A comparison of coaches

L

Leeroy Jenkins

25+ Posts
I’ve watched the arguments about GG on this board over the season and I can see some of the points made by both the “sunshine pumpers” and the “negative nellies”. I’ve been hoping that Statalyzer would post some of his very informative analysis on the subject. Until he does, I’ve decided to do a little comparison of the first few years of the coaches of the top Big 12 teams with GG. Submitted for your approval, or not.

Kim Mulkey started coaching Baylor with the 2000-2001 season. The year before she started they had an overall record of 7-20 and had never made much of an impact in women’s basketball.
Year Overall Conf
2001 21-9 9-7
2002 27-6 12-4
2003 24-11 8-8 WNIT runner up
2004 26-9 10-6 Sweet 16
2005 33-3 14-2 National Champs
2006 26-7 12-4 Sweet 16

Sherri Coale started coaching OU with the ’96-’97 season. The year before she started they had an overall record of 12-15. They had had some success in women’s basketball but didn’t have a conference title since the ’86 season.
Year Overall Conf
1997 5-22 1-15
1998 8-19 2-12
1999 15-14 8-8
2000 25-8 13-3 Tied 1st in conf Sweet 16
2001 28-6 15-1 won conference Sweet 16
2002 32-4 14-2 won conference Final 4

Gary Blair started coaching at A&M with the ’03-’04 season. Unlike Mulkey & Coale, he has had considerable experience at Stephen F Austin, where he took them to the Sweet 16 four times and at Arkansas, where he took them to the Final Four once. The aggies have had some success in women’s basketball but had 5 consecutive losing seasons before Blair took over.
Year Overall Conf
2003 9-19 2-14
2004 16-15 4-12 WNIT quarter finals
2005 23-9 11-5
2006 25-7 13-3
2007 29-8 11-5 Elite 8
2008 27-8 11-5 Sweet 16

Gail Goestenkors started at The University of Texas at Austin with the ’07-’08 season. She had taken the Duke team to four Final 4s, two Elite 8s, and three Sweet 16s before she came to Texas. UT’s record the year before GG came was 20-14 with a 6-10 conference record.
Year Overall Conf
2008 21-12 7-9
2009 21-12 8-8
2010 22-11 10-6
2011 19-13 7-9
 
I always wanted to do this and just never took the time.

However, there is something else to consider. GG came to Texas at a time when aTm, Baylor, and OU had already established themselves. Their rise came at the same time Texas was slipping. This created a huge gap. Very bad timing and it has made the job much more difficult.

It still has to get done. And, I think that it will. But, it has been almost a perfect storm. I'm hoping that the winds are starting to die down a little bit now.
 
Agree totally with you Outlook. We just waiting to late to hire her. But she is going to get the job done. I luv the Class coming in the next year. It will give C.Fussell sum help.Cant wait to see C.Reed next year. She will have a chip on her shoulder. And shes taller! C.Peoples will take care of the Point Guard Position next year.
Hookem'
 
While the future has promise and GG inherited a program in decline, well-coached teams do not have 31 turnovers.
 
Jon Madani's blog entry. I agree with everything he says. Maybe I have the "burnt orange tinted glasses" but I like them enough that I get frustrated too, just not ready to shed them.
 
Sometimes they do. I believe the announcers said that the record for turnovers in big 12 tourney was 32 set by OU, and they still won the game. If we had 31 turnovers on a regular basis, I'd be more concerned; but that seemed like an anomaly last night.
 
Thanks for posting. Interesting analysis.

I want results right now like everyone else but O the future is looking really bright! Peoples, Peyton, Reed back, Brewer, Nneka. I'm all in. If we don't make some noise next year by this I mean simply great strides to improving then I'm going to have to reevaluate my thinking.

Reed going down this year really hurt us. I though AG would step up her offensive game and be a beast in the paint - NOT! I didn't even think about the impact it had on Kat having to move to a different position until I heard them talk about it last night on TV. I kept wondering why she wasn't more active scoring this year like previous years. It didn't add up until I heard them mention it and then a light bulb went off in my head.

Anyways, Coach G had a hard and long road to climb. I think she's got her feet under her and will begin rolling next year. I think she needs to definitely improve on her offense. There's a lot to be desired in that deparment. I want her to spend more time on this than she does defense. She also needs to kick up our mental toughness 100%. We're babies and we need to be IRON WOMAN!! And lastly, recruit some natural ATHLETES!

Let's GO Coach G!!!
 
I did post something similar to this when someone tried to imply that other Big12 coaches had done better their first three years, when obviously the exact opposite is true.

GG is the only one of the four highlighted to make the NCAA tourney each of her first three years. Blair didn't even make it until year three (first round loss) and it took Coale until year four. Mulkey made it her first two years but then had a dip in year three and settled for the WNIT. GG made the same number of NCAA tournaments her first three years as the other three coaches made combined. If we get an invite this year it will be her 17th consecutive NCAA appearance.

Another comparison worth pointing out is overall coaching performance. Blair has been a HC for a combined 26 years, GG for 19, Coale 15 and Mulkey 11:

National Championships
Blair 0
Coale 0
Goestnekors 0
Mulkey 1

Championship Game Appearances
Blair 0
Coale 1
Goestenkors 2
Mulkey 1

Final Fours
Blair 1
Coale 3
Goestenkors 4
Mulkey 2

Elite Eights
Blair 2
Coale 3
Goestenkors 7
Mulkey 2

Sweet Sixteens
Blair 7
Coale 7
Goestenkors 10
Mulkey 5

NCAA Appearances
Blair 17
Coale 12
Goestenkors 17
Mulkey 10

I gave all coaches credit for an NCAA invite this season, which only impacts the last set of numbers. We know three, and probably all four are going to get in, but can adjust this if it doesn't happen.

I'm very excited to see what the future has in store for the Horns. Clearly GG is one of the most successful coaches in the country, as evidenced by the numbers above. She's done better that her Big12 counterparts her first 3-4 seasons at the helm, and we've got fantastic recruits coming in next year and beyond.
 
From overseasbbfan1's post:

"Final Fours
Blair 1
Coale 3
Goestenkors 4
Mulkey 1 "


Mulkey has actually been to two Final Fours (2005, 2010).
 
While all of these numbers are interesting, and certainly worthy of discussion, I’m not sure how much what happened in 1997 in Oklahoma tells us about the opportunities and obstacles at Texas when GG arrived 10 years later. Let’s look at what was happening around that time. I’m going to talk about numbers from the 05-06 season through the 07-08 season. I start two seasons before GG is hired, when Texas has first missed the NCAA tournament. I go through her first year at Texas because she inherited most of that team and had very little opportunity to recruit. This means I will NOT include the Baylor NC season which came before, or back to back final four appearances for Oklahoma, which came later. This is what was going on through three seasons of Texas girl’s high school basketball and recruiting. When you consider the average number of losses for aTm, OK, and Baylor keep in mind that they played each other a minimum of 6 games per season, more if you include the Big 12 Tournament.

Through those 3 seasons OK, aTm, and Baylor went 235-65 overall, averaging 26-7, compared to Texas at 53-42, averaging 18-14. In conference the other 3 were 110-34, averaging 12-4, compared to 20-28, with an average of 7-9.

Those three teams averaged losing less than 5 games per year, and less than 2 in conference, when not playing each other over that 3 year stretch. They were not just successful against Texas, they were successful overall. Then remember that this starts the year after the Baylor NC, and ends the year before Oklahoma goes to the final four back-to-back seasons.

This is a problem that started before GG came to Texas. It is her problem to fix, and she should be expected to do just that. But, we also should not understate the challenge. Today’s high school seniors were in the 6th grade when Baylor won that NC. When GG got to Texas it was almost impossible to recruit elite players within the state. We all love Texas. But, for WBB it had become a tough sell to young girls in the state. If we played in the same division of the same conference as Tennessee, Duke, and Stanford it wouldn’t have been that different…..Except that at least those are not in the same geographical area, recruiting all the best players we would target.

In her first class GG brought in Ashley Gayle from Nevada, and Yvonne Anderson from Missouri. She has since brought in Anne Marie Hartung from Missouri, and Chassidy Fussell from Tennessee. As well she signed Cokie Reed out of Waco, a national top 5 player. For 2012 she has signed one of the top rated classes in the country, and every incoming freshman is from Texas. It has taken time, against difficult circumstances, but Texas recruiting has gained momentum and signs of progress are apparent for those who want to look. The addition of the Texas network cannot hurt the future.

There are a couple of things that could be called failures. Depends on your point of view. The Texas roster has been very thin. You could argue that more players should have been signed the last couple of years. My perception, and that is all that this is, is that GG needed time to develop relationships with younger players and in the meantime did not want to use scholarships on others just to meet a body count. If that is the case, I tend to agree with the strategy. Anyone signed going forward needs to be a part of the solution.

She has also failed to sign an elite wing. I am hopeful that Nneka Enemkpali will prove to be that player. Time will tell. Regardless, one is not going to be enough.

Next season will still give us a young team overall. I don’t know if we will be ready to play the big three evenly, but anything short of obviously significant improvement would be a huge disappointment. The 2011-12 season will be very important for GG. Obvious improvement will open recruiting doors. A failure to improve will cost the momentum already gained.

I’m frustrated that this has taken so long. But, I am not surprised. I really want GG to be successful at Texas because a failure would start the process over again. If for no other reason I think she has to be given every chance at success. With Cokie’s return alongside a lot of young talented players on a full roster I have a lot of optimism for next season.
 
anyone expecting AG to be an offensive force is not considering AG's strengths. She's a defensive presence inside. I had hoped that she would be able average around 10 pts with put backs and better offensive moves. She has averaged 7.1 ppg and 7.2 rpg to go with 113 blocks. She does have improved offensive moves but she will never be a dominant offensive player, at least not at Texas. That skill set may not be developed enough until she is playing professionally. Make no mistake, she is getting better. Major props to her for working so hard on a part of her game that is not a "natural" part of her game. That's not easy to do.

Coach G compares quite favorably with the others in her first three seasons, especially given that she came into a conference where those had already become established. She did well this season without her top offensive threat inside. They lost four games that I thought they were going to win but, unfortunately, upsets happen.

I am pretty satisfied with the progress to date. Am I happy with the last few games after the winning streak? No. Too much inconsistency in the play. Certainly against A&M. But overall, given the injury situation and the number of freshmen (five plus one senior that had not played since high school), they played well and ended up with an overall winning record. Progress this season was counted in small steps, not huge leaps.

It's still to be known whether this season is over or if the team will go to the playoffs. My head says they are on the bubble, although on the inside. But that could change depending on what happens in other conference tournaments.

Another concern was a big time wing. Tiffany qualifies as does Kayla and Ronisha. I think Nneka is more of a post. And Chelsea has been a steal who will play a lot on the wing. For next year, I think we have a well balanced group with plenty of players capable of playing multiple positions to provide plenty of depth, more than has been available in the past four years.
 
BabHorn – I’m with you on AG. You can see the work she has put into the offensive part of her game. I know that the scorers also work hard on their shot. But, I have a lot of respect for people who work hard on the things that do not come naturally for them. It’s hard to get yourself to do that.

You think Nneka is more of a true post? I’m not arguing at all. Just found that interesting because I had her tagged as a wing that could also play some post. Very, very good chance that I am dead wrong.
 
I think Nneka will be our starting Power Forward next season; I believe she is an interior player all the way (from what I have read of her game).

We have had several good wing/perimeter players the last four years. Coach G has had trouble recruiting for the 4 spot. I really wish we would have recruited Fort Bend Bush's Carolyn Davis a couple of years ago; she has been terrific for Kansas, and has given us fits.
 
Yeah, Davis has turned out to be quite a player.

I'm not sure that Nneka will start as I think Ashley and Cokie will be the starting post players. But if Nneka can make a similar impact as Chassidy has this year, you are right. She will start from day one. She certainly has the fire and competitiveness.

We are going to have a solid rotation next season with AG, Cokie, Anne Marie and Nneka.
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Nneka and C.Peoples will start next year. The veterans better hope R.Majors do not bring the game she brung in the playoff or she might be starting.And from what I hear. K.Brewer was giving them fits in practice before she got hurt.We are going to be fast next year.B.Sanders will be the Blue Collar Worker, we have been missing.
 
Frankly, while I have my favorites, I want the best players to start, frosh or veteran. There should be plenty of minutes for everyone willing to put in the time to get better.

What I heard about Kayla's surgery is the same. She will be fine and able to go next season.
 
We really need some strong production from the Power Forward spot next season. While Reed and Gayle can both play on the court together, I'm not sure we will see it much if we continue to want to run uptempo all game long.

Here's what I see:

Center - Gayle/Reed
Power Forward - Enemkpali/Hartung
Small Forward - Fussell/Major/Brewer/Sanders
Shooting Guard - Fontenette/Moore/Bass
Point Guard - Anderson/Peoples/McKoy

Our wing player depth will be very solid, and the versatility allowing them to spin up to the 4 or down to the 2 spots will really help out in times of foul trouble.

You can't have enough guards or shooters, and I think that will be our strenght next year. Hopefully our front court players will demand enough attention and allow our shooters to hav some good looks.
 
in that situation, Mooo, I would think Nneka would be the favorite to start due to her speed and ability to rebound and score.

But Coach G has said that she had planned to go to a power post game up til Cokie had to miss the season. If she goes to that, I think both AG and Cokie start. I like our speed game and we will have the players to play that way. Just have our posts play full blast for four to five minutes and sub in the next one from Cokie, AG and Anne Marie.
 
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