[reccer]

Originally Posted by Skahtboi

I was unaware that any coach has any control over umpires. Please clarify...

IF you strictly mean that they can choose their playoff umpires, which are the only ones they can choose in most areas, then who cares. Does that alter the way I umpire? Of course not. If they don't like a call I make and don't want me back for the next round, then big deal. There are other schools and games that request neutral umpires that need to be worked. Other than choosing them to work their playoff games, there is no control that any coaches have over the umpires here.

Seems to me the ability of a coach to deny your getting to work his/her games is significant control over you. I admire Skahtboi's integrity, but he does live on the outskirts of the 4th largest metropolitan area in the country. I'm sure there are plenty of other playoff games he can work. I suspect this isn't the case in my part of Texas. Also be advised that the Smithson Valley (the blue offensive team in the video) is the regional power and always goes deep into the playoffs. If you want to work the 5A (our largest schools) playoffs in San Antonio, you will have to meet the approval of Coach Daigle.

To give you some local color, I have included a write-up on him from a year ago. He is an excellent softball coach, worthy of his accolades.

Maybe playoff assignments should be controlled by TASO and the coaches removed from the decision process?

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(from San Antonio newspaper)
She gnashes her teeth, almost as if she's ready to snarl. Her fists begin to tighten, causing her knuckles to turn white.

Before long, with bat in hand, Smithson Valley assistant Lisa Daigle's arms are swinging through the air.

And that's just the feisty 46-year-old while casually talking about softball, a game she has no problem admitting consumes the lives of both her and her husband, Rangers coach Wayne Daigle.

“I just love the game,” she says. “If you're passionate about something, it's a 24-hour deal — and it lives right there, all the time.”

She emphasizes the point with a strong punch to the chest.

“Ah!” she adds. “I love it! I love ball.”

It's a boisterous enthusiasm that is readily apparent during Smithson Valley games. The fist pumps, leg kicks and assortment of other gestures and bodily twists from the Daigles as they roam the baselines are as entertaining to watch as any coaching tandem in the area.

They will lead the Rangers (30-2) against La Joya in the Region IV-5A semifinals in a three-game series beginning at 7:30 tonight in Laredo.

It is Smithson Valley's ninth appearance in the regional semifinals in 11 years.

“The Daigles are a really fired-up bunch of coaches,” junior ace Bailey Watts said.

But the eccentric displays aren't for show.

The Daigles' fervor for the game — which has helped anchor their 22-year marriage — has been their trademark in establishing a fiery atmosphere inside Smithson Valley's dugout.

“That's how we coach,” said Wayne, 61. “When we came here 12 years ago, we didn't do anything different. If anything, because of the success that's come, we feed off it. We're even more about it.”

The approach has worked for the Daigles at all levels.

While playing for Wayne at Sam Houston State in the early 1980s, Lisa and her eventual husband won NAIA and NCAA Division II national championships together. Those championship rings were eventually melted down to form their wedding bands.

And while coaching together, they guided Smithson Valley to the Class 4A state championship in 2001, and also won American Fastpitch Association and National Pro Fastpitch national titles.

“Everybody's got something,” Wayne said. “Old cars, antiques — we're just both into softball.”

These days, with retirement looming closer in his 30th year of coaching, Wayne leaves most of the passionate displays to his wife. It's a role she's so good at that senior catcher Brittany Arredondo, a demonstrative player herself, calls Lisa the team's motivator.

“I like her little ‘Rah!' thing,” said Arredondo, mimicking her coach by flexing her arms inward and adding a few grunts for good measure.

“I have a little bit of that going.”

Such intensity was plainly evident in last week's third-round grudge match against Taft.

Leading 6-0 late in the contest, Lisa sprawled face-up on the dirt behind home plate following a tag at the plate that prevented the Rangers from increasing their lead.

She stayed there for nearly 15 seconds.

She remembered, after all, what had happened in last year's third-round matchup with Taft. The Raiders snatched the one-game playoff with a late rally that erased a four-run deficit in a single inning

Wayne acknowledges he and his wife's animated ways can rub some opponents the wrong way. But Taft coach Scott Libby is not among them.

“If you're not showing any disparagement to the other team while rooting your own team on, then you're doing your job as a coach to keep them fired up,” Libby said. “I see (Wayne) get on his team and root them on, but I can't say I've ever seen him act like he's doing anything against my team.”

Said Wayne: “Our detractors, I've heard them say, ‘It's all about the kids. It's not about you all.' We've never thought it was about us. It is about our kids.

“But that criticism doesn't bother us at all.”

As for the possibility the Daigles might someday become more subdued?

“The day that happens will be the day I get out,” Wayne said. “I'll be writing for a newspaper.”
THE DAIGLES FILE

•AGES: Wayne Daigle 61; Lisa Daigle 46

•YEARS MARRIED: 22

•YEARS AT SMITHSON VALLEY: 12

•DAIGLES' DOMINANCE: Smithson Valley has won 91 of its past 92 district games.

•COACHING HIGHLIGHTS: Wayne Daigle coached Sam Houston State to NAIA and NCAA Division II national championships, and led Nebraska to the national-title game. Together, Wayne and Lisa Daigle have coached Smithson Valley to a Class 4A state championship (2001), and also guided teams to national titles in American Fastpitch Association and National Pro Fastpitch.

•PLAYING HIGHLIGHTS: Lisa Daigle caught four national-championship games at three different levels (NAIA and NCAA Division II while at Sam Houston, NCAA Division I at Nebraska), winning two titles under her eventual husband.