Mike White coaches to win NOW

Discussion in 'Softball' started by racerx5908, Oct 23, 2019.

  1. racerx5908

    racerx5908 2,500+ Posts

    With all that's happened and about to happen (recruits for the 2020 season signing in mid-November), I've thinking about Mike White's "style". I didn't know anything about his coaching philosophy. I just knew here was this guy who was an assistant at Oregon, left for a few years, came back and within a few years was crushing other teams. With a year under his watch, my thoughts:

    1. He wants to win NOW. Obviously, the title to the thread.
    2. He brought in 4 players from Oregon, without too much thought about how it would affect the team of strangers he inherited. Bringing 4 players that would eventually displace 4 potential starters shows he assessed his inherited players pretty quickly and determined they could do better.
    3. He did stick with players, the Oregon transfers, even though they were uneven through parts of the season (errors at 3rd and catcher). But with the catcher, he really only had one. Although he had that one weird game where he tried Burke at catcher to give Iakopo a break.
    4. He went ahead and signed those that were committed to Connie (for 2019) because it was so late in the game and he didn't have a chance to evaluate them before the signing period - yet made it apparent to some of them that they should look for a new home in 2020. No time for "coaching them up".
    5. And thank goodness, he's willing to be the bad guy and go after players committed elsewhere, flipping players! A pet peeve of mine with Connie.
    6. And on the other side, willing to let go those who had committed to Connie when they were sophmores because they didn't have what HE wants in a skill set. Going back to the 2020 recruiting list and seeing the Connie commits:

    Camryn Wincher
    Crystal Davila
    Hailey Hudson
    Hannah Earls
    Jayden (JJ) Smith

    and now the latest projections for 2020 signing:

    Jayden (JJ) Smith (we think!)
    Bailey Williams
    Kyleigh Sand
    Ryleigh White
    Alyssa, Washington
    Carlee Ratcliff
    Jordyn Whitaker

    90% turnover.
    7. He fired his hitting coach even though they improved in hitting. This is a guy he never coached with before, but was a long-ago teammate on men's fast pitch. When he left, I was thinking "Wow! He let him go after one year! Yeah, they had a slump...but dumping him after one year?"
    [​IMG]

    Now, we've only ever had 2 softball coaches at UT. While it's jarring to have a coach be so active (and that is an indictment on Connie), I'm glad Del Conte snagged Mike White.
     
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  2. Ellis21d

    Ellis21d JediHorn

    Excellent narrative racer!
     
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    • Agree Agree x 1
  3. racerx5908

    racerx5908 2,500+ Posts

     
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