Chris Plonsky

T

TumpTheWagon

25+ Posts
I can't post this on the main board or on Orangebloods because for the most part posters there do not care about women's athletics.

My question is...does anyone think Chris Plonsky and the women's side of the athletic department grossly underachieve overall? Volleyball is fantastic obviously, as well as Swimming. But why is women's soccer not competitive on the national level? Why not Softball (please don't revert back to Kat, that ship sailed a long time ago)? Why has Texas allowed A&M to completely take over track (men and women)?

With all the criticism DeLoss and Mack are taking (or have taken from time to time) I'm just wondering if Chris is just given a free pass on everything. It isn't the late 80's and early 90's anymore. Other schools have caught up while we watch them. There is absolutely no excuse for any program at Texas (men or women) not to be competitive on the national level (p.s. losing in the first round of the tournament is not competitive on the national level). Am I the only one who feels this way? Are we just playing for fun and participation or do we want to win? Please advise.
 
A shake down is definitely in call for a 2 or 3 women's coaches.
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When you want to call out Plonsky when a couple of our programs are really struggling you need to keep in mind what she really does as athletics director. She hires (and fires) the coaches and she's responsible for ensuring the program has the resources it needs to be successful. Recruiting & training our athletes is the responsibility of the coach. Does she pull the trigger on firing as soon as the fans would like? Probably not. But when a coach does leave she proceeds to go out and get the best replacement money can buy. For that reason alone I'm not inclined to want to get rid of her because I don't think you replace that ability easily.

When Jim Moore was canned she proceeded to lure away one of the hottest volleyball coaches in the country who has now rebuilt the program into an annual final four contender. When our legendary coach retired (many may argue she should have been let go earlier) she went out an lured one of the top 3 coaches in women's basketball to Texas. Has she been successful yet? No, but she's at the point now where Jerritt turned it around so the jury is still out. Before you bag on her realize the coaches you are bagging on are all not her hires. The sports you cite as doing well are Plonsky hires. I believe also we are on the upswing in golf & tennis which are also Plonsky hires. I don't follow those sports as closely so don't anyone go postal on me if that's not the case.

In summary I don't think Plonsky is given a pass nor do i think she underachieves. I think long-time coaches Clark & Kearney are given a pass. I'm sure neither of them make $5 million a year so I think their pass should probably be longer duration than a certain men's sport.
 
IIRC Elliott was hired by Jody when she was still AD in 2001. Plonsky did not take on AD until 2002 I believe.

Plonsky hires are golf, swimming, tennis, and basketball. I think TPTB (the powers that be) need to decide what is an acceptable outcome for a season in womens' sports. If mediocrity is OK, then you have your coaches. If mediocrity is not OK then how long do you put up with it before you change things?
 
Very possibly some behind the scenes stuff that I do not know about, Tempest. I do remember Jody being the AD the first year we were associated with Texas Women's Athletics, but it was her last. Looking at the bios online, it seems Plonsky became the official AD in 2002, Elliott hired in 2001. So, yes, I guess I would call Elliott a Plonsky hire.
 
I don't dispute that Elliott signed his deal while Jody was still formally the AD. But I've been at Point Texas and seen in print where Elliott attributes his coming to Texas to Plonsky. I don't mean to be so harsh about it I just don't like Jody getting the credit for that hire. Especially after she brought Moore here from Kansas State. UT should never be taking coaching talent from mid-tier Big 12 programs.

I know some on here worship Jody and I think she was great for our basketball program. I was never impressed with a single hire she made as the AD and I believe her decision to be AD & women's basketball coach for a decade led to mediocrity in our basketball program throughout much of the 90's. Supposedly, we really needed her to take the AD position and i'm sure she did things I'm unaware but her hiring of coaches during her tenure was unimpressive.
 
No offense taken, Tempest. I have not been as closely associated with volleyball, but I am in complete agreement with you on your points. There is a mediocrity that has been acceptable for a while. Should it be, even though the sports are not football, basketball, or baseball?
 
I'm glad there is some interest so thanks for the posts.

Let me be clear I am not calling for Plonsky's job but I would like to see the pressure to win be a little more consistent across all our programs. Clearly, no sport deserves the same scrutiny as football for obvious reasons with basketball coming in second. I do think Plonsky has been slow to make a coaching change sometimes and some of our women's programs have suffered for it. I understand it isn't an easy job as I am in college athletics administration myself so i know finding the right coach is not a simple task. However, when you have the resources and recruiting base that Texas has there is no excuse for chronically mediocre results in any sport. It is her job to make it right and she should be expected to do so.
 
She's made good hires but doesn't seem to make changes that need to be made very fast (Conradt, Clark, Bev, just to name a few)
 
Bev should not be listed with Clark and Conradt.

She has won multiple NCs for Texas and ruled the Big 12 for a very long time!!!

Jody was regarded as one of the greatest coaches and she could only win one NC!!!!! Really??? Not that many final fours either.

Clark went wrong somewhere when she recruited Cat and no hitters to support her, but she has taken Texas to the WCWS and we would have win 2 NCs if UCLA hadn't been on our side of bracket!!!! It was one wrong pitch to Natasha wheatly.....Clark also won the big 12 with a freshman pitcher! She just recruited Fox and I think they will be better.
 
As an FYI, Chris Plonsky earns $299,181 per year.

In 2004, this figure was 225,000, meaning that she has received a 75,000 dollar increase in salary over the last six years.
 
You can't do anything about track and field. We had Bev and Bubba and weren't going to hire someone from LSU to supplant both of them.

Soccer and softball have been pretty disappointing in not being able to keep up a high level of performance/recruiting.

I'll give Coach G more time and the women's swim team had a tough go at nationals last year but has the talent.
 
by all accounts plonsky is considered among the best women's ads in the country. it seems like some are using this thread to get in personal digs at coaches they don't like, but talking about certain programs being gvien a pass seems off-base. as to whether or not women's programs, or more specifically some men's and women's programs, are under less pressure to perform than higher profile sports i won't comment on, but i do know making changes for the reasons some here have suggested isn't something that's done by any program i know of. take softball for instance. we haven't won a national title but have come close and continue to bring in top recruits and compete at a high level. and if some think the results of the program merit a change, or should be the standard by which schools in general would consider making a change, then you'd see an almost 100% turnover rate at the div 1 level. and the same is true for most other sports; look around and you just won't see that happening anywhere.

i just want to point out that we have one of the most successtul women's athletic departments in the country and are top three in terms of total national championships won, and have won national titles in more sports, or across more programs than any other school in ncaa history. we are also at or near the top in terms of the number of programs that are consistently ranked, and it's always worth noting that our women's programs have won more national titles in 29 years than our men have managed in a hundred. of course i would like to see us add more titles to the list and think we're overdue in some sports, but hopefully we're getting close with a number of programs. perhaps our volleyball program will continue their forward progression and win it all this season....final four two years ago, championship match last year...no reason to think they can't go one better this time around!
 
On the track side, the issue is do you recruit/coach for individual national honors or do you recruit/coach for team titles. With Bev and Bubba, Texas has chosen the former. Unfortunately the paying public wants the latter.
 
your point about bubba is well taken given that our men have never won a team title, and based on the talent they've had over the past decade they should have brought home a handful. but you certainly can't say the same about bev as she is responsbile for two of the last four ncaa team championships won by horn programs, and has won as many the past 12 years as all other horn teams combined (men's and women's). in fact she has brought home as many team titles in her 17 years as head coach as our men's football, baseball and basketball programs have together in their entire history.
 
Unfortunately when you watch aggy win the past two National Championships with ease one wonders what has happened to stop the trend. Nothing actually except the recruitiment of very good track stars who will go pro at the drop of the hat.

All that I am saying s tiems have changed, but Bev hasn't. She recruits the best; is the best coach; but in the end she is so good that her individuals leave for greener pastures leaving the University with nothing to show for Bev's efforts.
 
I'm not sure what point you're making; no program wins every national championship but Bev has won more than most. Certainly other teams have won NCAA titles including the Ags the past couple of years. In fact LSU, Auburn, Az State, UCLA, USC, South Carolina and Tennessee have all won team championships during the past decade, as have the Horns on multiple occasions. None of that has anything to do with focusing on individual vs. team results, except of course that you have to have great individual athletes if you also want to have a successful team. And there's a reason those top athletes continue to sign with Bev and the Horns; we have one of the best incoming classes in the nation and that should pay off a year or two from now at both the individual and team level. Of course I would love to see the Horns win every national championship but obviously that's not going to happen; we still have to be thankful for all of the titles and honors Bev and her program have brought our way.
 
yes you're right i didn't go back and check llike i usually do and for some reason wasn't thinking at all about the baseball titles from the 40's, and was probably giving her credit for the one title she won at florida. should have said she won as much or more than either of those programs rather than combined. thx for clarifiying.
 
The point isn't against Bev. She is the best. All I am saying is that LSU and aggy recruit to win championshils while Bev recruits individuals and builds them. The downside is it is very difficult now to stay competitive with LSU and aggy who put team over individual.

It has everything to do with how you split-up the schlorships.
 
well i know absolutely nothing about t&f scholarhships and so don't really understand what you mean about splitting them up. i just assumed t&f was like other sports and all programs had the same number to offer but perhaps there's something i'm missing. as far as recruiting talent that is so good they ultimately leave to turn pro, i don't think you can avoid this, and it's still relatively uncommon for t&f athletes to turn pro before their college career is over. you have to make every effort to recruit the best, even if there's a chance you might lose them at some point. sure it would have been nice to have sanya four years instead of two, and marshavet four instead of three, and no question we would have won a handful more titles if that had happened. but the other way to look at it is we wouldn't have won those two championships in 2005 and 2006 had they not been here. i also think this year's incoming class is a lot more like the ones you think bev should be signing, in terms of depth and covering a lot of bases.
 
TumpTheWagon and others have made some very good points. A successful high school coach told me in this business (coaching) you either produce or move on. It looks bad for us this year even in the State Farm Lone Star Showdown. We should be competing for NCs yet have only won one since 2005. If someone had told me we wouldn't have more NCs in women's basketball since 1987 I would have thought they were crazy even knowing Tennessee and Connecticut were good. From what I understand our coaches are well paid compared to other schools, our scholarships are more than equal, the facilities are ranked with the best, the school is ourstanding of course and Austin is a great City. The coaches are hired to coach and recruit and are well paid. As Coach Royal has said the best way to make fans happy is to win. And win he did with conference championships and 3 NCs. That is what we need. If Coaches don't produce we go after and hire those who can. I agree with Cuernos about CAT. We had the best pitcher ever and if we had just got a few more hitters we would have won one or two NCs. That is why we lost out to teams that didn't have as talented pitchers like UCLA and Michigan.
 
It is a sad state of affairs when we or at least me are more concerned with hoping we can win the State Farm Lone Star Showdown than NCs. As it is A&M is probably going to win it this year and win multiple NCs in Track and Field again.
 
On the women's side soccer and softball need coaching upgrades. There is no reason for Texas to be mediocre in those sports.

In women's track, Bev needs to change her approach and perhaps her staff if she wants to compete with ATM. Texas finished near the bottom in conference and barely scored a point at the NCAA championshiip - that is gross underperformance for a school with Texas' resources and tradition.

It appears that B-ball and swimming are on their way back to being competitive on a national basis. Golf and tennis are middle of the road, but why is ATM better?

As for men's track, Bubba needs to go. He is a highly respected senior track coach, but, again, ATM has left him in the dust and the distance is increasing. Thornton lost his best committed recruit to ATM this past year and he cannot draw the talent as he once did.
 
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