Asbury coaching turnover

I got a few comments after yesterday’s post from people who were concerned that I was highlighting the negatives in regards to the coaching changes at Asbury this offseason. It looks like most of the concern stems from this paragraph:

Asbury has now lost coaches for men’s basketball, women’s basketball, men’s and women’s tennis, cross-country and baseball as well as the sports information director in the past six months. It’s going to be a new-look season for Asbury next year with volleyball coach Craig Mosqueda, swimming coach Dorothy Kempf, men’s soccer coach Josh Oakley and women’s soccer coach Paul Nesselroade the only coaches returning from last year.

I think they’re right — this looks bad on the surface. And they are also right that there are individual stories associated with each one of the vacancies; some are good, and some are a little tougher to tell. Part-time positions are hard to keep, especially with programs that are a little lower on the totem pole.

I also can’t ignore the fact that all of this has happened at the same time. I don’t have any reason to believe that they are related in any way, but they did happen at the same time, and that is significant for the athletics department. It’s significant for recruits, and it’s significant for fans of the program.

That being said, as I discussed with Athletics Director Gary Kempf today, Asbury athletics are in a better place right now than they were a year ago. As I stressed over and over on this blog and in The Journal, the school has made three extremely good hires this offseason. Bart Flener and Will Shouse each have the basketball knowledge and recruiting skill to take their respective programs to a place the school has not seen before. Larry McCullough seems to have a great softball mind and has brought in quality talent — enough, in his opinion, to compete for a conference title in the team’s first year.

I’m not in the business of bashing Asbury College, or any institution for that matter. I cover Asbury sports — plain and simple. Having six coaching vacancies simultaneously is newsworthy. Hiring three (so far) solid coaches to fill those positions is also newsworthy. I’ve tried to cover both fairly, and I appreciate those at the college that are helping me accomplish that.