(07-28-2019 03:59 AM)ThunderingHerdFan Wrote:  There are a lot of factors, obviously, but Marshall baseball and softball have made improvements, from a consistency standpoint, since the facility was built. Baseball especially has improved while softball seems to be settling in at a higher level of consistency (sans the 2018 debacle), including an NCAA at large bid with a Top 25 ranking in 2017.

That's because we hired a coach that had a 106-110 record in 4 years at a school that isn't exactly known for success. Jennifer Steele from Jacksonville University was a bad hire from the start, lucky for us she was only here 11 months and is now the University of Delaware's problem. Marshall went 25-29-1 in 2018 and 42-20 in 2019 with basically the same roster and no Ace in the circle.

I wanted Melissa Frost (Head Coach at DII University of Indianapolis) after Shonda Stanton left for Indiana and when Jen Steele was let go. Frost played for Marshall in the 90s and in 15 years coaching she is 673-303. But the hiring of Megan Smith (Head Coach at Kansas 2010-2018) surprised me in a good way. Plus Smith done something in her 1st year that took Stanton 18 years to do, win 42 games, without an Ace in the circle. The team also broke numerous school records, HRs, RBIs, Team batting Avg and others. It also looks like Smith and her staff have killed it on the recruiting trail the last 2 years.

Sorry about my softball rant, its just that Shonda Stanton got me to actually fall in love with Marshall softball and to see what I thought was going to be the downfall of the program in 2018 got me fired up.

Back to the IPF thread.