Duke’s Joanne P. McCallie resigns

[triaddukefan]

Thanks, I was going to bring up Bowling Green. Saw them play in the NCAA's - I think they were in the "other pod" during that period where they did the 8 team thing, in any case they didn't play Rutgers if they were in the same group. And yes, I agree, I think the Drake coach may have her eyes on Iowa, following (literally) in Bluder's footsteps.

I saw them play Arizona State here in the Sweet 16...... I think you were in attendance as well that afternoon

 

[WestsideWaltz]

If they hire Cori Close, UCLA will be happy to take Gail as her replacement.

 

[Plebe]

A few corrections..... Curt Miller coached at Bowling Green.... led them to the sweet 16 in 2007. But Duke aint hiring a male WBB coach. Joy Smith was an assistant at Duke from 2011-13. I floated the Drake coach on here before... and on another site. She's an Iowa woman... and perhaps she has her eyes on the Iowa job when it opens.

What about Lindsay Harding?

 

[triaddukefan]

What about Lindsay Harding?

Of course I'd welcome her back with open arms..... but my gut feeling is that she's gonna stay in the NBA for a bit longer.

 

[BobbyJ]

They should hire Carolyn Peck or Holly Warlick.

You hate Duke that much?

 

[stwainfan]

You hate Duke that much?

I was just kidding around.

 

[BobbyJ]

I was just kidding around.

Me too.

 

[triaddukefan]

Duke WBB fans aren't happy..... Kevin White is gonna mess around and see this outside his office.... wearing masks an socially distancing of course.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

I saw them play Arizona State here in the Sweet 16...... I think you were in attendance as well that afternoon

That would be correct, I had forgotten the details, that whole NCAA tourney was a blur.

I did takeout from Mimi's the other day and was the only customer. Mentioned to the Manager that our earliest experience with a Mimi's was when someone from the arena staff suggested that as a dinner stop for the Rutgers contingent later that very afternoon.

 

[triaddukefan]

That would be correct, I had forgotten the details, that whole NCAA tourney was a blur.

I did takeout from Mimi's the other day and was the only customer. Mentioned to the Manager that our earliest experience with a Mimi's was when someone from the arena staff suggested that as a dinner stop for the Rutgers contingent later that very afternoon.

Ah. Mimi's Cafe. Only been their once several years ago for my birthday meal. Its one of those places where I said that I would return, but never have. Of all the places to recommend..... that's interesting. At least you had an appetite after the game. Bringing it back to this thread... that would be the last game that coach G coached at Duke.

 

[Shmermerer]

A few corrections..... Curt Miller coached at Bowling Green.... led them to the sweet 16 in 2007. But Duke aint hiring a male WBB coach. Joy Smith was an assistant at Duke from 2011-13. I floated the Drake coach on here before... and on another site. She's an Iowa woman... and perhaps she has her eyes on the Iowa job when it opens.

He also coached at Indiana.

 

[Dillon77]

I think that @stwainfan hasn't master the art of inserting the or the emojji yet, give them time as Tennessee fans are still living in 2008 and emoji's weren't strong in the lexicon yet....

Clearly they had to be mocking Mechelle Voepel whose list really contains one viable candidate, two quasi-candidates and the rest are pure ignorant name droppings. Typical of the lazy journalism we have come to expect from Mechelle.

Duke has already stated they will not interview Gail, who frankly needs to take on a lesser program to rebuild her credentials.
Gottlieb-she's lucky to have left Cal when she did before not being retained,
Joanne Boyle-sorry @Dillon77, but Joanne was not going to be retained and UVa let her leave gracefully, she's not worthy of a P5 pristine program anymore and needs to rebuild her brand,
ANY ND assistant -no way Duke wants to hire from that tree while competing against ND in the ACC, it hurts their brand,
Curt Miller -ZERO recruiting experience and college rules and connection nuances,
Katie Meier-what has she really done at Miami to warrant a move up? Heck if she didn't get Mompremier as at Transfer, they would have been terrible.
Adia Barnes-is clearly a west coast coach with zero east coast connections plus she's building a very good program ready for national prominence year in and year out,
and even Shea Ralph-she's committed to the UConn program and is probably the heir apparent to take over and she's got her husband coaching up here and family.
These all silly names to throw out as names as they simply aren't viable for any number of the reasons and more than I gave.

The others of Langley at Rice has had a nice run but is she really elite enough and has she done enough at Rice to warrant the Duke consideration? At least she coached on the east coast.
Clark-Heard at Cincinnati has done a nice job at two significantly lesser programs but what has she really won during her career? Not thinking she's ready yet for a P5 program. Win the American next year without UConn in it and make some headway in the NCAA Tournament, then we can talk.
Joy Smith at Clemson is a nice alumni name to through out but why would Duke give the program to someone without any coaching experience let alone no assistant experience at Duke?

Jennie Baranczyk at Drake at least has head coaching experience, strong historical conference success and P5 playing experience. Whether she has the east coast connections is the only real question.

Of the names listed by anyone on this thread, Jennie is the only one that is logical.

I guess if Alana Beard wants in as a coach, Duke would have to listen but surround her with some legitimate assistants. But even Dawn Staley who was a significantly more accomplished player had to earn her bona fides at Temple before developing the monster she's creating at SC. That would be pretty big leap of faith for Duke.

Humbly submitted, DefenseBB

Happy Fourth of July weekend to you and yours. I made a point of trying to stay off social media as much as possible yesterday (save for video comms with the family) to stay in an upbeat mood on our nation's birthday.

I read Mechelle V.'s column pretty early (as well as the story on Duke swatting down Gail G....ouch!), read your column where you put a pretty good high court press on most of her candidates and then took a walk to take it all it.

- Like you, I thought a lot of Voepel's suggestions were mailed in, almost as if the story was taking away from her time on vacation.

So if a Gail G -- representing the past and/or a more seasoned coach with no institution currently weighing her down -- is passed over, what is Kevin White looking for?

You brought up the Duke brand. Do you mean the hoops brand -- which is largely dependent on what Gail G. instituted and/or the best of what Coach P. added/kept going -- with a combination of the overall Duke brand?

- If so, I think you short-shifted Katie Meier, the double Dookiie alum, a bit. You thought they would've been terrible without Mompremier, but I thought Beatrice had her best year when paired with Emese Hof, whom Meier found in the lowlands of northern Europe. Meier established the Hurricane program from a backwater, has not had a losing season in a dozen or so years and has managed to produce All-Americans, professional players and a pretty good coaching tree, including Carolyn Kieger and Amanda Butler.

Katie Meier

miamihurricanes.com

Given the overall Duke brand, I think she can get it the players she needs. In my humble opinion, she's a pretty class act, to boot. My major thought on her is if she wants to leave Coral Gables, where she's pretty much the top of the roost.

- I don't think Duke can afford to hire alums who don't have any/adequate coaching experience. Too much competition with the other Triad schools and that place in Indiana.

- Your point on Duke not wanting to take on an ND coach makes sense on first blush, except for the fact that Kevin White spent nearly 10 years at ND as Athletic Director before coming to Duke. He is a huge admirer of Muffet McGraw. At the very least, I'd expect him to put a call into MM for her thoughts on some candidates he might have in mind.

- I'd be interested in your take on whether White might go after a Joanna Bernabei-McNamee,from BC, who is young, charismatic and seems to be getting Chestnut Hill interesting again.

- Also, what about the young Dayton coach, Ms. Shauna Green, who looks to be ready for a step up.? Or is this one step too far? You've brought up that some of the folks in these mid-majors might not be ready for that step, but how is one to know? Remember, Coach K came from directly from Army to Duke? Shouldn't he have done a tour at another school?

- Usually someone drops a few big names in on searches like this, but I'm not sure now would be the time to leave the security of a superb situation and/or institution. Which is why I can'r resist bringing up you-know- who from Louisville. If Coach Walz is ever going to bolt the Cardinal coop, this might be the time and place.

Another possible person: Kim Barnes Arico, who has done really well at Michigan, but might do even better at Duke, where she could utilize her East coast connections (NJ resident/stellar job at St. John's in Queens)

 

[DEpup]

I completely agree with your Katie Meier analysis. She has done a lot with that program.

 

[DefenseBB]

Hey @Dillon77 1st off, I hope you and yours are staying safe and secure during these interesting times. Thanks for the comments back and we do have very different perspectives on the candidates. While Katie Meier has made Miami sort of relevant, the issue is the "sort of" as she's won 1 league title and has never really accomplished anything in the NCAA Tournament. That's great she's the most accomplished Duke alumni in coaching in WCBB but I don't think she would lead Duke back to the promise land. She hasn't shown that kind of coaching ability. I have watched quite a few of her games these past 2 years and I am not impressed with her game coaching. Kudos to her accomplishments thus far but I am not a believer.

Yes, I am aware White is from the ND tree himself and is especially why he needs to stay away from that tree again and especially for this job posting. Duke brand is not just the basketball "division" but the overall cache' of Duke, which I think, would be less than thrilled to take ND "2nd choices" to run their program. I AM NOT saying that Beth Cunningham will not be a great coach somewhere, because like you, I think she did a great job at VCU and shows enough skills to achieve success anywhere. But with ND passing on her and then letting Ivey select a close associate while allowing Ms. Cunningham to move on, it's a bad optic for Duke and for their alumni. Same goes for the other mentioned ND alumns, most notably, Meg Duffy who is still too new in her next level role but who I do think if this opening even occurred next spring with a year passing since the Ivey regime, Meg would be a viable candidate. There are no other ND candidates worthy of the Duke job than these two.

Likewise with Joanne Bernabe-McNamee, taking from another school in your conference is sort of "bad form" especially when there is not an alumni connection (see Meier). Would Duke really do that? I haven't seen that happen in WCBB ever so it would be first. I do like JBM and hope she continues her success at BC. It was great fun this year watching that team hustle its way to their best season ever in the ACC.

No way Walz or Brooks would be brought to Duke. That just is not logical on many levels for me.

What I do think is a mistake is NOT hiring the best candidate now as you miss out on another year of recruiting and building those contacts with Freshman, sophomore and junior HS players by hiring an "interim" coach. Look, this is Duke, why wouldn't Drake, Dayton's, BC's or what about Carla want to go coach this program? The uncertainty is when sports would return, but it will return so opportunity rewards the bold...


You did mention the Dayton coach in your post though Mechelle was too lazy to think of a candidate like her. Geno obviously likes her as we are scheduled to play them again. I just do not know anything about her and any coach Duke goes after better have shown the ability to coach up and succeed in the NCAAT which has not really occurred yet for Green.

Arico-Barnes is a real intriguing candidate though. I went to the Mohegan November games last year where UConn-Ok and FSU-Michigan played and sat next to some of Kim's family at Mohegan. It was a great dialogue and very nice family however I get the impression that she's been granted the resources to continue to evolve that program and she's very happy there. Given their lack of institutional success historically, I do think some coaches like the idea of being THE ARCHITECT of a P5 team to which the program builds upon. She has that opportunity at Michigan. Would she want to follow in Gail's and even JPM's footsteps or blaze her path as she's currently doing? Good question.

 

[triaddukefan]

At this point... if Duke can't lure Coach B from Drake...... I'm perfectly fine letting Jim Corrigan (current assistant) run the program this year... and hire a replacement next spring. Corrigan spent most of his coaching career as an assistant on the men's side..... and actually filled in as an interim head coach while at ODU.