Coaching Change

[LetsGoRabbits]

tried to do a little more checking in. i am NOT saying that the other recruits may not have more potential or who will live up to potential, but Kaelan Schultz the all time NE HR record holder from juaniata NE definitely looks like a stud the more you look!!

also it appears that she was AAU teammates and appears to be good friends with current rabbits players and papillion NE natives, Brooke Dumont and Mia Jarecki. makes you think there is at least some chance that all 3 end up together at one spot or the other, but what do i know???

[LetsGoRabbits]

will Creighton continue to be a regular opponent on the rabbits softball schedule??

[da_coach]

Coach Wood did an amazing job. Best Wishes to her.

I trust in the admin folks to bring in a good coach. They have an excellent track record.

[LetsGoRabbits]

I really am unaware of the process here. what are the rules and time frames for softball and transferring?

beyond that i am sure i dont know the best internet places to watch and i am a social media MORON!!

but from what i can tell or see so far, there have been no transfers nobody beginning the transfer process, and no recruits uncommitting. am i wrong??

from what i can see and guess, it does appear that this team is very tight and connected and there are some meaningful relationships! it kind of seems if the jacks can keep the key player or two committed then they would have a good shot to keep the whole group or very close!! hopefully coach villar and coach gomez olson are aware of which players are the key and they are doing everything they can already to keep those KEY players in jackrabbit blue and yellow

if the jacks can keep the 6 junior to be position players and the 2 pitchers
and the two sophomores to be from omaha
and the juco pitcher
and the top incoming freshman, best guess the schultz girl and the other one from NE

they will be set for an AMAZING 2 years and they should ABSOLUTELY NOT be satisfied with making it to a regional!!!

i also think coach wood did an incredible job!!! and i wish she had stayed!!!! and maybe/ probably i am wrong about this, but the sense i got from the interviews i heard, i really think they were satisified with simply making the regional last year and did not have a real expectation of competing to WIN IT!! again maybe and likely i am wrong about that

but they were and will be again (if all or most return) the overwhelming favorite to win the conference!!!! winning the conference and SLT is NOT NEARLY a big enough goal!!! they should really spend the whole year preparing and planning to WIN the regional not simply attend

[LetsGoRabbits]

and obviously that all said, softball gets a bajillion times less attention than other sports. i fear that there could be a lot of changes and we wont know about it until next season.

for instance i NEVER saw ANY news about coach stokes leaving last year. even when they hired coach gomez olson they said nothing about replacing coach stokes

maybe they update the roster regularly, but i have doubts about that!! but theoretically if we were watching the roster regularly we might notice a change. but again, i have doubts that the roster is updated very often. last i checked the WBB and MBB still have last years rosters and the career points and statistical leaders have not been updated, softball and other sports seem the same. so this is not a reliable source for this information

not to make a discussion of that!!! and it is obviously tangential, but in this techy day and age is there truly not a person in the athletic department who could update rosters and career stats very regularly?? even during the seasons??

[jackdaniel]

Krista announced her newest recruit, I should say her first at Creighton,a pitcher from Miliken , Colo, leads the State in strikeouts at 300, 3rd best in the Nation, CHSAA class 4A 1st team all-state player. Krista hit a HR with recruiting her I think.She has a good eye for talent. But, a sigh of relief, not one of ours, that's why I looked to tell you the truth.

[LetsGoRabbits]

I had a conversation with someone very close to the team, in the last few days. i would have loved to speak to them for much longer, but wanted to be respectful of their time and the fact that they had ZERO obligation to tell me anything, so the conversation was pretty brief

Coach McSweeney is in brookings now, but has had lots of zoom meetings with the team/ players since being hired.
things i know for sure are true at the moment, although things can and do change:

Coach G.O. is staying and the players like her a lot and are very happy she is staying

Coach M will coach the pitchers, even though she was not a pitcher in her playing days, ala coach wood. i think it is obvious that it is NOT crucial that someone played the position, in order to coach it well!! and coach M was also the pitching coach at former school. she has OBVIOUSLY had a lot of success, averaging close to 40 Ws a year for 14 years

Coach M is bringing with her the hitting coach from her former school. dont know the name. will be a male coach, which is different for this program, and as far as i am concerned makes no difference, but it is different
i guess that means Coach Villar is leaving, but i do not know that for sure. if so, thank you very much Coach V and best wishes!! i would think she would have very VERY little difficulty finding a job. she has been at SDSU since the 2018 season and the jacks have been mostly excellent, in that time, including setting all kinds of records the last 2 years playing mostly freshman and sophomores

did NOT get into much discussion of players, but again, as far as i was able to gather, EVERYONE is BACK, except for Cylie currently being in the portal. and I DO NOT KNOW??? did she have to return prior to July 1?? or could she still decide to return to the jacks??

it was stated that the basic reasons for everyone staying:

this is the school they chose for a reason and this is where they want to be
they love the school, the atmosphere, the family atmosphere, love their teammates, respect and trust the athletic program
trusted and believed that the athletic department would hire a GOOD coach who WOULD continue the main principles!! and said that the biggest thing they have taken from coach M so far is that she is all about FAMILY

was said that MANY players DEFINITELY DID consider what their options were, but arrived at the above conclusion

[jakejc795]

Coach M is bringing with her the hitting coach from her former school. dont know the name. will be a male coach, which is different for this program, and as far as i am concerned makes no difference, but it is different

Looks like Josh Bertke

[LetsGoRabbits]

Looks like Josh Bertke

yep, was just on the A Tech athletic website, as well. great minds think alike. maybe one and a half great minds) haha

looks like he has been there since 2015 if i see correct. so he and coach M have been together for quite a while. also has training and experience as a strength and conditioning coach

[bigticket1]

I had a conversation with someone very close to the team, in the last few days. i would have loved to speak to them for much longer, but wanted to be respectful of their time and the fact that they had ZERO obligation to tell me anything, so the conversation was pretty brief

Coach McSweeney is in brookings now, but has had lots of zoom meetings with the team/ players since being hired.
things i know for sure are true at the moment, although things can and do change:

Coach G.O. is staying and the players like her a lot and are very happy she is staying

Coach M will coach the pitchers, even though she was not a pitcher in her playing days, ala coach wood. i think it is obvious that it is NOT crucial that someone played the position, in order to coach it well!! and coach M was also the pitching coach at former school. she has OBVIOUSLY had a lot of success, averaging close to 40 Ws a year for 14 years

Coach M is bringing with her the hitting coach from her former school. dont know the name. will be a male coach, which is different for this program, and as far as i am concerned makes no difference, but it is different
i guess that means Coach Villar is leaving, but i do not know that for sure. if so, thank you very much Coach V and best wishes!! i would think she would have very VERY little difficulty finding a job. she has been at SDSU since the 2018 season and the jacks have been mostly excellent, in that time, including setting all kinds of records the last 2 years playing mostly freshman and sophomores

did NOT get into much discussion of players, but again, as far as i was able to gather, EVERYONE is BACK, except for Cylie currently being in the portal. and I DO NOT KNOW??? did she have to return prior to July 1?? or could she still decide to return to the jacks??

it was stated that the basic reasons for everyone staying:

this is the school they chose for a reason and this is where they want to be
they love the school, the atmosphere, the family atmosphere, love their teammates, respect and trust the athletic program
trusted and believed that the athletic department would hire a GOOD coach who WOULD continue the main principles!! and said that the biggest thing they have taken from coach M so far is that she is all about FAMILY

was said that MANY players DEFINITELY DID consider what their options were, but arrived at the above conclusion

July 1 was the deadline for entering the portal. If you are in the portal, I believe you can commit to a school at any time. There are hundreds of basketball players that are hoping that is the case.

[jakejc795]

yep, was just on the A Tech athletic website, as well. great minds think alike. maybe one and a half great minds) haha

looks like he has been there since 2015 if i see correct. so he and coach M have been together for quite a while. also has training and experience as a strength and conditioning coach

"One and a half" because I've half a mind wondering if "Grape Mined" might be a viable Dairy Bar sorbet flavor (grape "mined" with bits of rice clusters)?

I was curious about other Summit teams' coaching demographics, and it appears we have the following coaching dispersion (UMKC had a male HC, but his tenure ended last month):

• NDSU (male HC w/two female assistants & female GA)
• Omaha (male HC w/two female assistants)
• St. Thomas (female HC w/pair of female assistants)
• UND [male HC & assistant w/pair of female assistants (one who's strength & conditioning)]
• USD (male HC w/two female assistants, female GA & female "volunteer" coach)
• WIU (female HC w/male assistant & female GA)

I'd like to see Coach V stay, but if she doesn't, I'll be curious where she eventually lands. Regardless, I hope she finds success.

[LetsGoRabbits]

July 1 was the deadline for entering the portal. If you are in the portal, I believe you can commit to a school at any time. There are hundreds of basketball players that are hoping that is the case.

Yes i understood that 7/1 was the deadline to enter the portal. and anyone who is currently in, is able to commit whenever they have the opportunity.

My uncertainty was in regard to, whether or not a player in the portal can return to their previous school AFTER the deadline?? i believe the answer is yes. but this is one of the MANY instances where i KNOW that i could definitely be wrong!!

[jakejc795]

Yes i understood that 7/1 was the deadline to enter the portal. and anyone who is currently in, is able to commit whenever they have the opportunity.

My uncertainty was in regard to, whether or not a player in the portal can return to their previous school AFTER the deadline?? i believe the answer is yes. but this is one of the MANY instances where i KNOW that i could definitely be wrong!!

Looks like Halvorson's headed to Fayetteville.

[bigticket1]

We should probably consider ourselves fortunate if she is the only one we lose.

[LetsGoRabbits]

We should probably consider ourselves fortunate if she is the only one we lose.

Well they have not added the incoming freshman and the juco pitcher to the roster

but they have updated the roster to the point of removing the seniors from last year, as well as Cylie

Everyone else is back on the roster, so i guess that seems a strong indicator that Cylie is the only player who did not return

really really a BUMMER to lose her((
and seems kind of a bigger bummer that we lost her to Arkansas because of the fact that she was able to experience their stadium and program because of the success the jacks had. it feels a bit like the jacks got punished for making it to the regional

of course there is truth in that. if we had mediocre programs nobody would notice our players or want to steal them. so losing good players is part of the price of developing great and successful programs

thank goodness it was only one and i think the returning players and the incoming players WILL BE ABLE to overcome this loss, i totally expect we will be a better team in every way next year. better pitching!! better defense!! and better offense