Hi all, a random observation/question that I'd be curious for your collective wisdom about:
I noticed tonight in the Baylor-Texas thread some (not unreasonable) roasting of Karen Aston's coaching ability, and it got me to thinking: do we assess male and female WBB head coaches in the same way? The reason I ask is that the coaches I regularly see roasted for poor coaching abilities are almost always female. In particular, this is a repeated trope applied to Aston, Holly Warlick, Cori Close, and Lindsay Gottlieb, off the top of my head, and in almost every game thread featuring those teams, both on this board and on others. By contrast, I can't really think of a single male WBB head coach that regularly receives as much scorn. Maybe that's on the merits, but it does strike me as a little odd, given that at the top of the heap, there's roughly gender parity among the best coaches (e.g., Geno, Waltz, Rueck, Graves, Schaefer vs. Pat, Tara, MM, Mulkey, CTT, Hatchell), and yet outside the truly elite, female head coaches seem (impressionistically, at least) to be singled out much more than men. And this despite the fact that all four of the female head coaches I've just mentioned - Aston, Warlick, Close, and Gottlieb - regularly seem to get their teams into the Top 25 in the country.
So: Respectfully, am I wrong in perceiving this? If not, is there a legitimate basis for the disproportionate scorn that seems to be directed toward female coaches?
The reason why Aston/Warlick/McCallie receive negative attention is that they assemble really talented rosters that play horrible basketball. People were very harsh on McGuff accomplishing next to nothing despite having a loaded roster the last few years too. If we saw more men landing top kids and wasting their talents, they'd be just as scrutinized IMO.
In terms of individual coaches that get roasted:
Muffet-no one questions her ability to coach, she's an incredible coach. People dislike comments she makes and her being a sore loser (which she's admitted to herself), but I think the worst thing people say about her is, "Geno is a better coach." If a man made the comments Muffet makes, I think it'd fuel the same fire.
Kim Mulkey-people also by and large agree that she's a very good coach. Her teams consistently flop in the post season, and for that she gets criticized more than anything else. If a man coached her teams with the same results, I think the feedback would be the same. Her dramatic on court antics (throwing her jacket) and particularly colorful outfits also are talked about, although much of it is done as a playful jab rather than anything malicious or detrimental IMO.
Dawn Staley-a lot of people do not respect her abilities as a coach compared to some others but everyone agrees shes in the upper group of coaches. The biggest knock on Dawn is her inability to run a strong offensive system. A lot of people also feel that her 2017 title team should have an asterisk next to it because she didn't have to face her kryptonite in UCONN. If her team comes into Storrs next week and beats the Huskies, she'll get a lot more respect from UCONN fans IMO.
Jeff Walz-I think people are critical about him. He has a brash attitude and isn't afraid to call something out which can be off putting, but he's never criticized Geno or had anything negative to say about the Huskies. People will acknowledge that he has up and down seasons, but lately he's built Louisville into a powerhouse which commands respect. People call out when he underachieves.
Brenda Frese-this is an example where I think sexism might be a factor. Brenda by all accounts is a fantastic coach. 3 Final Fours, a National Title and her teams are consistently very good. Some years they underachieve, other years they overachieve. People for whatever reason don't like to give her the credit and respect she deserves. I think she's absolutely in the upper echelon of coaches and it's extremely unfair for people to credit the 2006 title to Jeff Walz calling 1 play where she assembled the team and lead a team with 4 underclassmen starting to a title.
Most of the successful male coaches are relative newbies in the women's basketball world. Schaefer, Graves, Rueck and Moore don't have a long coaching history and they've put together successful teams. None of them have made inflammatory comments or have particularly off putting personalities or antics.
There are also a few of "Geno's friends" (men and women) who seem to get more of a pass on this board. None of these coaches have ever proven that they can compete with, let alone beat Geno, so they aren't threatening. These include Doug Bruno, Harry Perretta, and Sherri Coale. Bruno and Perretta have been main stays as coaches for okay to decent teams, Coale was more successful than either earlier this decade but her teams have underachieved the past 8-9 years. Overall I don't think sexism is a factor as much as people will give Geno's friends the benefit of the doubt.
I think sexism definitely exists in sports in general and in many other women's sports (definitely in volleyball), but in many ways women's basketball leads the way by having many high profile and highly respected female coaches.
