Do athletes make their coaches successful or do coaches make their athletes successful? Probably a little of each. As a Missouri University graduate I received my monthly copy of Mizzou Magazine today and found an interesting article about Chelsea Thomas who pitches for the Missouri University Women’s Softball Team. When Mizzou softball coach Ehren Earleywine received a rather grainy video from Chelsea’s father when she was a senior in high school, he really couldn’t tell that much about her so he decided to take his radar gun and visit Chelsea’s hometown of Pleasantville, Iowa, and see for himself. According to Mizzou Magazine: “During the pitching session the 18-year-old’s first three tosses registered 70, 71 and 68 mph before Earleywine politely excused himself to fix what had to be an equipment malfunction. A typical women’s college fastball zips in at 60 to 65 mph. ‘I’m banging this calibrator against a tree, which is what you’re supposed to do to get it to vibrate, then I went back and said: “Go ahead and cut loose,” Earleywine says. ‘The next pitch was 73 mph. I knew right then I had a chance to be a pretty good coach.”