bobby e: You make a good point. I've never met Howard Honaker and have no idea of his brain level, and my comment wasn't a shot at him. He might be the smartest person in Ohio for all I know. I was merely saying that whoever gets this job needs to have both energy and brains. I might add that we need someone who is really committed to building fast pitch in Ohio.
No matter whether anyone likes it or not, Division I coaches overwhelmingly recruit from the top ASA tournaments. That's not to say that MAC coaches and even OSU are not at the NSA WS, NSA States and qualifiers, USSSA or PONY events, as I have seen them at these events. But for the most part, if a girl wants to play Div. I college softball, she greatly increases her odds if she's at ASA Nationals, Colorado, Las Vegas, Compuware, Carolina, etc., etc, etc. Even in Ohio, the bigger exposure tournaments (Sluggerfest, Stingrays, Loudonville, Kidron, GAPSS, Toledo Fast Pitch Classic) are mostly ASA. I know there are exceptions like the SGS tournaments that do well and Beavercreek often draws a few college coaches and I'm sure some others, but my main point still stands.
Given that climate and that Illinois (and I would argue Indiana as well) are kicking our rear ends, we need somebody at the top of ASA J.O. in Ohio to be ready to go in and kick some butt of his/her own. I'm thinking if I were the ASA J.O. Commissioner, I might be making an appointment to see the heads of the Lasers, Ohio Ice, Maddogs, Stingrays, Cincy Elite, Cincy Storm (etc, etc, etc, as I know I am leaving many organizations out, including my own so that nobody will be too mad at me). I'd be lobbying all of these organizations and teams and letting them know I'd do whatever I could to help.
I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong and none of this is a good idea. If not, I'd love to hear why not.
