Coaching changes 2020 | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Coaching changes 2020

Just to clarify, the Texas softball head coach who did not have her contract renewed at the end of the 2018 season was Connie Clark. Angela Kelly is the women's soccer head coach.

Not sure why some on the Texas board cite Angela Kelly's situation as comparable to that of Karen Aston, as it just isn't.

December 2011 - Kelly signed to 5.5 year contract
November 2016 - Kelly's contract extended 3 years
September 2018 - Kelly signs 5.5 year extension (through the 2023 season)
 
southie said:
Just to clarify, the Texas softball head coach who did not have her contract renewed at the end of the 2018 season was Connie Clark. Angela Kelly is the women's soccer head coach.

Not sure why some on the Texas board cite Angela Kelly's situation as comparable to that of Karen Aston, as it just isn't.

December 2011 - Kelly signed to 5.5 year contract
November 2016 - Kelly's contract extended 3 years
September 2018 - Kelly signs 5.5 year extension (through the 2023 season)
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Connie Clark - whom I liked as much as any coach I watched on TV - was a perfect example of many coaches across many sports - no one could say her program wasn't successful - but it couldn't make the leap to the level that fans really want at a school like Texas. My WBB classic case was Jim Foster at Vanderbilt (his issue at Ohio State was different) - but Vandy was quite successful in his day without ever getting over the hump.
 
KnightBridgeAZ said:
Connie Clark - whom I liked as much as any coach I watched on TV - was a perfect example of many coaches across many sports - no one could say her program wasn't successful - but it couldn't make the leap to the level that fans really want at a school like Texas. My WBB classic case was Jim Foster at Vanderbilt (his issue at Ohio State was different) - but Vandy was quite successful in his day without ever getting over the hump.
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Connie Clark led the Texas softball program from its infancy. Whenever she had a stud pitcher (Christa Williams, Cat Osterman, or Blair Luna), she was able to lead her team to Women's College World Series (national Top 8). Highest finish was Top 4 as she just didn't have the hitting to battle for more. But, when she didn't have a stud pitcher, her teams were marginal Top 48-64; and, that was the norm her last 5 seasons at Texas.
 
Plebe said:
Lynette Woodard should be more remembered than she is. Her career ended just before the NCAA began sponsoring women's basketball in 1981. That would make her about 3 years older than Kim Mulkey, whose college career ended in 1984.

When the AIAW era is included, Woodard is the #2 career scorer in WCBB.

"The NCAA era for women's athletics started in 1981-82. As for the pre-NCAA era, Francis Marion's Pearl Moore (1975-79) scored 3,884 points. Second on that list is Kansas' Lynette Woodard (1977-81) with 3,649. Montclair State's Carol Blazejowski (1974-78) is the leader for career scoring average in that era, at 31.7 PPG."

www.espn.com.sg

Washington's Kelsey Plum named espnW player of the week for third time this season

Kelsey Plum had 57 points -- fifth-most in a single game in women's D-I history -- to pass Jackie Stiles as the women's NCAA leading scorer. Plum is a three-time player of the week this season.
www.espn.com.sg www.espn.com.sg
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Woodard and Carol Blaze were very special players. It's a shame that the AIAW is not included when WCBB history is talked about.
 
I will say, I felt a twinge of fear for the Texas fans when I saw this quote from the ESPN article about Boston College's renewal of its MBB coach (who had been on the hot seat):

"There is so much uncertainty right now with everything," Jarmond told the Globe. "You need to be steady and you need to have calm in uncertain times."​

www.espn.com

Boston College opts to retain Jim Christian as coach

There has been speculation over Christian's job status for the past couple seasons, as Boston College has never finished .500 or better in ACC play in Christian's six seasons.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
 
Plebe said:
I will say, I felt a twinge of fear for the Texas fans when I saw this quote from the ESPN article about Boston College's renewal of its MBB coach (who had been on the hot seat):

"There is so much uncertainty right now with everything," Jarmond told the Globe. "You need to be steady and you need to have calm in uncertain times."​

www.espn.com

Boston College opts to retain Jim Christian as coach

There has been speculation over Christian's job status for the past couple seasons, as Boston College has never finished .500 or better in ACC play in Christian's six seasons.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
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Hey, I know that guy, I went to college with him! Good job BC, good job! ;)
 
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Plebe said:
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Ok, so who did they interview??? Inquiring minds want to know...
1585179932710.png
 
Drexel Coach and Villanova Alum Denise Dillon gets the Villanova HC position.

She played for Harry Perretta "back in the day" (and he's had a lot of them!) and more recently was named Coach of the Year in her conference this past season for Drexel winning the regular-season CAA championship.
Coached 17 years at Drexel.

www.inquirer.com

Villanova names Denise Dillon new women’s basketball coach, Amy Mallon takes over at Drexel

Dillon will return to her alma mater after 17 seasons as Drexel's head coach.
www.inquirer.com www.inquirer.com

Love the team picture on her twitter home page:

Denise Dillon (@DeniseDillon) | Twitter

The latest Tweets from Denise Dillon (@DeniseDillon). Go Cats!. Philadelphia
twitter.com twitter.com
 
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Plebe said:
Strange that they wouldn't renew her before the end of the expiration season. Doesn't send a positive message for recruiting purposes.
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They must have been peaved she has yet to beat Muffet and ND. She lost her last home game to ND on senior day. This was the year to stop that FSU blemish as even 8-23 Clemson ended their ofer streak against 13-18 ND this year.

Still I like her as a coach and loved she beat Walz & L'ville at the ACC tourney this year. I'm sure she'll be back unless she is holding out for more money or thinks she needs to move on. FSU won't do better.
 
Dillon77 said:
Drexel Coach and Villanova Alum Denise Dillon gets the Villanova HC position.

She played for Harry Perretta "back in the day" (and he's had a lot of them!) and more recently was named Coach of the Year in her conference this past season for Drexel winning the regular-season CAA championship.
Coached 17 years at Drexel.

www.inquirer.com

Villanova names Denise Dillon new women’s basketball coach, Amy Mallon takes over at Drexel

Dillon will return to her alma mater after 17 seasons as Drexel's head coach.
www.inquirer.com www.inquirer.com

Love the team picture on her twitter home page:

Denise Dillon (@DeniseDillon) | Twitter

The latest Tweets from Denise Dillon (@DeniseDillon). Go Cats!. Philadelphia
twitter.com twitter.com
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I want to be more excited by this hire but unfortunately I am not. I was hoping for someone with a tab more P6 experience. 306-204 career record at Drexel doesn't get me too excited. Was this really the best candidate? I know it's the safest and has Harry's fingerprints all over it. That's a bad sign if you ask me when the former coach has a say in the new hire-see Tennessee, see UConn men, see Texas Tech (Bob Knight to Pat Knight)...
 
DefenseBB said:
I want to be more excited by this hire but unfortunately I am not. I was hoping for someone with a tab more P6 experience. 306-204 career record at Drexel doesn't get me too excited. Was this really the best candidate? I know it's the safest and has Harry's fingerprints all over it. That's a bad sign if you ask me when the former coach has a say in the new hire-see Tennessee, see UConn men, see Texas Tech (Bob Knight to Pat Knight)...
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Denise Dillon is a fantastic coach and has done a fabulous job with a tremendous Drexel program, which has got to be a challenge to recruit to. She’s even led her team to a WNIT championship in 2013 and has consistently been a thorn in the side of many teams. Drexel has always been fun to watch, and it’ll be interesting to see what she can do with a bigger program.
 
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southie said:
Connie Clark led the Texas softball program from its infancy. Whenever she had a stud pitcher (Christa Williams, Cat Osterman, or Blair Luna), she was able to lead her team to Women's College World Series (national Top 8). Highest finish was Top 4 as she just didn't have the hitting to battle for more. But, when she didn't have a stud pitcher, her teams were marginal Top 48-64; and, that was the norm her last 5 seasons at Texas.
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They spent a lot of money to get White from the Ducks and he took 4 of their players (all of whom were on the PAC12 Freshman team) including their best pitcher (Elish-all PAC12) and the Duck's top pitching recruit (O'Leary from Cal) with him from the Oregon team to Texas. It certainly worked and got them jumpstarted. They obviously were trying to get by Oklahoma in softball and the Ducks hiring Ok's top assistant as a head coach was a double blow.

In BBall they have to figure out how to get past Kim and Baylor which may be tougher, but Aston hasn't done the job. They certainly are willing to throw money at these problems. If they can take transfers who can play immediately that can make a difference.
 
DefenseBB said:
I want to be more excited by this hire but unfortunately I am not. I was hoping for someone with a tab more P6 experience. 306-204 career record at Drexel doesn't get me too excited. Was this really the best candidate? I know it's the safest and has Harry's fingerprints all over it. That's a bad sign if you ask me when the former coach has a say in the new hire-see Tennessee, see UConn men, see Texas Tech (Bob Knight to Pat Knight)...
Expand ...
Well, she was an assistant at Villanova for four years (1997-2001) before being hired at Drexel.

I'm guardedly optimistic about this one. Not a "wow" hire, but I'll go with "solid". Drexel isn't a perennial NCAAT team like Gonzaga or FGCU, but they've been consistently in that next submaximal layer of the mid-major sphere. It's all too easy to underestimate what it takes to even be a perennial WNIT team when you're operating at that level of resources and exposure.

I think a 306-204 (.600) record isn't at all bad when you factor out her first four years, when she went 54-63 while building the program from virtually nothing. Before she was hired in 2003, Drexel was both highly mediocre and unstable: She was their 4th HC in a 12-year period that included only one winning season. (Drexel had also just moved in 2001 from the America East to the Colonial — a significant step up in strength of conference.) So after her first 4 rebuilding years, Dillon logged a record of 252-141 (.641) and finished in the top 2 of the CAA in five of the past six years.

As an analogous "alumna hire" it reminds me somewhat of Marquette's hiring of Carolyn Kieger, but with a couple big differences: (1) Kieger had no HC experience; she'd been an assistant at Miami for 7 years; (2) Kieger built a high-octane, guard-oriented offense at Marquette that was not exactly known for expending energy on the defensive end.

My biggest misgiving is not over Dillon's record per se, but over style of play. I was hoping for more of a departure from Perretta's heavily defensive style of play, but this hire doesn't point in that direction. Drexel was #17 in the nation in scoring defense this season (55.4 ppg) but #254 in scoring offense (60.7 ppg). I'll be interested to see if that style continues.
 
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domerduck said:
They must have been peaved she has yet to beat Muffet and ND. She lost her last home game to ND on senior day. This was the year to stop that FSU blemish as even 8-23 Clemson ended their ofer streak against 13-18 ND this year.
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Certainly, losing to ND this year should've been enough to get any coach fired -- and maybe even tarred and feathered :D

At the very least, that probably costs her at least 100k in bargaining position. :rolleyes:
 
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Plebe said:
Well, she was an assistant at Villanova for four years (1997-2001) before being hired at Drexel.

I'm guardedly optimistic about this one. Not a "wow" hire, but I'll go with "solid". Drexel isn't a perennial NCAAT team like Gonzaga or FGCU, but they've been consistently in that next submaximal layer of the mid-major sphere. It's all too easy to underestimate what it takes to even be a perennial WNIT team when you're operating at that level of resources and exposure.

I think a 306-204 (.600) record isn't at all bad when you factor out her first four years, when she went 54-63 while building the program from virtually nothing. Before she was hired in 2003, Drexel was both highly mediocre and unstable: She was their 4th HC in a 12-year period that included only one winning season. (Drexel had also just moved in 2001 from the America East to the Colonial — a significant step up in strength of conference.) So after her first 4 rebuilding years, Dillon logged a record of 252-141 (.641) and finished in the top 2 of the CAA in five of the past six years.

As an analogous "alumna hire" it reminds me somewhat of Marquette's hiring of Carolyn Kieger, but with a couple big differences: (1) Kieger had no HC experience; she'd been an assistant at Miami for 7 years; (2) Kieger built a high-octane, guard-oriented offense at Marquette that was not exactly known for expending energy on the defensive end.

My biggest misgiving is not over Dillon's record per se, but over style of play. I was hoping for more of a departure from Perretta's heavily defensive style of play, but this hire doesn't point in that direction. Drexel was #17 in the nation in scoring defense this season (55.4 ppg) but #254 in scoring offense (60.7 ppg). I'll be interested to see if that style continues.
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Off topic, but I’ll be interested to see if Kieger can turn it around at Penn State. They were pretty awful this year, and a few key players are transferring now. She does have Kapinus coming in.
 
An interesting change by Illinois coach Nancy Fahey to her staff. She's just hired Marquette assistant Scott Merritt, who was an original member of Kieger's staff and was then retained by Duffy.

Merritt replaces longtime Illinois assistant LaKale Malone, who was a holdover from Matt Bollant's staff.

www.news-gazette.com

Fahey makes change to coaching staff at Illinois

Scott Merritt joins program after six season at Marquette; LaKale Malone let go
www.news-gazette.com www.news-gazette.com
 
Texas men's basketball head coach will be retained, as it was announced by local newspaper on Friday afternoon. Oddly, no comments regarding Aston's future:

www.hookem.com

'Shaka's our coach': Texas AD Chris Del Conte is sticking with Shaka Smart for 2020-21 | Hookem.com

Chris Del Conte hasn’t wavered in his support of men’s basketball coach Shaka Smart, who will remain in place for the 2020-21 season. “Shaka’s our coach,” Del Conte told the American-Statesman on Friday.
www.hookem.com www.hookem.com

Del Conte also faces a decision on women’s basketball coach Karen Aston, who is now out of her contract. Texas could offer her a new deal or hire someone else. Her situation is totally different than Smart’s. Still, for Texas to lure a big-name coach, it’s likely going to require a hefty financial commitment.
 
nwhoopfan said:
Nicole Powell moving from Grand Canyon to UC Riverside. Is this much more than a lateral move? Taking over a program in turmoil, some healing that needs to go on there.

gohighlanders.com

UC Riverside Names Nicole Powell Head Women's Basketball Coach - UC Riverside Athletics

gohighlanders.com gohighlanders.com
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My guess is that Grand Canyon is a difficult place to recruit to or build a program at. It may be easier for Powell to build up her recruiting within California with a more solid university. My gut reaction to Grand Canyon is that it is based off of an online-for-profit system. It is interesting that the previous coach had a better record, so perhaps the right coach can recruit to Grand Canyon, but it looks like Powell primarily got this hire based off her name recognition and a marginal improvement over the past two seasons.
 
Lorcan said:
t may be easier for Powell to build up her recruiting within California with a more solid university.
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There are SO MANY schools in California though. Not much tradition at UCR. 3 Tourney appearances, '06, '07 and '10, all first round exits. They are just another generic school in the Big West, nothing about them stands out. And the WCC is probably several steps ahead of the Big West. There are a ton of prospects in California, some hidden gems might slip them, but seems like they are way down the pecking order.

The biggest issue to me though is overcoming the stigma from the previous HC.
 
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Interesting decision by the North Dakota AD, to cancel the WBB head coach search "in light of current events" and have the interim coach remain as such through the 2020-21 season.

 
The move by North Dakota doesn't surprise me. Schools are going to be finding ways to cut costs as much as possible. Why not give Bernhard who was a great part of the program for a while a chance to prove herself at what is likely a reduced salary to help balance the budget?
 
Plebe said:
Leaving the WAC for any other D-I conference is a step up, unless it's the SWAC, Northeast or MEAC (apologies to @triaddukefan ).
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Yeah, the conference is definitely at least a little improvement, but it's hard to get excited about UCR.

Am I the only concerned about the legacy of the departed coach? He's gone, but isn't the administration that ignored the problem for years still there?
 
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