I like Yolett McCuin at ole miss. Although her record isn't good there I think she would have success at Texas
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Next man/woman up ! or should I say OUT !.....
- Thread starter MajesticII
- Start date
It's not the rule. According to this article from last May, 63% of D1 WBB coaches are female, and the percentage rises to 68% of you look at only "power 5" conferences.
Best person for the job, please.
I have no idea what CDC's plans are regarding women's basketball. It is very strange that a coach at Texas is going into their last season without any confirmation they will be granted more years on their expiring contract (although that happened with the previous softball coach). Could be more to it than meets the eye.
So, if we are in search of a new head coach, gotta take a look at the Syracuse head coach; he is recruiting lights out and wins. But, he may already be making like $900k.
Quentin Hillsman - Women's Basketball Coach - Syracuse University Athletics
Adia Barnes at Arizona is a great young coach who coaches in a very tough conference, and holding her own against some very experienced coaches in the PAC. She is a great recruiter, including internationally as she made many connections during her playing days overseas. She is an Arizona alum, but UofA does not pay its women's sports coaches very well.
Cori Close at UCLA continues to get her team close to reaching a Final Four. Fabulous recruiter; not sure she is a great X's and O's coach yet. Recruits extremely well, especially in Texas. Now she is getting some fabulous players from Australia, as well. I think she only makes like $500k (which can't go far considering LA's high cost of living, and state income taxes). But, she is coaching at her alma mater.
Coaches who I believe would not leave their program for Texas (for many reasons) include those at Louisville, Miss. State, Oregon, South Carolina, Notre Dame. Not sure about Oregon State's coach; he might be one who just loves the northwest and money isn't a driving force).
We all have our own opinions, but I want no part of Pebley, Stallings, or ASU's Charli Thorne (was a candidate prior to us hiring GG). For at least $1 million / year, CDC should be able to hire a coach from a P5 conference who has proven they can win consistently in the post-season.
If CDC believes a new head coach needs to be hired, I'd bet he/she comes from the PAC, as they just don't pay their coaches well compared to other conferences, and more money could be a driving reason for them to come to Texas.
So, if we are in search of a new head coach, gotta take a look at the Syracuse head coach; he is recruiting lights out and wins. But, he may already be making like $900k.
Quentin Hillsman - Women's Basketball Coach - Syracuse University Athletics
Adia Barnes at Arizona is a great young coach who coaches in a very tough conference, and holding her own against some very experienced coaches in the PAC. She is a great recruiter, including internationally as she made many connections during her playing days overseas. She is an Arizona alum, but UofA does not pay its women's sports coaches very well.
Cori Close at UCLA continues to get her team close to reaching a Final Four. Fabulous recruiter; not sure she is a great X's and O's coach yet. Recruits extremely well, especially in Texas. Now she is getting some fabulous players from Australia, as well. I think she only makes like $500k (which can't go far considering LA's high cost of living, and state income taxes). But, she is coaching at her alma mater.
Coaches who I believe would not leave their program for Texas (for many reasons) include those at Louisville, Miss. State, Oregon, South Carolina, Notre Dame. Not sure about Oregon State's coach; he might be one who just loves the northwest and money isn't a driving force).
We all have our own opinions, but I want no part of Pebley, Stallings, or ASU's Charli Thorne (was a candidate prior to us hiring GG). For at least $1 million / year, CDC should be able to hire a coach from a P5 conference who has proven they can win consistently in the post-season.
If CDC believes a new head coach needs to be hired, I'd bet he/she comes from the PAC, as they just don't pay their coaches well compared to other conferences, and more money could be a driving reason for them to come to Texas.
Not that it matters much, but Close's alma mater is UCSB. She was an assistant at UCLA back in the mid-90s and was acquainted with John Wooden, whom she often cites as inspiration. But I personally don't think she's a great coach.
I wouldn't count out Walz. It's hard to know for sure, but he was heavily rumored to have active interest in the Tennessee job. I would love watching Walz clash yearly with Mulkey, to whom he dealt a painful upset in the famous 2013 Sweet 16 game.
Scott Rueck *is* at his alma mater, and it's a bit hard for me to envision him moving to Texas. But if the AD is serious about changing coaches, he'd be a fool not to at least put out feelers to both Eugene and Corvallis.
Do we know that he's willing to spend that much? Is that how much they spent on the softball coach? They sure didn't spend that much on Aston.
Also, I would question the premise that the search should be limited to already successful p5 coaches. If you look the upper-tier WBB coaches, almost all of them were either an assistant or a HC at a lower level in their immediately prior job:
Geno: AC at Virginia
Muffet: HC at Lehigh
Mulkey: AC at LaTech
Staley: HC at Temple
Schaefer: AC at TAMU
Walz: AC at Maryland
Graves: HC at Gonzaga
Rueck: HC at George Fox (D3)
The lone exceptions that occur to me are Tara, who was HC at Ohio State before she left for Stanford in the mid-80s, and Brenda Frese, who went from Minnesota to Maryland. And as we've seen all too closely, recent P5 success is not guaranteed to transfer -- Gail Goestenkors, people.
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MajesticII
1,000+ Posts
The drawback to the Texas job...Ya gotta face Kim twice a year !!!!!
That could be the draw
I don't especially like being the negative one on the board, but I'm still not sure why some of you think Texas is such a plum job that we could convince one of the top coaches in WBB to leave a place where they are going gangbusters to come here. Gail did, surprisingly, and of course it did not work out great. I thought players would flock to play for her, but was I ever wrong about that. Coaches know the history here, and see what happened to Gail, see that Barnes had mediocre results, and that Shaka is having big problems here, too. Texas is great recruiting territory, but we compete with some very top teams (BU, Aggy, etc.) for the same players. We think Austin is a cool town, but I don't see that influencing coaches much. They are much more interested in their team. (Doesn't seem to matter to players either, otherwise how could Kim, Schaefer, and others have such recruiting success considering the towns they are located in.) None of the universities with the really top teams are going to let Texas steal away their coaches just through a high $$$ offer. Duke finally matched our offer to Gail, as I recall. What school wouldn't? I'm shocked to read that Tennessee had such a low cap on what they would offer a new coach.
My last comment in this thread --- someone wrote that there are not enough great women coaches out there. How do we know that? Seems like a pretty sexist remark to me. Someone posted the link showing there are still more women coaches than male. True, but that percentage of males has surely inched up quickly. I'm not fanatic about this, I just think it is an interesting phenomenon. There is a theory, of course, that in any field, when it grows and becomes more widely respected, males move in and reap the primary spoils. I am not sure that that is not what is going on.
If I'm wrong on all these points, and it is announced soon that Graves, Walz, Rueck, or Schaefer are moving here, I'll be just as happy as everyone else.
My last comment in this thread --- someone wrote that there are not enough great women coaches out there. How do we know that? Seems like a pretty sexist remark to me. Someone posted the link showing there are still more women coaches than male. True, but that percentage of males has surely inched up quickly. I'm not fanatic about this, I just think it is an interesting phenomenon. There is a theory, of course, that in any field, when it grows and becomes more widely respected, males move in and reap the primary spoils. I am not sure that that is not what is going on.
If I'm wrong on all these points, and it is announced soon that Graves, Walz, Rueck, or Schaefer are moving here, I'll be just as happy as everyone else.
We have amazing television visibility.
The Texas brand is one of the most valuable in the NCAA
Austin is #1 in almost every “best places” list
Gail made $5 mil before she decided to leave and that doesn’t count sponsorship dollars.
Two of our former coaches are in the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and one additionally in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
State employee benefits are really good
Our facilities are top notch and about to get even better.
Have you eaten at the UT Club at DKR?
The resources and support our student athletes get are incredible
Burnt orange looks good on everyone
The UT WBB number one fan just donated $20 million to the university last year. She attends all home AND away games.
The guy who has one of the best suites at DKR because of his donations sits courtside with his wife at all the women’s home games.
While we continually judge ourselves by Baylor, we are actually one of the winningest programs in the game- 6th overall I believe.
It’s such a plum job most of our coaches stay longer than they should.
Karen has been able to recruit highly-ranked players. She just failed to turn them into champions. The ability to recruit top players is not an issue.
The Texas brand is one of the most valuable in the NCAA
Austin is #1 in almost every “best places” list
Gail made $5 mil before she decided to leave and that doesn’t count sponsorship dollars.
Two of our former coaches are in the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and one additionally in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
State employee benefits are really good
Our facilities are top notch and about to get even better.
Have you eaten at the UT Club at DKR?
The resources and support our student athletes get are incredible
Burnt orange looks good on everyone
The UT WBB number one fan just donated $20 million to the university last year. She attends all home AND away games.
The guy who has one of the best suites at DKR because of his donations sits courtside with his wife at all the women’s home games.
While we continually judge ourselves by Baylor, we are actually one of the winningest programs in the game- 6th overall I believe.
It’s such a plum job most of our coaches stay longer than they should.
Karen has been able to recruit highly-ranked players. She just failed to turn them into champions. The ability to recruit top players is not an issue.
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I have heard from other people within the athletic programs that Del Conte has made a number of cuts in areas that directly benefit the student athletes, specifically student training and support staff outside the major revenue sports. Same people say in general Del Conte likes to spend money on the flash people see and save money behind the scenes.
So these are the reasons you think we will be able to get one of the current top coaches to leave their jobs to come here? Well...maybe. Don't you think all these top programs are giving their athletes great support and all the resources they can muster? Facilities here will be really great, but others may be just as great (Oregon from what I've read, Nike money). I don't think buildings are enough to pull people to take jobs. Tennessee played for years in a dump while they were on top of the basketball world (before Thompson-Boling). I have not eaten at the UT Club. These mega-rich donors -- do they call the shots behind the scenes? Interesting to speculate how much influence they have. Probably a lot. "The ability to recruit top players is not an issue." I'm not so sure about that. Gail couldn't, the one top of the game coach we have been able to lure here. Again, I don't think Austin would make someone move here, or we would be competing only with Eugene, Corvallis, Stanford, and a few others that are in great places, not the likes of Waco, College Station, Starkille, Storrs, South Bend, and Columbia, S.C. But who knows? I will be happy to be wrong about all this.
Should Texas be looking for a new wbb coach at the end of the season as most people on this board hope, I found this old but interesting article about what Del Conte looks for in coaches. Based on this article, maybe Del Conte would look at someone like the coach at Gonzaga or even Kamie Ethridge. New Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte prefers hiring coaches who built contending programs
EDIT: Ok. Gonzaga coach may not be a good example. She leads a contending mid-major but they were good before she got there. And ideally Ethridge would have a couple more years at Washington State to see what she can really do. But she did a great job a Northern Colorado taking that program higher than it had ever been in just a few years. At Washington State, she took over a program mired in quicksand. There she is showing that she can win more games working with what she has on her roster, which is not a lot. Kamie can coach offense!
EDIT: Ok. Gonzaga coach may not be a good example. She leads a contending mid-major but they were good before she got there. And ideally Ethridge would have a couple more years at Washington State to see what she can really do. But she did a great job a Northern Colorado taking that program higher than it had ever been in just a few years. At Washington State, she took over a program mired in quicksand. There she is showing that she can win more games working with what she has on her roster, which is not a lot. Kamie can coach offense!
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Coaches aren’t magical beings. They decide where to live based on personal preferences. I’m just pointing out that Texas has lots to offer. If you don’t want to live in a big city, you wouldn’t want this job. If you don’t like hot summers you wouldn’t want this job. If you like a fat salary, great facilities, a high profile program, mild winters and live music... this is your place.
No argument from me on this. On who Texas COULD get, I know nothing. Maybe, unbeknownst to me, Vic Schaefer is itching to move back to Texas. He has shown he can build from nothing in a backwater and quickly! But I'm not sure we should expect an overly exciting offense. Vic is all about defense.
I'd be willing to bet he and Gary Blair already have it somewhat understood that he'll come back to A&M when Blair retires. I'll go even further and say I think Blair may do that once Chennedy Carter graduates. Just a gut feeling....
May not have to wait for graduation...she’s eligible for the draft this year and the pay bump for the WNBA will probably result in a few more leaving early.
I think that if Blair hadn’t had his little resurgence a few years ago it would be almost certain that Vic would have been the next coach but I think Vic has settled in Miss St. I wouldn’t be surprised if Kelly Bond is the coach that he chooses to replace him when he does decide to retire.
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UTexRulz23
500+ Posts
What does Staley make at USC?
I’m sure that’s not a real option but I’d love her!
I’m sure that’s not a real option but I’d love her!
Jacob Johnson
2,500+ Posts
I am sure Texas can get any coach they want at the right price. With the new arena and everything coming its the perfect pitch and perfect time to turn this program around before it's done. Honestly at this point I just need Aston gone and a fresh start because when you think about it Aston will never fix that horrible offense so with our best players besides collier graduating, where will the offense come from? We will look even worse next season if a coaching change is not done immediately after the season.
If a coach is afraid of that, they don't need to be coaching and we don't want them!!!!!
Jeff Walz wouldn't be afraid of it.
airtightskipole
25+ Posts
Would Tina Thompson be an option? Just a question.
That just isn't true. Due to equal revenue sharing across the P5 conferences, teams like Miss. State and Louisville are making just as much TV revenue as Texas; that wasn't the case 10 years ago. Those schools will not be outbid for their head coaches; same for so many other schools.
Texas baseball found out the hard way that being a historic program with so many national championships didn't matter when we pursued head coaches from the SEC and ACC to replace Garrido; those schools had no problem matching Texas' financial offer. We ended up with a head coach from Tulane. Even during our football searches and men's hoops searches, we didn't get head coaches from Power 5 conferences (other than Strong from Louisville), and it all comes down to other schools now having just as much money to spend on coaches they want to retain.
Yes, I understand that CDC was not the AD during those head coaching searches. And, he made two great hires for softball and T&F. Still, women's head coaches at schools like Louisville and Miss. State are making a lot more money than we are paying Aston, they are drawing huge home crowds, and they are competing for Final Fours the past few years, and the next few years to come.
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In 2017 South Carolina's Women's coach Dawn Staley received a four-year extension that will ultimately increase her annual compensation package to $2.1 million. Of course SC leads the nation in attendance at over 10,000 per game.
First, I admit to not even being on the "Aston must be fired" petition. I think Aston will continue getting the team to the tournament, making some sweet sixteens and occasionally going further. She will continue to work hard and represent the University with dignity. I am ok with this.
OK, do your worst to this post. I want to move on to looking for a coach who might take Texas to the greater heights for which we all yearn.
OK, do your worst to this post. I want to move on to looking for a coach who might take Texas to the greater heights for which we all yearn.
Let’s say Texas is looking for a coach this spring and cannot hire any of Dawn, Jeff, Vic, etc. What then? The article I linked earlier includes the following statement: "He [Del Conte] desires to fill the department with “grinders,” coaches who toiled at overlooked programs and eventually turned those also-rans into contenders."
The following resume appears to belong to someone who is the very definition of a grinder who has made a contender out of program without much previous history of success and without the resources Texas can offer. Who can you find?
Dawn Plitzuweit, current head coach at South Dakota. South Dakota plays in the Summit League and is currently ranked number 21 in the AP poll.
Coach Plitzuweit’s Accomplishments at South Dakota
The following resume appears to belong to someone who is the very definition of a grinder who has made a contender out of program without much previous history of success and without the resources Texas can offer. Who can you find?
Dawn Plitzuweit, current head coach at South Dakota. South Dakota plays in the Summit League and is currently ranked number 21 in the AP poll.
Coach Plitzuweit’s Accomplishments at South Dakota
- 80-22 record at South Dakota.
- Led South Dakota to 20-win seasons in each of her first three years. Has already reached that mark in this, her 4th, season.
- In 2019, South Dakota made the NCAA tournament as the Summit League’s first ever at-large team.
- During the 2018 season, South Dakota beat ranked teams for the first time: #23/22 Iowa State and #22/24 Missouri.
- In Feb 2019, South Dakota was ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 (for 2 weeks) and the USA Today Div I Coaches Poll (for 5 weeks) for the first time in program history.
- Served as the head coach at Northern Kentucky as the school transitioned to Division I. Went to WBI 4 times.
- Served as head coach at DII Grand Valley State -- which won the 2006 NCAA DII championship.
- Served as an assistant coach under Kevin Borseth at Michigan Tech (her alma mater), Green Bay, and Michigan.
- Based on 1995 college graduation, Plitzuweit’s age is probably from 45 to 47 years.
Allow me to respond...
KA got to her previous Sweet 16s/Elite 8 with a roster full of McDAAs despite having a largely ineffective offense and marginal player development. Now that she’s not getting the All-Americans and hasn’t made considerable strides in the 2 problem areas, is it reasonable to expect Sweet 16s in the tourney much less “further”?
Nice resume but you also have the requirement of being able to recruit top talent, or at least close to top talent and being able to coach them up in order to be a challenger in the Big 12. I like what I'm seeing from the coaching staffs at TCU and Tech... If we can't get a big name, we need someone who can do what they're doing. They're not exactly elite, but IMO they're definitely getting the most out of the players they've been able to sign. Both programs are trending upward... maybe not consistently yet but definitely on the rise.
Re: Plitzuweit. Yes, I should add recruiting as a question mark. That is usually a question mark when a coach moves from the mid major ranks to a P5 school. I did just check and find that Plitzuweit signed a player from Nebraska ranked #71 by ESPN Hoopgurlz for 2020. Pretty good for South Dakota of all places. That is close to where Empress was ranked though Empress was a consensus top 100 and the South Dakota signee is not ranked by Prospects Nation. Still, haven't we all said Texas should be an easy sell, particularly if the coach can win game in the NCAA tournament the season before she comes to Texas?
I am not yet sold on Stallings although her high octane offense can be fun to watch when it is clicking. Minnesota fans were not overly disappointed when she left. I think fans felt she had plateaued.
Allow me to respond...
KA got to her previous Sweet 16s/Elite 8 with a roster full of McDAAs despite having a largely ineffective offense and marginal player development. Now that she’s not getting the All-Americans and hasn’t made considerable strides in the 2 problem areas, is it reasonable to expect Sweet 16s in the tourney much less “further”?
I am going to refrain from responding further given how far in the minority I am on this one! And since I am being so honest
, I was screaming "fire Aston" by half time of the Arizona game, and "don't let her on the plane" after the team lost to Hawaii. How Texas finishes out the season may alter my outlook again.Recent Threads
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