surmise that it won't affect Amber or the others that have pledged to return. The reason was they already knew there wasn't any extra money coming their way from the start and that has not changed. They therefore had to make contingency plans in that regard before even announcing a comeback and to be honest, these players mostly come back to play with one-another rather than the coach at this point. These seniors are an especially tight-knit group, so I gotta believe they're coming back has more to do with the "family" of playing with each other one last time.

The real question in my mind is whether Partain can get back. She's the one I'm nervous about.
 

Section2 said:
Given the negative behind the scenes things I kept hearing, any chance Coyle had some hand in this? Any chance he already knows who he wants to hire as a replacement?
Click to expand...

Quite possible. He stated he already has a list of candidates, which leads me to believe he was thinking ahead on this for awhile.
 

It would be great if a good experienced D1 head coach from the Upper Midwest could be found (although not a must), but the list of quality smaller D1 programs in the north form which to pick is very thin. Some of best non-Big Ten northern programs are D2. Has there been any history of success for a coach going from D2 to major D1? Some like Greta Melsted or others?
 
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