I responded initially to UConnCat's post on coaching changes. Who woulda thunk that an assistant coaching change at ND would pop up on the UConn area? (Slow times in WBB
) Anyways, most of what I wrote hold for here, too:
There has been a lot of discussion on this at the Bench and within the South Bend community, as you can imagine, including:
- While not a P5 program, Beth Morgan Cunningham was a fairly successful head coach at VCU for nearly a decade before heading to ND to join Muffet McGraw after Jonathan Tsipis took the GW HC job.
While she was not as demonstrative as Niele Ivey, she had a lot of input as the wing coach (K-Mac was her most noted pupil) and Muffet acknowledged Cunningham's contributions to in-game changes in strategy and her background as a HC to keeping the overall coaching staff sailing smoothly.
- Some folks think Niele simply wants to work with Coquese Washington, who was Ivey's position coach when Ivey was the point guard on the 2011 NC team.
- Plus, Washington is a former collegiate and professional point guard, in addition to her PG coaching background. She can work with incoming combo guard Alasia Hayes and current combo guard Katlyn Gilbert, who will man the PG position this year.
- Perhaps just as importantly, you can bet she'll be step-for-step with prized 2021 recruit Olivia Miles the moment that PG gets on campus.
- Given the uncertainties of all aspects of collegiate sports, financing probably was a factor. Owens and Cunningham were assc. head coaches at ND and Washington was at Oklahoma. Even if Ivey is (probably) not being paid what McGraw was, I'm sure AD Jack Swarbrick wanted to keep the staff at two assc. head coaches, with Michaela (Mike) Mabrey filling out the staff.
- One thing for sure: Morgan Cunningham was embedded in the ND-South Bend community (she and her husband are both ND grads). There's a rumor that she's applied for the assistant coaching spot open on the UNC staff under Courtney Banghart. The AD at UNC is an ND alum, "Bubba" Cunningham (no relation to her husband). Will be interesting to see where and in what capacity she emerges in next. In any case, best of luck to Beth, who has made a lot of contributions to ND WBB, which is one reason why she's in the Irish Ring of Honor.
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