I’m giving the new coach a pass on this year. This disaster of a team all is on the shoulders of Lyke. Passing over the fact that she waited at least a year too long to fire Hermanek, she then took far too long to hire her successor. As a result, by the time she was named, most of the team’s few good players had entered the portal and most of the good players in the portal already had found new schools.
At least she knew that they needed pitching, but all she got was scraps. High ERAs at lower levels of competition.
This year, we will see if there is any recruiting benefit in being a softball hall of fame member. I think there might be if you were a recent player and recruits knew your name. I doubt she has that kind of name recognition. But, we will see if she can bring in the kind of class, both through the portal and high school recruits, that this program desperately needs.
It doesn’t necessarily take that long in softball. Clemson, in its first season of softball in the ACC, went to the NCAA regionals. Of course, they had been recruiting players for 3 years.
