2022 Coaching Carousel

Ok so I made a mental note a while back when we was fishing for coaches. I know most coaches try to go from there tree of players after so many years. That’s how I guessed Carter but silently I did wish for Colson but when she made the Aces Roster I gave up but this gives me hope. She has years of coaching experience plus I mean she still hooping at the highest level in the W. I hope we get her and by Oct she joins the team but that also would be super hard as far as relationships and chemistry. So it prob won’t happen
 
DFW_Horn said:
Ok...this is VERY interesting. Blair's job, Director of Operations, was listed as an available job yesterday on the UT Jobs website. Considering she's been on the road scouting/recruiting, I'd bet Vic has found a way to add her as a coach and Dom will be promoted to DBO.

Director of Operations, Women's Basketball
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If this holds true I like it! One thing Vic has proven is that he GIVES nothing to Blair... she has had to work her tail off to earn a coaching position just as she did for playing time at Mississippi State. If Blair is promoted to coach then that certainly assures us of tenure and continuity on our staff. I don't expect that Lovato will leave again anytime soon (if ever), but who knows?
 
Wake Forest names its new head coach in less than 2 weeks. Meanwhile, Vic is approaching 2 months with 2 coaching vacancies unfilled :p

 
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Maybe we'll get 1 massive hiring announcement in the next few days for all available positions once the posting threshold has been met for the most recent and candidates holding out for a possible June bonus from their current employers collect their $.
  • Director of Operations, Women's Basketball: 9 Days ago
  • Associate Director, Communications: 22 Days ago
  • Assistant Coach, Women's Basketball: 30+ Days ago
spanky-waiting.gif
 
The posting for the Director of Operations position has been removed from the university jobs site. Assistant Coach and Associate Director, Communications listing are still there. Maybe some partial news today?
 
In less than a week (June 12th-14th) our individual summer camp will start. The summer camps are typically when our recruiting targets are invited to campus to participate in the camps and interact with the coaching staff. Unless we get an announcement this week, we will be short staffed and not have the full benefit of observing, evaluating and interacting with recruits.

Vic certainly marches to the beat of his own drum but being short staffed in June puts us at a disadvantage with the AAU circuit tournaments as well as our own summer camp evaluations. Vic certainly knows all of this and I trust he has a plan and a method to the madness (or the lack of madness).

I'm not holding my breath but hopefully we'll get some news this week regarding staff changes/new hires.
 
LutherIsMyDog said:
In less than a week (June 12th-14th) our individual summer camp will start. The summer camps are typically when our recruiting targets are invited to campus to participate in the camps and interact with the coaching staff. Unless we get an announcement this week, we will be short staffed and not have the full benefit of observing, evaluating and interacting with recruits.

Vic certainly marches to the beat of his own drum but being short staffed in June puts us at a disadvantage with the AAU circuit tournaments as well as our own summer camp evaluations. Vic certainly knows all of this and I trust he has a plan and a method to the madness (or the lack of madness).

I'm not holding my breath but hopefully we'll get some news this week regarding staff changes/new hires.
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And, I realize he does things on his timeline. But, I just don't comprehend the reasons why his hires take so long.

Is he making offers and being turned down? Is his schedule pretty jam-packed that it's just a slow process vetting/interviewing candidates? Is he looking for certain criteria/characteristics in assistant coaches that he is having a difficult time finding out in the coaching pool?
 
Moooooo said:
And, I realize he does things on his timeline. But, I just don't comprehend the reasons why his hires take so long.

Is he making offers and being turned down? Is his schedule pretty jam-packed that it's just a slow process vetting/interviewing candidates? Is he looking for certain criteria/characteristics in assistant coaches that he is having a difficult time finding out in the coaching pool?
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I've had the same questions. It's likely a mix of all three. Regardless, hopefully he/she is worth the wait. Coach Phillips was not a coach on my radar last year and she certainly exceeded my expectations.
 
Since Horns are still churning away in baseball and softball, I can’t spare any brain cells to the efforts of hiring assistant WBB coaches right now. As soon as we win both natties, then I’ll get on it. I trust in patience. More is better than less. I’m believing…..that this snail’s pace hiring…..means something monumental and historic is occurring behind the scenes. We’ll be amazed. And when Schaefer announces it, I will tuck my head for having those pessimistic thoughts.
 
racerx5908 said:
When I saw this, I thought well if you add someone then someone must not be there. Looking at the coaching roster, it looks like the male coach Eric Ely left?
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If so, good move on his part. Job security can't be good there right now in WBB. If you believe their obnoxious fans, they have suddenly morphed into an elite basketball powerhouse, that disguised their true god-like MBB coach as an assistant behind the scenes so we would stupidly hire Beard - all of which has now unleased Adams to literally take over the world. So having a WBB coach that is below .500 after 2 seasons, with no post-season play, and performing worse than the prior staff, does not really fit the narrative of the school's alleged hoops powerhouse image. Unfortunately, I think we'll probably see the Tech WBB staff continue to pick more fights with Vic this year because hating on Texas is something that fan base probably treasures more than wins in its WBB program.
 
flash34 said:
Since Horns are still churning away in baseball and softball, I can’t spare any brain cells to the efforts of hiring assistant WBB coaches right now. As soon as we win both natties, then I’ll get on it. I trust in patience. More is better than less. I’m believing…..that this snail’s pace hiring…..means something monumental and historic is occurring behind the scenes. We’ll be amazed. And when Schaefer announces it, I will tuck my head for having those pessimistic thoughts.
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I'm hoping we'll squeeze in men's and women's track & field national titles this weekend, too!
 
Another day another dollar. Another week and no coach announced. I’ll give Schaefer another 4 days. Then I’m going on family beach trip for 7 days. If he doesnt announce by friday night, I cant help him and he is on his on until I get back.
 
While not listed on the Staff or Roster pages, there has been someone added to the Texas Athletics Phone Directory with the title of Director of Operations (Blair's job): Christy Smith, Director of Operations.

A very common name, a Christy Smith did play under Vic at Arkansas and was most recently the head coach at Incarnate Word (2016-2019).

Her HC hiring announcement from UIW:

Christy Smith became the seventh head women's basketball coach in UIW history on April 13, 2016.

In her inaugural campaign with the Cardinals, Smith led UIW to seven Southland Conference victories, equaling the number of league wins the program had over the previous three seasons combined. The team finished 9-20 overall, with a 7-11 mark in SLC play.

Smith led the Cardinals to the first victories in program history over Houston Baptist, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Sam Houston, while also turning in the first season-sweep of Nicholls.

Smith coached senior Celia Garcia Paunero to an All-Defensive Team selection and Second Team All-Southland honors, while freshman guard Imani Robinson was named the league’s Freshman of the Year.

Smith was a women’s basketball Division I assistant coach since 2008 and a high school coach before that. She began her collegiate coaching career at Valparaiso University in 2008 and was there for three years. Smith served as the program’s recruiting coordinator, prepared team travel, scouted opponents and worked on individual player development.

In the summer of 2011, Smith took a position at Purdue and helped guide the Boilermakers to a 77-27 record. They won a pair of Big Ten Tournament titles and made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in all three seasons. Smith served in a similar role at Valparaiso, while also coordinating academic plans for players, representing the program at athletic director’s meeting and representing the department at fundraising and speaking events.

Smith made the move to her alma mater, Arkansas, in 2014. She helped the program reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2015 and was a key recruiter for the program. Smith remained involved in fundraising and speaking events while arranging player involvement in the JDRF OneWalk community service event.

Prior to her stint at Valparaiso, Smith was the head varsity girls’ basketball coach at Harrison High School in West Lafayette, Ind., and before that served as an assistant coach at Lafayette Jefferson High School and Lake Country Christian School in Fort Worth, Texas.

The Oxford, Ind. native led Team USA to gold at the World University Games, Arkansas to the NCAA Final Four and the Charlotte Sting into the WNBA playoffs.

A four-time honorable mention All-American as a point guard for the Razorbacks, Smith was named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll three times and earned first team All-SEC as a senior after twice being named second team All-SEC. In 1995, she earned SEC Freshman of the Year recognition.

Smith competed for the United States at the World University Games in Italy in 1997, winning a gold medal for her country. She also represented the North on the 1995 Olympic Festival Team.
Smith was drafted No. 17 overall by the Charlotte Sting in 1998, where she played two seasons for the WNBA franchise.

She became the fifth women’s basketball player in school history to be inducted into the Arkansas Hall of Honor, receiving the recognition in 2005. Smith was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2015.

Smith has two degrees from Arkansas. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in exercise science in 1998 and went on to earn a master’s degree in biomechanics in 2001. Smith has three children, Dayton, Tyson and Crew, and is married to Tommy Cook.
 
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If she is indeed the new DBO and the NCAA adopts the proposal to eliminate the restrictions placed on support staff from coaching, a very smart move by Vic to bring someone in with extensive coaching experience to a support staff role.
 
And to think of all the angst expressed here, worried because Vic isn't on some imaginary schedule to hire people the posters think is necessary.

Vic gonna Vic.

He will take his time and make a great hire, whether other anonymous message board people have near heart attacks due to his deliberate pace or not. So my advice is, stop having near heart attacks and relax. We will be fine under Vic's leadership.
 
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