• Hi Guest, want to participate in the discussions, keep track of read/unread posts and more? Create your free account and increase the benefits of your eGriz.com experience today!

New Softball HC - Stef Ewing

MissoulaMarinerFan

MissoulaMarinerFan

Well-known member
UM officially has a new softball HC - Stef Ewing, formerly of Cal State San Marcos. (*sidenote - this was not a name I ran across during my research). Appears to be a solid hire if Coach Ewing can translate the last 3 very successful seasons to UM.

Article: https://gogriz.com/news/2024/6/27/softball-ewing-named-montana-softball-coach

Blurb that stood out to me:
She took a team that finished last in the California Collegiate Athletic Association the season prior to her arrival and led the Cougars to a 45-win season in 2022 and to the eight-team Division II World Series in 2023.

Over Ewing's final three seasons at Cal State San Marcos, the Cougars won 115 games and three times advanced to the NCAA tournament.
Click to expand...
https://twitter.com/x/status/1806387553660281205
 
Seems to be a pretty good hire. Appears to have recruiting ties to Arizona, California, the Pacific Northwest, and maybe even New Mexico. She also appears to be pretty young. Is she even 40? That could help the players relate to her more. Previously worked at the D1 level at Butler and New Mexico State, so that's important, but was also a high school coach which should help in recruiting. Looks like she did a great job at turning around Cal State San Marcos as well. I think if we would've played CSSM this year, we may have lost.

Are any of her players from CSSM worth bringing up to UM?
 
Griz til I die said:
Seems to be a pretty good hire. Appears to have recruiting ties to Arizona, California, the Pacific Northwest, and maybe even New Mexico. She also appears to be pretty young. Is she even 40? That could help the players relate to her more. Previously worked at the D1 level at Butler and New Mexico State, so that's important, but was also a high school coach which should help in recruiting. Looks like she did a great job at turning around Cal State San Marcos as well. I think if we would've played CSSM this year, we may have lost.

Are any of her players from CSSM worth bringing up to UM?
Click to expand...
Doesn't appear to be. According to the bio here: https://csusmcougars.com/sports/softball/roster/coaches/stef-ewing/893, she was on the Greek National Team in 2004 at age 16, so doing the math, is in her mid-30's.
 
Griz til I die said:
Seems to be a pretty good hire. Appears to have recruiting ties to Arizona, California, the Pacific Northwest, and maybe even New Mexico. She also appears to be pretty young. Is she even 40? That could help the players relate to her more. Previously worked at the D1 level at Butler and New Mexico State, so that's important, but was also a high school coach which should help in recruiting. Looks like she did a great job at turning around Cal State San Marcos as well. I think if we would've played CSSM this year, we may have lost.

Are any of her players from CSSM worth bringing up to UM?
Click to expand...
I like the prospect of bringing the freshman pitcher Collins and maybe a few younger infielders with bats. I think their ace will be a senior and is from SD County, so maybe won't be willing to roll up to Missoula for one year, but I hope so.
 
Knowing some of the candidates who had legit Division I head coaching experience makes me think that the politically correct decision for the athletic department was to hire a female.
 
Stef Ewing is a great hire. She's here on merit.

I know enough at this point, to know that her CV along with her initial interview and references put her above a lot of people despite the fact that she's a DII HC.

I was told she absolutely nailed the in person interview and provided a detailed plan to develop a sustainable softball program at the UM. The person she beat out was a part of the Pinkerton tree and I know for some that was an essential qualification for the new HC. That should say something.

She is well respected in coaching circles here. Despite impressions, you don't build a DII program in Southern California without the ability to identify talent and develop it. There are nearly two dozen D1 and D2 programs within a 100 miles of CSUSM including three highly successful D1 softball programs in SDSU, USD and UCSD with a 25 minute drive of San Marcos. She was able to do it while keeping players on her roster, most of the current roster has been cultivated since 2020 and was a junior laden roster. She because of her experience as D1 assistant and as an ASA coach understands what recruiting looks like in the San Diego/Riverside area. An area that is one of the deepest pools of talent for softball in the United States.

I am encouraged for 7,000 reasons, but at the top of the list was a recognition by administration they needed to own up to their responsibility to renew their efforts to provide the program with all the resources to develop a top tier mid-major softball program at the UM. I was given an impression that her assertiveness and clarity on what a quality D1 program should look like won over concerns about her DII experience.

The softball coaching community is pretty small, and while I am not directly in it, I am in the region and have had former students play against CSUSM over the past few years and I just haven't heard a lot negativity in regards to attitude and how they play. I can't say much more, but we should be excited about this hire. I think if you call coaches in the region who have competed against the CSUSM program you won't hear a lot of negatives about what she's accomplished in San Marcos.

We all want the same thing. A successful UM softball program. I think Ewing gives the program a great shot at accomplishing that goal.

-GF24.
 
Wonder if Ewing will hire CSUSM asst. coach A. J. Robinson at UM. I know zero about him, but a Griz SB supporter told me he's pretty well known nationally in AAU and National Fastpitch Softball Assn circles.
 
CDAGRIZ said:
Send ‘em. Test 2 and 6 (or 4). Run into a tag once in a while, fine. But we hopefully won’t sit on first and run back to the dugout at the end of an inning with nothing ventured.

Edit: I understand it’s situational, but we have to be thieves.
Click to expand...
If we get half those numbers, that’s the equivalent to 25 singles that are now doubles, doubles that are now triples.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top