Event News: NFCA Convention Day 2 Goes ‘Down the Hallway’

By JUSTIN MCLEOD

When one coach’s popularity transcends their respective sport to the point that coaches in other sports refer to themselves as “fangirls”, it means something.

Former Notre Dame women’s basketball coach Muffet McGraw fits that bill. During a 32-year career as the head women’s basketball coach at Notre Dame, McGraw won over 900 games and two National Championships. Prior to and since her retirement, McGraw never shied away from giving her true thoughts on a matter and has been a frequent voice against inequities in college athletics.

On Thursday, the second day of the NFCA Convention in Las Vegas, McGraw spoke to a sizable crowd of softball coaches as the year’s only ‘Down the Hallway’ chat. A concept that the NFCA developed ahead of the 2020 virtual convention, the series features softball coaches hosting a one-on-one discussion with an accomplished coach from another sport at their school.

Notre Dame head softball coach Deanna Gumpf, who spent more than two decades on the Fighting Irish coaching roster along with McGraw, joined her former colleague on stage for the discussion.

McGraw’s career on the basketball court was a distinguished one and she openly discussed both successes and shortcoming from her more than three decades of experience. She most frequently noted qualities of effective leaders and how those qualities have to be imparted in today’s athletic world.

At one point, she pointed out that having a vision is important as a leader, but that players often want to know their coach’s vision for them specifically; ‘where do I fit in?’

“[A] team has to feel safe in the environment they’re in,” McGraw said later in the talk. “[Coaches] have to be open to changing and really looking at things, and you have to really listen.”

Team culture was also on the agenda to be discussed. After a question from Gumpf about the culture of her program throughout the years, McGraw listed trust, honesty, and accountability as key components of a championship culture. “A lot of teams are like a sorority,” she said. “They get along and everybody is comfortable and don’t want to hurt each other’s feelings… if players trust each other, they will tell one another ‘you’re not doing what you need to do to win'”.

In her classic, upfront honesty, when McGraw was asked why she retired, her answer included the transfer portal, NIL, and the current generation of student-athletes.

Elsewhere on Thursday, Divisional caucuses were held in the morning before various events took place in the afternoon. College Sports Evaluation presented their data-based player evaluation process along with a panel discussion from current college coaches on how they use that data within their own programs. James Madison head coach Loren LaPorte presented ‘A Season to Remember‘ and reflected on her team’s run to the Women’s College World Series last season, incorporating pre-recorded thoughts from some key members of that team into her presentation.

Friday at the NFCA Convention: Another full day lies in store for Convention attendees on Friday. Highlights of the day’s schedule include a hitting tutorial from former Marshall star and current Chicago Cubs minor league coach Rachel Folden; a panel discussing today’s pitcher and the NCAA rule book; and ‘The Evolution of an Offense’, headlined by Florida head coach Tim Walton and including three Gator alumni currently in the coaching ranks. The annual Softball Summit will be presented on Friday afternoon, with the Hall of Fame banquet set to cap off the day’s events on Friday evening.