FWIW, a former colleague of mine played for Banghart at Princeton in her first two seasons there and raved, raved about her. My sense is that she's extremely well liked by players, as evinced by the fact that ND's Olivia Miles openly said she would have gone to Princeton if Banghart had stayed. (and that would be a major step down from ND in terms of program prestige.)
BTW- Banghart's comments that people seem to disdain remind me an awful lot of a certain Italian American who has an uncanny ability to get under opposing teams' fans' skin. Me? I love coaches who keep it real.
- She's from Manchester, NH and went to Dartmouth. My brother went undergrad to that school, as well, and whenever I visited the state, I remember straight-forward answers on any topic. Courtney says what she feels/wants.
- Yup, she had the inner track to Ms. Miles, but once she went to UNC, that opened the door for Coach Ivey.
- Right now, I think it's a slightly uneven playing field: Banghart has HC experience from one D1 school and now has the resources from an ACC program to take the next step. She's made solid steps and wiht the younger Key coming back, should be even stronger next year.
- While Coach Lawson brought in a bunch of individually talented transfers, mixing all those pieces into a cohesive playing unit is the trick. Given the injuries and illnesses, the challenge has been formidable. Still, she's smart, talented, has a good staff. Stay tuned.
