Women’s Basketball Update
The UConn-Baylor series will continue in 2014 with a game on Martin Luther King Day, January 20th. The game will be played in Texas and televised on ESPN. Indications are that both Geno Auriemma and Kim Mulkey are interested in continuing the series beyond 2014.
The leading candidate to replace C. Vivian Stringer at Rutgers is Courtney Banghart, current head coach at Princeton. Banghart was also an assistant at her alma mater, Dartmouth, for four years. Princeton earned its first ever national ranking under Banhart in the 2011-12 season and the Tigers are currently 19-6 (10-1 Ivy League) and appears to be well positioned for its fourth consecutive league championship. Banghart was named the 2010 New Jersey Sports Writers Association Women’s College Coach of the Year.
Word is that Pittsburgh’s Agnus Berenato will not survive her team’s disastrous season, currently at 9-20. One of the coaches that Pitt will pursue is UConn assistant, and former Pitt assistant, Shea Ralph. She may not be getting much encouragement to make the jump from Geno, though, as Pitt hasn’t shown a commitment to its women’s team.
Although there have been no rumblings of a departure for Notre Dame’s Muffet McGraw, there have been rumors about her possible successor. Former Notre Dame assistant and current Washington head coach Kevin McGuff is considered to be the leading candidate should McGraw call it a day.
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