Tsipis is a terrible coach. He never really was a good coach. He lucked out that Jonuel Jones’ high school coach was the assistant so she transferred from Clemson to there because she was like family to her. The only good seasons he’s had as a head coach was with her on the team I believe. Wisconsin didn’t do any due diligence.
I'm in no way a Tsipis enthusist but don't quite see how he can be labeled based on his long-term stay at Notre Dame, succussful stint at GW and incomplete work at Wisconsin.
I've followed him (primarily due to his work at ND, as well as that of Megan Duffy -- more on her later), so a few thoughts.
- The assistant coach you're referring to is Diane Richardson, who at the time of Jones' middle school career, was the head coach of the elite prep school, Riverdale Baptist, in Maryland. Richardson helped Jones immensely, which led Jones getting the scholarship to Clemson.
Now, I'm not certain Tsipis "lucked out" because he hired Richardson, who, in turn, was probably key to Jones coming back to the D.C. area and GW. Richardson, I might add, also benefitted from this association: she's head coach of Towson State.
- While Jones was getting better and better, GW was not totally a one-horse team. That, one could argue, was partially due to another shrewd hire by Tsipis: Megan Duffy, who came south from St. John's to take over the recruiting and guard coaching. Hannah Schaible was probably her main recruit, as well as Kelli Prange.
- So Tsipis went 14-16, 23-11, 29-4 and 26-7 and hired excellent assistant coaches in her first HC gig. I'm not sure I get what's terrible about that. BTW, it wasn't all Jones: the team he left went 20-10 in Jen Rizzotti's first year.
- He got the GW job largely based on his job as associate head coach and chief recruiter for Muffet McGraw. While Niele Ivey is largely known for working on/with Skylar Diggins, Tsipis brought in loads of other top contributors, Kayla McBride and Natalie Novosel to Maddie Cable. McGraw was/is a huge supporter of his.
- At Wisconsin, he took over for Bobbi Kensie in 2106, who went 47-100 in 5 years. Beside the results, the knock on her was she didn't work the Wisconsin High Schools and kids went everywhere but Madison: Wisconsin-Green Bay, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa...you name it. Tsipis has hit gyms, hired asst. coaches with local connections to stem that tide. It's difficult with the success of Iowa, allure of Lindsey Whalen and Marquette's continued success. And, ironically, guess who is now in charge of Marquette? Yup, Megan Duffy.
So, he's 44-79 (pre-B1G tourney) and the next class is supposed to be better. He signed a five-year deal and has allegedly gotten extensions. I think he'll get at least one, maybe two, to see if this approach works to waken a sleeping program. Right about now, he could use a Skylar Diggins, Kayla McBride or Jonquel Jones -- even Maddie Cable or Hannah Schaible -- to come aboard.
