re: What’s the outlook on LSU Softball this year?

If you scroll back one page on this thread you will see that I have already said, there is no Mulkey hire (No you cannot pay Gasso enough to leave) so there is no easy fix at least not one that isn't going to cost millions of dollars in buyouts and new contract money.

Let's run this down:
2015-2017 Made the WS and was competitive
2018 Lost an away Super to eventual NC Florida State
2019 Lost an away Super in 2 games
2020 Covid (granted they did look very good for that month)
2021 Lost a home Super in 2 games
2022 Lost an away Regional in 2 games
2023 Lost a home Regional to UL

Other than an up 2021, that is a marked decline in just the ending to the season much less any of the actual stats over those years. Meanwhile in that same time frame you have teams like OU, Arizona, Alabama, Washington, UCLA, Oklahoma State who are all consistently in OKC year in and year out so while yes it is very hard, it is not impossible to stay at the top of the sport over time. LSU still has some of the top facilities in the country, a top 10 highest paid coach, a fan base that travels, support from boosters and the athletic department even before Woodward got here and to top it all off the LSU brand behind them that has seen a meteoric rise over the last couple years. There is no reason to be content with declining performance. It's not my job to find the next Patty, it's Scott's. That doesn't mean that I shouldn't have high expectations of the team, and his ability to find a coach that can at least keep us competitive at the highest level.