Mickey Dean Era officially ends / candidates to replace him

[CameronCrazy 1,111]

I would be ecstatic if we landed either one of the coaches that lost last night! The Duke HC is a rising star. The Okla St HC is building an absolute powerhouse with the Cowgirls. 

[arktiger1975 672]

7 hours ago, CameronCrazy said:

I would be ecstatic if we landed either one of the coaches that lost last night! The Duke HC is a rising star. The Okla St HC is building an absolute powerhouse with the Cowgirls. 

One thing is for sure. We are about to find out if Cohen is serious about softball.

[Jad0003 481]

12 hours ago, saminbama said:

Indeed.  Sounds familiar, except for the part about being in the WCWS.

Honest question.  Why is he your favorite?

I think he is the best coach we can hire who is actually willing to come here.

Gajewski and Tarr definitely have better resumés, but I do not think Auburn is willing to pay them enough to leave their current situation. Marissa Young is also a hot name, especially with the WCWS this year, but her résumé is very similar to D’Amour’s.

From a coaching perspective, D’Amour has produced very good hitting teams, and his teams have set records for homeruns in the past two seasons at VA Tech. The game is trending towards offense, so I think we need to embrace the trend.  His team’s batting average was .342 in 2024, and he had two All-Americans with BAs over .400. If there is a question, it is the pitching. He lost his pitching coach in the middle of 2023, but he stabilized the staff this year with the hire of Josh Johnson.

He’s done well at VA Tech, including two Super Regional appearances, but I think he’d recruit better and have more access to resources at Auburn. I think he’ll need to answer questions about his time at Missouri, but he’s run clean programs at Kennesaw State and Virginia Tech. He’s not afraid of competition, and his teams have always strong OOC schedules.

At the end of the day, he’s done more with less, and I’d like see him as the head coach if we aren’t able to get the names above. 

Lombardi and Ball-Malone also are top of my list, and  I am very against Crowell at Penn State. If we go the assistant route, I’d like to see one of the Gasso’s or Malveaux. I don’t think Rocha is a realistic candidate. 

[Jad0003 481]

Hopefully we will have someone in place in the coming days. 

It doesn’t seem like I’ll get my wish on Pete D’Amour though. 

[RedDirtFan 59]

Reported on another thread: 

Oklahoma State’s Kenny Gajewski was targeted by Auburn, but has decided to stay put in Stillwater after considering the position, Ryan Breeden of the Stillwater News Press reported Monday evening.

News of Gajewski’s plan stay at Oklahoma State comes just days after he and the Cowgirls’ 2024 season ended in Oklahoma City after suffering an 8-0 loss to Stanford on Friday. This year’s Women’s College World Series berth was the fifth consecutive for Gajewski and the Cowgirls.

[RedDirtFan 59]

Kirin Kumar off the coach's carousel...⏰

https://x.com/OhioStateSB/status/1798013108155486548

[Jad0003 481]

5 hours ago, RedDirtFan said:

Kirin Kumar off the coach's carousel...⏰

https://x.com/OhioStateSB/status/1798013108155486548

Good hire. Her offenses are stout. 

It sounds like we put the majority of our eggs in the Kenny G basket, and it didn’t come to fruition in the end. I wonder if it possibly made us miss on other candidates resulting in the delayed announcement.

Robocoach seems to think it’ll be Malveaux from Tennessee. He’s one of the top offensive minds in the country. He has a reputation of a good recruiter, so it would align with what Cohen said recently. His wife coaches also coaches the catchers and baserunners for Tennessee. I think Carosone coached infielders the past few years, so there might be room for her to continue on staff if both parties are interested. However, I don’t see room for Rogers as she coached our catchers this year. The pitching coach will be a big hire as we will need development with the loss of Penta, Lowe, and Widra.

[AU9377 5,995]

2 hours ago, Jad0003 said:

Good hire. Her offenses are stout. 

It sounds like we put the majority of our eggs in the Kenny G basket, and it didn’t come to fruition in the end. I wonder if it possibly made us miss on other candidates resulting in the delayed announcement.

Robocoach seems to think it’ll be Malveaux from Tennessee. He’s one of the top offensive minds in the country. He has a reputation of a good recruiter, so it would align with what Cohen said recently. His wife coaches also coaches the catchers and baserunners for Tennessee. I think Carosone coached infielders the past few years, so there might be room for her to continue on staff if both parties are interested. However, I don’t see room for Rogers as she coached our catchers this year. The pitching coach will be a big hire as we will need development with the loss of Penta, Lowe, and Widra.

That would be a very good option, imo.   I believe you are right about putting all of our eggs in the Kenny G basket.  We likely had good reason to do that, but with Oklahoma and Texas leaving the Big XII, and OSU making the $ right, the advantage changed and staying put just made more sense.