Coaches on the hot seat

[Plebe]

I know people have talked about Steph White and Sherri Coale, but I just realized that Karen Aston is in the last year of a 3-year contract extension:

Texas women's coach Karen Aston gets 3-year extension, raise

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) Texas women's basketball coach Karen Aston is getting an annual raise of more than $150,000 under a three-year contract extension approved Friday by university regents.

www.foxsports.com

I dare say that if Texas doesn't show improvement over last season — and their loss at USF was hardly encouraging — lots of folks in Austin are gonna be ready for a change. I'd say that just the fact that she hasn't received another extension yet, in November of the last year of her contract, speaks volumes.

 

[EricSD]

I wouldn't be surprised if that's why her recruiting has been so poor lately - the recruits who like her don't know if she'll stay, and the ones that have wised up are looking elsewhere. Kind of a vicious cycle, no-win situation. And agreed that some impressive on-court performances are going to be the only salve. Winning can cure a lot of ills...

Possibly the same excuse McCallie will use at Duke. The sheer volume of #lessonslearned each year for her and her team is mind boggling... - so sayeth @CamrnCrz1974

 

[triaddukefan]

The WCBB seat in Cameron Indoor

thanks @Plebe for making this thread... this gif has been sitting in storage... was just waiting for the right time to use it.

 

[eebmg]

I wouldn't be surprised if that's why her recruiting has been so poor lately - the recruits who like her don't know if she'll stay, and the ones that have wised up are looking elsewhere. Kind of a vicious cycle, no-win situation. And agreed that some impressive on-court performances are going to be the only salve. Winning can cure a lot of ills...

Getting creamed by Baylor on a regular basis can't help.

 

[Plebe]

Getting creamed by Baylor on a regular basis can't help.

Karen seems to have reached her peak in Austin, and her peak was:
(a) getting to the Elite 8, once.
(b) beating Baylor in Waco, once.
(c) playing UConn close, once.

 

[SECbbfan24]

The one seat in the PMAC is pretty hot.... Luckily its approaching winter time.

 

[DeeHusky]

Nikki Caldwell at LSU as well, but sadly I think all coaches named will get contract extensions because in certain places women’s basketball is an afterthought

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

I would think White MUST be on the hot seat. Vanderbilt has been such an also ran, and it has a decent, quite respectable history.

I don't have the ambition to look up a year-by-year Texas history, but I "think" her job will be ok if she has a decent year - which would be better than last year, I would say. At least one NCAA win would help.

Coale was supposed to be rebuilding last year, if she did, I'm sure she will be fine.

One coach never mentioned that I always think is mired in mediocrity is Oklahoma State.

 

[SECbbfan24]

Nikki Caldwell at LSU as well, but sadly I think all coaches named will get contract extensions because in certain places women’s basketball is an afterthought

Our last AD Joe Alleva completely gave up on the WBB program years. ago. As long as there wasn't a scandal he had no intention on making changes. He faced a lot of heat for how he handled it at the end.

The extension Nikki got was mainly for recruiting purposes.

 

[DeeHusky]

Our last AD Joe Alleva completely gave up on the WBB program years. ago. As long as there wasn't a scandal he had no intention on making changes. He faced a lot of heat for how he handled it at the end.

The extension Nikki got was mainly for recruiting purposes.

LSU is specifically a football school and with the upward spiral Coach O is on and the program just beat Alabama and is finally in position to make the college football playoff for the first time...Nikki will be there a while

 

[SECbbfan24]

LSU is specifically a football school and with the upward spiral Coach O is on and the program just beat Alabama and is finally in position to make the college football playoff for the first time...Nikki will be there a while

I respectfully disagree for multiple reasons. LSU always is a football school but it invests a lot in its other athletic programs.

 

[DeeHusky]

I respectfully disagree for multiple reasons. LSU always is a football school but it invests a lot in its other athletic programs.

I’m not saying they don’t invest in the other programs, I’m saying LSU is primarily a football school and right now at this moment women’s basketball is an afterthought in Baton Rouge. In women’s basketball you can perform mediocrity for quite some time before you’re on the hot seat if ever. I don’t feel like they attract enough attention or fan scrutiny to get someone fired and unless there’s a scandal there probably won’t be a fire.

 

[garddog]

No way White gets an extension. Team looks horrible again this year.

 

[huskeynut]

Having watched the USF/ Texas game in person, Aston should be in the hot seat.

No real offensive flow. A lot of run & gun. Not very disciplined in their approach. Homes was unimpressive. She is big enough and talented enough to dominate. She sure didn't dominate against USF. Collier, again she was unimpressive. With her height, she should do a lot more damage down low. Not the case. Guard play is erratic at best.

Holmes and Collier are the only bigs Aston has. She does not have the depth she use to.

I think Texas may drop out of the Top 25 if they continue to play poorly.

 

[eebmg]

Having watched the USF/ Texas game in person, Aston should be in the hot seat.

No real offensive flow. A lot of run & gun. Not very disciplined in their approach. Homes was unimpressive. She is big enough and talented enough to dominate. She sure didn't dominate against USF. Collier, again she was unimpressive. With her height, she should do a lot more damage down low. Not the case. Guard play is erratic at best.

Holmes and Collier are the only bigs Aston has. She does not have the depth she use to.

I think Texas may drop out of the Top 25 if they continue to play poorly.

Off topic but how did USF look? Top 25? General analysis ?

 

[DefenseBB]

Having watched the USF/ Texas game in person, Aston should be in the hot seat.

No real offensive flow. A lot of run & gun. Not very disciplined in their approach. Homes was unimpressive. She is big enough and talented enough to dominate. She sure didn't dominate against USF. Collier, again she was unimpressive. With her height, she should do a lot more damage down low. Not the case. Guard play is erratic at best.

Holmes and Collier are the only bigs Aston has. She does not have the depth she use to.

I think Texas may drop out of the Top 25 if they continue to play poorly.

I just looked at her schedule and she could and probably will have 5 OOC losses- USF, Arizona on Sunday, NC State, Tennessee, Stanford and then 2 by Baylor plus at least one other conference loss. That’s 8+ losses this year. Not quite Hollyesque but close. She has done better than Gail but given all the resources UT gives, me thinks she’s a goner after this year.
if I am the UT AD, I might be calling Drake or either one of the South Dakota schools!

 

[Plebe]

I just looked at her schedule and she could and probably will have 5 OOC losses- USF, Arizona on Sunday, NC State, Tennessee, Stanford and then 2 by Baylor plus at least one other conference loss. That’s 8+ losses this year. Not quite Hollyesque but close. She has done better than Gail but given all the resources UT gives, me thinks she’s a goner after this year.
if I am the UT AD, I might be calling Drake or either one of the South Dakota schools!

I just looked at Texas's 2020 recruiting class of 4:
Two of them in HG top 100 (#52, #97)
Two unranked in HG

Aston did get a commitment from Harvard transfer Katie Benzan, which is a good pick-up. Still, nothing about this class would signal a reversal of the recent slide to mediocrity.

 

[Txhoopsalot]

I just looked at Texas's 2020 recruiting class of 4:
Two of them in HG top 100 (#52, #97)
Two unranked in HG

Aston did get a commitment from Harvard transfer Katie Benzan, which is a good pick-up. Still, nothing about this class would signal a reversal of the recent slide to mediocrity.

It is an interesting time in Austin. Coach Aston does not act like a coach on the hot seat. She seems as happy and relaxed in interviews as I can recall. She repeatedly says how she likes working with this team. With regard to recruiting, there is no doubt: the staff missed on a number of Plan A prospects for 2019 and 2020. But the staff also has learned a few lessons the hard way and is making some different choices about who they pursue and how hard. One of the unranked prospects for 2020 is a tall, big post player who is a late bloomer. The coaching staff seems to have high hopes for her. The other unranked player is a player who got a bit behind on development and notice as a result of an untimely injury.

I anxiously await the game with Arizona tomorrow. As noted by you and others, Texas is going to take some lumps this nonconference season. This should be a winnable game at home against a respectable opponent. I notice that Arizona had a close game at home against Santa Clara, a good mid-major program though I do not know anything about this year's team. Most of Arizona's starters had to play well over 30 minutes.

 

[Plebe]

It is an interesting time in Austin. Coach Aston does not act like a coach on the hot seat. She seems as happy and relaxed in interviews as I can recall. She repeatedly says how she likes working with this team. With regard to recruiting, there is no doubt: the staff missed on a number of Plan A prospects for 2019 and 2020. But the staff also has learned a few lessons the hard way and is making some different choices about who they pursue and how hard. One of the unranked prospects for 2020 is a tall, big post player who is a late bloomer. The coaching staff seems to have high hopes for her. The other unranked player is a player who got a bit behind on development and notice as a result of an untimely injury.

"Happy and relaxed in interviews" could be misleading; it could be a sign of resignation to her fate, for all we know. If her position were secure, I'd expect her contract to have already been extended before the early signing period. From the looks of it, best-case scenario is the AD is waiting to see how this season goes before offering an extension.

I anxiously await the game with Arizona tomorrow. As noted by you and others, Texas is going to take some lumps this nonconference season. This should be a winnable game at home against a respectable opponent. I notice that Arizona had a close game at home against Santa Clara, a good mid-major program though I do not know anything about this year's team. Most of Arizona's starters had to play well over 30 minutes.

It's an intriguing matchup between programs that appear to be headed in opposite directions. Arizona finished last year the high note of winning the WNIT in front of a packed house in its first postseason appearance since 2011. Texas finished with a whimper, exiting the NCAA tournament in the first round to end its worst season since Aston's first year (2012).

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

I anxiously await the game with Arizona tomorrow. As noted by you and others, Texas is going to take some lumps this nonconference season. This should be a winnable game at home against a respectable opponent. I notice that Arizona had a close game at home against Santa Clara, a good mid-major program though I do not know anything about this year's team. Most of Arizona's starters had to play well over 30 minutes.

The problem against Santa Clara (or one of them) was we just were not really in sync and (especially in the 1st half) were a bit "3 happy", going, IIRC, something like 1 of 11 or so from 3.

Reese is a bit of a conundrum, in that she can work really hard and they don't get her the ball and then she appears not to work so hard, gets the ball, and doesn't make the score. Just another manifestation of the "in sync" issues, I suppose.

With family in the Austin area we were going to come to the game, but we just never quite got it planned. The rest of the season, we will be rooting for Texas (at least, mildly) as we have since Jody's day.

 

[triaddukefan]

She gotta go

 

[Plebe]

She gotta go

Are we talking about Aston or McCallie?

 

[SECbbfan24]

Are we talking about Aston or McCallie?

 

[Lwrc]

Others on the hot seat -

Schneider at Kansas
Perretta at Villanova
Versp at Purdue
Aston at Texas
Payne at Colorado
Wynn at Washington

 

[eebmg]

Others on the hot seat -

Schneider at Kansas
Perretta at Villanova
Versp at Purdue
Aston at Texas
Payne at Colorado
Wynn at Washington

Didn't we learn on this board that Perretta is retiring?

 

[nwhoopfan]

Wynn at Washington

I don't know how likely the administration is to make a move, but if she doesn't win more than 2-3 conference games and finish around .500 overall, I think she's gotta go. Just can't afford to keep falling so far behind when most of the rest of the conference is looking really strong moving forward.

 

[eebmg]

I don't know how likely the administration is to make a move, but if she doesn't win more than 2-3 conference games and finish around .500 overall, I think she's gotta go. Just can't afford to keep falling so far behind when most of the rest of the conference is looking really strong moving forward.

so Wynn isn't winning?

 

[Plebe]

I don't know how likely the administration is to make a move, but if she doesn't win more than 2-3 conference games and finish around .500 overall, I think she's gotta go. Just can't afford to keep falling so far behind when most of the rest of the conference is looking really strong moving forward.

They won't let her go this year unless it's even worse than this year. She probably has a 5-year contract and circumstances would have to be extreme to not give her a shot at a 4th year. This isn't football or men's basketball.

It can't be overstated how poorly situated Neighbors left the program. Coached a senior-laden team into the tournament and then skipped town at the perfect time. It would've been difficult for any coach to turn things around in just two years.

 

[nwhoopfan]

They won't let her go this year unless it's even worse than this year. She probably has a 5-year contract and circumstances would have to be extreme to not give her a shot at a 4th year. This isn't football or men's basketball.

It can't be overstated how poorly situated Neighbors left the program. Coached a senior-laden team into the tournament and then skipped town at the perfect time. It would've been difficult for any coach to turn things around in just two years.

Oh believe me, I know how bad the situation was when she took over. Not helped by the fact that Romeo, Strother, Kingma and Ruiz all had to retire due to injuries. I liked Neighbors but I wasn't happy w/ the roster he left. Wynn gets a free pass for a while, but not indefinitely. It's still really early in the season, but I need to see some improvement for me to have any hope about her moving forward. It's strange, but beating 2 really bad teams by 30 and 50 didn't really convince me of anything.

 

[Plebe]

Oh believe me, I know how bad the situation was when she took over. Not helped by the fact that Romeo, Strother, Kingma and Ruiz all had to retire due to injuries. I liked Neighbors but I wasn't happy w/ the roster he left. Wynn gets a free pass for a while, but not indefinitely. It's still really early in the season, but I need to see some improvement for me to have any hope about her moving forward. It's strange, but beating 2 really bad teams by 30 and 50 didn't really convince me of anything.

Yes, not indefinitely, but you almost have to give her at least four years for a complete rebuild. I don't think any coach in the country could've done significantly better with what talent she was left with. You also don't mention the transfers of McDonald (imminent All-American) and Collier (who's now tearing it up at Drake).