Making Sense of Schoblocher's Exit

On Wednesday night, it was tweeted out that North Texas outfielder and super slugger Taylor Schoblocher is leaving the Mean Green softball team. This is really surprising news, and has a whole lot of consequences.

The biggest question -- Why? In Brett Vito's article, Scho says a "hostile environment" was created, specifically between her and coach Koz -- the new hitting coach.

That's all fine. It's not uncommon for players and coaches to butt heads. About 90% of the time players commit to a college because of the coaching staff. When those coaches leave, the players usually want to leave the school, as well. 

But what makes this situation really fascinating is that Scho is staying at UNT -- just giving up softball. Let's take a look at everything she's leaving behind:

• All-Region player after 2015 season
• Named season's first C-USA Player of the Week
• Then a day later, named National Player of the Week
• Breaking several North Texas single-season records

Head coach Tracey Kee has probably been the coolest coach I've ever had to deal with at North Texas, and we have a good working relationship. With that said, it's hard to image a situation so foul that your best hitter would feel it's better to leave the sport altogether. 

Coach Kee and coach Koz have worked together for a long time -- starting at East Carolina. They put together a successful program, but a couple of bad years and then complaints of verbal abuse, among other things, forced them out. 

Kee landed at North Texas a year later; Koz joined her the year after. Could this just same song, different verse in Denton? I don't know.  

I've never brought up the ECU incident with anyone in the softball department. The only conversation I've had was with an NT media relations worker -- who downplayed the situation to me, saying every college coach has to be a hardass to be successful.

Sure, Scho didn't always give the most amount of effort on the defensive side -- but she was basically the biggest thing coming back for the team. The Green Guys discussed what the softball team had coming back (16:30 mark). 

What could have happened to make a player quit the sport she's most likely been playing since six or seven years old? Maybe Scho really was through the game. Maybe she's burned out after years of putting an amazing out of time and effort into something. Maybe she just wants to start over. 

But with a player as talented as Scho is -- she could have transferred to a whole lot of other teams and been a huge part in a championship run (softball is a sport where transfers don't have to sit out a season). 

Instead, Scho will spend her senior year doing what everyone else her age does -- freak out about what to do after graduation. 

Call to the Bullpen

A while back I mentioned I got an unexpected opportunity to work on a North Texas softball T.V broadcast.

I became the timeout coordinator for the Fox Sports broadcast of NT vs. UTEP on Saturday, May 2. Here's the story behind that.

Just chillin' in the background

I worked as a sideline reporter with the up-start American Sports Network for three Mean Green football games this past season. It was a pretty awesome experience.

Anyways the producer who ran those games mainly works for Fox Sports doing New Orleans Pelicans games and other sports between the end of their season and college football starting

I was hanging around the NT athletic center and I heard that this same guy would be producing the softball game vs UTEP.

So, I reached out to him and asked if I could just hang out in the production truck during the game. I've never been in a control room or truck during a live broadcast and I thought it would be a pretty cool thing to see. Plus -- if anything I could just keep the relationship going and say hi to Dave Barnett -- who was the play-by-play, and also named the new voice of North Texas athletics.

Well, around 30 minutes before first pitch someone alerted the producer and director that the stats guy hasn't shown up. So, the timeout coordinator -- Dave Barnett's son -- was called up to do stats and I became the T.O.C (aka "redhat"). 

It's a super easy job where you basically stand on the field, and listen to the producer for the go-ahead to make sure the teams don't start playing until the TV crew is ready.

 It provided a great view of the game, and a nice line on the résumé. I saw the replay of the game around midnight the same day and was on the look out for some pictures I was in.

The pic at the top of the page is one, and here are a two more:

I'm in gray, UNT's Coach Koz in green

And caught taking a picture on my phone...

Hopefully I'll get to have another opportunity to work with Fox Sports.

Covering the Denton Storms

A tree fell through a backyard and onto a parked car, blocking Oakwood Drive in Denton

It was only the second time I had heard the Denton tornado sirens firing off for real. I was calling my mom to wish her a happy Mother's Day when she, coincidentally, asked me if I could hear the sirens from my apartment. 

I told her yeah, in fact, they're blaring right now. I feel like I've kind of gotten used to a chance for heavy storms in the D-FW area. Severe thunderstorm watches can become the norm, and it's not really something that causes concern -- especially when it happens three or four days in a row like the current stretch. 

Studio 6 sign on Ft. Worth Dr. in Denton

Well, the batch of storms on Sunday was pretty gnarly. I was watching Pete Delkus, and remember barely being able to see anything outside because the rain was so heavy. The window became foggy -- the same thing that happened the first time I heard the sirens go off.

After it looked like everything was clear I decided the best thing would be to try to interview people who were in the storms.

It was pretty cool driving around after the storm, trying to find damage and talking to people about their experiences.

The first stop was on Fort Worth Drive in Denton where a couple of buildings had some damage, and trees in the median had been cut in half.

Roof damage to Layalina's Mediterranean Grill on Ft. Worth Dr.

I got some good audio from the owner of the Layalina restaurant, but the best was yet to come.

When I pulled up there were already three or four other people taking pictures, one TV cameraman, and some HAM radio operators.

I heard a Denton Record-Chronicle photographer mention that Denia Park was the hardest hit area so I decided to head that way.


There were a whole lot of knocked over trees and a leaning telephone pole or two.

Here are two pictures of the damage south of McCormick and I-35E:

I don't know if storm chasing would be in my future, but it was a rush to cover the aftermath and see the damage first-hand. Also, some of the people I talked to were very interesting and had colorful comments -- which made for great radio on KNTU news the next day.

Jeter's Death Ruled a Suicide

This morning the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office released its report on the death of North Texas women's basketball player Eboniey Jeter.

According to the ME's Office, Jeter died of suicide by hanging. As I've posted about earlier, her body was found in her Mozart Square dorm room Tuesday morning.

From the first time I read about this story I had not even considered suicide. I thought maybe it was a bad heart -- a condition that seems to take many young athletes.

Her age -- 21 years old -- is another thing that makes it so hard to understand. Jeter isn't the first athlete I've covered to pass away, but that doesn't ease anything.

A football player from my high school -- Moses Rhymers -- was killed in a car crash on the last day of my first semester in college. He was a safety and was in his second season at Mary Hardin-Baylor.

I remember that day so vividly because it was maybe the first time someone my age that I've really known died. I had a physics final that morning, and when I came back I saw the news about Moses on Twitter. Most people remember that day as the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting. Later that night I helped broadcast the Denton Guyer-Tyler John Tyler stat semi-final football game.

I wonder how bad things had gotten for Jeter, that this seemed like a good or the best option. Surely, we don't and can't know everything, but could something have been done? Could something have helped? Could something have made a difference?

This is such a difficult time for the Mean Green women's basketball program to lose someone they spent so much time with and were so close to. It's also hard to feel how difficult it is for Jalie Mitchell, who's trying to start her first ever month as a head coach.

It's a tough situation all around.

Mean Green Softball Bounced from C-USA Tourney

Picture by SID Taylor Brasher (via @MeanGreenSB)

The North Texas softball team's season is over after falling to second seed Florida Atlantic 5-0 in the first round of the Conference USA tournament Thursday night.

The biggest thing in this match-up were the multiple lightning delays in the Miami area. The first delay hit during the top of the third inning and lasted 30 minutes. Just a few minutes after getting back to play, more lightning stopped the action for about two hours. Here's the radar around the start and early portions of the game:

FAU pitcher Kylee Hanson

The Mean Green knew it had a challenge to go up against Owls ace hurler Kylee Hanson. She threw a 1-hitter and now has a 17-3 record this season.

Coach Tracey Kee told me on Monday she hadn't decided who would start against Florida Atlantic, but like I suspected freshman Monique Garcia got the nod. It's a logical strategy because transfer Stacey Underwood has really struggled in her past couple of outings -- lasting only one inning in Game 1 and an inning and two-thirds in Game 2 against UTEP --- and sophomore Kenzie Grimes doesn't usually start and is best at coming into tough relief situations.

Garcia has toed in the rubber in a lot of big-time situations this season, including the season opener, and in road games at #5 Oklahoma, #23 Texas A&M, and #25 Tulsa.

She quickly retired the first two Owl batters before giving up a solo home run.

Hanson only need to toss nine pitches in the first inning to get three outs. In the second frame, FAU put together some timely hitting by smacking back-to-back singles with two outs to plate another run and led 2-0.

Kenzie Grimes joined us on The Green Guys on Apr. 27

A sacrifice fly after the initial weather delay made the score FAU 3-0, Coach Kee decided to go to the bullpen and bring in Grimes with two runners on. A walk later, Grimes gave up a bases loaded single to aide the Owl cause with another run.

The second, longer lightning delay arrived and the teams didn't get back onto the field for another hour and 50 minutes. However, Grimes somehow stuck with it and got out of the jam with three pitches.

The North Texas batters were Antarctic cold for the majority of the game. Mean Green left fielder Taylor Schoblocher punched the only hit of the game, ending the perfect game bid by Hanson two outs shy of completion. But, #SCHOtime's double was not backed up by anyone else.

I'd like to figure the weather stoppages had some affect, but it appears the game went the same before and after the lightning. Hanson continued her attacking in the circle, and FAU consistently chipped away at the North Texas pitching.

The Mean Green ends the 2015 season with 19-31 record -- much different than the program-record 31-22 mark last season.

I think this just shows how important pitching is in softball. The best North Texas pitcher in history -- Ashley Kirk -- accounted for 22 of those 31 wins a year ago. This season, the best record by a Mean Green thrower was Underwood's 8-7 mark with a 3.99 ERA.

What do you think sums up the NT softball season? Let me know in the comments below.

And BTW, here is the link to Kenzie Grimes' appearance on The Green Guys.

Update on Jeter's Death

There is still not official word on the cause of death of North Texas forward Eboniey Jeter, who was found dead in her Mozart Hall dorm room on Tuesday morning.

The Talons, a big-time spirit group at UNT, organized and held a vigil on campus Tuesday night and lit the clock tower green in honor of Jeter.

New women's basketball head coach Jalie Mitchell and her media crew decided against a press conference this afternoon and instead released a statement.

“As a family, we are hurting. We lost a teammate, a friend and a sister. This is a very tough time for our university and for our team, but we stand strong for Eboniey and for her family. My focus right now is on the Jeter family and my team. We are grieving, but together, we will get through this and make sure we honor the life of a sweet, young lady who is gone from us way too soon. We ask that you please respect the privacy of her family and our team as we go through the grieving process.”  

This is such a difficult situation for the team, and for coach Mitchell, who just took the position in April. So far, NBC 5 in Dallas-Ft. Worth is the only outlet I have heard report anything about the cause of death. They're reporting police think it was suicide:

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/North-Texas-Star-Forward-Eboniey-Jeter-Found-Dead-in-Dorm-302691441.html

Memorial services have not been announced yet.

Mean Green Women's Basketball Player Dies

pic.twitter.com/4TiXw2p5oy

— Mean Green Athletics (@MeanGreenSports) May 5, 2015

I had considered posting about Monday's Green Guys show again, but I received a text message from one of my friends giving me a link to a blog post about the passing of North Texas forward Eboniey Jeter. She was 21 years old.

I don't know any more information about this besides what Brett Vito from the Denton Record-Chronicle has gathered in that post above.

Fellow North Texas athletes expressed their emotions:

Sending my prayers and condolences to Eboniey Jeter's family, her Killeen/Harker Heights family, and her @MeanGreenWBB family. #MGF

— Brandin Byrd (@BByrd24) May 5, 2015

My heart goes out to Eboniey Jeter's family and friends in this tough time. From what everyone says, you were one amazing girl #R.I.P.

— Hanna Forst (@hanbanNiNE) May 6, 2015

You never know where life will take you and who you will meet. My prayers go out to the family of Eboniey Jeter! Your in God's hands now🙏🏾

— Nekia (@nekia_j) May 6, 2015

And from the NCAA:

We join North Texas in mourning the loss of women's basketball player Eboniey Jeter. (via @MeanGreenSports) pic.twitter.com/g51rjpBhG2

— NCAA (@NCAA) May 6, 2015

What I can elaborate on is my experience with Jeter, which can be described as limited, yet positive. I remember she was the last interview of the season after the final loss to UTSA.

The Mean Green led late in that game, but couldn't get anything past the Roadrunner pressure defense and lost 57-54 to end the season without a trip to the Conference USA tournament.

Jeter herself had one of the better games of her career making all four shots for eight points and seven rebounds. She was also a team-high plus-six while she was on the floor.

Standing at the end of a long, white hallway at the Kitty Magee Arena on the campus of Texas Women's University Jeter was crying at the conclusion of a very difficult season.

With a tear-marked face, she strongly and proudly said, "There's no where to go but up from where we are now."

As far as I'm concerned, she's completed that journey upward.

The Green Guys 5.4.15

I co-host an hour long North Texas sports talk show on KNTU-FM on Monday nights. A lot of the show's focus has been on the Mean Green softball team because it is really the biggest team playing at UNT right now.

The Green Guys featuring (L-R) me, Jeremy Miller, Taylor Phillips & Scott Sidway.

As I mentioned in my previous post, this past weekend was huge for the softball team because it propelled them to the seventh seed in the Conference USA Tournament.

We discussed that on The Green Guys, and how -- even though they avoided the best team in the conference, Western Kentucky --  they'll still be challenged against their first round opponent Florida Atlantic.

We were also joined by Tim McNarama (@Tim_McNamara), the C-USA main softball media contact and self-proclaimed world's leading expert in Conference USA softball. Tim was the softball information director at North Texas last season and an overall cool dude.

Tim mentioned how FAU has multiple strong pitchers, and they don't rely on just one ace pitcher. Monday morning coach Tracey Kee told me that the two offenses are pretty similar and both teams could use more of a small-ball strategy.

Of course, I'm not sure how much the Mean Green will need to dive into that if the team slams the seams off the softball like it did in the home series against UTEP.

We had some technical problems getting Tim onto the air (meaning, I thought I knew what I was doing, but I really didn't), and so we didn't get to talk to as much as we wanted. But, here is the full interview with Tim from The Green Guys. (Note: I can't figure out why our voices are scratchy when talking to Tim, but I made a quick fix about halfway through the interview)

You can listen to the latest episode of The Green Guys on our website. The podcast is usually uploaded Wednesday afternoon.

The final Green Guys show of the semester is on Mon., May 11 from 6:30-7:30 p.m. If you're in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area you can hear it on 88.1 FM, or you can listen streaming worldwide on KNTU.com.

#MGSB Headed to Tourney, Avoiding Kramer

Monique Garcia throws against UTEP in Game 1

My Tuesday sit-down with North Texas softball coach Tracey Kee left me with a heck of a lot more doubts than certainties going into the final week of the regular season.
Coach Kee was pessimistic of her team's motivation -- not of it's ability -- but  more so of when a good performance or a bad one would appear. As she likes to point out, the Mean Green beat #7 Baylor earlier this season, and have also lost to some teams below their mark.

But, this weekend proved to be where North Texas finally took a stand and swept UTEP in three games (12-4, 9-3, 14-6). Maybe, all it took was a little pressure -- that's something that centerfielder Kat Strunk hinted at when I talked to her after the third match.

The saying is that pressure creates diamonds, but a song by a rapper Strunk listens to takes it further by adding that fire refines gold.

Pressure could be the catalyst to a fantastic offensive weekend, or it could also be the desire to send the four seniors (Strunk, Dani Hoff, Jen Beardsley and Madison Thompson) to the Conference USA tournament. Strunk pounded the Miners for a school-record seven RBIs in Game 3, including two home runs to go along with the game-winning bomb in Game 1 on Saturday.

The biggest thing about sweeping UTEP and Charlotte losing its series against FIU is North Texas grabs the seventh seed for the tourney and avoids facing No. 1 Western Kentucky until the championship.

Western is led by ace Madison Kramer who mowed down the Mean Green in three games earlier this season, and has sliced through most of the competition without breaking a sweat this year.

Kramer is 21-8 with a 0.84 ERA, has tossed twelve shutouts and averages 13 strikeouts per game (her full stats). She is insane and a potential match-up on the third day of the tourney bodes a whole lot better than facing a fresh Kramer on day one.

The only problem is North Texas will tango FAU in its opening contest on Thurs,, May 7 at 3:00 p.m. CST. The Owls are the number two seed in the eight team tournament and, as a team, are tied with WKU in earned run average.

FAU and the Mean Green did not play each other this season, but did battle in the first round of the tourney when the Owls hosted last year. North Texas won a 10-inning affair that went deep into the evening in Boca Raton 5-4 thanks in large part to program legend Ashley Kirk and current super slugger Taylor Schoblocher (Box Score).

The Mean Green lost the next day to top seeded Tulsa 7-1.

So although North Texas played out of a first round match-up with Western and Kramer, it still can't relax because of a huge challenge against FAU. But if the offense can connect like it did this weekend, there isn't any reason the Mean Green can't make a push for the C-USA crown.
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I had an interesting experience at the series opener of North Texas and UTEP involving an impromptu job and I'll be posting about that -- with a whole lot of pictures -- in a couple of days, so stay peeled.