Coaching Carousel 2017 (merged threads)

[KnightBridgeAZ]

The University of Illinois may be the most financially-stressed of all the top-tier public universities and now they're paying more for fired coaches. Bread and circuses.

Rutgers. Although they probably pay less for their coaches - most are near the bottom of the B1G (except CVS, who I think is 3rd for WBB coaches). And also paying buyouts.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

She was a darling of the local media and fans - at first. But, she became overbearing and downright arrogant during the latter phase of her employment here. This wouldn't have been so much of a problem had she won more games. Attendance dwindled, fans looked at other UI sports (Volleyball, MBB, and football enjoyed brief surges of success), and the WBB program started on a downhill trajectory from which it obviously has never recovered. So, no. I doubt she'd be welcomed back. Of course, I could be wrong.

That is TG's issues to a "T". The game has passed her by (something I rarely say about a coach, but her style was always suited to the A10 that RU was in for years, not the power conferences. And it isn't suited to her current job either.

Overbearing more-so than arrogant from what I've been told (I started following RU in person only in her last season and bought season tix CVS's first year). But basically she wanted certain things at RU (including possibly an AD job) and wasn't getting it. She didn't attend many practices and was somewhat disinterested her last year or 2 at RU, or so I have been told. Of course, it was a long time ago.

 

[Dillon77]

Two coaches who will probably be discussed as potentials for the Florida job:

• Karl Smesko of Florida Gulf Coast: 3 NCAA tournament appearances in the past 5 years, and in the WNIT every other year since he took the FGCU job in 2007. His program graduated most of the important players from last year's team, and they still went 23-8 and 12-2 in conference this year.
  
  
• Carolyn Kieger of Marquette: She's taken Marquette from 9-22 (4-14) in 2015 to 14-16 (9-9) in 2016 to 24-7 (13-5) in 2017, including a Big East tournament championship and a likely #7 seed in the NCAA tournament. She spent 6 years as an assistant to Katie Meier at Miami, so she's probably familiar with Florida's high school and AAU scene. She's 33 years old and will surely be a hot commodity for P5 coaching vacancies this year.

Smesko offers the first "I'm not going anywhere" comment in regards to these openings, but the reporter did a good job of showing that he has -- in the past -- interviewed for these positions, including the one at Illinois (he apparently is from Ohio).

Stay tuned....

College basketball: Bright future ahead after FGCU women impress again

 

[VA Huskie]

I'm waiting to hear about Joanne Boyle at UVA. She has 1 year left on her contract and hasn't made the NCAA's in her 6 years at UVA. Team was better this year and only loses 1 player to graduation. But no major recruits for next year. Last year the AD issued a statement at season's end that she'd be back. Nothing yet this year. I'm thinking of writing him and suggesting he go after Shea. She'd be a great fit with UCONN experience and coming from the South.

 

[JavaMan]

Sources: Becky Hammon emerging as serious target for Florida

​

 

[Dillon77]

I'm waiting to hear about Joanne Boyle at UVA. She has 1 year left on her contract and hasn't made the NCAA's in her 6 years at UVA. Team was better this year and only loses 1 player to graduation. But no major recruits for next year. Last year the AD issued a statement at season's end that she'd be back. Nothing yet this year. I'm thinking of writing him and suggesting he go after Shea. She'd be a great fit with UCONN experience and coming from the South.

I think we were among some posts that touched on this year. She was, in effect, saved by her contract after 2015-16, with the possibility that her freshman class would pan out.
It did....Jocelyn Willoughby and Dominique Toussaint both made the All-ACC frosh team.
Toussaint, Willoughby Named to ACC Coaches All-Freshman Team

They finished up 20-13 and lost to James Madison University. They might have lot that battle but gotten a win at JMU's expense in that
Brianna Tinsley, a 5'6" point guard from St. Anne's decommitted from JMU and is headed to UVA. Willoughby and Toussaint are a wing and off guard, respectively, so Tinsley should help with the ball-handling. However, they didn't help themselves up front (Danielle Patterson, headed for ND, listed UVA as a finalist.)

STAB's Tinsley commits to UVa women's hoops team

They played ND tough both times they faced them this year and a lot of folks they were on the bubble for the NCAA (perhaps over Auburn). Does the AD think that it's worth finishing the contract out? Or get someone whom he thinks can get more out of what Boyle has now? I think someone like Shea would do fantastically there. And UVA's not in your conference.

 

[Vowelguy]

So who are the other 2 finalists at Florida?

As for Boyle, I would give her another year. VA seemed to be coming on. She may have finally turned the corner?

 

[Phil]

Mount St. Mary's
Link

 

[VA Huskie]

I think we were among some posts that touched on this year. She was, in effect, saved by her contract after 2015-16, with the possibility that her freshman class would pan out.
It did....Jocelyn Willoughby and Dominique Toussaint both made the All-ACC frosh team.
Toussaint, Willoughby Named to ACC Coaches All-Freshman Team

They finished up 20-13 and lost to James Madison University. They might have lot that battle but gotten a win at JMU's expense in that
Brianna Tinsley, a 5'6" point guard from St. Anne's decommitted from JMU and is headed to UVA. Willoughby and Toussaint are a wing and off guard, respectively, so Tinsley should help with the ball-handling. However, they didn't help themselves up front (Danielle Patterson, headed for ND, listed UVA as a finalist.)

STAB's Tinsley commits to UVa women's hoops team

They played ND tough both times they faced them this year and a lot of folks they were on the bubble for the NCAA (perhaps over Auburn). Does the AD think that it's worth finishing the contract out? Or get someone whom he thinks can get more out of what Boyle has now? I think someone like Shea would do fantastically there. And UVA's not in your conference.

I agree with most of what you say. From my perspective, I'd rather see her replaced. I'm not happy with her intensity level and feel that they run a very poor offense. Defense, however is quite good. Long ago UVA was a top program. I realize times are different now, but see no reason they can't be a top program again - along the lines of Stanford and Duke.

 

[Phil]

Illinois hires Nancy Fahey - good move.

Link

 

[Vowelguy]

Illinois hires Nancy Fahey - good move.

Link

WHOA! I assumed she was a lifer at Wash U.

I believe she is the fastest coach to 600 wins - even faster than Geno.

Will be interesting to see how she does in the recruiting game, and also dealing with a different kind of kid -- a move to Northwestern, say, might have been a more logical move.

 

[Dillon77]

I agree with most of what you say. From my perspective, I'd rather see her replaced. I'm not happy with her intensity level and feel that they run a very poor offense. Defense, however is quite good. Long ago UVA was a top program. I realize times are different now, but see no reason they can't be a top program again - along the lines of Stanford and Duke.

I hear you and distinctly remember the Debbie Ryan years.
As per UVA being like a Duke or Stanford, I bet whatever athletic administrator at UVA that hired her thought that's what they were getting. Boyle is, after all, a Duke graduate and was an assistant there before heading off to California and then back to east to UVA. You'd think she'd know/be able to get the kind of kid/player that would be a good fit there. Yet, her program has had some prominent transfers. Wrong fits with coaches/campus?
And even the news with Toussaint is tempered by the fact that she was suspended for the St. Joe's game in the WNIT for a violation of team rules. Could be just a frosh "growing" moment, but given the other transfers, makes you take notice.

Willoughby is a really solid player and kid...I watched her at Newark Prep in Essex County, NJ, and she'll be a rock for you. Maybe Boyle has turned a corner after a few years or maybe this is one of those "cha-chas" that won't go much of anywhere. But you can bet a coach like Shea or Niele Ivey could light that place up.

 

[Dillon77]

WHOA! I assumed she was a lifer at Wash U.

I believe she is the fastest coach to 600 wins - even faster than Geno.

Will be interesting to see how she does in the recruiting game, and also dealing with a different kind of kid -- a move to Northwestern, say, might have been a more logical move.

On most fingers of my hand, I agree with you, then hit the websites to look around.

- Regarding a school like Northwestern, yup!, that would be a good landing place for a coach like her,but Joe McKeown is still doing pretty well and there's a lot of loyalty to what he has accomplished. Plus they're working on new facilities up there and figure he deserves to be the beneficiary of them.
Yes, he's getting up there in years, but looks pretty chipper and the Wildcats are doing well enough.

- And there are only so many schools like that in which they look like logical steps for a WashU coach. While I could see a leap to Northwestern (maybe), I don't think she'd get the nod at a Duke or ND simply because there are too many DI candidates and members of the coaching trees that would be interest. So what does that leave her as an option? If Evanston isn't open, why not Champaign? Heck, it's a P5 program and should be better. Last I checked, Breanna Beal and Peoples are from there and maybe they would be interested in resurrecting a program with a proven coach.

- Interestingly, she' spent time professionally in Illinois and went to Wisconsin.

"Fahey came to WashU from Johnsburg High School in McHenry, Ill., where she guided the Skyhawks to two regional championships, a sectional final, two 20-win seasons and was named the coach-of-the-year in 1986 by the Northwest Herald. As a player, Fahey was a four-year letterwinner at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She started two years at point guard for the Badgers, and served as a captain her senior season. Fahey graduated with honors from Wisconsin in 1981."

Her current WashU rosters has kids primarily from the midwest. Yes, they might be a bit different from what she needs at Illinois but the contacts at the schools are in place and you just shift your eyes from player A to player B.

 

[Orangutan]

Don't understand the reason why this would be, but interesting nonetheless (via retweet from Raoul):

 

[UcMiami]

Fahey is probably a very good choice for a program that had 'coaching' issues and lawsuits - she will I suspect run a clean and tight program and take the stench off a bad few years at Illinois. Whether she can get the recruits necessary to really make them relevant in the B10 is secondary, she should get the program headed in the right direction and playing good basketball, and that would appear to be good enough to at least be middle of the pack in the weakest of the P5.

 

[Dillon77]

Fahey is probably a very good choice for a program that had 'coaching' issues and lawsuits - she will I suspect run a clean and tight program and take the stench off a bad few years at Illinois. Whether she can get the recruits necessary to really make them relevant in the B10 is secondary, she should get the program headed in the right direction and playing good basketball, and that would appear to be good enough to at least be middle of the pack in the weakest of the P5.

Plus, she'll get along -- at least initially -- with the athletic director. I had totally forgotten that Josh Wittman had been AD at WashU before coming back to his alma mater. Can explain the speed and certainty of the hire to some degree.

She can coach for certain and recruit to some degree -- the competition for those premium DIII athletes is intense these days for schools from Wash U and Chicago to Tufts and Amerst that value what athletics bring to the overall brand. Now she just needs to get a slightly different type of player and get to know some other types as well. I'll bet she's excited by that challenge after so many years....stay tuned.

Here's a press release on her hiring:
Fahey Named Head Women's Basketball Coach

 

[DefenseBB]

I think we were among some posts that touched on this year. She was, in effect, saved by her contract after 2015-16, with the possibility that her freshman class would pan out.
It did....Jocelyn Willoughby and Dominique Toussaint both made the All-ACC frosh team.
Toussaint, Willoughby Named to ACC Coaches All-Freshman Team

They finished up 20-13 and lost to James Madison University. They might have lot that battle but gotten a win at JMU's expense in that
Brianna Tinsley, a 5'6" point guard from St. Anne's decommitted from JMU and is headed to UVA. Willoughby and Toussaint are a wing and off guard, respectively, so Tinsley should help with the ball-handling. However, they didn't help themselves up front (Danielle Patterson, headed for ND, listed UVA as a finalist.)

STAB's Tinsley commits to UVa women's hoops team

They played ND tough both times they faced them this year and a lot of folks they were on the bubble for the NCAA (perhaps over Auburn). Does the AD think that it's worth finishing the contract out? Or get someone whom he thinks can get more out of what Boyle has now? I think someone like Shea would do fantastically there. And UVA's not in your conference.

Dillon, in all seriousness, when was the last time any school bought out a women's teams coach? They have been let go for misconduct type activity-Swoopes, Yori but almost never for performance. Just look at Tenn, they are keeping that dumpster fire of situation as they can't or won't buy it out ($650,000 per year with 2 years left)

I can't think of any. I know you have been following it more so that's why I ask.

 

[UcMiami]

Dillon, in all seriousness, when was the last time any school bought out a women's teams coach? They have been let go for misconduct type activity-Swoopes, Yori but almost never for performance. Just look at Tenn, they are keeping that dumpster fire of situation as they can't or won't buy it out ($650,000 per year with 2 years left)

I can't think of any. I know you have been following it more so that's why I ask.

GG did not complete her contract at TX I think.

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

GG did not complete her contract at TX I think.

Except Goestenkors resigned with two years remaining, citing fatigue (she has not coached in college or full-time since; she has been a WNBA assistant in the summers and a television commentator during the WCBB season). She was not bought out. She left almost $2.5 million on the table.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

I'm sure there have been coaches that have been bought out - but I agree it isn't common. Coach Niya Butts here in Arizona had not one but two "grace years" rather than the administration dismissing her - and she wasn't making any great salary (for a WBB HC) either. The then AD actually felt called upon to include the fact she was returning in his weekly newsletter at least once if not both years.

 

[UcMiami]

Except Goestenkors resigned with two years remaining, citing fatigue (she has not coached in college or full-time since; she has been a WNBA assistant in the summers and a television commentator during the WCBB season). She was not bought out. She left almost $2.5 million on the table.

I know that was the resolution, but I always thought there was probably a quietly paid sweetener to get the resignation letter. The school not only saved the salary, but also kept their unemployment insurance unsullied because she resigned.

 

[BigBird]

WHOA! I assumed she was a lifer at Wash U.

I believe she is the fastest coach to 600 wins - even faster than Geno.

Will be interesting to see how she does in the recruiting game, and also dealing with a different kind of kid -- a move to Northwestern, say, might have been a more logical move.

No D1 experience? OK then. I wish her good luck. At Illinois, she'll need it.

 

[Dillon77]

Dillon, in all seriousness, when was the last time any school bought out a women's teams coach? They have been let go for misconduct type activity-Swoopes, Yori but almost never for performance. Just look at Tenn, they are keeping that dumpster fire of situation as they can't or won't buy it out ($650,000 per year with 2 years left)

I can't think of any. I know you have been following it more so that's why I ask.

There's not a whole lot of them that come to mind over morning coffee, but Illinois' Matt Bollant was let go with one year left on his contract and Jimmy Dykes "resigned" at Arkansas with one or two left on his and I'm sure a walk deal was arranged. So two P5 schools were willing to pull the trigger and fork over some money. And I can't quite tell if there were any years left on Cynthia Cooper-Dyke's contract at USC. The Trojans SID sent out the release and it does not mention years left/payout on the contract.

But in general, I'm in agreement with you and think I referenced that in my opening remarks on Boyle (if it wasn't clear enough, my apologies). ADs simply are generally not going to eat train wrecks unless there's something really bad going on and/or if an alum can supply golden parachute money. Another great example of this is at Boston College, where the progam just keeps slipping downhill every year and zip is done about it.

 

[Vowelguy]

No D1 experience? OK then. I wish her good luck. At Illinois, she'll need it.

For a program that hasn't had success in eons, I think d3 is risk worth trying.

 

[UcMiami]

No D1 experience? OK then. I wish her good luck. At Illinois, she'll need it.

Please note Scott Rueck - George Fox to OSUw seems to be panning out quite well!