Rounding Third Softball

This week On Deck with Dobbins sits down with one of the most successful coaches all-time in college softball, Teresa Wilson. One of the top pitching coaches in the sport for parts of four decades, Wilson had head coaching stops at Oregon, Minnesota, Washington, and Texas Tech. Her 11 seasons coaching the Huskies was one of the most successful runs in college softball history making five straight WCWS appearances while finishing runner-up in 1996 and 1999. Before retirement after the 2020 season, she had compiled a record of 824-484 over 21 seasons as a head coach.

Dobbins: You coached Washington to five straight Women’s College World Series in the 1990’s. The WCWS has obviously become the top event in all of softball. How have you seen that event evolve and develop from the time of you leading teams to Oklahoma City to what we see now?

Wilson: I was a player when the CWS was held in Omaha. When I was a young coach at Oregon, the CWS was held in Sunnyvale, CA. To see the CWS land in OKC and enjoy the same foundation for growth and tradition as the baseball CWS has in Omaha, well it has been very satisfying and fulfilling to see that happen. We all used to wish that the women could enjoy the same championship environment as football, basketball, baseball or hockey. Now we do. Watching programs grow, stadiums built, TV become a reality, donors support programs at a different level, it has all contributed to the game as we know it today. At one time, you could walk into the Hall of Fame Stadium and choose a seat close to the action. As the popularity of the NCAA CWS grew, so did the stadium! What a thrill it has been to watch that happen and to see so many fans wait with great anticipation for post season play! I tell my young players now that they have no idea what a treat it is to be able to watch softball on TV any time between February and June! They take for granted that it is common to see softball on TV. My generation and older understands what it took to get to this point!

Dobbins: Now you are coaching and leading young athletes on the club/travel ball level, how have you seen those athletes and that competition level change over the years from a prospective of a college coach and now as a club coach? What do you see as the positives and negatives?

Wilson: I had really planned to retire; maybe do some lessons, as I love to see young players grow into what they are capable of becoming. I bought a house about 80 miles north of Seattle (went back to my childhood farming roots), and started working with a young group of girls (12-13 years old) who had an incredible desire to learn and grow! They had great attitudes and work ethics and the desire to see how far they could go in this sport. They were hungry! One thing led to another and I found myself coaching a 14U team. My commitment to them was that I would coach them to play with the same foundation as I did my college teams. The goal is that when they go to college, they will be more comfortable with the foundation, talking the game, develop a high game IQ, the communication and leadership, the ability to break down the game, make adjustments, and establish their standard because they have grown up in it. As a college coaches, my staff and I were always known for our ability to develop players. As Sue Enquist says, “The game doesn’t know your age”. Young athletes will learn and adapt to what they are taught, so we choose to teach at a high level. We have also taken a deep dive into the Mindset part of the game, the “Sixth Tool” and a huge difference-maker, in my opinion. Covid was such a hard time, especially for kids. They are still feeling the effects. When you ask the kids what they are seeing in school, they will tell you that so many of their peers are still struggling. When you ask them what softball does for them, they will tell you how much they have grown. They have a team; something bigger than themselves. In our Mindset program, they learn that everything they need comes from within themselves. They are not afraid to collaborate, to communicate, to challenge and be challenged. They thrive in the challenge-failure-adjustment-growth-next challenge mentality. They have a vision for their future, not a fear of the current challenge. They know they are right where they are supposed to be, and they embrace that as part of the process leading to what they will grow to become. I don’t want to make it sound easy, because it takes a lot of work. And that is such a big part of being an elite athlete…they embrace the hard rather than getting lost in the challenge. Really, that’s the biggest difference in coaching at the college level and coaching at this level… the age. Every coach alive should understand that their purpose is to facilitate growth, to help those that we mentor and influence become the next generation of mentors and influencers.

Dobbins: One of the Hot Topics among all coaches has been recruiting. It seems Division I has cut their recruiting opportunities more and more each year. The possible elimination of Fall Recruiting has been a major part of that since it was brought for discussion in San Antonio in December. What are your thoughts on this and where do you see recruiting going as you have now worked it from both the aspect of the college coach and that of a club coach?

Wilson: The first-time college softball created a recruiting calendar; I saw us as taking a step back. I am very different from most in this view. Most see it as growth, as a quality-of-life decision. Everyone has their own opinion. When I started coaching, I knew two things: I didn’t go into coaching for the pay (my first job at Oregon I made just over $8000 a year). And secondly, I didn’t go into coaching for the hours. Coaching is a lot like farming, there are no hours. You go till the job is done, and like farming or parenting, the job is never really done. I accepted that, likely the reason I never got married. But the pay for the bigger programs kept getting better, and, as time passed, many worked to find some semblance of a normal life by reducing the amount of time they had to give to the job. Like anything else in life, you get out of it what you put into it, and I didn’t view the hours and hard work as a drawback, but as a means-to-an-end. I found fulfillment in the process of building programs. My Mom would always remind me to be patient, that “Rome wasn’t built in a day”. I would remind her that I wasn’t trying to build Rome, just a softball program! We always got a good laugh out of that parallel. I wonder what we are teaching those that are entrusted to us in today’s world. If kids emulate what they see, we should be very sure that they are seeing examples of the things that really matter in life. What are we entitled to vs. what have we earned?

Dobbins: Another aspect of recruiting has been the innovation of the Transfer Portal. Athletes moving programs on the collegiate level has become as easy as the club level these days. What is your opinion on the Transfer Portal and players “team jumping” on the collegiate level with such ease?

Wilson: I have heard the term “entitled” used so much when describing the current generation. I think so much depends on what our parents, teachers, club coaches, pastors, and other influencers set as the foundation. When I went to college, the fact that I could get a scholarship to play the sport I loved and ease the burden of paying for college off my parents’ shoulders was everything! I grew up with my parents telling me that if I wanted to go to college, they would wash dishes in a restaurant to pay for it, if that’s what it took. We have to teach our kids responsibility, accountability, the value of their work ethic, living a standard, gratitude and appreciation, and many other values. I feel blessed with the young ladies I currently coach because they have embraced those values and standards and look at them as the catalysts on which they will build their own future. What I don’t understand is how we have gotten to the point of entitlement to the degree that it now diminishes the value of my commitment to the program that gave me the opportunity to fulfill a dream, the loyalty to the coach and teammates I call family, and the trust in my character that would suggest that I won’t jump again at the next hint of a better situation. Add to the portal the whole promise of being able to capitalize on name, likeness and image, and you have a business that only considers money, not an academic institution whose primary consideration used to be the value of an education. I earlier described what was once considered only a dream; the growth of softball into a “revenue” sport. As with so many things in life, it’s all about perspective. When softball becoming a revenue sport was considered “a dream”, older and wiser people were warning, “be careful what you wish for”. When we were coming out of Covid and going into the first NCAA Basketball post season play, so many were offended that the weight room offering at a women’s site were far inferior to the men’s site. In all the conversations that took place, I was saddened to not once hear the perspective that all of basketball should be thankful for being on the court again, and in all of the financial impacts on NCAA sports, that basketball was among the least impacted. My mind went to the softball and baseball programs that were cut or had their seasons drastically reduced to try to balance a budget. And while the women felt slighted, and rightfully so, no one considered, under the circumstances, that there were other women even more impacted. I had the privilege of working with Marsha Sharp at Texas Tech. As the head women’s basketball coach, she always made sure the other women’s programs were supported in her fundraising efforts. Every year, she put at least $5000 from her fundraising efforts into every other women’s budget. Believe me, we appreciated it! I had to wonder how narrow our perspective had gotten when we were considering weights during a weekend of post-season basketball vs. sports that had been cut and players who could no longer play the game they loved. Take it a step further, and look at the perspective of being given the opportunity of having your year of eligibility given back to you and paid for, vs. all the schools that didn’t offer that year, or even those who offered it, but only at the athlete’s expense because they didn’t have the budget to pay for it. Are we all looking out for each other, or only for ourselves?

Dobbins: Coaching on the collegiate level and the club level obviously are two highly separate endeavors when it comes to the time, administrative, and operational commitment. Coaching however, seems to always be coaching. From that aspect, how has coaching athletes today changed from when you started over three decades ago? Do you think there is a big difference in today’s athletes and those when you started and throughout your head coaching runs?

Wilson: In drawing the parallel, the thing I miss most about the college game is the time. We are trying to teach life lessons in both environments. We are trying to prepare our students for the next part of their journey in both environments. My current team gets a practice plan for every practice they attend, just like college. We spent two months in the fall working on drafts for writing a recruiting letter. We have a player evaluation meeting before the holidays and at the end of the year, just like I did with my college players. For everything playing a sport and being an elite athlete offers in providing a parallel to life and the things they need to succeed, the one thing we still don’t have enough of is time. It takes time to affect a life in the best way possible. And my biggest frustration as a coach from a part of the country where indoor practice facilities are absolutes, is the fact that EVERYONE seems to come before the elite athlete when it comes to community facilities. We literally struggle to find a place to practice. Little league, HS Ball, Slow Pitch, Baseball, and adult leagues all get scheduling priority over us where we play. I often wonder why no one looks at all these girls do to excel at their gift in life and sees it as something they want to help! We live in a world where average is embraced. I was told once, as a college coach, that I needed to learn to be more tolerant of mediocrity. That’s when I knew things had changed. People now spend time trying to tear down a young student-athlete’s pursuit of excellence. It breaks my heart because these young players ask “why” and I don’t have a good answer for them.

Dobbins: Softball is always evolving. Talk a little about some of the things you believe that have been the most positive changes to the sport, and some that have been negative. Where do you see the sport going in the next 10 years that could once again be a big evolution as a whole?

Wilson: Money. This last question is hard because everything takes money. We are living in a time where people are struggling financially, and yet tournaments are still doing everything they can to make money rather than everyone working together to help families make it through this economy and live to see a better day!

Rank	Team	Overall Record	Record Last Week	Previous Rank
1	Oklahoma	20-1	3-0	1
2	Oklahoma State	20-2	2-1	3
3	UCLA	25-2	3-1	2
4	Tennessee	20-1	4-0	4
5	Stanford	22-2	3-0	5
6	Clemson	25-1	5-0	7
7	Florida State	21-5	1-2	6
8	LSU	21-1	1-0	8
9	Kentucky	16-5-1	4-0	17
10	Florida	19-4	5-1	13
11	Texas	21-4-1	4-2	11
12	Washington	20-4	2-1	15
13	Texas A&M	16-7	2-1	21
14	Duke	20-5	3-1	14
15	Arkansas	20-6	1-3	9
16	Virginia Tech	19-5	5-1	16
17	Arizona	17-7	2-1	20
18	Georgia	20-6	3-1	18
19	Alabama	20-6	3-3	10
20	Baylor	18-4	1-2	12
21	Oregon	17-6	1-2	19
22	Maryland	19-4	4-0	25
23	Utah	19-4	5-0	NR
24	Auburn	21-5	1-3	22
25	Texas State	18-7	2-2	NR
Dropped Out
	Wichita State	19-5	3-2	23
	Nebraska	16-8	2-2	24

Last year’s National Runner-up Mobile (13-2) has moved up to No. 1 in the first regular season NAIA Coaches’ Top 25 Poll. The Rams were previously No. 2 in the preseason poll.

RANK	LAST WEEK	SCHOOL [1st Place Votes}	RECORD	FINAL POINTS
1	2	Mobile (Ala.) [16]	13-2	527
2	6	Indiana Wesleyan	5-1	476
3	5	Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.)	5-3	462
4	RV	Texas A&M Texarkana [1]	15-0	454
5	7	Oregon Tech	12-5	452
6	1	Oklahoma City [2]	13-5	435
7	15	Our Lady of the Lake (Texas)	16-4	415
8	3	Science & Arts (Okla.)	9-5	406
9	10	Southern Oregon	12-4	398
10	NR	Baker (Kan.)	13-2	385
11	14	Georgia Gwinnett	13-4	369
12	13	College of Idaho	16-2	342
13	24	Cumberlands (Ky.)	17-2	333
14	11	Grand View (Iowa)	14-3	294
15	12	William Carey (Miss.)	12-4	283
16	4	Southeastern (Fla.)	7-8	267
17	NR	Northwestern (Iowa)	16-0	252
18	9	Tennessee Wesleyan	5-3	233
19	NR	Ottawa (Kan.)	13-3	201
20	8	Central Methodist (Mo.)	8-4	189
21	19	Eastern Oregon	12-6	187
22	NR	Middle Georgia State	14-2	181
23	17	Marian (Ind.)	1-1	170
24	20	Campbellsville (Ky.)	10-6-1	130
25	18	Coastal Georgia	9-4	128

Dropped from the Top 25: Jessup (Calif.), Midland (Neb.), Columbia (Mo.), Webber International (Fla.), Saint Xavier (Ill.)

Others Receiving Votes: Jessup (Calif.) 116, Truett McConnell (Ga.) 75, Oklahoma Wesleyan 73, Hope International (Calif.) 61, Midland (Neb.) 33, Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio) 23, St. Francis (Ill.) 23, Bellevue (Neb.) 17, Michigan-Dearborn 17, Missouri Baptist 14, Reinhardt (Ga.) 7, Mid-America Christian (Okla.) 7, Vanguard (Calif.) 6, St. Mary of the Woods (Ind.) 3, Arizona Christian 3.

Place		Team	Record	Points	First Place Votes	Prev. Ranking
	1		Murray State	22-0	200	12	1
	2		Phoenix	16-4	190		3
	3		Des Moines Area	7-2	180		2
	4		Northwest Mississippi	11-1	170		4
	5		Copiah-Lincoln	11-3	160		5
	6		Jones	13-4	150		8
	7		Parkland	11-6	140		6
	8		Louisburg	13-2	130		9
	9		South Mountain	16-3	120		10
	10		LSU Eunice	20-8	110		7
	11		Kirkwood	10-4	100		13
	12		Pearl River	16-5	88		15
	13		Northeast Mississippi	22-2	78		11
	14		Danville Area	7-3	72		14
	15		North Iowa Area	10-1	57		17
	16		Rock Valley	7-2	51		20
	17		Itawamba	11-4	38		16
	18		Catawba Valley	13-3	30		18
	19		Lake-Sumter State	17-9	15		NR
	20		Delaware Tech	0-0	9		12

Place		Team	Record	Points	First Place Votes	Previous Rank
	1		Grayson	19-3	160	8	1
	2		Northwest Florida State	30-2	133		2
	3		Florida SouthWestern	17-3	126		3
	4		Odessa	18-3	119		5
	5		Wallace State	15-3	112		4
	6		Walters State	16-0	105		6
	7		McLennan	17-5	98		7
	8		Central Florida	25-5	91		9
	9		Seminole State (OK)	12-2	84		8
	10		Chattanooga State	12-3	77		10
	11		Lake Land	12-4	70		14
	12		Southern Idaho	10-5	63		13
	13		Galveston	19-3	56		18
	14		Seminole State (FL)	22-6	49		11
	15		Butler	11-5	42		17
	16		San Jacinto	14-8	35		12
	17		Indian Hills	5-3	28		15
	18		Hutchinson	15-4	21		20
	19		Volunteer State	9-3	14		24
	20		Indian River	22-7	2		22

Hawley Ill Named Head Coach At East Georgia

Genetti Returns To NC State

RTS Heads To Gainesville For SEC Series

On Deck With Dobbins: Teresa Wilson

OU/OSU Top Of Rankings

McSpadden New King Of College Softball Wins

2023 National Runner-Up Sits Atop NAIA Poll

Murray State Undefeated Atop NJCAA DII Poll

Grayson Still No. 1 In NJCAA DI Poll

Sooners Still No. 1