Spring Break
The Daily OrangeSoftball | Girls club: Syracuse softball coach Mary Jo Firnbach joins her counterparts on recruiting trips
By Kelvin Ang
Posted: 5/10/06, 7:48 PM EST Section: Sports
Imagine a job that sends you to Las Vegas every summer, where you stay at a glitzy hotel on the Strip with your buddies. But then imagine days so busy you don't even have time to eat until 10 p.m., let along enjoy the festivities of the Sin City.
In her professional career, Syracuse softball head coach Mary Jo Firnbach has made more recruiting trips all across the country than she can remember. She has recruited for three different programs, spanning 14 years. Though she describes her life on the road as sometimes cumbersome, she looks forward to her annual treks across the nation anyway as happy reunions with her longtime friends in the business.
Firnbach's recruiting efforts have paid quick dividends in 2006. The young Syracuse team's success this season is due in large part to the contributions by eight freshmen from the West Coast. The Orange qualified for the Big East tournament in consecutive seasons for the first time ever. SU, the fourth seed, plays DePaul today at 10 a.m.
Firnbach first dabbled in the recruiting business as an assistant coach at Michigan in 1993. Since then, she has scouted for young talent at tournaments in Colorado, Texas, California, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oregon and Washington. Places roll off her tongue with an easy familiarity. And then, of course, there's Vegas.
Firnbach usually travels with coaches she scaled up the coaching rungs with - Florida State associate head coach Louie Berndt, Michigan head coach Carol Hutchins and private softball instructor Terry Schweikert, just to name a few.
The first thing Firnbach will tell you about recruiting trips, though, is that they are not vacations.
Each trip may last from a weekend to a full week. She arrives at the softball fields each day at 8 a.m. and usually stays past 10 p.m. In between, she has to ration her time between recruits who may be playing on different fields at the same time, all throughout the day.
Last year, she traveled to Irvine, Calif., to observe players, including current Syracuse freshmen Kim Weinstein, Tonye McCorkle and Nicole Miller, who had already signed with SU. Sitting between two fields watching other prospects, she barely even had time to chat with them.
In her professional career, Syracuse softball head coach Mary Jo Firnbach has made more recruiting trips all across the country than she can remember. She has recruited for three different programs, spanning 14 years. Though she describes her life on the road as sometimes cumbersome, she looks forward to her annual treks across the nation anyway as happy reunions with her longtime friends in the business.
Firnbach's recruiting efforts have paid quick dividends in 2006. The young Syracuse team's success this season is due in large part to the contributions by eight freshmen from the West Coast. The Orange qualified for the Big East tournament in consecutive seasons for the first time ever. SU, the fourth seed, plays DePaul today at 10 a.m.
Firnbach first dabbled in the recruiting business as an assistant coach at Michigan in 1993. Since then, she has scouted for young talent at tournaments in Colorado, Texas, California, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oregon and Washington. Places roll off her tongue with an easy familiarity. And then, of course, there's Vegas.
Firnbach usually travels with coaches she scaled up the coaching rungs with - Florida State associate head coach Louie Berndt, Michigan head coach Carol Hutchins and private softball instructor Terry Schweikert, just to name a few.
The first thing Firnbach will tell you about recruiting trips, though, is that they are not vacations.
Each trip may last from a weekend to a full week. She arrives at the softball fields each day at 8 a.m. and usually stays past 10 p.m. In between, she has to ration her time between recruits who may be playing on different fields at the same time, all throughout the day.
Last year, she traveled to Irvine, Calif., to observe players, including current Syracuse freshmen Kim Weinstein, Tonye McCorkle and Nicole Miller, who had already signed with SU. Sitting between two fields watching other prospects, she barely even had time to chat with them.
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