"RECRUITS - PAY ATTENTION! Coach Buksa is a terrible coach who finds a way to lose games. She’s the most toxic coach in NCAA softball. Her whole approach is to demean us, yell at us, cause unnecessary stress, and it makes us hate playing the game. She’s a complete liar and can’t be trusted. Now that our losing streak is in the 20’s, it’s become an embarrassment to us, the program and the school. I hope the AD at UIC is seriously watching this train wreck and is going to bring in a great staff next year. Most of these girls are going to leave, and they should. "
"If I could give this coach "0" stars, I would. If you want a coach that makes former all-state players lose confidence, allow stars players to quit the team, and basically kills off any motivation, then this coach is for you. Jamie Buksa claims to be a "so-called" batting coach, but her time at UIC has made her batters worse. Just check the batting averages for the players on the team. She blatantly plays favorites, is not concerned about fairness or development, and is only there for the paycheck. She was promoted to interim head coach after the head coach was fired, and has even been given consideration for the position full time, but she blew it. The players are not only uninspired, they dread going to practices and playing the games because it's been such a terrible experience for them. After going on a 15-game losing streak (and counting, losing to teams that had only 1 or no wins), you'd think she'd have the decency to resign from the position and allow these girls to have a competent coach to give the seniors a chance to end their college careers respectfully. She's basically giving up, has yelled at the team for getting the head coach (her friend) fired, and doesn't give a damn about what the administration does nor does she care about the players. She figures by the time the administration gets around to firing her, she can run the team into the ground even more by losing another 20+ games. Please, if you ever find out that Jamie Buksa is coaching a softball team, please don't allow your child (or young adult) play for her. Trust me, you'll regret it. "
"Brian is a great coach and he loves all of his players. Knows his stuff, is realistic with the girls about our playing time and what we need to improve. "
"Unfortunately being a player under Tom is anything but wonderful. To say that “if you don’t have thick skin he’s not the coach for you” is an understatement. If you enjoy being ridiculed, lied to, made fun of in front of your teammates, turned against your teammates and struggling with mental health then he is definitely the coach for you. He might have “turned the program around” but it was short lived as playing in fear is not long lasting. And neither is the human body when put through unnecessarily demanding physical conditioning that only hurt more players than helped. Physically wrestling other players on the field with no objective but to shove them out of the circle resulted in many dislocated joints and concussions. Drilling soccer balls straight into girls faces resulted in many concussions, not to mention a record of 10 concussions in one season. I have to say we did play in the SEC where soccer was kickball against most teams like arkansas and mizzou for starters, but most of those concussions were earned in practice. Most girls enter college soccer knowing it wont be easy, the training will be physically tough, sacrifices are made, but no one should ever be expected to sit silently and accept treatment like we were forced to under this man's leadership."
Former Athlete Not A Great Experience Overall, Would Not Recommend.
Date: October 23, 2023
By Other
1.8
Would Recommend
Overall
Caring
Motivational
Knowledgeable
Honest
2.0
1.0
1.0
4.0
1.0
"He is very knowledgeable but egotistic and full of himself. He was my trainer working through an injury and did not have a good experience. Felt belittled and disrespected at different times. The last straw was when I came by the training room on an agreed time in between classes. I approached him in his office to say hello and he told me "Can't you see I'm eating my sandwich?" and proceeded to tell me to get out the training room. Did not even look me in the eye. After that day I decided to not work with him any longer. Would not recommend. "
"One of the worst people I've ever met in college athletics. She didn't know any of my teammates names and never showed any support for us. She always made it feel like she wanted gossip or rumors to get others in trouble "
"Very hypocritical and lacks transparency. Says he doesn’t care about garbage yardage then proceeds to give garbage yardage. Complains about his workload, lashes out at swimmers, lacks empathy, and is a poor communicator. Only wants to deal with the “in the pool” matters and doesn’t not want to know personal details of swimmers outside of the pool. "
"Overall a coach that shouldn't be leading a team at the Division I level. Practices are not consistent with specific training for athletes. Very few swimmers were able to progress under him. Very awkward, and unable to communicate well with his team and hold swimmers and coaches accountable. Great assistant coaching staff but seems like they have no say."
"A coach that cares about his swimmers but who’s training style lacks individuality. Seems we trained for open water swimming rather than specific races that we’ve specialized in. Believes yards+aerobic ability = success but yards swimming is far past that training style. Sets are mentally draining and the sets made the training environment negative. "
"Not good at communication, often not paying attention during practices, “garbage yardage”, not motivating at meets, overall disorganized. You can tell he does care about his athletes and their success but does not show it well. Training is very generic and not very individualized, felt like I didn’t see as much improvement as I should’ve. "
"Coach Matt is very caring but has a hard time expressing himself and what he wants. Overall though his way of training is great and I couldn’t ask for a better collegiate coach. "
"I have been able to work with Suzanne for about 3 years and have found that she brings a positive attitude daily. There is no job too big or too small that she will not dedicate herself and do her best. I know that Suzanne is reliable, professional and fair. Any meet with Suzanne, leaves me inspired to dream and chase those dreams."
"Turned a bunch of losers into winners. Change the culture and made us better than any of us thought we could be. Will do anything for his players Direct tough honest and cares for us as people more than players "
"Hans has one priority for student athletes. Have the best experience they can and grow into successful people when they graduate. Academics Sports and Social Life are weighed equally and the team has a great balance that during my 5 years made us successful in tennis (Horizon League Finalists 2019) and successful in school (highest GPA in athletics"
"Extremely old school coach. He is extremely intense, which has potential to create some results. However, if you do not have a thick skin, he is not the coach for you. He has also been known to lead players on in the recruiting process. "
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