Gopher Softball 2024

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Chase the Rise said:
NIL is presenting more of an issue that you would like to think. Even Gasso's comment in regards to having 6 pitchers on staff that she feels can go at any time. Oklahoma "type" players are OK sitting on the bench, aiming for a national title, getting playing time when they can, because they are all getting 50k in NIL money....some significantly more than that, in addition to the 12 scholarships they can divide up how ever they see fit. In essence they have entire roster of full scholarship kids and making money on top of that. How does anyone compete with that? And they aren't the only ones.

The spread of top 10 teams and the rest of the field is only going to widen entirely due to NIL, because they would rather get a kid 50k in NIL money then go see them play for a different team.

Dinkytown Athletics (DA) is part of the problem. It's not for all athletes, some B10 schools have a collective that gets each athlete something...really works hard to navigate the NIL landscape. Dinkytown athletics isn't doing Gopher Softball any good. Well kind of...the only two players even involved with DA...Chavez and Oakland....and it's ironic that this board talks about those two leaving the most....want to know why they wont? NIL and DA (unless something better NIL-wise comes along).. want the team to improve their recruiting? Get a different collective outside of DA.
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Still takes effort/culture for Gasso to get players to buy in to program. Like for Nicole May, 1.30 ERA 91 innings as soph 0.91 ERA 107 innings as junior and she's always been their 3rd/4th option yet is staying through 4 years rather than transferring to get significantly more innings and be top option elsewhere
 

rowdaboat said:
Still takes effort/culture for Gasso to get players to buy in to program. Like for Nicole May, 1.30 ERA 91 innings as soph 0.91 ERA 107 innings as junior and she's always been their 3rd/4th option yet is staying through 4 years rather than transferring to get significantly more innings and be top option elsewhere
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$$$$$$$...and some culture....reminder, even their #5 and #6 are getting paid. If the money is similar, then yes, culture and winning are the factors...if a team came in and said, hey Nicole, we can get you 500k to leave OK and be a part of the team to unthrone them...she jumps.
 

Chase the Rise said:
$$$$$$$...and some culture....reminder, even their #5 and #6 are getting paid. If the money is similar, then yes, culture and winning are the factors...if a team came in and said, hey Nicole, we can get you 500k to leave OK and be a part of the team to unthrone them...she jumps.
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They also have top hitting coach in country and likely top pitching coach in country. Current senior class could be strongest recruiting class ever and have 2 freshman hitters with .471 and .412 averages and power
 

rowdaboat said:
They also have top hitting coach in country and likely top pitching coach in country. Current senior class could be strongest recruiting class ever and have 2 freshman hitters with .471 and .412 averages and power
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Exactly, and the machine just keeps powering on.
 

Chase the Rise said:
$$$$$$$...and some culture....reminder, even their #5 and #6 are getting paid. If the money is similar, then yes, culture and winning are the factors...if a team came in and said, hey Nicole, we can get you 500k to leave OK and be a part of the team to unthrone them...she jumps.
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I'm with "Chase the Rise" on this one. Oklahoma and a few others have decided to put their money into athletics. Minnesota spends more money in education. This will always be true. As long as NIL is going on we won't get a top 10 pitcher or top 10 transfer no matter how charismatic our coach is. This isn't to say we can't be a successful team but we will have to find some non top 10 "sleepers" when we recruit. I still think this group has the talent to win the Big 10. Granted besides the fall games I haven't seen them in person this year but I wonder if they are having trouble handling the stressful times of softball.
 


If there was a potential for big payday in a professional league after graduation, more would leave Oklahoma to showcase their talent and improve their stock. As it is, this will probably be the biggest payday of their athletic careers and are deciding to bank it.
 

Chase the Rise said:
Dinkytown Athletics (DA) is part of the problem. It's not for all athletes, some B10 schools have a collective that gets each athlete something...really works hard to navigate the NIL landscape. Dinkytown athletics isn't doing Gopher Softball any good. Well kind of...the only two players even involved with DA...Chavez and Oakland....and it's ironic that this board talks about those two leaving the most....want to know why they wont? NIL and DA (unless something better NIL-wise comes along).. want the team to improve their recruiting? Get a different collective outside of DA.
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Are you suggesting that DA has the money for softball and isn't allocating it correctly? Or that there are donors out there ready, willing and able to fund NIL for softball and DA isn't willing to work with them? My understanding (and my knowledge is limited so I could certainly be mistaken) is the DA is willing to work with any athlete at the University and that there isn't really a pool of money out there for a variety of sports, including softball. I am also under the impression that the trend is for schools to be consolidating into fewer collectives rather than having separate collectives for different sports.
 

2nd Degree Gopher said:
Are you suggesting that DA has the money for softball and isn't allocating it correctly? Or that there are donors out there ready, willing and able to fund NIL for softball and DA isn't willing to work with them? My understanding (and my knowledge is limited so I could certainly be mistaken) is the DA is willing to work with any athlete at the University and that there isn't really a pool of money out there for a variety of sports, including softball. I am also under the impression that the trend is for schools to be consolidating into fewer collectives rather than having separate collectives for different sports.
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No and yes. Is there money for softball...yes, I'm assuming. How much? no idea. But how it works is the DA reaches out to athletes to see if they are interested in joining the collective. Athletes are invited, they don't just get to be involved. I know of a few athletes that have reached out to DA and been told sorry we are not taking XXX sport athletes at this time.

The following is just assumptions based on my knowledge of NIL and DA, and from what I have heard from others that are in the know.

If you look at the athletes available on DA, it's obvious they are promoting football and M/W basketball. After that it looks a little confusing. No M/W hockey players, no wrestlers, 21 women's soccer athletes, 5 gymnasts, 1 women's golfer, and 2 softball players. No baseball, M soccer, track and field, swimming...etc. etc..

Here's the thought....A well-to-do donor contacts DA saying they'd like to donate to sport X, or player X.... if DA is not working with athlete X, they reach out and get it set up. Then viola, NIL money. DA is pushing M/W basketball and football....that's it. All the advertising they do for DA is geared for BB and FB, even when they had a donor willing to match softball donations for a day or week or whatever it was....that money was only going to go to two players. Not the team. Surf around the DA website, you'll get a feel for what I'm talking about.

DA isn't what they advertise. It's DA football & basketball. Again....my understanding. If someone has a different truth I'd love to hear it.
 




We already have to pay out the ass for "mandatory donation" fees on all the season tickets, it's a shame the collective/NIL funds haven't gone after corporate sponsors beyond Greenway's liquor
 

Chase the Rise said:
No and yes. Is there money for softball...yes, I'm assuming. How much? no idea. But how it works is the DA reaches out to athletes to see if they are interested in joining the collective. Athletes are invited, they don't just get to be involved. I know of a few athletes that have reached out to DA and been told sorry we are not taking XXX sport athletes at this time.

The following is just assumptions based on my knowledge of NIL and DA, and from what I have heard from others that are in the know.

If you look at the athletes available on DA, it's obvious they are promoting football and M/W basketball. After that it looks a little confusing. No M/W hockey players, no wrestlers, 21 women's soccer athletes, 5 gymnasts, 1 women's golfer, and 2 softball players. No baseball, M soccer, track and field, swimming...etc. etc..

Here's the thought....A well-to-do donor contacts DA saying they'd like to donate to sport X, or player X.... if DA is not working with athlete X, they reach out and get it set up. Then viola, NIL money. DA is pushing M/W basketball and football....that's it. All the advertising they do for DA is geared for BB and FB, even when they had a donor willing to match softball donations for a day or week or whatever it was....that money was only going to go to two players. Not the team. Surf around the DA website, you'll get a feel for what I'm talking about.

DA isn't what they advertise. It's DA football & basketball. Again....my understanding. If someone has a different truth I'd love to hear it.
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Appreciate the thorough response. I agree that the focus seems to clearly be on football and basketball, but I suspect that is because that is where the donor dollars are, both locally and nationally, and that creates a greater urgency to participate. I'd be surprised and disappointed to learn that there is some large donor pool out there for any sport where they refuse to participate and I know that DA has stated that they hope to get to a point where they can support all student-athletes at the U. I also understand that they are nowhere close to reaching that goal.

I believe that Dinkytown Athletes is somewhat constrained by the University's directive that they color well within the lines, meaning that they don't want to veer into "pay for play" agreements that are obviously common elsewhere, but outside what the initial NCAA guidelines allowed. If you have not seen Jeremiah Carter (Senior AD for NIL at the U) speak about this, I would encourage you to listen in the next time he's making a presentation. I am not suggesting that DA would otherwise want to go there or that there would be funds for it even if they did, but the price of cooperation from the U is following that general course.

In the end, my guess is that it is mostly an academic exercise since I suspect that there isn't much donor money available for most other sports. But if someone wanted to make a donation to fund $5,000 for every softball student-athlete, I would be surprised (and disappointed) if DA wouldn't facilitate it.
 

2nd Degree Gopher said:
Appreciate the thorough response. I agree that the focus seems to clearly be on football and basketball, but I suspect that is because that is where the donor dollars are, both locally and nationally, and that creates a greater urgency to participate. I'd be surprised and disappointed to learn that there is some large donor pool out there for any sport where they refuse to participate and I know that DA has stated that they hope to get to a point where they can support all student-athletes at the U. I also understand that they are nowhere close to reaching that goal.

I believe that Dinkytown Athletes is somewhat constrained by the University's directive that they color well within the lines, meaning that they don't want to veer into "pay for play" agreements that are obviously common elsewhere, but outside what the initial NCAA guidelines allowed. If you have not seen Jeremiah Carter (Senior AD for NIL at the U) speak about this, I would encourage you to listen in the next time he's making a presentation. I am not suggesting that DA would otherwise want to go there or that there would be funds for it even if they did, but the price of cooperation from the U is following that general course.

In the end, my guess is that it is mostly an academic exercise since I suspect that there isn't much donor money available for most other sports. But if someone wanted to make a donation to fund $5,000 for every softball student-athlete, I would be surprised (and disappointed) if DA wouldn't facilitate it.
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I don't disagree with anything above. But would add that if we are ok with MN not wanting to veer into the pay for play realm, we need to be realistic as to what our expectations are for our athletic teams. It's not a level playing field, the recruiting is not equal.

With your last statement....I would agree that DA would facilitate it....only if the donor said the only way they donate it is if it goes equally to everyone on the roster....otherwise, no DA would not facilitate that.

Which, if I had to guess, is what happened with the women's soccer program. Only reason I can think that they are all in the DA collective. I'd love to be wrong, but I don't see what else it is, and from information I've heard.
 

Chase the Rise said:
I don't disagree with anything above. But would add that if we are ok with MN not wanting to veer into the pay for play realm, we need to be realistic as to what our expectations are for our athletic teams. It's not a level playing field, the recruiting is not equal.
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Can't argue with that. My hope is that the NCAA (or whatever takes its place as the overseer of college sports) levels the playing field because I am afraid that the open marketplace isn't going to be one where Minnesota competes successfully.

Chase the Rise said:
With your last statement....I would agree that DA would facilitate it....only if the donor said the only way they donate it is if it goes equally to everyone on the roster....otherwise, no DA would not facilitate that.

Which, if I had to guess, is what happened with the women's soccer program. Only reason I can think that they are all in the DA collective. I'd love to be wrong, but I don't see what else it is, and from information I've heard.
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I don't know how it came to be, but the soccer team is marketing itself collectively. For example, they sell t-shirts by position group where, I presume, all the midfielders benefit when they sell one of their shirts. I don't know why it would be different for, say, the pitchers or the outfielders on the softball team.
 



Chase the Rise said:
NIL is presenting more of an issue that you would like to think. Even Gasso's comment in regards to having 6 pitchers on staff that she feels can go at any time. Oklahoma "type" players are OK sitting on the bench, aiming for a national title, getting playing time when they can, because they are all getting 50k in NIL money....some significantly more than that, in addition to the 12 scholarships they can divide up how ever they see fit. In essence they have entire roster of full scholarship kids and making money on top of that. How does anyone compete with that? And they aren't the only ones. …
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The answer is that the Gophers don’t compete with Oklahoma. The point has been to compete where there was a level playing field in softball… with other Big Ten teams for the Big Ten championship.

That is why I have been so frustrated about adding teams to the Big Ten next year that destroy the level playing field in softball (and baseball too).
 

There are volleyball players up at DA. But yea, most U athletes are not up.

A winning strategy could be if fans each gave $40 - $100 to DA for their sport players of choice. The jackpot approach probably doesn't exist. It takes pooling. Maybe, I don't know.

And to most of these players, a $20 comes in handy.
 

When signing up for DA, there's an option to select the sports for your donation money. I split mine between football and softball. Bitching and moaning won't help. Contributing, buying DA associated products, and generally helping keep DA front and forward will help.
 

Panthadad2 said:
When signing up for DA, there's an option to select the sports for your donation money. I split mine between football and softball. Bitching and moaning won't help. Contributing, buying DA associated products, and generally helping keep DA front and forward will help.
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I don't disagree with this statement. However, with Football and Basketball being head count scholarships, I'm not interested in helping students that are already not paying anything to attend school. I'd rather throw money at the kids that are doing the same work, the same classes, the same representation, the same chance for injuries, with little or no chance for playing their sport past college. But when DA doesn't let you do that....it strikes me as a bad system.
 

ClassOf98Gopher said:
The answer is that the Gophers don’t compete with Oklahoma. The point has been to compete where there was a level playing field in softball… with other Big Ten teams for the Big Ten championship.

That is why I have been so frustrated about adding teams to the Big Ten next year that destroy the level playing field in softball (and baseball too).
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I'm not frustrated by the addition of such teams to the Big Ten, but at the Gophers not adding the depth of talent to beat them. Sadly, I don't know the solution. Considering some of my previous suggestions, I feel like a fossil from feudalism.
 

PreacherRoe said:
I'm not frustrated by the addition of such teams to the Big Ten, but at the Gophers not adding the depth of talent to beat them. Sadly, I don't know the solution. Considering some of my previous suggestions, I feel like a fossil from feudalism.
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One of the problems is that the recruiting classes in 2020, 2021,and 2022 have had a lot either leave or not work out. From 2020 only Strelow and Cox remain and neither are stars, in 2021 Maddy Ehlke, in 2022 only Chavez and Valencia. Note no pitchers. We have added transfers but not built via recruits
 

About one third of our roster are freshman. To move forward this year and be competitive for a Big Ten title, at least a couple of those freshmen will have to step up, show themselves to be NCAA softball ready, and make a real impact in most games.
 

ClassOf98Gopher said:
About one third of our roster are freshman. To move forward this year and be competitive for a Big Ten title, at least a couple of those freshmen will have to step up, show themselves to be NCAA softball ready, and make a real impact in most games.
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Is it time to sit the upperclass?
 




PreacherRoe said:
I'm not frustrated by the addition of such teams to the Big Ten, but at the Gophers not adding the depth of talent to beat them. Sadly, I don't know the solution. Considering some of my previous suggestions, I feel like a fossil from feudalism.
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DietCokeFan said:
Well, good news Gopher fans!
We can at least still beat Fordham! Gophs win 10-2 off 6 hits :)
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The top half the order feasted on Fordham's pitching. The lower half was typically quiet. You'd think the lower half could at least drive the ball deep v. weaker pitching. Very puzzling.
 

ClassOf98Gopher said:
I think our freshmen pitchers need to display that they can be effective at the college level by making regular, positive contributions to the team in most games.
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Groenewegen was BigTen pitcher of the year as a freshmen. Fiser was 13-0 as a freshman. Since then?
 

Chase the Rise said:
I don't disagree with this statement. However, with Football and Basketball being head count scholarships, I'm not interested in helping students that are already not paying anything to attend school. I'd rather throw money at the kids that are doing the same work, the same classes, the same representation, the same chance for injuries, with little or no chance for playing their sport past college. But when DA doesn't let you do that....it strikes me as a bad system.
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I understand the sentiment of not wanting to give money to football players already on scholarship but the true facts are that our non-revenue sports would not exist like they do with the facilities, travel, uniforms, equipment, and other athletic dept perks they have without the money generated by primarily football. I love softball but softball needs football and football does not need softball. I don't think anything would prevent someone from running an event and paying each softball player 5 grand for an appearance. A business could have the softball team appear in a commercial and pay them all. As I understand it, NIL does not need to go through DA. DA is a collective that helps facilitate NIL. Please correct me if I am wrong.
 

PreacherRoe said:
Groenewegen was BigTen pitcher of the year as a freshmen. Fiser was 13-0 as a freshman. Since then?
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Exactly. I take that as if you got “it”, you probably got “it” as a Freshmen. So let’s get those freshmen out there with the expectation that they play big. The Gophers don’t need to wait on them to develop.
 


Goddamn this sidearm sports is a poc. Wait for like 10 minutes to refresh and the whole inning is already done.
 

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