STARKVILLE — Vann Stuedeman fits the mold.
Energetic, confident, and experienced, the former University of Alabama pitching coach was introduced Thursday as Mississippi State”s new softball coach.
With a cowbell in her right hand, Stuedeman laid out her plans for taking the Bulldogs back to the NCAA tournament — they”ve been absent for the past two seasons — and recruiting top-flight players to Starkville.
When asked how long it would take to beat Alabama, she quipped “just seven innings.”
When Stuedeman was asked about her recruiting base, she emphatically stated she wanted to beat “the school up north” — MSU fans” moniker for rival University of Mississippi — for the top in-state talent.
“We are going to get the best player in the state of Mississippi every year,” Stuedeman said.
Much like football coach Dan Mullen, who coined the tag “the school up north” shortly after he was hired, Stuedeman appears ready to capitalize on her passion and intensity.
Stuedeman, like Mullen, will be a head coach for the first time at MSU.
Though experience is a factor in any coaching hire, MSU Director of Athletics Scott Stricklin puts a premium on coaches who share his vision of building the MSU brand and making it a destination spot.
Stuedeman, who spent 11 years at Alabama and helped take the Crimson Tide to the Women”s College World Series five times, said the opportunity to play at MSU will sell itself.
“Starkville, Mississippi State — that”s the key,” she said. “Scott Stricklin, (assistant athletic director) Ann Carr, those are the people that sell this university. We”ve got to sell our vision and our plan. Basically, (student-athletes) can come in here and be the face of Mississippi State. They can come in here and build this program into something unbelievably good. I have no doubt in the vision of Scott Stricklin, his plan, and vision for softball.”
Stricklin said he had little luck interviewing assistant coaches to replace former coach Jay Miller, whose contract wasn”t renewed after a 24-32 campaign. Initially, he said the school focused on other head coaches.
“The more and deeper we got into it, we talked to some really good coaches, but I didn”t know if they were the fit we were looking for,” Stricklin said. “As I talked about that model, the intensity and the energy, whenever we described it that way to the people we talked to in the coaching circle, Vann”s name was one of the first ones to come out.”
Stricklin wanted a coach who could match up with the top coaches in the Southeastern Conference, which has fielded at least two teams in the Women”s College World Series in five of the past six seasons.
Alabama, with Stuedeman as its pitching coach, was one of those teams each year.
“The level of coaching in our league is just as good in softball as any of those other sports (football, basketball, and baseball),” Stricklin said. “I don”t think she”ll ever be someone who backs down.”
Stuedeman tutored 10 All-America pitchers in the past seven seasons. In her 11 years in Tuscaloosa pitchers posted a 579-149 record and tossed 22 no-hitters. The Crimson Tide ranked in the top 20 nationally in ERA in five of the past six seasons. They led the SEC in ERA last season and were second in the nation.
Stuedeman will continue to oversee the pitchers, at least initially, at MSU. Last season, the Bulldogs ranked last in the SEC with a 4.92 ERA. Opponents hit .312 against MSU last season.
“The turnover in the pitching positions — coach Miller would say the same thing — is tough,” Stuedeman said. “That”s where I come in. Our pitching was number one in the league last year, and we were second in the country in ERA. Our pitchers have to get to work. Offensively, we”ve got to score four runs minimum in this league to win.”
Stuedeman was recently dismissed from her job at Alabama for what head coach Patrick Murphy called a “business decision.” Stuedeman was believed to be a replacement for Murphy after he left Alabama on June 9 to take the job as head coach at LSU. But Murphy changed his mind and returned to Alabama three days later and relieved Stuedeman of her duties the following day.
Alabama never officially named a replacement for Murphy in his short-lived exit, and Stuedeman wouldn”t say if she was offered the job, other than having “informal conversations about what the next chapter would be.”
“Change is good in this sport, in any sport,” Stuedeman said. “I credit coach Murphy in making a quick and gutsy decision to come back. He is a great leader and he”s provided me with so much over the last 11 years. I have so much respect for him and I thank him. He is the reason I”m having the opportunity and am in the situation to be a head coach.”
MSU senior pitcher Misty Flesher said the team was anxious to see who the administration would hire after Miller, who coached the Bulldogs for nine seasons and left as the program”s winningest coach.
Having watched Alabama”s pitchers for the past three seasons, Flesher is excited to work with Stuedeman.
“Alabama”s always been stacked in pitching,” Flesher said. “Any one of the quadrants, they can hit it. They kept all the hitters off balance all the time. As a pitcher, we”re so excited to get her in here to help us, anything from calling pitches to helping us face batters.”
Stuedeman, a Birmingham, Ala., native, is a 1994 graduate of Huntingdon College, where she was an All-America pitcher. She also worked as a coach at West Alabama, Alabama-Huntsville, and East Limestone High School.
Stuedeman also announced Thursday that Alan Reach would be MSU”s new hitting coach.
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