re: Bama Softball 39-20 (10-14) (2023-24)

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We could just as easily go two and done. Getting to OKC routinely hasn’t been the problem. Winning and advancing once we get there has been. You have to have timely hitting against pitchers just as good as what you’re throwing out there.

Auburn has a more recent championship series appearance than Alabama.

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There is no comparison between Alabama and AU softball. You are just taking meaningless potshots at Alabama for reasons unknown. AU has a losing conf record in 6 of the last 7 seasons, having never even made a super regional. Their only 3 super regional and 2 WCWS appearances were under the corrupt Myers from 15-17. Alabama has made the WCWS in 4 of the last 5 held, having failed to advance only last year.

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Yea that’s a weird comment. Do softball coaches usually mess around with their players? Does he have to be gay not to?

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I'm pretty sure that was a clear shot at Auburn.

But I also don't believe Murph being gay is really a secret either. He just keeps his private life private

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How do we match up with UCLA?

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They can score a lot in a hurry. Also they didn't have much trouble shutting down Grand Canyon (top 5 in runs) & VT (2nd in HRs) and destroyed UGA in SR. So it'll be a tall task before even looking at Oklahoma.

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Why did we lose so many starters a few yrs back?

Sides left, another starter went to UF, Kilfoyle and another good young player went to OK State, and I'm probably forgetting a couple more.

There were rumblings about something to do with the culture of the program.

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Due to my kids I'm pretty plugged into the high level travel ball stuff in Metro Atlanta, and Metro Atlanta just so happens to produce what seems like 25% of all SEC softball players. And a chunk of those kids that transferred played in a program we know well.

Murphy runs the program the same way he ran it in 2011. Amateur softball has changed light years since then. Softball players entering college in 2011 were much more "raw talent" for the most part. Elite travel softball was in it's infant stages, and most kids had just played basic high school ball and maybe some mid-level travel ball when they got to campus. They were clay and Murphy was pretty good at molding it (and identifying the best clay at a time when it was pretty difficult). Think of it as football recruiting/high school football in the 80's.

Softball today is the same as baseball today. Kids have hitting coaches, trust their travel program coaches and already have developed into very high level technical players by the time they get to college. They aren't just athletes who have played the sport and are ready for refinement, a lot of them have been refined since they were 11 or 12. Murphy, from first and second hand accounts we have heard, struggles/resists having players who defer to their outside instructors from their pre-Alabama days. He wants an all-in approach in which kids do things the way Alabama teaches and if that contradicts their travel ball/high school/instructor teaching, so be it.

That led to a lot of friction with some of the girls the last 5-6 years and was a key contributor in a lot of the departures. It isn't necessarily a right or wrong issue, but it's something that a college softball coach in 2024 has to be able to deal with. I don't know if Murphy has softened at all on that, but if he doesn't then they'll continue to have issues with turnover. That is 100% his reputation amongst at least the one elite Metro Atlanta program we are involved with, and that program sends tons of kids to SEC/ACC programs every season.

It's a tough spot, too, because I understand where he's coming from. But you have to find a way to adapt while still maintaining your core program beliefs when things change around you (see Saban, Nicholas).

Well based on the offensive production of Sides and Wallace after leaving UA vs the production of the girls who stayed and did it Murph's way, I'm gonna say he's wrong and they're probably right.

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Well based on the offensive production of Sides and Wallace after leaving UA vs the production of the girls who stayed and did it Murph's way, I'm gonna say he's wrong and they're probably right.

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I agree re: just the pure specifics of the teaching they were working with. In terms of "attitudes" towards what Alabama wanted and their home programs, I don't know what the conversation was like. Alabama's entire program is made up of girls who played elite travel ball, and I would guess Alabama didn't totally overhaul all their swings. I'd guess there were more than just "hit this way, don't listen to your guy from Gwinnett County" to it. As noted above, some felt that there were "favorites" in the program, and you could see where a player would feel that the hitting situation turned coaches against them. That sort of thing could be true or it could be a combination of truth and just seeing things differently.

Either way, I think it's clear that "Murphy's Way" offensively is not (in it's current form) a winning strategy. He's still as good as anyone at building a team unit, motivating and churning out elite pitching staffs, but the entire offensive operation needs major revamping.