Skidmore College
NCAA DIII • NULL
Date: March 24, 2025
Would Recommend
When my daughter chose to go to play for Skidmore, we had high expectations. Skidmore was the last school we visited after receiving interest from 9 other schools, and we liked how the team atmosphere felt. After making her final decision, things started to fall apart. Assistant coaches began to leave; we learned that the entire senior class tried to get Neubinski fired the winter before, and there was much less team comradery than we previously believed. In short, we had just been had by the best-used car salesman and got a lemon. My daughter has played since she was five and has traveled all over the country playing against some of the best players and has been coached by some excellent coaches. A great head coach knows their strengths and weaknesses like a great CEO or manager. They surround themselves with other talented managers to bring the best possible outcome for the team. Not Neubinski! Just because you played the game at some point does not qualify you to coach a team. Something many ADs' fail to realize when hiring coaches. Just because someone graduates with a business degree does not make them qualified to manage a team of employees. She likes to preach something about accountability but fails miserably when it comes to her accountability. This could be the world's most boring and long novel, so I will gloss over a few points to spare all reading this and my brain recalling it. 1. If you have never pitched a day, YOU ARE NOT A PITCHING COACH!!! You cannot have a successful team without a pitching coach. Just because you watch YouTube does not mean you are a pitching coach. You were an outfielder for 2 years in college. You know nothing about pitching, managing pitchers, or calling games! When your #1 pitcher comes to you for a meeting to inquire about when a new pitching coach may be hired after two "new" assistants leave abruptly, the answer should never be, "I'm offended you are asking me this. I am your pitching coach." You couldn't coach yourself out of a dark closet. 2. While traveling with your team to Florida, bringing your wife and baby with you to live in the team house is not appropriate. IT IS A BUSINESS TRIP!!!! If they want to come to cheer you on, God Bless; I am all for it. But you are there to build a relationship with your team. The fact that I knew five other players down there at the same time from all different schools and to hear what they did together as a team while you did nothing but be with your wife and kid genuinely tells where your priorities lie. 3. I, like many other parents, would love to know where the $9k we raised went for food for our girls. Every single girl complained there was no food in the team house. I am betting it went to that SUV your wife had to rent for her and the baby. Transparency!!!! 4. How many other assistant coaches have to come and leave quickly before the school AD realizes the problem? How many years in a row, 2 to be exact, does the team have to threaten to quit unless the school does something about this coach? 5. A coach should never be heard speaking badly about players to other players! What are you 2? 6. Breeding an environment where players are rewarded for tattling on their teammates is not a good strategy for athletes. Perhaps a show on TLC would better suit your skill set. 7. If you enforce standards for teammates to live by, ensure you enforce them across the board. 8. Believe it or not, coaches do make mistakes. OWN UP TO THEM! Your players will thank you and play harder for you. Blaming them for your mistakes does not accomplish anything. As soon as you run into that player with a higher softball IQ than you, they are going to call you out. Unfortunately, Skidmore cares more about the coaches' feelings than the players. The AD met with the team last year after a letter from the players was leaked. What does the school do? They hire a psychologist—not for the players but for the coach. Good news!! Neubinski is on track to set a new collegiate record for losses due to the run rule!