Show me the money here...

Pay for what?

Full ride = tuition, room and board (either on campus or a check each month), medical care, books and meal $$ on the road that almost always exceeds what the kids eat. No more bats, shoes, warmups or underarmour to buy. On top of that, most full ride kids can get summer school paid for, work at softball camps/clinics and a fifth year paid for if that's what it takes to graduate.

Sure you're paying car expenses and miscellaneous stuff but these things are far less than for a 'regular kid' since ball players have very little social life outside of the team. No coming home on weekends or Cancun for Spring break. Few kids get the full ride but for those who do it can save the family a bundle.

You can then burn a lot of that traveling the U.S. to watch your DD's team play.

 

Can also win with local kids or at least regional kids. We also have kids that can play and win who also have high academics, so that does not fly either. Baseball coach also wins and does it with local/regional kids. So does Skip. It's ridiculous to keep going that far away to get players. Most of her west coasters cannot hit. They will never get the local support they could have as long as this trend continues. There is a reason behind this type of recruiting and it needs to be addressed and I believe it will some day. I know "many" who "care" about this situation. Also how many CUSA championships has she won?

 

Some things to consider

I agree ECU probably could win and graduate kids if they could attract the 'right' in-state kids. Understand that ECU's schedule is on par with State and Carolina so you would have to get the kids those schools are getting. The facilities at ECU (a joke) have certainly been an impediment. I can see that being rectified from my office window as I type this. You know too much about the game to draw any parallels with either baseball or football . . . neither sport has talent disparities from west to east coast like softball . . . not even close. "West coasters can't hit" . . . that is fair criticism and I suspect runs will be hard to come by this year but Coach Kee's formula for winning is to out-pitch and out-defend her opponents. Her record shows it works.

The "reason" behind the recruiting? There are lots of 'reasons' . . . the most important being that it works. If you want to talk about other sports does anyone ask how many NC kids Roy Williams or Coach K has on their teams? When you really get down to 'brass tacks' does 'local support' really matter for any non-rev sport? T Holland needs to sell basketball and football tickets, that's it. While ECU makes a big deal out of baseball, ultimately its a money loser. Finally, ECU is not alone in this. UNCG and Winthrop are other examples of heavy 'importers'.

The reality is that Eastern NC (east of I-95) in good years probably produces no more than three kids who can play ACC/CUSA level ball and maybe, at best, one difference maker. If anything, everyone I talk to say that number is declining. Perhaps the trend would be different if ECU would recruit those kids and turn them into stars (ala Kelli Harrell). Maybe with the new field things will change.

 

UNC to ECU TRANSFER

ECU did get a transfer from UNC. Faith Sutton, pitcher from UNC, pretty good pitcher..she is from Greenville area. just FYI

 

As I pick myself back up off the floor... the first thought I had was "Do I have a kid I don't know about???" Whether it was GPA or SAT numbers that could have helped with academic money, my prodigy was just below those numbers... and now he is getting to learn about student loans!

He ain't dumb, he's just expensive!

 

Yes

I'm very aware of Faith as well as the other local kids on the roster.

 

Dukedog is a wizened veteran that's been down the block and back. I love reading his posts because they are informative and reasoned. I'm not wanting to hijack this thread, but a lot of information was revealed in his post and I'd like to comment on some of them

Perfect answer. Plus a coach recruits where their contacts are from. Whether it's G-Vegas or Honolulu

Not really. The coaches of revenue producing sports better bring in the best talent in the country and win--or revenue drops and they'll be paving the street looking for a job.

This is the only area that I differ in view. Because of it being a non producing sport. I think it's even more important to find local talent to get a community involved. There are many more financial contributors in and around the ECU area then you will find in Cali or Hawaii. Sometimes a program doesn't have to be profitable toplay an important financial role at a college.

UNC Charlotte is a perfect example of a school that couldn't understand why they had so little support from the community. Duh...they had no NC players on their roster. They have completely reversed their recruiting philosophy and it has shown a significant difference in their attendance and the financial support of a new stadium (btw, it's beautful and has helped them tremendously on their recruiting efforts.)

Very true..or at least it was. ECU has an opportunity to rise above most and become a premiere college baseball team. The fact that they hosted a super regional brought in $200-300,000 to the coffers...and if they reach the World Series (a commitment by the athletic dept to support) they will bring millions to their program. AD's have found a new revenue source in the major college programs. Each year, the TV revenue sources has impacted both softball and baseball.

Unfortunately, the monies go to the kings and queens of the sport, while the majority of the schools continue to be the loss leaders. With the economy impacting everyone, I suspect the northern schools will be dropping programs with the highest amount of players...it has become way too expensive.

 

All good points

The Charlotte example is very instructive. If ECU softball were more locally oriented it could possibly result in more monetary support. It's going to be tough for Coach Kee to ever have an alumni game with current recruiting strategy (unless she flies her team to SoCal). That said it would take a while for the change to occur. She will have to build trust with the TB coaches in the state.

No one seems to want to discuss UNCG or, in our neighbor state, Winthrop. Can UNCG not recruit the same kids as Campbell (nine NC kids on the roster)? Can Winthrop not recruit the same kids as USC-Upstate (ten SC/NC kids on the roster)?

 

haha...I wish I could discuss them. I just don't know about them, but I suspect they are not in state recruiting either. If I remember correctly (it may have been you), Winthrop softball is a Canadian territory.

 

Duke, you are so right about UNCG. Winthrop probably wasn't brought up because it isn't an NC school and most of the discussion was in relation to NC "state supported" schools. I would guess that this discussion could be held in many states though...

Here are the numbers for all the D-I state supported schools as listed on their websites
for in-state athletes and total roster. One or two are '09 rosters, but most are this years...

UNC 10 of 19
NCSU 10 of 22
ECU 4 of 15
UNCW 15 of 20
Charlotte 9 of 18
UNCG 4 of 18
ASU 7 of 19
WCU 11 of 16
NCA&T 9 of 18
Central 5 of 16

Some of the coaches may take offense to this discussion, but the numbers don't lie. And, the majority of us here are not only parents/supporters of North Carolina softball players, we are also North Carolina taxpayers that pay to support these schools.