Pitt Softball
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The really talented pitchers are being recruited in 8th and 9th and locked up in 10th
Pitt won’t play in the ACC tourney for at least the next 5 years so that would be 10 straight years. Congrats to the ad of the year. good job💪🏻!!! Good AD’s know when they got it right. Great ones admit when they got it wrong and fix it. Not let 5 brutal years go by with bad coaching and let the program deteriorate to the condition this one is in.
Thanks. Unusually long time between hire announcement and introductory press conference. Just an observation, not an attempt to find a hidden meaning.
Lacy Schurr Named Softball Associate Head Coach - Pitt Panthers #H2P
Pitt softball head coach Jenny Allard announced the addition of Lacy Schurr as the associate head coach, Wednesday afternoon. Schurr comes to Pittsburgh after spending
pittsburghpanthers.com
Schurr was Ball State’s head coach for the past three seasons, and actually had a decent record - 86-75 overall, 63-34 in the MAC. Before that, she was Jenny Allard’s top assistant at Harvard, and was an assistant coach at Eastern Kentucky and a volunteer at Louisville, where she was an All-American as a player.
Other than what the article had to say, I know nothing about Lacy Schurr. I hope she can recruit. As with Allard, I will support the team and give this staff a fair shake.Lacy Schurr Named Softball Associate Head Coach - Pitt Panthers #H2P
Pitt softball head coach Jenny Allard announced the addition of Lacy Schurr as the associate head coach, Wednesday afternoon. Schurr comes to Pittsburgh after spending
Schurr was Ball State’s head coach for the past three seasons, and actually had a decent record - 86-75 overall, 63-34 in the MAC. Before that, she was Jenny Allard’s top assistant at Harvard, and was an assistant coach at Eastern Kentucky and a volunteer at Louisville, where she was an All-American as a player.
Next year will be another difficult year. They have a deep hole to dig out of. Hopefully in years 2 and 3 we will see progress.
Buckle your chin strap Lacy. Good luck. Best wishes for success.Lacy Schurr Named Softball Associate Head Coach - Pitt Panthers #H2P
Pitt softball head coach Jenny Allard announced the addition of Lacy Schurr as the associate head coach, Wednesday afternoon. Schurr comes to Pittsburgh after spending
Schurr was Ball State’s head coach for the past three seasons, and actually had a decent record - 86-75 overall, 63-34 in the MAC. Before that, she was Jenny Allard’s top assistant at Harvard, and was an assistant coach at Eastern Kentucky and a volunteer at Louisville, where she was an All-American as a player.
Look, I support the program as much as anyone. I wish Allard and Schurr success. But, the fact is that Heather Lake has almost certainly doomed this program to failure for at least three years by keeping Hermanek too long, then by not making a hire in a timely fashion (if as reported that is because she was turned down by numerous coaches to whom she offered the job, that is on her too since she is responsible for the program being in this mess) resulting in almost all of the key players either already having transferred or in the portal.
It is ironic that her biggest failure as AD is in the sport she played. But, it is an absolute mess. I don’t know if there are enough scholarship players left to field a team, and the coaches are being hired far too late to recruit for the coming season. In fact, teams are recruiting and getting commitments from top players in 10th and 11th grade now, so the top pitchers likely are gone for the next 3 years.
When she arrived at Pitt, softball was one of the two successful women’s sports. She fired a successful coach and the program hasn’t just gone downhill; it has fallen off a cliff.
It is ironic that her biggest failure as AD is in the sport she played. But, it is an absolute mess. I don’t know if there are enough scholarship players left to field a team, and the coaches are being hired far too late to recruit for the coming season. In fact, teams are recruiting and getting commitments from top players in 10th and 11th grade now, so the top pitchers likely are gone for the next 3 years.
When she arrived at Pitt, softball was one of the two successful women’s sports. She fired a successful coach and the program hasn’t just gone downhill; it has fallen off a cliff.
I agree with most of what you have said. However, my understanding was that Louisville hired Aprile away from Pitt, not that ADHL fired her. There is some debate as to how hard Lyke tried to retain her, which was a mistake on Lyke's part if she let Aprile walk away without making an all out effort to keep her.
Amen to that. I had my kid a Herm’s pitching camp before her junior year. THEY clocked her at 67mph. They didn’t even talk to her outside of a thanks for coming. But the entire staff was fawning over a Beverly Bandits girl (who was in my daughters group) who was clocked at 55. Herm was nothing more than a uniform chaser.
Here’s Allard’s press conference from this morning.
www.youtube.com
Heather specifically mentioned that it’s the third time she’s tried to hire Allard, which I presume was when she was hiring to replace Aprille, and I suspect she pursued Allard early in the process after Hermanek, she turned it down, and Heather circled back and was able to hire her.
Allard seems very pleased with the additional resources that an ACC school has at her disposal that Harvard didn’t. Having a person to run camps instead of having to plan and run them herself, having a compliance person instead of tracking it herself, things like that.
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Heather specifically mentioned that it’s the third time she’s tried to hire Allard, which I presume was when she was hiring to replace Aprille, and I suspect she pursued Allard early in the process after Hermanek, she turned it down, and Heather circled back and was able to hire her.
Allard seems very pleased with the additional resources that an ACC school has at her disposal that Harvard didn’t. Having a person to run camps instead of having to plan and run them herself, having a compliance person instead of tracking it herself, things like that.
She tried to hire her at Ohio State and to replace Aprile.
I think Coach Allard did a good job of explaining why she’s making a move after 28 years at Harvard:
1) If she wants to extend her coaching career she can’t continue to be a “one man band”.
2) Pitt athletics is an exciting place to be right now.
3) Respect for Heather Luke.
4) The support she’ll get at Pitt.
5 The opportunity to continue to develop both coaches and players.
If she can turn this program around, and I sincerely hope she does, it will be a significant accomplishment.
H2P
1) If she wants to extend her coaching career she can’t continue to be a “one man band”.
2) Pitt athletics is an exciting place to be right now.
3) Respect for Heather Luke.
4) The support she’ll get at Pitt.
5 The opportunity to continue to develop both coaches and players.
If she can turn this program around, and I sincerely hope she does, it will be a significant accomplishment.
H2P
Junior Haylee Brunson to PedState. One of our best hitters, .302.
BUT, we did pick up Akron's #4 pitcher so SOMEONE wants to play here!
The energy from the new coach's introductory presser was startling.
Glad she's going to get help to do everything she needs to do to extend her career.
Does that include getting up the steps to her office??
BUT, we did pick up Akron's #4 pitcher so SOMEONE wants to play here!
The energy from the new coach's introductory presser was startling.
Glad she's going to get help to do everything she needs to do to extend her career.
Does that include getting up the steps to her office??
The six figure pay raise probably had something to do with it as well.
Just watched for the first time. Great first impression. Very real. Can tell she's very experienced and comfortable. Going to be easy to root for her.Here’s Allard’s press conference from this morning.
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Heather specifically mentioned that it’s the third time she’s tried to hire Allard, which I presume was when she was hiring to replace Aprille, and I suspect she pursued Allard early in the process after Hermanek, she turned it down, and Heather circled back and was able to hire her.
Allard seems very pleased with the additional resources that an ACC school has at her disposal that Harvard didn’t. Having a person to run camps instead of having to plan and run them herself, having a compliance person instead of tracking it herself, things like that.
The last introductory presser that I was genuinely excited about was Fraud Graham. I learned my lesson.
Short of an obvious disaster, Allard will have my support for 2-3 years, but I very much have a wait and see attitude with this hire.
Short of an obvious disaster, Allard will have my support for 2-3 years, but I very much have a wait and see attitude with this hire.
By my comment, I meant that I really expect Pitt to hit rock bottom in the next year or 2. If by season 3 there are not signs of a brighter future, then I would be looking for a change. I'm not saying that the team has to make the tournament by year 3, I'm saying that recruiting has to be off life support and I would hope that Allard is putting a much improved team on the field than what I am expecting in 2024 and 2025.
Well put. The challenge for the next couple of years is building a competitive roster on top the weak foundation she is starting with. It won't be easy.
I remember when Duzz had just been named Pitt's head coach. ESPN immediately hired him for the Coaches' Room broadcast of the National Championship Game. One of the teams was from the B1G, I think it was Ohio State. Duzz would look at OSU's offensive formation and would accurately tell the viewers (and other coaches in the room) what the play was before it was even run. It was uncanny at first, until I stopped and realized "This is who he is. He's a veteran coach who through years and years honed his craft and is able to do it instinctively."
Listening to Coach Allard break down the steps that she knows she has to take and be successful at in order to build the Pitt program into a playoff team, reminded me of the steps Duzz said that was necessary for his football team to be ACC Champions.
Both coaches believe that they can do it and have that confidence having been there and done that in the past.
We'll see...
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Where is your granddaughter going? I thought you said she was only a junior?
She was going to Saint Francis, but then the coach left, so she opened up and got a full ride to Akron in the MAC.
She's a rising senior, but the better softball prospects get snapped up early, especially pitchers.
Congrats! Mine starts in less than a month. It’s all happening too quickly.
Freeport, I don’t know how to reply to your conversation, I got it in an email, but I was telling my daughter about it, and she actually knows your granddaughter. She guested on my daughters team when they were 10. Small world.
