There were some recruiting misses, and Murphy was (IMO) too particular in who he took in the portal (he wanted good players but also players that he knew would fit in with the team after last year's issues). The biggest thing, SEC softball, as a whole, isn't what is used to be. There has been a shit ton of money poured into the other programs (thanks to the TV deals), and most of those programs have reaped the benefits and caught up to Alabama and Florida. OU and TX coming in will expand the bubble of top programs even more... with OU being on a level by themselves (at the start anyway). But, the softball programs have become what the baseball programs are for the most part... not much separation from most teams from a 1000 ft view.
That's not to say Alabama can't make some adjustments and improve... they certainly can, and should. Luring more SEC caliber transfers is needed. Overall player development needs to improve. The new (additional) coaching spot for '24, IMO, really needs to be filled with a hitting coach that Murphy will trust, and free him up to concentrate on more things, day-to-day.
On this series in particular, the two teams are about as evenly matched as they could be. If they played 10 times, it would probably be a 5-5 split.
