Softball Transfer Portal

Five years ago I would not have imagined ever questioning Walton's coaching. But, times have changed since then in a variety of ways. Certainly in the last 9 years since a natty. NIL, portal, massive increased talent across the country with the softball explosion over that time. New and very good coaches such as Deifel. Since then, we have dropped out of the Top 25. Our instate rival has progressed to be a legitimate national championship contender and we have lost five or six times in a row to them. We have zero pitchers on staff....I challenge any of our sunshine pumpers to find another program in the country...from Oklahoma to Slippery Rock....that at the end of June has no pitchers on staff. Our sunshine pumpers claim we will have another 2-3 pitchers on the staff soon. Really? Does Walton have a magic seed he planted early this month that will grow two legit pitchers by fall practice in October? Walton clearly does not care about the portal while all of his top level competitors either pound it or use it judiciously every year. He will live and die by his high school recruiting. Is he right and everyone else wrong? We are where we are and we can go on page after page on how we got here to a precarious position. But, what I could not imagine five years ago is now a reality for me. I will judge Walton differently than in the past. Pains me to say that but that's where I am.

 

Just a lot of speculations from outsiders. Some people think Bosch last season was in 2022, but since florida made it to OKC Tim decided to give him another year. Or maybe bosch signed a 5 year deal and they decided not to extend it. either way keeping bosch for the 2023 season was a massive mistake.

 

I know this is portal talk; but just going to reply to the previous posts. The hiring of Bosch was an awful hire right out of the gate. I think the only pitcher that improved under him was Lugo. Just think how good she could have been with a real coach. I'm just hoping Keagan and Ava are in it for the long haul. If they're one and done, and Oxley pulls out Tim should be fired. Sorry, those championships are almost 10 years old. Tim has a you can't touch me ego thing going on. His decision making the last 5 years has been awful. Bosch - awful hire, Aric - old college buddy awful hire. The fact he hasn't noticed the downfall of the pitching staff and that they don't hit good pitching very well tells me he thinks his crap don't stink. He needs to right this ship or be gone. Softball is the Gator athletics team I enjoy the most followed by volleyball (which needs to get new blood in the head coach office too). Sorry, just venting. Can't believe the mess he's in and he's leaving for Europe with only two freshman pitchers (who haven't enrolled yet). God save the Gator softball team.

 

I am baffled because this is not the CTW we have known.
In talking to players the culture of Florida Softball has imploded. I know players that halfway through the season he gave up, and checked out. I believe we all saw this.
Loyalty to coaches is one thing, but most important is loyalty to the parents and players who have committed to him, but only shows loyalty to the incompetent hires he has made. I cannot fathom how this change has come about.
Supposedly everyone on the team has an accountability partner, what I wonder is who is CTW's accountability partner?
You would think Samantha would be that person to be able to stand up and say, Tim, 'This is not the Florida Softball culture that was here in the Aubrey, Kelsey, Stacey, Lauren, Lele days. WTF is going on?
There is some disconnect in this program, but I do not know what it is.
CTW relates well to HS recruits but seems not to relate to transfers. Is it because he disagrees with the system, or is he not supported by NIL?
I don't know the answer, but if he does not figure it out we will not prosper.
Nobody would like to be more wrong on my take but it will have to be proven by results.

 

bottom line is he needs to adapt to the current landscape, liking it or not is not a option,imo

 

TW has the highest rated recruiting class ever coming in this fall and several of you are throwing him under the bus. Maybe we should wait a year and see how it plays out before you demand his dismissal.

 

where did i demand dismissal? i said he needs to use the portal whether he likes it or not

 

I mentioned his dismissal, but there was a scenario involved with the firing. And, I stand by that scenario.

 

Players talk! If his players are not happy they will tell other players. Alot of girls keep in touch with girls playing at other schools they grew up playing travelball with

 

Courtney Day goes from Texas to Ole Miss.

Another pitcher/hitter gone. I have no idea what Tim's plan is; but, I hope it's a good one.

 

Didn’t pitch in 23 and pitched 6 innings in 22. Not sure I’d consider a pitching solution.

 

She pitched a total of 6.1 innings last season and doubtful she beats out Reagan for 1B/DH.

 

Still an arm that we don't have. She sure could do a better job than that invisible third pitcher we have.. Just saying.

 

Doesn't hurt to have an arm where there aren't any ( which is the pen) and a bat off the bench is good to have.

 

2 pitchers (both FR) to get thru a possible 60+ games isn't going to work. Most good teams have 5 to 7 arms nowadays. We weren't successful with mainly 3 last season.

 

Maybe Coach Walton has a super secret plan that no one else knows about! Sort of like the Double Secret Probation from Animal House.

 

as I periodically come back for updates, the last 20 pages of this thread are the same complaints/worries over and over and over again. Almost impossible to continue to read.
Guess I will just wait until the program announces whatever the final additions are, and save myself the bad energy. If it turns out being as bad as people fear there will be plenty of time to be mad. If it doesn’t, this whole thread was a colossal waste of a lot of things. Either way, good luck all.

 

Yep. I'll go a step further and wait to see how next season goes. Too good of a class to generate middling results, but let's see what happens.

 

Freshmen hit walls, in all sports. Yeah, people should be concerned.I d br concerned with 2 senior pitchers going into a season.

 

Yeah, it's the number 2 that's concerning.