Berube at Rizzotti | The Boneyard

Berube at Rizzotti

Princeton crushed them in the 2nd half. Not sure how long Jen has been at GW (3 or so years?), but very soon she will be working with all kids she's recruited. She needs to pick it up a bit - had very limited success at Hartford. Did well early on, was pretty bad at the end. Needs to do better at GW if she has any shot at taking over for Geno IMHO...
 
I wouldn't be surprised if Carla Berube isn't interested in taking over for Geno. She's blazing her own trail.

Whoever takes over for Geno is going to be a disappointment to fans when they're compared to the ridiculous record he's amassed.

There are loads of other places for Carla to go from Princeton if and when she leaves: other top WBCC programs (with deep pockets and heightening focuses on women's sports, WCBB in particular), the WNBA, international professional programs.
 
Alydar said:
At the half the Berube's lead the Rizzotti's 29-27
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Upon Geno's retirement UCONN should call Berube first before any other head coach candidate. She is by far the best of the UCONN graduates.
 
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CL82 said:
Shea?
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Where was Shea a successful head coach? I figured Carla was content on her way to being a D-3 coaching legend. If she can continue her success in D-1 she zooms up the list.
 
Nothing against Shea, but my first choice to take over for Geno would be Carla. She is a proven winner as head coach.
 
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Waquoit said:
Where was Shea a successful head coach? I figured Carla was content on her way to being a D-3 coaching legend. If she can continue her success in D-1 she zooms up the list.
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Continuity matters. Promoting a member of the staff provides that and in a post transfer portal world, making kids comfortable is a good thing.

Still it is good to have choices. Carla and Jen are certainly among them.
 
My next door neighbor officiates women's basketball in New England, and has done many Tufts games over the years. He puts Carla in a very small class of coaches as regards her understanding of the game, and especially her ability to get her teams to play shut-down defense. And she did not spend a whole lot of time questioning calls, but when she did he knew that he better be ready with a good explanation. In that all important 3rd quarter against George Washington, Princeton allowed only 3 field goals on 20% shooting. A coach that teaches good defense is going to win a bunch of games. Got to say that I don't think UConn's team defense of recent seasons has been what it once was. Just seems to me that that was often the difference maker in the big games that they've won over the years.
 
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SVCBeercats said:
Upon Geno's retirement UCONN should call Berube first before any other head coach candidate. She is by far the best of the UCONN graduates.
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I think UConn shouldn't limit their search to "family". Berube has had success at a lower level but can she recruit at the level needed? Not one UConn grad has gone on to coach at a major program. Berube is obviouly a great basketball coach but what about the rest of the baggage that comes with the job. The in-house candidates are unlikely to want to live and work in Ct for the next 20 years, and frankly, flying around the country/world 20-30 times a year to entice teenagers with large egos to attend UConn may not appeal to many of them.
 
Alydar said:
I think UConn shouldn't limit their search to "family". Berube has had success at a lower level but can she recruit at the level needed? Not one UConn grad has gone on to coach at a major program. Berube is obviouly a great basketball coach but what about the rest of the baggage that comes with the job. The in-house candidates are unlikely to want to live and work in Ct for the next 20 years, and frankly, flying around the country/world 20-30 times a year to entice teenagers with large egos to attend UConn may not appeal to many of them.
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If she really wants the job, she do it all and excel. Geno came from humbler beginnings.
 
Carla inherited a pretty good team at Princeton. Before anointing her as the UConn-Coach-in-waiting we need
to see if she can recruit at the D1 level.

Since coming to Illinois, D3 coaching whiz Nancy Fahey has yet to attract a 4 star recruit to come to Champaign.
It aint easy, but it's essential for success.
 
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SVCBeercats said:
If she really wants the job, she do it all and excel. Geno came from humbler beginnings.
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That's my point. Geno was never going to get hired at a major program because he was a man and had zero head coaching experience. And yet here we are.
It will be near impossible to get an established coach at a top school to leave and move to UConn, mostly because following a legend hasn't led to much success anywhere. That and UConn will want a known quantity so an ex-player or coach fits. My current pick is Lister. Young and an apparent knack for recruiting.
 
CL82 said:
Continuity matters. Promoting a member of the staff provides that and in a post transfer portal world, making kids comfortable is a good thing.
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If you went in-house, why would you bypass your other HOF coach? Has she stated she's gone when Geno leaves?
 
Alydar said:
That's my point. Geno was never going to get hired at a major program because he was a man and had zero head coaching experience. And yet here we are.
It will be near impossible to get an established coach at a top school to leave and move to UConn, mostly because following a legend hasn't led to much success anywhere. That and UConn will want a known quantity so an ex-player or coach fits. My current pick is Lister. Young and an apparent knack for recruiting.
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UConn is one of the top jobs in the country. Perhaps the top job. I don't think that we will have a hard time attracting candidates.
 
CL82 said:
UConn is one of the top jobs in the country. Perhaps the top job. I don't think that we will have a hard time attracting candidates.
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I disagree. The top jobs are Duke, Stanford and a few other large endowment private schools. I remember Geno being asked about leaving UConn. He said that at that point he wasn't going anywhere but he mentioned that if he was to go it would be to either Duke or Stanford. He said that when recruits visited he would just have them take a tour of the campus because the schools would do his recruiting for him. Perhaps he was only partially serious but he wasn't joking.
Anyone who thinks that UConn would give a new HC the same budget as Geno is nuts. The university (and the politicians in Hartford) know that he is one of the best ambassadors for UConn & Connecticut in existence. Same with Pat. Every politician in Tennessee wanted his/her picture taken with Pat, and she used that to get a huge budget.
 
Alydar said:
I remember Geno being asked about leaving UConn. He said that at that point he wasn't going anywhere but he mentioned that if he was to go it would be to either Duke or Stanford
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Actually it was just Duke and it was just the men's basketball job. There isn't a better woman's basketball job in the country than UConn. UConn has among the nicest facilities in the country but more importantly it has a fan base that actually cares about woman's basketball. Heck SNY pays more for the right woman's basketball than many men's team get. It's kind of a big deal.

I think you are absolutely wrong about the budget being decreased when Geno leaves. The next coach might not get the same salary (although they might depending on who it is) but cutting team budget is unlikely and, in fact problematic.
 
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ed4ourgirls said:
Carla inherited a pretty good team at Princeton. Before anointing her as the UConn-Coach-in-waiting we need
to see if she can recruit at the D1 level.

Since coming to Illinois, D3 coaching whiz Nancy Fahey has yet to attract a 4 star recruit to come to Champaign.
It aint easy, but it's essential for success.
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Recruiting to UConn is vastly different than recruiting to Illinois. The name alone will attract players
 
HuskyNan said:
Recruiting to UConn is vastly different than recruiting to Illinois. The name alone will attract players
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But (IMO) in order to benefit in recruiting from the UConn name and tradition, the new coach has to have a credible connection to it. And the new coach should have a name in women's basketball that recruits will recognize -- not the case with Rizzotti or Berube.

For these reasons and others, my vote is for Sue Bird.
 
CL82 said:
Actually it was just Duke and it was just the men's basketball job. There isn't a better woman's basketball job in the country than UConn. UConn has among the nicest facilities in the country but more importantly it has a fan base that actually cares about woman's basketball. Heck SNY pays more for the right woman's basketball than many men's team get. It's kind of a big deal.

I think you are absolutely wrong about the budget being decreased when Geno leaves. The next coach might not get the same salary (although they might depending on who it is) but cutting team budget is unlikely and, in fact problematic.
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It's not just Geno's salary. His assistants are among the highest paid. I'll bet his recruiting budget is among the highest. Tenn's budget decreased by a third when they hired Holly. There's a reason Tenn doesn't travel as much any more. Womens Basketball State used to have those numbers before they revamped their format.

Any school's wbb program is going to be driven by the coach. To think that players come to UConn because of the school is naive.
 
JoePgh said:
But (IMO) in order to benefit in recruiting from the UConn name and tradition, the new coach has to have a credible connection to it. And the new coach should have a name in women's basketball that recruits will recognize -- not the case with Rizzotti or Berube.

For these reasons and others, my vote is for Sue Bird.
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I'd love to see Sue and Dee coach at UCONN but... IIRC Sue has said that Storrs is simply too small a town for her. I doubt she'd ever be tempted. At least not until she gets the big city blues out of her system!
 
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