WHY DOESN'T ECU RECRUIT IN NC

I have often wondered why ECU lets so many fine young athletes get away. She recruits a lot on the west coast and in Hawaii. Are there any ideas and opinions? I think she does an injustice to so many fine young regional players as well as to ECU's program.

 

Some answers

T Kee does not appear to actively recruit anywhere in the SE US except the Richmond area where she has a connection with one travel team (Sports Plus). She does have a few local kids on her roster, most notably her "go to" pitcher Keli Harrell, but most of these kids, including Keli, were sort of handed to Kee in that they did not really play for high profile travel teams nor try to be recruited elsewhere. If you spend much time on the travel circuit in NC & SC you'll almost never see Kee or her assistant but you will see them in Colorado each summer. ECU does not attempt to have clinics or summer camps in any serious way and really does little if anything to have any presence in Greenville's very active softball community. Hence local D1 prospects like Sam Murad, Anna Roberts, Faith Sutton (UNC), Leslie Furness (UNCG), Meredith Felts (James Madison), Lindsay Styons (UNCW), Liz Houser (Miami-Dade CC) never build any affinity for the staff or the program. Kee's very happy to have local kids as long as she doesn't have to actively recruit them (think scholarship $$). Also, there are advantages to having kids whose parents are 3,000 to 6000 miles away.

All that said Coach Kee has been very successful in terms of W/L's.

 

I know all these kids and can name many more such as Jenny Jackson(WC), Meredith Knox(Anderson), Lindsay Shaw(not playing) and so on. Coach Kee was aware of all the kids mentioned.

I just do not agree with her recruiting philosophy. The baseball team takes the exact opposite approach and does really well. Hopefully Coach Holland will address this someday.

 

I occassionally set in meetings with Coach Holland

I can tell you that as long as Coach Kee wins games and graduates players that he will likely not intervene. Tracy works to "stay below the radar". Look at the port-a-johns that the girls and fans use setting beside a multi-million dollar baseball facility. You would think the softball program would at least rate 'indoor plumbing'.

I do know at least one bigtime ECU supporter has asked the same question you have. If this person were to press the issue perhaps something would change but I really don't see that happening.

There are numerous other players we both could site. I just chose the ones from Pitt Co over the last couple of recruiting classes.

 

and stays within the budget?

 

I believe it's more than just winning games. It's about loyalty to a region were your support comes from. Besides she doesn't do that well in conference play. No NCAA trips. Local recruiting would bring in more support both financially and fan support. I know dozens of folks who would like to see change. We can only hope. Western C. did quite well with NC girls.

 

DI In-state Percentages

Not to be judgemental in any way, but to provide some details for this thread, here briefly is a quick study of the current NC DI rosters (presently shown on their Web sites). The numbers reflect the total number of players listed, the number of NC recruits listed on the rosters and the corresponding percentage of NC players on each team. 2007 recruiting classes are not part of this data***:

College/Total/NC recruits/% from NC
Appalachian State 18/12 = 66.7
ECU 18/6 = 33.3
Elon 18/7 = 38.9
Campbell 17/7 = 41.2
Gardner-Webb** 17/8 = 47.1
NC A&T 13/6 = 46.2
NC State*** 21/10 = 47.6
UNC Chapel Hill 22/8 = 36.4
UNC Charlotte 17/11 = 64.7
UNC Greensboro 19/8 = 42.1
Western Carolina 15/12 = 86.7

*UNCW roster unavailable online when the survey was conducted.
**GWU also has two players from Upstate SC which is within 30 to 45 minutes of the campus. Allowing for those players, GWU has a 58.8%.
***NCSU, the only program with a press release online announcing their '07 class, will lose three NC players to graduation at year's end and pick up one incoming NC frosh next fall. Assuming total roster number remains constant, the Wolfpack '07 % will fall to 38.1.

 

Thanks for these numbers. They sure tell the story. Also 2 of ECU's are walk-ons.

 

what's

What would be the average & largest attendance any of you have seen at a college softball game in NC?

 

Average Attendance

ECU may average around 100 per game, State and UNC maybe 150 unless they are playing each other. I suspect most D2 schools do well to draw much above parents and player's "significant others". Largest crowds I've seen were at the ACC tournament in Chapel Hill last Spring. There's no incentive for schools to market games since few charge admission. At ECU, and most schools for that matter, its impossible to charge because of fields are not secured in any way.