IMO.Murphy is going to have to get really serious about recruiting and the transfer portal. The talent level is middle to bottom
in the SEC. I agree thereās been a decline since around 2017. Veteran players on this team ( I wonāt call any names) have regressed over the past 2-3 years. This season is practically over for this team. Offense has been terrible, not only this year, but for several. Another big issue this year is pitching. KB is it and sheās not elite. In the past Murphy had Fouts and others to cover for the inept offense, not this year. Maybe there will be some improvement this season. RTR
I wholeheartedly agree with that. I said last year he needed to be more flexible in who he takes instead of making sure players check every single box. The exodus of those freshmen girls a couple years ago bothered him, and IMO, sent him back deeper into his "checked boxes" tendency. I'm not ever going to deliberately call out a UA athlete in any sport, especially one who is giving their all and such... but the roster from top to bottom (especially the position spots) is lacking the overall talent needed at this point. And in the portal, he's going to have to be more aggressive, again IMO. But, I will also say that the rise of the SEC as a whole in recent years from the flood of money into the conference, which has been poured into all the other softball programs, was bound to be an equalizer to a big degree. Other teams are now much more talented than they used to be, the level of coaching is better, some girls that Bama would have signed several years ago are instead going elsewhere... hell, it's weird seeing MSU be good at softball now, but they are a perfect example. They were putting just enough into it to stay afloat, then decided to get serious and it's night and day from just a couple years ago. SEC Softball has officially turned into SEC Baseball, where year to year, top to bottom, there isn't much separation.
I don't see the pitching being as bad as you do, but they've had some bad moments. 30% of the runs given up have been unearned. That's a
big problem than has made the pitching look worse than it is. Also, the offense hasn't helped them out at times. But the staff ERA is under 2.00. Hard to ask much more than that. Honestly, post Fouts, that's better than I was expecting.
But again, I completely agree that Murphy needs to step back and reevaluate some things. I just don't agree with some (a few here and
many of them elsewhere) who say that he needs to be fired. That's a non-starter.
. I think that would fall under the category of COACHING
