Coaching searches in college athletics, especially in sports that aren’t going to make anyone fabulously wealthy, can be tricky things. And softball can be trickier than most. In softball coaching circles, there are few secrets.
Fans always want the big splash, the big name that has proved he or she can win at the highest level. The truth is that finding that person is extremely rare. Three current SEC head softball coaches were head coaches in power conferences before they took their current jobs. Four were assistants. The others were head coaches at mid-major programs.
Auburn went after at least one big name after Mickey Dean announced this season would be his last. It didn’t work out for reasons that really had nothing to do with Auburn. Other head coaches at power programs were interested, but Auburn was not necessarily interested in them.
Winning a press conference and making a splash is fun, but it’s not always the best way to go. The key for an athletics director is finding the right person who is the best fit, not the best-known person. And that is the challenge that faces Auburn athletics director John Cohen.
Alabama: Patrick Murphy, assistant coach at Alabama
LSU: Beth Torina, head coach at Florida International
Arkansas: Courtney Deifel, one season as Maryland head coach
Texas A&M: Trisha Ford, head coach at Arizona State
Mississippi State: Samantha Ricketts, Mississippi State assistant
Ole Miss: Jamie Trachsel, Minnesota head coach
Florida: Tim Walton, head coach at Wichita State
Georgia: Tony Baldwin, North Carolina assistant
Tennessee: Karen Weekly, co-head coach, Chattanooga
Kentucky: Rachel Lawson, head coach, Western Kentucky
Missouri: Larissa Anderson, head coach, Hofstra
South Carolina: Beverly Smith, North Carolina assistant
Five SEC baseball teams with 13-17 SEC records made it into the NCAA Tournament field. What we have seen is why they were 13-17. Alabama was two-and-done in Tallahassee, losing to Central Florida and Stetson. Vanderbilt is headed home from Charlottesville after losing to Coastal Carolina and High Point. Florida, South Carolina and LSU all lost Saturday and are in losers’ brackets. So are Arkansas and Mississippi State, which are not among the five 13-17 teams. Arkansas is the only SEC team that has lost on its home field, falling 7-6 to Kansas State.
Tennessee, Texas A&M, Georgia and Kentucky are 2-0 in their regionals, all on their home fields, and one win away from moving on to super regionals.
