Mississippi State University head softball coach Vann Stuedeman recently completed her first season with the Bulldogs. MSU finished 33-24 and 12-16 in Southeastern Conference play, and returned to postseason play for the first time since 2009.
MSU saw its season end with a pair of losses in the Eugene Regional, hosted by the University of Oregon.
Today, Stuedeman reviews her first season as a head coach on the collegiate level, and looks ahead to 2013.
Q: How would you sum up the 2012 season?
A: Phenomenal. It was fun. The girls were incredible. They made my first year as a head coach one of the most memorable experiences I have had in coaching softball. I could not prouder of a group of young ladies. Making it to the NCAA playoffs, believing they could make the NCAA playoffs … buying into coaching staff’s philosophy … all of that was great.
The chemistry on this team was great. Anytime you talk about a great team, they have chemistry. We had chemistry, maturity. The team had a hunger to achieve and do some things that teams in the recent past at Mississippi State had not been able to do. I am thrilled to have been associated with this group of young ladies.
Q: Each season, a coaching staff always has a level of expectation for their team. Did you reach that or level or did you do even better than you thought?
A: In my first press conference, someone asked me if I thought we could get to the postseason. I said absolutely. There is no reason why we should not be able to play in the NCAA tournament. I had high expectations coming in and expected us to make the NCAA playoffs. However, we are going to expect that every year.
Now we take the step forward and progress in the NCAA playoffs. Coming into (2012), I thought it was a lofty goal, not knowing the players like I have grown to know them. After I got in here and learned the passion, desire, and hunger, it soon became evident to me we were going to the NCAA playoffs. They were buying in. Blood, sweat, tears, joy, all the emotions were there. It was fantastic to be at Buffalo Wild Wings (in Starkville for the NCAA selection show). I know I jumped up and down, like everybody else.
Q: If you compared the statistics from 2011 to 2012, the biggest improvement for this team was the performance of the pitchers. Since it was essentially the same group of pitchers, what was the difference?
A: In 2011, (MSU) had five pitchers. This year, we had five pitchers. We had a fifth-year senior (Misty Flesher), a redshirt senior (Lindsey Dunlap), a junior (Stephanie Becker), a junior (Kylie Vry), and a sophomore (Shana Sherrod). The team ERA in 2011 was 4.90. This year, it was 2.88. Five runs to three runs puts you in more ballgames and allows the offense more time to find a way to come back and help you win.
The girls bought into everything we tried to do. We brought in (volunteer assistant coach) Kelsi Dunne, who was a four-time All-American at (the University of) Alabama. She was a big help in the bullpen and helping to handle some of the mental game. She helped the pitchers to prepare mentally for one of the toughest schedules in the nation. We had a top 15 strength of schedule. She really helped them mentally and she really helped with some tips here and there.
You have to give credit to those five girls for really buying in to what Kelsi had to say. They are a unique group. I brought in a whole staff philosophy that we were going to use everyone. We might use all five pitchers in one game. We started the fall out that way. Sometimes we started a pitcher and later returned her to the same game. The staff mentality helped our pitchers help one another and helped set them up for success.
Q: Most sports programs have attrition, especially after the first year of a new coach. What do the numbers look like for the upcoming year?
A: We have five freshmen coming in. Two are from California, two from Texas, and one from Alabama. All five of them are superior athletes. We have two really fast girls coming in and that will help replace Brittany Gates. We also have a freshman pitcher coming in, who will replace Misty Flesher. She is a righty from Texas and a real Bulldog at heart. She is fired up about wearing the Mississippi State jersey. We have a power hitters from California, who will help offset the losses of K.K. Smith and Brittany Bell. We also have a utility player from Alabama, who is a great kid from a great family. This is a great freshman class. We also had two players who sat out the 2012 season due to the Southeastern Conference transfer rules.
Alison Owen pitched in the College World Series while at (the University of) Georgia. Julia Echols is the other transfer (also from Georgia), who will help replace Smith and Bell. We lost five seniors, but we targeted replacements who can play those positions and provide what those players provided. You can never replace anybody. It is just a matter of continuing what those seniors (Smith, Bell, Gates, Dunlap, Flesher) have established as the base for success.
Q: With your coaching tenure now a year old, what has been the response to the early success on the recruiting trail?
A: The response has been great. Everybody is very fired up about Mississippi State softball. People were impressed by our run to the NCAA tournament. We had some very good TV time last year. We played on ESPNU and beat (the University of) Kentucky. We played on ESPN in prime time against (eventual national champion) Alabama at the SEC tournament. You cannot beat that type of exposure.
We also played Ole Miss on Fox Sports South and were able to win that game. It is always nice to get on TV, but it is important to win on TV as well. The buzz about Mississippi State softball is high energy and that we are having fun. People are interested in the program. That excites me. I have enjoyed getting out on the road and talking about our players. I like bragging about the kinds of kids we have here and who we are trying to find ton continue that legacy.
The summer teams and the recruits are excited about Mississippi State softball. We need to take advantage of that, while the getting is good. We need to get some good recruits to say yes.
Q: The eventual goal of any program is to reach the College World Series. Is the first step toward reaching that goal placing yourself in the recruiting battles for some of the nation’s top players?
A: The key is to get kids on campus. They need to see Mississippi State University and what all this campus has to offer. They need to meet the people of Mississippi. This is a great state. I have met some folks in this last great year and have made friends I will have for a lifetime.
We need to get these kids on our campus so they can see what our program is all about. We need to get in the recruiting wars for all the blue-chippers. We look forward to duking out with anybody. I will throw Mississippi State’s hat in the ring for any player in the country. I feel like our coaching staff, our girls, our school, our community, I believe in our athletic department. I believe what we have to offer is worth any recruiting war. They will have to think twice before they say no to Mississippi State.
Q: After taking the job last summer, the fall was spent doing a lot of traveling and marketing for the program. Will this upcoming fall be similar?
A: We are doing the Tour de Miss again this fall. It is very important to reach out to the people of Mississippi. I want to know them and I want them to know our program. I want to help cultivate the sport of fast-pitch softball in the state of Mississippi. I want them to love Mississippi State.
We are going to three areas we didn’t go to last year. We are going to go Southaven High School, South Panola High School, and down on the coast to Harrison Central High School. We will play an exhibition game and offer a free clinic at each place. We want to meet some people and build some relationships.
Again we will culminate here in Starkville with a doubleheader and a cookout for everybody that comes. It will be a good, fun party. It will be around Homecoming weekend, so State fans can come back to campus and see some softball. We want to make as many connections as we can around the state. It is our job to help grow the sport. Our players and coaches are excited about meeting the next Bulldogs.
Q: With a new coaching staff, so much of last season was spent on the mental dynamics of the game. It was all about the mental approach to the game and building a culture. Does the approach to the fall change now?
A: Every team is different. The dynamic always changes. You do spend a lot of time in the fall figuring out your team’s identity. One of the huge hurdles that we will not have to get over is that it will be a much smaller percentage of the team trying to figure out the coaching identity. Instead of the whole team trying to figure us out, it will just be the freshmen. We will now have coaches on the team so to speak.
The returning players can help spread our vision. It’s 15 of us telling the new people how we do things, instead of just three coaches. I think that will be a huge asset starting out in the fall. The fall will still have some great expectations. The bar will be set higher for these returnees. They will have to rise to the challenge. They will have to step up, like they did last year.
The players know I will not let them slide on something I know they are capable of doing or exceeding. I don’t think they would want anything less from me. I look forward to the fall being another challenge but in a different way. We can spend more time in becoming a better team and less time in getting to know one another.
Q: What has your summer schedule included?
A: Recruiting is a big theme. We have been in Colorado and New Jersey. We have spent some time in Mississippi and been to Alabama. We have been all over the place, even California. We want the best players to be Bulldogs.
The biggest thing we have been doing this summer is (former women’s basketball coach and current Bulldog Club employee) Coach Sharon Fanning-Otis and I have been putting the fun into fundraisers. We have been working on a special project close to my heart. As most know, we are hosting the 2014 SEC tournament, which will be three straight days of national television airtime from our campus. It is a time for us to showcase our campus, our state and our softball program.
We are pushing for an initiative to build our stadium so we can look good on ESPN on national television. We want those commentators saying great things about our university. Coach Fanning-Otis and I have been on the road, up and down highways and byways of Mississippi looking for fundraisers. We are looking for people who will help us get that shovel in the ground.
The summer has been another round of excitement. On campus, we had one of the best camps I have even been a part of. We sold out our camp in the first summer. That is a huge testament to our girls. They went out in the community and met some young players, who love the sport and love the Bulldogs. We got a lot of positive feedback from camps. We also have done some camps off-campus.
We are excited about getting some of our recruits on campus during the football season on their official visits. We have fundraised, conducted camps and done lot of recruiting. As coaches, we have also taken some time to reconnect with our families and to spend some time with them.
Q: Now one year in, is being a head coach everything you thought it would be?
A: The No. 1 question that gets asked of assistant coaches is “When you are going to become a head coach?” I was an assistant coach for 14 years. I always gave them the same answer. I always said I love my job, I love my players, the people I work for have been good to me. I don’t see how it can get any better.
But, as much as I loved being an assistant and as much as I loved my job, this has been an incredible experience. I love this as much, if not more. Being a head coach is full of new challenges. It is revitalizing. It is challenging. You feel alive. You feel pushed to be better every day. Someone new around me wants to me to be better every day. My players, my coaches, they make me want to be a better coach. I love that challenge.
I feel like I am now coming into my own in a head coaching role. I feel like I was put on the planet do this. I was supposed to be here doing this. I was supposed to be the head coach at Mississippi State. It has been a great year. I am blessed and honored. It has been overwhelming. The hard stuff is fun and the easy stuff is exhilarating. The challenge of being a head coach in this league is unreal. I feel alive. I feel like l was born to do this. I am hungry to be great. We are going to work hard to get there.
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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