Caroline as Assistant Coach | The Boneyard

Caroline as Assistant Coach

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During the Tennessee post game interview of the players, K9 mentioned to the effect that during a timeout in the 2nd quarter Caroline told them not to let Tennessee dictate the tempo. Clearly Caroline has the respect of her teammates. Respect from peers is an exceptional quality and she has it. I can imagine that CD (Caroline) can grow, hopefully under the tutelage of CD and remain in WBB at first as an assistant coach, and also hopefully at UConn.
 
Interesting thought. While its difficult for a player to coach her former teammates, Caroline seems to have the presence to take on this role. Curious that while for many years Geno alway had an "intern," a younger ex-player getting their first coaching experience, this has not happened in many years.
 
Am I missing something or has Caroline said previously that she wants to pursue a coaching career? It seems to me there is a LOT of projecting going on here in this thread and in other threads. I have never seen any quote attributable to Carol that she wants to coach.

Do not confuse an injured 5th year player who knows the ups and downs and the required effort needed and speaks up, with that of being a "coach". Those are two completely different aspects.

Please, anyone fill me in on what was explicitly said by Carol vs. all of you "staying at a Holiday Inn Express" last night and offering opinions.
 
DefenseBB said:
Am I missing something or has Caroline said previously that she wants to pursue a coaching career? It seems to me there is a LOT of projecting going on here in this thread and in other threads. I have never seen any quote attributable to Carol that she wants to coach.

Do not confuse an injured 5th year player who knows the ups and downs and the required effort needed and speaks up, with that of being a "coach". Those are two completely different aspects.

Please, anyone fill me in on what was explicitly said by Carol vs. all of you "staying at a Holiday Inn Express" last night and offering opinions.
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She has said she wants to become a coach.
 
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I noticed that question during the postgame, too. And 2 of the 3 players in the postgame interview said they couldn't remember what Geno said during halftime, but they remembered what Caroline said. Geno had some fun with that when he was asked about it during his postgame, but all kidding aside, it would be great to see Caroline as a UCONN coach, or with some other program. She's obviously smart. It's kind of like the old saying, "Those who can't, teach". And I think Geno might just agree.
 
If she wants to be a coach that's fine, but it's like getting a PHD and then training to be a surgeon.
 
Is
RockyMTblue2 said:
Since we are just spit balling here, it's my gut feeling that she has ambitions of being a professional in the real world. You know, the one that none of us occupy; at least when we're here.
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Is there anything more real world than the UConn Huskies? Not that I've seen. But I get your point.
 
A more recent issue. I read migraine but that has kept her out multiple games?
 
Caroline is a natural leader, and she understands the game so well, that she'd make a fine coach if she wanted to do that. However, I think she would need to go somewhere else to be an assistant to learn about the job. There's a lot more to it than just knowing your Xs and Os.
 
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DefenseBB said:
Am I missing something or has Caroline said previously that she wants to pursue a coaching career? It seems to me there is a LOT of projecting going on here in this thread and in other threads. I have never seen any quote attributable to Carol that she wants to coach.

Do not confuse an injured 5th year player who knows the ups and downs and the required effort needed and speaks up, with that of being a "coach". Those are two completely different aspects.

Please, anyone fill me in on what was explicitly said by Carol vs. all of you "staying at a Holiday Inn Express" last night and offering opinions.
Expand ...
You are missing something.
 
I don’t think it’s far-fetched or “projection” to see a path for Carol as a Coach. This video showed me how hands-on, communicative and personable she is. Three great qualities. I can see it, personally.

IMG_9435.jpeg
 
NY Fan said:
During the Tennessee post game interview of the players, K9 mentioned to the effect that during a timeout in the 2nd quarter Caroline told them not to let Tennessee dictate the tempo. Clearly Caroline has the respect of her teammates. Respect from peers is an exceptional quality and she has it. I can imagine that CD (Caroline) can grow, hopefully under the tutelage of CD and remain in WBB at first as an assistant coach, and also hopefully at UConn.
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I mentioned this in the Who will be the next UConn Coach thread. If CD doesn’t continue to play then this would be a great opportunity for her to learn from the best.
 
I can't remember where she mentioned wanting to get into coaching, but I think it was something pre-season from this year?
 
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DefenseBB said:
I have never seen any quote attributable to Carol that she wants to coach.
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darrell said:
This video showed me how hands-on, communicative and personable she is.
Expand ...

I don't recall Caroline ever being quoted in media as saying she aspires to coach. Of course, she could have said so, somewhere, sometime. However, it also seems likely that some folks have transformed recent comments and speculations made by third parties, and the content of a July 2025 video, into a "fact" that Caroline wants to be a coach.

For example, in April 2025, before the NC game, Paige Bueckers was interviewed and engaged in the following exchange:

Q. Which current player on your team do you think will
make a good coach?

PAIGE BUECKERS: Make a good coach? Hmm. That's a
good question. I'd probably say Caroline Ducharme.

As a second example, the video linked by @darrell carries the title on Redditt of "Caroline Ducharme will be a great coach one day." But nowhere in the video does Caroline actually say she wants to be a coach. She says because it's her fifth year, she's "just trying to be a leader and to be able to use my voice anyway I can. . . . to be a voice, to be a leader that guys can go to."

I think I recall statements from Caroline years ago that she aspired to play in pro basketball, but that now seems unlikely. She surely must have some revised career ideas by now, which reasonably could include coaching. I'm just not aware she has specifically said so herself.
 
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I think we could totally see Caroline as a grad assistant next year and then maybe she takes a job to gain experience and then comes back to Uconn. I think most former players have gone on a walk about to gain experience before coming back to coach at UConn.
 
I would also love to see her as an advocate for traumatic brain injuries in youth sports. Of course, this can coincide with being a coach, or maybe pursuing some sort of therapy degree. Who knows, it's' her life, she's in a unique position to spread the word about head injuries. Whatever she chooses, she'll be a success for sure.
 
Caroline did say word for word in some sponsor event in April/May/June 2025 (don't remember exactly when) that after her playing time she wants to directly go into coaching. Considering her migraines/post-concussion issues this could already be after this season.
 
Kat said:
Caroline is a natural leader, and she understands the game so well, that she'd make a fine coach if she wanted to do that. However, I think she would need to go somewhere else to be an assistant to learn about the job. There's a lot more to it than just knowing your Xs and Os.
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I'd think the same thing, but there's precedent to do otherwise. Chantel Osahor was a grad assistant for Mike Neighbors (although he had moved from Washington to Arkansas by then); Blair Schaefer has worked for Vic I think pretty much since she graduated (yeah, that's different); Ali Patberg at Indiana, McKayla Mabrey at Notre Dame. . .

Definitely not the norm, but it does seem to work out sometimes. My advisor in graduate school told me that I should take a postdoc in a subfield far removed from my own, but I took a job in a lab that I'd visited several times and wound up working there my whole career. I never stopped loving the work, although the job got tedious the last decade or so.
 
darrell said:
I don’t think it’s far-fetched or “projection” to see a path for Carol as a Coach. This video showed me how hands-on, communicative and personable she is. Three great qualities. I can see it, personally.

View attachment 116701
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That video was top notch! Makes me think I was such a knucklehead my college years.

But it all turned out great for me.
 
.-.
For clarity on Caroline's comment, she expressly stated on a video when asked about her interactions with the other players declared she want to coach someday. SOMEDAY, I took that to mean not this year indicating her desire to play the game she loves one more time.
 
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