2025 WCBB Coaches Hot Seat edition

[cancontent]

I wonder if the coach from SMU is on the hotseat.

If she isn't, I'd be very surprised.

 

[Dillon77]

I'm gonna go ahead and say it's just about impossible to predict if it will work out or not. I can come up with examples of coaches who went from mid major (or even non D1) to P4/P5 and did well, but I think much more often they get canned after somewhere between 3-5 years that don't pan out very well. There's pretty much 3 options when it comes to coaching hires: get an established coach or roll the dice on someone from the mid major level or an assistant coach w/ no previous head coaching experience.

Thanks.

Oh, I was just going along with the Missouri Valley Conference example. As you know, most of us have been watching/commenting on/drawing information on the coaching carousel for years. We've seen some hires from mid-majors do well (see Bowling Green to Michigan State) and others, not so well. Coach Mox is probably going to get some more time to keep going up the hill in Charlottesville.

I like a person like Cunningham because she's got more than 10+ years on coaching winning mid-major programs and has assisted on a very successful P5 team. Stay tuned.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Meh, she always seems to find a way to sneak into the tournament (and could very well do so again this year despite having no quality wins). Arizona is going to hesitate to fire her (she's an alum, after all) unless they find that she's abusive.

They almost certainly won't fire her. The issue would almost certainly not be the results on court, per se, but I suppose there could be some salary vs. results angst.

To be clear, we are not really talking about this year, unless they offer an extension and she says "no" at what is offered. UA offered an extension to only one of 4 coaches that would typically be at that point, and one is ranked in the top 10 in their sport. I can not stress enough that the school simply doesn't have funds to throw around.

The public relations hit, OTH, would be huge. Adia is adored by most of the fan base, actually I like her a good deal as well. As one of the opponent media said, she is one of the few coaches who is brutally honest about her program.

 

[WBBTakeover]

They almost certainly won't fire her. The issue would almost certainly not be the results on court, per se, but I suppose there could be some salary vs. results angst.

To be clear, we are not really talking about this year, unless they offer an extension and she says "no" at what is offered. UA offered an extension to only one of 4 coaches that would typically be at that point, and one is ranked in the top 10 in their sport. I can not stress enough that the school simply doesn't have funds to throw around.

The public relations hit, OTH, would be huge. Adia is adored by most of the fan base, actually I like her a good deal as well. As one of the opponent media said, she is one of the few coaches who is brutally honest about her program.

FWIW, I don't think she should be fired. While the National Championship game run looks like an outlier (thanks to Aari and a few other major contributors), her ability to rebuild the program into having annual NCAA Tournament berth expectations is not. Her teams, more often than not, play hard even when they are clearly undermanned.

 

[cancontent]

Looks like things will remain status quo at Boston College.

 

[DefenseBB]

To me, the first school that needs to make a move is Houston...Ronald Hughey has been dreadful during his tenure.

Uncle Joe McKeown needs to retire. Maybe he and Doug Bruno can have a "Chicago announcing party" and both retire on the same day.

While their NET isn't terrible at 92, I do think it's time for PSU to move on from Kieger. They were 1-17 and 10-19 and keep losing the good players they do initially get.

Wake, SMU, Pitt all warrant changes but their coaches are still in early years of their contracts so I think the ADs will let it play out, not sure why when the writing is clearly on the wall but hey it's not my money.

There are the rumblings about Mike Neighbors and given the hard fall that has occurred, something ain't right in Little Rock so a time to change may need to occur. I wouldn't be surprised if he got another year though. I know Auburn has caused some concern but to me, Johnnie Harris should get another year to see if she can turn it around-doubtful but still....

Big Ten- the bottom of this conference is a hot mess- NW, PSU I have already mentioned. Purdue is going nowhere, Rutgers made the mistake hiring Washington in the first place and then there is our girl Marissa who needs drastic improvement and to weather the verbal harassment claims.

I feel for @azfan as ASU needs to move on from Adair but she too is still in only year 3, so the AD may give her one more year to totally ruin their program but with a "positive, can-do, happy face" attitude. Hang in there my friend. UCF is also a mess but similar to ASU, this is year 3 so she's safe. At least BYU has Delaney Gibb to tout. Texas Tech is really the program that needs to move on from Gurlich who has done nothing with a tradition rich and supportive fan base. It's always tough to fire a legacy coach but its time Red Raiders, its time....

The Big East can make a case to fire any of the coaches not at UConn, Creighton, 'Nova or Marquette (yes, Seton Hall needs to take a hard look at Bozzella) as none of these coaches save Austin Parkinson (beset by major injuries) look to be headed in the right direction. Georgetown is safe as they just made him permanent last year but, not a great first full-time year. This conference can't improve until the coaching gets better. Xavier, PC and Georgetown are perennial cellar dwellers. Heck, I even think SJU needs to move on from Joe T. He drastically underachieved this year. But alas, I am not thinking any changes occur.

 

[dws3665]

The University of Arkansas is in Fayetteville, not Little Rock, so the source of your something rotten needs to be adjusted a couple hundred miles to the NW. And while there are several things wrong there, one of the biggest is that the athletic department hasn't provided the WBB program with any resources (read: NIL) for recruiting/keeping players. It seems likely that they're giving him one more year under the Rev Share program to see if he can turn things around. (I would point out, though, that the $ is not the ONLY problem, and Neighbors is responsible for some of the issues, like any HC.)

I think Auburn may actually be more likely to make a move than Arkansas. I don't disagree that Johnnie should get more time, but Auburn has not traditionally been patient with its coaches.

 

[dws3665]

I also want to state unequivocally that I am NOT saying that there is nothing rotten in Little Rock.

 

[LETTERL]

Looks like things will remain status quo at Boston College.

BC just never seems able to get over the hump. She has brought in some great recruits but she loses most of them to the transfer portal. I guess BC figures they can't do worse; she does have them around 0.500 most years.

To me, BC's most dangerous weapon is The Conte Forum. Dead arena that can lull other teams to sleep or a slow start sometimes.