Coaches to watch in 2023-24; Hotseat edition

[JellyBean]

Well, if it makes you feel any better, it hasn't worked so well for Oregon either.

Not sure what is going with the Ducks. I know Sabrina was all everything but for the program but was she REALLY the all everything? Four year free fall for the program.

 

[TC22]

Seriously, it's Clemson and they chose to hire Amanda Butler.

I don't think the expectations are very high.

I went to high school with a guy that’s a big donor at Clemson and usually knows what he’s talking about. When I ran into him after they hired AB and asked him why his answer was because she was from the SEC and would know how to recruit this neck of the woods since Clemson was in SEC country. He said they were sinking more money into their women’s programs (which, to be fair, they have). I’m just wondering if they are getting their money’s worth.

 

[Vowelguy]

There should be a poll for first P6 coach to get axed this year.

My money is on Amanda Butler or Kelly Graves.

 

[Bigboote]

Not sure what is going with the Ducks. I know Sabrina was all everything but for the program but was she REALLY the all everything? Four year free fall for the program.

She was far from everything for the program. While Sabrina was there, they had Satou, Ruthie Hebard, Maite Cazorla (two legitimate point guards). . . Sabrina was a star, but not the only star. Over a couple of years they lost A LOT and never really reloaded.

 

[nwhoopfan]

She was far from everything for the program. While Sabrina was there, they had Satou, Ruthie Hebard, Maite Cazorla (two legitimate point guards). . . Sabrina was a star, but not the only star. Over a couple of years they lost A LOT and never really reloaded.

I would say they thought they reloaded based on recruiting rankings, but the talent never gelled together, and they all kept transferring out.

 

[Vowelguy]

She was far from everything for the program. While Sabrina was there, they had Satou, Ruthie Hebard, Maite Cazorla (two legitimate point guards). . . Sabrina was a star, but not the only star. Over a couple of years they lost A LOT and never really reloaded.

I recall them having a really strong recruiting class when Sabrina was a senior or junior. Maybe mark mcgwires daughter? But then several left.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I recall them having a really strong recruiting class when Sabrina was a senior or junior. Maybe mark mcgwires daughter? But then several left.

McGwire came in somewhere during the middle of Ionescu's career, transferred out after 2 years I think. As did at least 1 other post player who was highly rated but didn't pan out. They added a bunch of posts in 1 class, Giomi is the only player that stayed out of that group IIRC.

 

[WLT1717]

Thought about this awhile.

As for Penn State:
- "History of Success" might be a past-due description to current prospects and, even, their parents.
Believe it or not, the last time the Nittany Lions made the NCAA tourney was in 2014, capping off a great multi-year run by Coach Coquese Washington, led by Maggie Lucus and Alex Bentley, if memory serves me correctly. Coach Q had a good team a few years later that went 21-11 and made the 3rd round of the WNIt, but that's been pretty much it. No tournaments, let alone, winning seasons since then.

- And, as good as Renee Portland, had during her 25+ years, many people remember the "anti-lesbian" stance as much as the "w's" she racked up.

- Outside of Maggie Lucus and McKenna Marisa, how many Pennsylvania players head to State College? Maddie Burke had a great first year, flamed out the second year and transferred to Villanova. Alli Campbell came in from ND and encountered injury after injury.

But the main reasons for Duffy:

- Current Penn State Coach Carolyn Kieger chose to leave Marquette -- where she was really successful -- for the potential (and $$$) of Penn State. And Kieger is on the hottest of seats. So Megan Duffy would have to see that leaving Marquette for a big public university isn't a guarantee for a lot of W's.

- Duffy knows the Midwest: she's from Ohio, went to school in Indiana, and coaches in Wisconsin. She recruits those areas.

- And she knows private schools: attended ND; assistant coach at St. John's and GW, head coach at Marquette. I think she'd feel comfortable at Northwestern, emphasizing both the Midwest connections and the type of kids she knows from Marquette and knew from ND.

- Joe McKeown hasn't been killing it at NW since Burton left for the pro's so the ceiling is pretty low. But the facilities were upgraded...

(That said, we all know where Megan Duffy would ultimately want to end up. But that's not going to happen as long as Niele Ivey continues her upward trend...unless Niele returns to the pro ranks at some point.)

Very informative - thanks. Coach Duffy does an excellent job and has one of the best sideline demeanors in the current ranks. Sharp, positive, gracious - even when I’m pulling for my team to beat Marquette I can’t help but like her. Look forward to watching her continued success.

 

[jumpstart]

I went to high school with a guy that’s a big donor at Clemson and usually knows what he’s talking about. When I ran into him after they hired AB and asked him why his answer was because she was from the SEC and would know how to recruit this neck of the woods since Clemson was in SEC country. He said they were sinking more money into their women’s programs (which, to be fair, they have). I’m just wondering if they are getting their money’s worth.

Clemson has about 17-18,000 attendance for the year. That compared with South Carolina who averages almost that much per game, and you can see the problem at Clemson. The students nor the fan base supports it.

 

[visitingcock]

Not a hot seat. Dawn Staley notched her 600 th win last night.

List of college women's basketball career coaching wins leaders - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Dillon77]

I went to high school with a guy that’s a big donor at Clemson and usually knows what he’s talking about. When I ran into him after they hired AB and asked him why his answer was because she was from the SEC and would know how to recruit this neck of the woods since Clemson was in SEC country. He said they were sinking more money into their women’s programs (which, to be fair, they have). I’m just wondering if they are getting their money’s worth.

Had my annual check-in with the Amanda-Butler coached Clemson Tigers last night, when they came to South Bend to play Notre Dame.

• Tigers started hot off the whistle on Senior Night, grabbing a 7-pt. lead and keeping an 18-6 lead. Then, in the next two quarters, they were blasted 21-9 and 22-9. Al this on a relatively off offensive night by Hannah Hidalgo, who scored 10 points and "only" had 3 steals.
• Sophomore guard and last year's top recruit, Ruby Whitehorn, had a double-double (17 pts., 10 rebounds), but grad student Amari Robinson looked disinterested from the 2nd quarter on, although Whitehorn and former Pitt guard Dayshanette Harris kept plugging into the fourth quarter.
• Butler brought in six or seven transfers and most of 'em are out the door (with Robinson) after this year. Whitehorn, center Makayla Elmore and Lehigh transfer and three-point bomber Makenzie Kramer return, augmented by #13 HG recruit, Imari Berry, a 5'10" guard. But there always seems to be a lot of churn on the roster and inconsistency in the level of play. In this sense, I draw parallels to Nell Fortner over at Ga. Tech. Both teams are solidly middle-of-the-pack.
• Think Clemson powers-that-be need to have serious chats with Butler to see if her two recruits (Whitehorn, Berry) are two people and players they can move upwards from. And what's the plan to consistently have a getting-better team. Then, can Butler keep the reins or hand over to another coach who can step it up.

 

[DefenseBB]

So while in a few tedious meetings this morning, I jotted down a list of names who, in my view fall under 1 of 3 categories
1. Need to Retire (had great careers but the performance has slipped mightily)
2. Should be fired as the performance is spiraling and no sign of recovery is seen but the contract or "optics" of the role will save them for another year or so.
3. Will be fired (performance is egregious enough and contract is either due to expire or close enough to warrant any buyout). Any AD who keeps this category should also be fired.

Category #1. Need to Retire
1. Joe McKeown, Northwestern 13 yrs. He will be 68 in May and frankly his team is terrible.
2. Doug Bruno, DePaul 36 years. Doug is 73 and has had a great career but his team is terrible and he has suffered mass defections the past two years. It's ok to retire and enjoy a broadcasting career.
3, Kelly Graves, Oregon 10 years. Techinically he will be 62 in July and is a little young to retire but I am trying to let him "bow out gracefully" and let the school off the hook from having to fire him. Oregon moves to the Big 10 next year and I am not thinking he is up to the challenge. He has had MASS defections the past 4 years- the who recruiting class of 2020 (Scherr, Parrish, Watson, Dugalic, Paopao); class of 2021 Bigby, 2022 Jennah Isai, plus tranfers in of Rogers and Prince who transferred out. Mallory McGwire same recruiting class as Sabrina, transferred out after 2 years. And Yes, @Bigboote Sabrina WAS EVERYTHING for that program, she made everyone better and was the face of not only Oregon, the PAC12 and WCBB as well. While Satou is a nice player, she's not a star and neither is Hebard. That said, Thanks Kelly but please bow out gracefully as it's clear players do not want to play for you.
#4. Nell Fortner, Georgia Tech 5 years. She will be 65 in March and while GT needed her due to the abuse allegations and she is a class act, the fact is the program is mediocre at best and below what the school should expect.

Category #2. Performance is showing the spiral is not recoverable even if the AD doesn't want to admit it.
#1. Kyra Elzy, Kentucky 4 years. mass defections, poor performance, no recrutiing but her contract is until 2027.
#2. Kellie Harper, Tennessee, 5 years, zero HS recruiting, mediocre performance and dropping attendance from this once mighty program. Again, her contract is $1.1 mil per year and is until 2028.
#3. Christa Gurlich, Texas Tech 4 years. Another hire who had to "right the ship" after abuse allegations but this once attendance stalwart needs to improve and Christa is not up to the challenge. She will not make the NCAAT but may make the WNIT for the second time. She will not be fired but the writing is on the wall.
#4. Natashia Adair, Arizona State 2 years. Zero chance of her being fired but NOTHING looks like improvement is coming here. It is inevitable she have issues in the new league next year.
#5. Joe Tartamello, St. John's 12 years. One of Geno's buddies that may be severely hampered by the school but it's been 12 years and what exactly has his built? He won't be fired but he will be middle of the pack AGAIN in a conference with 4 really bad teams.
#6. Tina Langley Washington, 3 years. While I do think this is better than Jody Wynn, as NWHoop would say, how could it not be? Tina has been a disappointment but she's down on this list as doing better than the 5 ahead of her and her school will not fire her this year. She too is headed into new territory next year and will be eaten alive by the Big 10.
#7. Coquese Washington, Rutgers, 2 years. I have no idea what possessed the RU AD to hire her without her proving her HC abilities at a mid-Maor. Her last 5 years at PSU were an abject failure. Why the AD thought spending 2 years at ND as an assistant enabled her to run a progam is odd. There have been a few coaches who failed at a P5, rebuilt their brand at a mid-major and then had or are having success at a P5 in the second go round, Kellie Harper, Felisha Legette-Jack to name 2. I think that is what Coquese needed to do but if the AD at P5 offers....
#8 Megan Gebbia, Wake Forest 2nd year. Starting 6-25 in conference play including 1-12 this year is a rough start to a career. The evidence is enough to tell me she's in over her head but it is only year 2 so she will not be fired.
#9. Billie Chambers, Xavier 1st year. I know she has had injuries but man, is this team bad. This is by far the worst team in the P6. She is making Melanie Moore look good by comparison. But she too is #8 for a reason, it's her first year and she will be given the length of her whole 5 year contract....

Category #3. The list of coaches who really have shown very little to warrant keeping. This is not fair from a "wanting someone to be fired perspective" and is no way an indictment on their person, only a reflection of their job performance given their circumstances.
#1. Amanda Butler, Clemson 6 years. She's 31-71 in the ACC. She made the NCAAT her first year and has done very little since.
#2. Robin Pingeton, Missouri 14 years. She was on the clock to have to make the NCAAT but as noted, her AD has left. Will the new AD keep her? Probably not as her contract expires next year and from what I have is a reasonable buyout at $400K.
#3. Joanne Bernabei-McNamee, Boston College 6 years. She showed initial promise but still hasn't made an NCAAT and she keeps losing her best players to the portal for whatever reason. The performance is getting worse, not better and it has been 6 years now.
#4. Anthony Bozzella, Seton Hall, 11 years. Yes, he's another of Geno's friends and yes, I am sure many of my BY colleagues like the guy but face it, he has never made an NCAAT, he can't recruit, he gets marginal portal players and he's not all that great with the media. 11 years is enough time to know what you got and SHU knows what they have, will the AD do something?
#5. Carolyn Kieger, Penn State, 5 years. She was definitely on the hot seat before the year and up until recently looked safe but her latest spiral may cause the AD to rethink.
#6. Charmin Smith, California 5 years. She too was on the hot seat before the year and I don't think she's done enough to warrant more years, especially moving to the ACC next year but her team is playing better now. I will potentially update my view after the PAC 12 Tournament and hear what @Plebe has to say after he has lunch with her in Vegas....

I am not trying to be harsh or mean but using W/L record or lmited success to justify my inclusion on the "hot seat". What say you?

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

So while in a few tedious meetings this morning, I jotted down a list of names who, in my view fall under 1 of 3 categories
1. Need to Retire (had great careers but the performance has slipped mightily)
2. Should be fired as the performance is spiraling and no sign of recovery is seen but the contract or "optics" of the role will save them for another year or so.
3. Will be fired (performance is egregious enough and contract is either due to expire or close enough to warrant any buyout). Any AD who keeps this category should also be fired.

Category #1. Need to Retire
1. Joe McKeown, Northwestern 13 yrs. He will be 68 in May and frankly his team is terrible.
2. Doug Bruno, DePaul 36 years. Doug is 73 and has had a great career but his team is terrible and he has suffered mass defections the past two years. It's ok to retire and enjoy a broadcasting career.
3, Kelly Graves, Oregon 10 years. Techinically he will be 62 in July and is a little young to retire but I am trying to let him "bow out gracefully" and let the school off the hook from having to fire him. Oregon moves to the Big 10 next year and I am not thinking he is up to the challenge. He has had MASS defections the past 4 years- the who recruiting class of 2020 (Scherr, Parrish, Watson, Dugalic, Paopao); class of 2021 Bigby, 2022 Jennah Isai, plus tranfers in of Rogers and Prince who transferred out. Mallory McGwire same recruiting class as Sabrina, transferred out after 2 years. And Yes, @Bigboote Sabrina WAS EVERYTHING for that program, she made everyone better and was the face of not only Oregon, the PAC12 and WCBB as well. While Satou is a nice player, she's not a star and neither is Hebard. That said, Thanks Kelly but please bow out gracefully as it's clear players do not want to play for you.
#4. Nell Fortner, Georgia Tech 5 years. She will be 65 in March and while GT needed her due to the abuse allegations and she is a class act, the fact is the program is mediocre at best and below what the school should expect.

Category #2. Performance is showing the spiral is not recoverable even if the AD doesn't want to admit it.
#1. Kyra Elzy, Kentucky 4 years. mass defections, poor performance, no recrutiing but her contract is until 2027.
#2. Kellie Harper, Tennessee, 5 years, zero HS recruiting, mediocre performance and dropping attendance from this once mighty program. Again, her contract is $1.1 mil per year and is until 2028.
#3. Christa Gurlich, Texas Tech 4 years. Another hire who had to "right the ship" after abuse allegations but this once attendance stalwart needs to improve and Christa is not up to the challenge. She will not make the NCAAT but may make the WNIT for the second time. She will not be fired but the writing is on the wall.
#4. Natashia Adair, Arizona State 2 years. Zero chance of her being fired but NOTHING looks like improvement is coming here. It is inevitable she have issues in the new league next year.
#5. Joe Tartamello, St. John's 12 years. One of Geno's buddies that may be severely hampered by the school but it's been 12 years and what exactly has his built? He won't be fired but he will be middle of the pack AGAIN in a conference with 4 really bad teams.
#6. Tina Langley Washington, 3 years. While I do think this is better than Jody Wynn, as NWHoop would say, how could it not be? Tina has been a disappointment but she's down on this list as doing better than the 5 ahead of her and her school will not fire her this year. She too is headed into new territory next year and will be eaten alive by the Big 10.
#7. Coquese Washington, Rutgers, 2 years. I have no idea what possessed the RU AD to hire her without her proving her HC abilities at a mid-Maor. Her last 5 years at PSU were an abject failure. Why the AD thought spending 2 years at ND as an assistant enabled her to run a progam is odd. There have been a few coaches who failed at a P5, rebuilt their brand at a mid-major and then had or are having success at a P5 in the second go round, Kellie Harper, Felisha Legette-Jack to name 2. I think that is what Coquese needed to do but if the AD at P5 offers....
#8 Megan Gebbia, Wake Forest 2nd year. Starting 6-25 in conference play including 1-12 this year is a rough start to a career. The evidence is enough to tell me she's in over her head but it is only year 2 so she will not be fired.
#9. Billie Chambers, Xavier 1st year. I know she has had injuries but man, is this team bad. This is by far the worst team in the P6. She is making Melanie Moore look good by comparison. But she too is #8 for a reason, it's her first year and she will be given the length of her whole 5 year contract....

Category #3. The list of coaches who really have shown very little to warrant keeping. This is not fair from a "wanting someone to be fired perspective" and is no way an indictment on their person, only a reflection of their job performance given their circumstances.
#1. Amanda Butler, Clemson 6 years. She's 31-71 in the ACC. She made the NCAAT her first year and has done very little since.
#2. Robin Pingeton, Missouri 14 years. She was on the clock to have to make the NCAAT but as noted, her AD has left. Will the new AD keep her? Probably not as her contract expires next year and from what I have is a reasonable buyout at $400K.
#3. Joanne Bernabei-McNamee, Boston College 6 years. She showed initial promise but still hasn't made an NCAAT and she keeps losing her best players to the portal for whatever reason. The performance is getting worse, not better and it has been 6 years now.
#4. Anthony Bozzella, Seton Hall, 11 years. Yes, he's another of Geno's friends and yes, I am sure many of my BY colleagues like the guy but face it, he has never made an NCAAT, he can't recruit, he gets marginal portal players and he's not all that great with the media. 11 years is enough time to know what you got and SHU knows what they have, will the AD do something?
#5. Carolyn Kieger, Penn State, 5 years. She was definitely on the hot seat before the year and up until recently looked safe but her latest spiral may cause the AD to rethink.
#6. Charmin Smith, California 5 years. She too was on the hot seat before the year and I don't think she's done enough to warrant more years, especially moving to the ACC next year but her team is playing better now. I will potentially update my view after the PAC 12 Tournament and hear what @Plebe has to say after he has lunch with her in Vegas....

I am not trying to be harsh or mean but using W/L record or lmited success to justify my inclusion on the "hot seat". What say you?

Understand that I don't necessarily disagree with you, but my caveats are first, it depends what you are willing to accept - could Bozzella for instance be "good enough" for Seton Hall (who has a history of tolerating "not even good enough") or even Joe Tartamello the same thing although they have a slightly better history. The 2nd caveat is that "bad is bad" and some of the middle list are - or appear to be - far worse than Category 3.

I would give Rutgers another couple of years. I'm not convinced she was a good hire, but supposedly (based, I admit on their message board) there are some better players coming and they have been short of good players. And as unimpressive as Kellie Harper seems to be, I fail to see that Tennessee is awful except by their own standards. I mean, really now.

 

[LETTERL]

So while in a few tedious meetings this morning, I jotted down a list of names who, in my view fall under 1 of 3 categories
What say you?

My mind tends to drift, too, during long, boring meetings...but usually, I imagine bowling and getting the ball in the pocket while I'm daydreaming! Your mind was REALLY active if you thought of all of that during your meeting today! Well done, sir!

 

[Dillon77]

My mind tends to drift, too, during long, boring meetings...but usually, I imagine bowling and getting the ball in the pocket while I'm daydreaming! Your mind was REALLY active if you thought of all of that during your meeting today! Well done, sir!

Given the nature of some of the appraisals, did you have some extra projects/work thrown at you?

Some of these folks look familiar as I've commented on them sometime during the season (McKeown, Bruno, Butler, Fortner, etc.). However, my youngest daughter is here for one more dinner before heading to the left coast, so I'm going to put in one my brain's mac files, let it fester and come back Saturday to discuss. However, agree that there should be change in Evanston and the North Side of Chitown.

 

[Floridaduck]

Kelly Graves isn’t going anywhere. He just got a commitment from 5* point guard Janiyah Williams.

 

[Vowelguy]

Looking at Graves recent record, it’s not nearly as bad as I thought. They’ve fallen far but even last year they had a deep run in the WNIT. This year is a disaster to be sure but it’s his first losing season since year 1. With his past success he’ll probably be given a little more time to right the ship.

 

[Figurehead]

Kelly Graves isn’t going anywhere. He just got a commitment from 5* point guard Janiyah Williams.

Yeah! Right! Get one 5 star recruit to replace the ones that will leave. If it was only that simple. Graves gotta go!

 

[Figurehead]

Looking at Graves recent record, it’s not nearly as bad as I thought. They’ve fallen far but even last year they had a deep run in the WNIT. This year is a disaster to be sure but it’s his first losing season since year 1. With his past success he’ll probably be given a little more time to right the ship.

The fat arrogant slob does not coach. Sorry to cal it so direct. Campbell was the real coach of the team. Players leave in droves in that program. If you heard the reasons why you would be asking the athletic director at Oregon to resign too,

 

[CBus13]

McGwire came in somewhere during the middle of Ionescu's career, transferred out after 2 years I think. As did at least 1 other post player who was highly rated but didn't pan out. They added a bunch of posts in 1 class, Giomi is the only player that stayed out of that group IIRC.

Ionescu, Hebard, McGwire, Morgan Yaeger, and Sierra Campisano were all part of the same class. Ionescu and Hebard were the only two to play all four years at Oregon.

All recruits were ESPN Top 100. Campisano at one time was top 15. I believe Mcgwire went to Boise, Campisano went to a smaller California school?? Yaeger medically retired after a redshirt season.

I kind of feel like Ionescu, Hebard, and Giomi are the only players since Sabrina came to Oregon to play all four years. Yaeger was in school but the injury bug got her. I could be completely wrong.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Ionescu, Hebard, McGwire, Morgan Yaeger, and Sierra Campisano were all part of the same class. Ionescu and Hebard were the only two to play all four years at Oregon.

All recruits were ESPN Top 100. Campisano at one time was top 15. I believe Mcgwire went to Boise, Campisano went to a smaller California school?? Yaeger medically retired after a redshirt season.

I kind of feel like Ionescu, Hebard, and Giomi are the only players since Sabrina came to Oregon to play all four years. Yaeger was in school but the injury bug got her. I could be completely wrong.

My bad, I got the recruiting classes mixed up. I think Campisano went to Cal Poly. It was definitely a smaller CA school like you said. Correct about McGwire and Boise St. also.

 

[CBus13]

My bad, I got the recruiting classes mixed up. I think Campisano went to Cal Poly. It was definitely a smaller CA school like you said. Correct about McGwire and Boise St. also.

It’s my curse . My brain won’t let go of such useless information.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Washington has already gotten swept by Arizona St. this year, if they lose at home tonight to the hapless Ducks I want Langley fired about 30 seconds after the final buzzer sounds. Off to a good start, jumped ahead early then gave up a 13-0 run.

 

[CalWBBfan]

So while in a few tedious meetings this morning, I jotted down a list of names who, in my view fall under 1 of 3 categories
1. Need to Retire (had great careers but the performance has slipped mightily)
2. Should be fired as the performance is spiraling and no sign of recovery is seen but the contract or "optics" of the role will save them for another year or so.
3. Will be fired (performance is egregious enough and contract is either due to expire or close enough to warrant any buyout). Any AD who keeps this category should also be fired.

Category #1. Need to Retire
1. Joe McKeown, Northwestern 13 yrs. He will be 68 in May and frankly his team is terrible.
2. Doug Bruno, DePaul 36 years. Doug is 73 and has had a great career but his team is terrible and he has suffered mass defections the past two years. It's ok to retire and enjoy a broadcasting career.
3, Kelly Graves, Oregon 10 years. Techinically he will be 62 in July and is a little young to retire but I am trying to let him "bow out gracefully" and let the school off the hook from having to fire him. Oregon moves to the Big 10 next year and I am not thinking he is up to the challenge. He has had MASS defections the past 4 years- the who recruiting class of 2020 (Scherr, Parrish, Watson, Dugalic, Paopao); class of 2021 Bigby, 2022 Jennah Isai, plus tranfers in of Rogers and Prince who transferred out. Mallory McGwire same recruiting class as Sabrina, transferred out after 2 years. And Yes, @Bigboote Sabrina WAS EVERYTHING for that program, she made everyone better and was the face of not only Oregon, the PAC12 and WCBB as well. While Satou is a nice player, she's not a star and neither is Hebard. That said, Thanks Kelly but please bow out gracefully as it's clear players do not want to play for you.
#4. Nell Fortner, Georgia Tech 5 years. She will be 65 in March and while GT needed her due to the abuse allegations and she is a class act, the fact is the program is mediocre at best and below what the school should expect.

Category #2. Performance is showing the spiral is not recoverable even if the AD doesn't want to admit it.
#1. Kyra Elzy, Kentucky 4 years. mass defections, poor performance, no recrutiing but her contract is until 2027.
#2. Kellie Harper, Tennessee, 5 years, zero HS recruiting, mediocre performance and dropping attendance from this once mighty program. Again, her contract is $1.1 mil per year and is until 2028.
#3. Christa Gurlich, Texas Tech 4 years. Another hire who had to "right the ship" after abuse allegations but this once attendance stalwart needs to improve and Christa is not up to the challenge. She will not make the NCAAT but may make the WNIT for the second time. She will not be fired but the writing is on the wall.
#4. Natashia Adair, Arizona State 2 years. Zero chance of her being fired but NOTHING looks like improvement is coming here. It is inevitable she have issues in the new league next year.
#5. Joe Tartamello, St. John's 12 years. One of Geno's buddies that may be severely hampered by the school but it's been 12 years and what exactly has his built? He won't be fired but he will be middle of the pack AGAIN in a conference with 4 really bad teams.
#6. Tina Langley Washington, 3 years. While I do think this is better than Jody Wynn, as NWHoop would say, how could it not be? Tina has been a disappointment but she's down on this list as doing better than the 5 ahead of her and her school will not fire her this year. She too is headed into new territory next year and will be eaten alive by the Big 10.
#7. Coquese Washington, Rutgers, 2 years. I have no idea what possessed the RU AD to hire her without her proving her HC abilities at a mid-Maor. Her last 5 years at PSU were an abject failure. Why the AD thought spending 2 years at ND as an assistant enabled her to run a progam is odd. There have been a few coaches who failed at a P5, rebuilt their brand at a mid-major and then had or are having success at a P5 in the second go round, Kellie Harper, Felisha Legette-Jack to name 2. I think that is what Coquese needed to do but if the AD at P5 offers....
#8 Megan Gebbia, Wake Forest 2nd year. Starting 6-25 in conference play including 1-12 this year is a rough start to a career. The evidence is enough to tell me she's in over her head but it is only year 2 so she will not be fired.
#9. Billie Chambers, Xavier 1st year. I know she has had injuries but man, is this team bad. This is by far the worst team in the P6. She is making Melanie Moore look good by comparison. But she too is #8 for a reason, it's her first year and she will be given the length of her whole 5 year contract....

Category #3. The list of coaches who really have shown very little to warrant keeping. This is not fair from a "wanting someone to be fired perspective" and is no way an indictment on their person, only a reflection of their job performance given their circumstances.
#1. Amanda Butler, Clemson 6 years. She's 31-71 in the ACC. She made the NCAAT her first year and has done very little since.
#2. Robin Pingeton, Missouri 14 years. She was on the clock to have to make the NCAAT but as noted, her AD has left. Will the new AD keep her? Probably not as her contract expires next year and from what I have is a reasonable buyout at $400K.
#3. Joanne Bernabei-McNamee, Boston College 6 years. She showed initial promise but still hasn't made an NCAAT and she keeps losing her best players to the portal for whatever reason. The performance is getting worse, not better and it has been 6 years now.
#4. Anthony Bozzella, Seton Hall, 11 years. Yes, he's another of Geno's friends and yes, I am sure many of my BY colleagues like the guy but face it, he has never made an NCAAT, he can't recruit, he gets marginal portal players and he's not all that great with the media. 11 years is enough time to know what you got and SHU knows what they have, will the AD do something?
#5. Carolyn Kieger, Penn State, 5 years. She was definitely on the hot seat before the year and up until recently looked safe but her latest spiral may cause the AD to rethink.
#6. Charmin Smith, California 5 years. She too was on the hot seat before the year and I don't think she's done enough to warrant more years, especially moving to the ACC next year but her team is playing better now. I will potentially update my view after the PAC 12 Tournament and hear what @Plebe has to say after he has lunch with her in Vegas....

I am not trying to be harsh or mean but using W/L record or lmited success to justify my inclusion on the "hot seat". What say you?

I don’t think Charmin will be let go after this season. The team is better and she did well with portal. Has a some good recruits coming in and will be looking to add a point guard the portal this round…I imagine she’ll have a couple years in ACC to further improve things. I’m curious to see whether Cal will be able to expand its recruiting footprint with more play in the East. One of the recruits is from Brooklyn. I’m a long time fan and season ticket holder and support keeping Charmin as coach for now. She does a lot for these kids off the court and is a good role model. Cal Adds Four Signees To 2024 Class - California Golden Bears Athletics

 

[triaddukefan]

So while in a few tedious meetings this morning, I jotted down a list of names who, in my view fall under 1 of 3 categories
1. Need to Retire (had great careers but the performance has slipped mightily)
2. Should be fired as the performance is spiraling and no sign of recovery is seen but the contract or "optics" of the role will save them for another year or so.
3. Will be fired (performance is egregious enough and contract is either due to expire or close enough to warrant any buyout). Any AD who keeps this category should also be fired.

Category #1. Need to Retire
1. Joe McKeown, Northwestern 13 yrs. He will be 68 in May and frankly his team is terrible.
2. Doug Bruno, DePaul 36 years. Doug is 73 and has had a great career but his team is terrible and he has suffered mass defections the past two years. It's ok to retire and enjoy a broadcasting career.
3, Kelly Graves, Oregon 10 years. Techinically he will be 62 in July and is a little young to retire but I am trying to let him "bow out gracefully" and let the school off the hook from having to fire him. Oregon moves to the Big 10 next year and I am not thinking he is up to the challenge. He has had MASS defections the past 4 years- the who recruiting class of 2020 (Scherr, Parrish, Watson, Dugalic, Paopao); class of 2021 Bigby, 2022 Jennah Isai, plus tranfers in of Rogers and Prince who transferred out. Mallory McGwire same recruiting class as Sabrina, transferred out after 2 years. And Yes, @Bigboote Sabrina WAS EVERYTHING for that program, she made everyone better and was the face of not only Oregon, the PAC12 and WCBB as well. While Satou is a nice player, she's not a star and neither is Hebard. That said, Thanks Kelly but please bow out gracefully as it's clear players do not want to play for you.
#4. Nell Fortner, Georgia Tech 5 years. She will be 65 in March and while GT needed her due to the abuse allegations and she is a class act, the fact is the program is mediocre at best and below what the school should expect.

Category #2. Performance is showing the spiral is not recoverable even if the AD doesn't want to admit it.
#1. Kyra Elzy, Kentucky 4 years. mass defections, poor performance, no recrutiing but her contract is until 2027.
#2. Kellie Harper, Tennessee, 5 years, zero HS recruiting, mediocre performance and dropping attendance from this once mighty program. Again, her contract is $1.1 mil per year and is until 2028.
#3. Christa Gurlich, Texas Tech 4 years. Another hire who had to "right the ship" after abuse allegations but this once attendance stalwart needs to improve and Christa is not up to the challenge. She will not make the NCAAT but may make the WNIT for the second time. She will not be fired but the writing is on the wall.
#4. Natashia Adair, Arizona State 2 years. Zero chance of her being fired but NOTHING looks like improvement is coming here. It is inevitable she have issues in the new league next year.
#5. Joe Tartamello, St. John's 12 years. One of Geno's buddies that may be severely hampered by the school but it's been 12 years and what exactly has his built? He won't be fired but he will be middle of the pack AGAIN in a conference with 4 really bad teams.
#6. Tina Langley Washington, 3 years. While I do think this is better than Jody Wynn, as NWHoop would say, how could it not be? Tina has been a disappointment but she's down on this list as doing better than the 5 ahead of her and her school will not fire her this year. She too is headed into new territory next year and will be eaten alive by the Big 10.
#7. Coquese Washington, Rutgers, 2 years. I have no idea what possessed the RU AD to hire her without her proving her HC abilities at a mid-Maor. Her last 5 years at PSU were an abject failure. Why the AD thought spending 2 years at ND as an assistant enabled her to run a progam is odd. There have been a few coaches who failed at a P5, rebuilt their brand at a mid-major and then had or are having success at a P5 in the second go round, Kellie Harper, Felisha Legette-Jack to name 2. I think that is what Coquese needed to do but if the AD at P5 offers....
#8 Megan Gebbia, Wake Forest 2nd year. Starting 6-25 in conference play including 1-12 this year is a rough start to a career. The evidence is enough to tell me she's in over her head but it is only year 2 so she will not be fired.
#9. Billie Chambers, Xavier 1st year. I know she has had injuries but man, is this team bad. This is by far the worst team in the P6. She is making Melanie Moore look good by comparison. But she too is #8 for a reason, it's her first year and she will be given the length of her whole 5 year contract....

Georgia Tech would be foolish to get rid of Fortner. They are going to finish this year with a winning record and they are usually are in most games. First three her records were 20-11 7th in conference, probable NCAA bid but the post season cancelled due to covid. 2nd year.. team went to Sweet 16 and gave #1 seed SCAR a battle. 3rd year 21-11, 6th in the conference, made the NCAA's. Last year was a losing record at 13-17. Georgia Tech is a TOUGH place to win on a consistent basis... probably the toughest in the ACC other than Wake Forest. Not sure if its still a requirement, but I do recall a time where all athletes had to take 2 math classes, including calculus. How many top WBB players are trying to take calculus in college? If you look at their roster over the years, they get a fair number of Foreign players to bolster the US players brave enough to go to school at Tech.

Gebbia isn't going anywhere. Wake is the toughest P5 program to win. The AD fired the previous coach a few months after the season, so no way is he gonna get rid of the coach he hired (his first WBB hire) after 2 years. Especially when you consider their All-ACC player transferred to TN after last season. She will get 2-3 more years at least. Coach McGraw was mentioning how good of a coach Gebbia is.. so perhaps she knows something better is coming for Wake down the line.