We can all agree that Thomas is a decent guy and a die-hard Hokie. But this is a business and one that pays upon performance. Duff and Whitcomb left the program healthy - Duff had enough and quit softball altogether; Whitcomb will play as a graduate transfer next year for another school. Biggest reason why a player leaves a program? The coach. Just like most employees leave because of their supervisor. Davenport was injured last year and was healing at the beginning of this year, but was healthy enough to bat since Feb 25th (first game she was in starting lineup). Thomas makes the lineup and hence he chose to give her the few at bats she received. Again, coach's decision. Why did other returning starters such as Lattin, Mehr, Nolan, Schoenwald, etc all have worse seasons than the previous year? Why did the highly touted freshman hitters struggle while other ACC freshman (eg Duke) played much better? Obviously my opinion is that there are too many things pointing to the coach(es). Finally, The last point has been debated all season -- we lose one run games due to the little things -- not just not getting a clutch hit, but also due to an error, bad/no baserunning, wild pitch, inability to move runners, etc.....doing the little things wins ballgames. VT opponents seem to have more confidence in their coach and certainly have alot more fun. The "wait until next year" mantra just isn't working. That said, many of the pieces are there for this program to turn around quickly, but IMHO only with a change of leadership.