Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="CamrnCrz1974, post: 2943252, member: 1052"] This is not quite accurate, because it ignores the actions of AD Chris Plonsky and former Assistant Coach Clarissa Davis-Wrightsil. In very short summary, Plonsky told Goestenkors not to keep any of the Texas assistant coaches, so she did not (and brought some of her own people). Davis-Wrightsil was outraged and essentially trashed Texas and Coach G to all of her connections in the Texas high school basketball scene -- and believe me, Davis-Wrightsi's network and contacts were extensive. Gail's contacts were with AAU coaches, which worked very well in her recruiting strongholds - DC/MD/VA and NY/NJ/PA. In Texas, the high school/local coaches are the ones with the power and the sway, so to speak. Gail did not have the right contacts for Texas, but the actions of Plonsky and Davis-Wrightsil all but guaranteed that Texas would not be getting the top-tier in-state recruits during her tenure. Duke sold itself, because Goestenkors BUILT it to sell itself. If Duke truly sold itself, Joanne P. McCallie would have had more success in the past three recruiting classes. But Goestenkors also failed to realize how the Duke brand and the combination of athletics, academics, alumni network, etc. played a part in her recruiting strategy. Whereas McCallie overestimated how much Duke sold itself, Goestenkors underestimated it, in terms of making the final pitches to recruits. See my above comments about Plonsky and Davis-Wrightsil. But truth be told, Goestenkors needed to really get someone entrenched in Texas recruiting, which Davis-Wrightstil was. I believe [USER=1076]@Sakibomb25[/USER] meant to say "Alleva." But yes, that was referring to LSU AD Joe Alleva, who was the former Duke AD. IN SUMMARY, my honest believe is [URL='https://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2007/03/would-coach-g-leave-duke']the statements from then-AD Joe Alleva[/URL] were the deciding factor in her decision to leave. I am repeating the comments here: [I]Compared to the top tier of coaches in the women's game, however, Goestenkors' salary does not stack up. Tennessee's Pat Summitt is the highest-paid coach in women's college basketball at an average of $1.125 million guaranteed over six seasons, and Geno Auriemma's contract with Connecticut guarantees him $988,000 per year. [Coach G made less than $500,000 at the time] "They've both won a lot of national championships and are part of programs that make money for their institutions. They bring in profit for their athletic departments, and that's not the case for our women's program," Alleva said. "I'm sure some of these other institutions will offer significantly large packages to encourage her to go.[/I] I firmly believe that Goestenkors was not running toward Texas, but running away from Duke. She felt completely disrespected and devalued -- and rightfully so. But I also believe that without those statements from then-AD Joe Alleva, she would have taken more time to evaluate her decision and would have chosen to stay at Duke. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach