What's going on with Softball?

LKGates · Post by **LKGates** » April 12th, 2018, 11:21 pm

Coach Steve Johnson has been placed on administrative leave. This coincides with the team, which has been very competitive the last couple of years, taking a sharp nose dive. Anyone know what's up?

GordoAggie · Post by **GordoAggie** » April 13th, 2018, 5:07 am

https://news.hjnews.com/allaccess/head- ... ead%20more
Softball coach on administrative leave

Roy McAvoy · Post by **Roy McAvoy** » April 13th, 2018, 7:29 am

This stuff is so weird. What the heck is going on with our olympic sport coaches?

utaggies · Post by **utaggies** » April 13th, 2018, 10:51 am

Nose dive, as in losing at home to a 7-26 Idaho State team? Beats me. Aggies athletics is a joke right now. The gymnastics team never wins a meet and usually finishes in 3rd or 4th in a 4 or 5 team meet. The golf team is usually 12th in a 15 team tourney. We are in the bottom tier in men's basketball and very close to the bottom in women's basketball. Track and field is meh. It seems like men's tennis is the only shining light and it isn't all that bright. Yea, there are the outliers, but will we ever compete or will we simply just field teams?

Donman · Post by **Donman** » April 13th, 2018, 11:09 am

utaggies wrote: ↑
April 13th, 2018, 10:51 am
Nose dive, as in losing at home to a 7-26 Idaho State team? Beats me. Aggies athletics is a joke right now. The gymnastics team never wins a meet and usually finishes in 3rd or 4th in a 4 or 5 team meet. The golf team is usually 12th in a 15 team tourney. We are in the bottom tier in men's basketball and very close to the bottom in women's basketball. Track and field is meh. It seems like men's tennis is the only shining light and it isn't all that bright. Yea, there are the outliers, but will we ever compete or will we simply just field teams?

In fairness USU has never had a ton of success with golf.

WAAggie · Post by **WAAggie** » April 13th, 2018, 11:13 am

Awe, the glory days of women’s softball and men’s wrestling. Even had a national champion golfer in my days. Football on the other hand was beginning their 30+ year dive.

QuackAttackAggie · Post by **QuackAttackAggie** » April 13th, 2018, 11:29 am

utaggies wrote:Nose dive, as in losing at home to a 7-26 Idaho State team? Beats me. Aggies athletics is a joke right now. The gymnastics team never wins a meet and usually finishes in 3rd or 4th in a 4 or 5 team meet. The golf team is usually 12th in a 15 team tourney. We are in the bottom tier in men's basketball and very close to the bottom in women's basketball. Track and field is meh. It seems like men's tennis is the only shining light and it isn't all that bright. Yea, there are the outliers, but will we ever compete or will we simply just field teams?

The gymnastics team made it to regionals and won 4 meets. They beat at least one ranked team and it was on the road.

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stang · Post by **stang** » April 13th, 2018, 11:32 am

utaggies wrote:Nose dive, as in losing at home to a 7-26 Idaho State team? Beats me. Aggies athletics is a joke right now. The gymnastics team never wins a meet and usually finishes in 3rd or 4th in a 4 or 5 team meet. The golf team is usually 12th in a 15 team tourney. We are in the bottom tier in men's basketball and very close to the bottom in women's basketball. Track and field is meh. It seems like men's tennis is the only shining light and it isn't all that bright. Yea, there are the outliers, but will we ever compete or will we simply just field teams?

To be fair to gymnastics, they compete against very, very difficult competition and head-to-head doesn’t matter. Two years ago they finished top-25 and this year they missed qualifying for regionals by one spot even with a new coach.

I’d also argue that track and field is better than “meh” I would say.

While I do think Hartwell is a solid AD and has made good decisions with football and men’s basketball, it certainly seems he’s neglected and made some questionable decisions about other sports (Finkbeiner getting an extension, Gensel being fired, etc.)

thegreendalegelf · Post by **thegreendalegelf** » April 13th, 2018, 3:23 pm

utaggies wrote: ↑
April 13th, 2018, 10:51 am
The gymnastics team never wins a meet and usually finishes in 3rd or 4th in a 4 or 5 team meet.

Really? We beat SUU at home this year and I only go to a meet a year and we have won every meet I've been to each of the last 3 years...

stang · Post by **stang** » April 13th, 2018, 3:59 pm

thegreendalegelf wrote:
utaggies wrote: ↑
April 13th, 2018, 10:51 am
The gymnastics team never wins a meet and usually finishes in 3rd or 4th in a 4 or 5 team meet.
Really? We beat SUU at home this year and I only go to a meet a year and we have won every meet I've been to each of the last 3 years...

Yeah, that was definitely a misinformed part of the post. Gymnastics is quite good, they should not be a part of this.

utaggies · Post by **utaggies** » April 13th, 2018, 4:45 pm

Donman wrote: ↑
April 13th, 2018, 11:09 am

utaggies wrote: ↑
April 13th, 2018, 10:51 am
Nose dive, as in losing at home to a 7-26 Idaho State team? Beats me. Aggies athletics is a joke right now. The gymnastics team never wins a meet and usually finishes in 3rd or 4th in a 4 or 5 team meet. The golf team is usually 12th in a 15 team tourney. We are in the bottom tier in men's basketball and very close to the bottom in women's basketball. Track and field is meh. It seems like men's tennis is the only shining light and it isn't all that bright. Yea, there are the outliers, but will we ever compete or will we simply just field teams?
In fairness USU has never had a ton of success with golf.

I'd say Jay Don Blake winning the NCAA championship qualifies as "successful". But you are somewhat right, given Cache Valley's climate competing with warm weather teams is difficult. But we can't seem to even beat the cold-weather teams. USU did win its first-ever tourney in California last October. But recently we've lost to the same schools we beat last October, finishing 10th, 11th, and 12th in multi-team tournies. We'll see how the MW championships go next week. Last year we finished tied for 9th/10th in an 11-team race.

utaggies · Post by **utaggies** » April 13th, 2018, 5:11 pm

stang wrote: ↑
April 13th, 2018, 3:59 pm

thegreendalegelf wrote:
utaggies wrote: ↑
April 13th, 2018, 10:51 am
The gymnastics team never wins a meet and usually finishes in 3rd or 4th in a 4 or 5 team meet.
Really? We beat SUU at home this year and I only go to a meet a year and we have won every meet I've been to each of the last 3 years...
Yeah, that was definitely a misinformed part of the post. Gymnastics is quite good, they should not be a part of this.

I'll take back some of my statement on women's gymnastics. Nationally we are usually in the upper 30% to 40% of all gymnastic teams. However, in the three 4-team meets we've participated in this year we've finished 3rd each time. Sure we beat SUU three times this year, but we have finished behind them in the national rankings every year we have been in the MWC, including this year. We also lost to BYU and Boise St. three times this year. We were 2-5 in two-team meets, only winning against SUU. We were 2-0 in three-team meets. We did not qualify for the region meet this year alhough we qualified the last three years.

We compete against BYU, BSU, SUU, and Denver which are perenially difficult teams.

stang · Post by **stang** » April 13th, 2018, 5:28 pm

utaggies wrote:
stang wrote: ↑
April 13th, 2018, 3:59 pm

thegreendalegelf wrote:
utaggies wrote: ↑
April 13th, 2018, 10:51 am
The gymnastics team never wins a meet and usually finishes in 3rd or 4th in a 4 or 5 team meet.
Really? We beat SUU at home this year and I only go to a meet a year and we have won every meet I've been to each of the last 3 years...
Yeah, that was definitely a misinformed part of the post. Gymnastics is quite good, they should not be a part of this.
I'll take back some of my statement on women's gymnastics. Nationally we are usually in the upper 30% to 40% of all gymnastic teams. However, in the three 4-team meets we've participated in this year we've finished 3rd each time. Sure we beat SUU three times this year, but we have finished behind them in the national rankings every year we have been in the MWC, including this year. We also lost to BYU and Boise St. three times this year. We were 2-5 in two-team meets, only winning against SUU. We were 2-0 in three-team meets. We did not qualify for the region meet this year alhough we qualified the last three years.

We compete against BYU, BSU, SUU, and Denver which are perenially difficult teams.

Basing their success off of head-to-head is silly. Boise State, BYU, and Southern Utah the past few years are typically top-25 or very close to it. Win-loss record means nothing, nor does where they place in four-team meets. It’s all about regional qualifying score. By that measure, they were 37th in the nation this season (36 go to regionals) with a new head coach. Not terrible.

utaggies · Post by **utaggies** » April 13th, 2018, 6:19 pm

stang wrote: ↑
April 13th, 2018, 5:28 pm

utaggies wrote:
stang wrote: ↑
April 13th, 2018, 3:59 pm

thegreendalegelf wrote:
utaggies wrote: ↑
April 13th, 2018, 10:51 am
The gymnastics team never wins a meet and usually finishes in 3rd or 4th in a 4 or 5 team meet.
Really? We beat SUU at home this year and I only go to a meet a year and we have won every meet I've been to each of the last 3 years...
Yeah, that was definitely a misinformed part of the post. Gymnastics is quite good, they should not be a part of this.
I'll take back some of my statement on women's gymnastics. Nationally we are usually in the upper 30% to 40% of all gymnastic teams. However, in the three 4-team meets we've participated in this year we've finished 3rd each time. Sure we beat SUU three times this year, but we have finished behind them in the national rankings every year we have been in the MWC, including this year. We also lost to BYU and Boise St. three times this year. We were 2-5 in two-team meets, only winning against SUU. We were 2-0 in three-team meets. We did not qualify for the region meet this year alhough we qualified the last three years.

We compete against BYU, BSU, SUU, and Denver which are perenially difficult teams.
Basing their success off of head-to-head is silly. Boise State, BYU, and Southern Utah the past few years are typically top-25 or very close to it. Win-loss record means nothing, nor does where they place in four-team meets. It’s all about regional qualifying score. By that measure, they were 37th in the nation this season (36 go to regionals) with a new head coach. Not terrible.

Our national ranking has slipped each of the last four seasons. There were only 82 gymnastic teams in the country (63 of them Division 1 this year) and only 65 of them that were competitive, i.e., scores above 192. Of those 65, USU was below the median. That’s otherwise referred to as “average” or slightly below average. To say it another way, USU was behind 36 D-1 teams this year and ahead of 24 others — that means the lower 40th percentile.

Ranking gymnastic teams is not like ranking basketball of football teams where Top 40 is really some quite remarkable. Being a Top 40 squad in gymnastics is not remarkable. Only 4 MWC schools (AFA, SJS, BSU and USU) have gymnastic teams.

Post by **treesap32** » April 13th, 2018, 10:03 pm

So why was the softball coach suspended?

dogie · Post by **dogie** » April 13th, 2018, 10:18 pm

thegreendalegelf wrote: ↑
April 13th, 2018, 3:23 pm

utaggies wrote: ↑
April 13th, 2018, 10:51 am
The gymnastics team never wins a meet and usually finishes in 3rd or 4th in a 4 or 5 team meet.
Really? We beat SUU at home this year and I only go to a meet a year and we have won every meet I've been to each of the last 3 years...

Why are you bringing up these actual successful results?

USUMAE · Post by **USUMAE** » April 14th, 2018, 1:11 pm

stang wrote: ↑
April 13th, 2018, 11:32 am

utaggies wrote:Nose dive, as in losing at home to a 7-26 Idaho State team? Beats me. Aggies athletics is a joke right now. The gymnastics team never wins a meet and usually finishes in 3rd or 4th in a 4 or 5 team meet. The golf team is usually 12th in a 15 team tourney. We are in the bottom tier in men's basketball and very close to the bottom in women's basketball. Track and field is meh. It seems like men's tennis is the only shining light and it isn't all that bright. Yea, there are the outliers, but will we ever compete or will we simply just field teams?
To be fair to gymnastics, they compete against very, very difficult competition and head-to-head doesn’t matter. Two years ago they finished top-25 and this year they missed qualifying for regionals by one spot even with a new coach.

I’d also argue that track and field is better than “meh” I would say.

While I do think Hartwell is a solid AD and has made good decisions with football and men’s basketball, it certainly seems he’s neglected and made some questionable decisions about other sports (Finkbeiner getting an extension, Gensel being fired, etc.)

I agree with that. USU Men finished the indoor track season ranked #54 out of 134, although there were many who tied for 134- about 150 to be exact. By that metric, being in the top fifth is not exactly "meh" though not great either. We currently have the best women's shot put team in the nation. I wouldn't call that meh. We also have a lot of individuals who are doing extremely well.

SpectrumMagic · Post by **SpectrumMagic** » April 14th, 2018, 2:44 pm

As has been stated not good results for all the sports teams. Athletic department has its work cut out for them as we are not performing well all around

jackmormon · Post by **jackmormon** » April 14th, 2018, 6:17 pm

treesap32 wrote: ↑
April 13th, 2018, 10:03 pm
So why was the softball coach suspended?

Quit changing the subject. :D

stang · Post by **stang** » April 14th, 2018, 6:32 pm

Johnson again not on hand for the two softball games today

travelingagg · Post by **travelingagg** » April 16th, 2018, 1:09 pm

utaggies wrote: ↑
April 13th, 2018, 10:51 am
Nose dive, as in losing at home to a 7-26 Idaho State team? Beats me. Aggies athletics is a joke right now. The gymnastics team never wins a meet and usually finishes in 3rd or 4th in a 4 or 5 team meet. The golf team is usually 12th in a 15 team tourney. We are in the bottom tier in men's basketball and very close to the bottom in women's basketball. Track and field is meh. It seems like men's tennis is the only shining light and it isn't all that bright. Yea, there are the outliers, but will we ever compete or will we simply just field teams?

Track and Field is performing very well, especially the men's athletes and the throwers. Dillon Maggard is arguably one of Utah State's most decorated athletes in USU history. Period. He's a 7-time All-American. There are several other All-Americans on the team including Sindri Gudmundsson, Clay Lambourne, and Alyssa Snyder.

And USU's Men's Tennis team has won more MWC championships than all other USU athletic teams combined.

utaggies · Post by **utaggies** » April 16th, 2018, 1:38 pm

travelingagg wrote: ↑
April 16th, 2018, 1:09 pm

utaggies wrote: ↑
April 13th, 2018, 10:51 am
Nose dive, as in losing at home to a 7-26 Idaho State team? Beats me. Aggies athletics is a joke right now. The gymnastics team never wins a meet and usually finishes in 3rd or 4th in a 4 or 5 team meet. The golf team is usually 12th in a 15 team tourney. We are in the bottom tier in men's basketball and very close to the bottom in women's basketball. Track and field is meh. It seems like men's tennis is the only shining light and it isn't all that bright. Yea, there are the outliers, but will we ever compete or will we simply just field teams?
Track and Field is performing very well, especially the men's athletes and the throwers. Dillon Maggard is arguably one of Utah State's most decorated athletes in USU history. Period. He's a 7-time All-American. There are several other All-Americans on the team including Sindri Gudmundsson, Clay Lambourne, and Alyssa Snyder.

And USU's Men's Tennis team has won more MWC championships than all other USU athletic teams combined.

You are correct and I was wrong. Our men's outdoor team in currently ranked #48 nationally out of about 300 teams behind only CSU in the MWC. The women are ranked #67 but behind 5 teams in the MWC.

Post by **treesap32** » April 16th, 2018, 3:54 pm

I wonder why the softball coach got canned...

utaggies · Post by **utaggies** » April 16th, 2018, 4:27 pm

treesap32 wrote: ↑
April 16th, 2018, 3:54 pm
I wonder why the softball coach got canned...

Link?

GordoAggie · Post by **GordoAggie** » April 16th, 2018, 4:49 pm

Is he canned or still on administrative leave??

stang · Post by **stang** » April 16th, 2018, 9:39 pm

It’s been a rough season, but after all the recent success there’s no way it was performance related. Lots of very weird stuff going on in the athletics department this season.

dogie · Post by **dogie** » April 17th, 2018, 7:18 am

treesap32 wrote: ↑
April 16th, 2018, 3:54 pm
I wonder why the softball coach got canned...

It is either a mystery or impossible to know.

Roy McAvoy · Post by **Roy McAvoy** » April 17th, 2018, 7:26 am

It seems like Hartwell has had a pretty hard job while at USU. He's definitely earning his salary.

Post by **treesap32** » April 17th, 2018, 9:38 am

GordoAggie wrote: ↑
April 16th, 2018, 4:49 pm
Is he canned or still on administrative leave??

No idea... I know he's been "suspended" and then updated to being put on "administrative leave" for the last 8 games so...

What's the story?

stang · Post by **stang** » April 17th, 2018, 10:53 am

swishh_15 wrote:It seems like Hartwell has had a pretty hard job while at USU. He's definitely earning his salary.

Yes, but I also think he’s made some things more difficult for himself (Gensel)

utaggies · Post by **utaggies** » April 17th, 2018, 11:34 am

treesap32 wrote: ↑
April 17th, 2018, 9:38 am

GordoAggie wrote: ↑
April 16th, 2018, 4:49 pm
Is he canned or still on administrative leave??
No idea... I know he's been "suspended" and then updated to being put on "administrative leave" for the last 8 games so...

What's the story?

Didn’t you just post that he was canned?

Post by **aggies22** » April 17th, 2018, 12:56 pm

utaggies wrote: ↑
April 17th, 2018, 11:34 am

treesap32 wrote: ↑
April 17th, 2018, 9:38 am

GordoAggie wrote: ↑
April 16th, 2018, 4:49 pm
Is he canned or still on administrative leave??
No idea... I know he's been "suspended" and then updated to being put on "administrative leave" for the last 8 games so...

What's the story?
Didn’t you just post that he was canned?

I think sap was just trying to get the direction of the thread back on topic.

GordoAggie · Post by **GordoAggie** » April 17th, 2018, 4:45 pm

Player and parent complaints to title IV office got the ball rolling.
Some audio recordings of coach saying something to girls surfaced. Things don't look good for him.

NVAggie · Post by **NVAggie** » April 17th, 2018, 8:40 pm

USU can’t afford. To let these issues go. They have been called out and must show they will respond.

dyedblue · Post by **dyedblue** » April 17th, 2018, 9:03 pm

USU can't let these things go, because they are wrong and should be handled immediately and appropriately.

Torrey Green, the frat boy, and the piano man are all despicable and the way they were handled is inexcusable.

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