Im sure the guy Squeak Harrell, who won Coach of the Year from Dirtbaggers is a great guy, class act, heck of a coach, all that good stuff, but the Dirtbaggers didnt have the best year out of the E team in the state at 26-20 overall in class record. Sure they won the E State, hats off to you, but the Coach of the Year for the entire state of NC across all classes has a record of 26-20 in class?
Again, no disrespect to Squeak or anyone from the Dirtbaggers, but when you have a team like Carolina Merchants who had the year they did, how do you not recognize their coach as the COY?
24-11 in class record, D State champs and finished 9th overall at the D Worlds?
Kind of a joke to have an award and not recognize the team that clearly had the most success in your state for that year.
I greatly respect your opinion but here is my take on it. The last thing I want to do is start a shouting match. I'll say this and that'll be it for me.
Your post sounds like you feel coach of the year should go to the team that had the best record or most success that year. If i'm not mistaken wasn't the nfl coach of the year this past year Bruce Arians? His cardinals sure didn't have the most success in the nfl, best record, or even a playoff win. Did that mean he didn't deserve the honor of coach of the year? Of course not; he was able to over come obstacles and get the most out of the players that he had. Coaching is a whole lot more than wins and losses, but how you can respond to certain situations, how you overcome certain problems, what you can get out of your guys, and most importantly what they take with them beyond the game of softball. I know we didn't win every game this year but anyone who knows us knows that we had injuries and everything else one can think of go wrong at the beginning of the year last year but we were able to hold it together and go on an awesome run at the end of the year. Yea, our winning percentage this past year wasn't our best but the effort we showed and the ability to stay together and keep pressing forward to our goal in the end was like no other team that i've been a part of. Billy Donnivan and Dean Smith have the same amount of national championships but I hear no one comparing donivan to smith. I'm in no way trying to compare myself to smith, just saying that sometimes the impact that we can have on players is far more important than wins and losses. With that being said anyone who knows me knows that we don't play for the awards. We're a group of guys that love being around each other and enjoy playing together. The accolades and everything that comes with this game is just extra. Heck, I'm a huge fan of the merchants myself and wish them nothing but the best. Any recognition that receive is greatly deserved. They're great team and a class act. Again respect your opinion, but that's just my few cents. I don't do this for the awards but I greatly appreciate usssa selecting me and I still consider myself blessed to be with the guys that I am with because at the end of every weekend I get to say that I'm with a great bunch of guys, win or lose.
First off, thanks for taking the time to reply with a well written and very classy post. I have no doubt this post is a microcosm of person you are and that lead to you receiving this award and the recognition, so congrats to you on all accounts for not only being a reputable man and being recognized by USSSA.
With that being said, I started by initial post by asking who voted on these awards, trying to gain clarification on what exactly was use to determine the players and coach that were selected. I knew going into it that nobody from USSSA would actually take the time to reply and help me understand, but none the less I wanted to give them the opportunity to do so.
I would think the vast majority of the softball community, unless you played on that team, have no idea how most of the coaches/managers/sponsors out there impact the guys that play for them. I would also think that the majority of people have no idea what those same coaches/managers/sponsors do off the field to impact the community, etc around them. Ive never had the chance to play you or the Dirtbaggers, but I have had the chance to play Carolina Merchants on numerous occasions and have been left with nothing but positive experiences from how they played the game and the overall class acts that the team and coaches were.
Im sure your team wasnt the only group of guys that faced obstacles throughout the year. Im sure plenty other teams had injuries and lost guys week to week and throughout the year due to non softball related life occurrences. Congrats for being able to rally your troops and keep them together as you faced this adversity and as a result have a solid season together.
I do feel however, without having a full understanding of what all determined this award, who voted on the award, etc that the only thing that can fairly be used to measure who the 'coach of the year' was, is the numbers that I mentioned in my initial post. The W-L records and the overall success that the teams had throughout the year. Sure, Bruce Arians was named the NFL coach of the year and they didnt have the best record or win a playoff game, but they did compete in the toughest division in the NFL, did have the best record for the majority of the year and did so most of which without having their starting QB. To say they just gave it to the guy who had the best character and who kept their team together the best is kind of misleading, as the Cardinals had a great deal of success throughout the year. Not to mention this is slow pitch softball that we all play for fun and recreation, not the NFL where people are making a living.
None the less, congrats to you for another winning season in E and taking home such a coveted award. My posting this initially was in no way trying to take that away from you or put you or your guys down in anyway. I noticed that you are registered in NC to play E again this year and I hope that is just a mistake. 145-87 record over the past 4 years, .625 winning percentage, 8 tournament championships in 50 tournaments entered shows me that you are more than capable of competing at a higher level and hopefully you along with other teams out there will take the initiative yourselves to play at a higher level since we all know the directors arent going to do their part to make sure this takes place.
Thanks again for a well written and well thought out reply. Congrats on being named the 2014 NC USSSA Coach of the Year and most of all, best of luck in the 2015 season.
1. MUST play in the States & Worlds 2. Team must be loyal to the program (Top 5% of tournaments played in program) 3. Teams need to have a minimal amount of roster moves.
This is how.....and yes Squeak is a heck of a guy!
Im sure Squeak is a heck of a guy and I really meant no disrespect to him or anything Dirtbaggers accomplished by my post.
With that being said, from looking at the D program awards, the Carolina Merchants met the criteria you highlighted and as a result had the D program player of the year...