Geno & Tara on Number of Female Coaches (merged threads)

[CTrefugee]

I think a higher percentage of qualified women realize there is more to life than head coaching.
CD is a prime example. She could/could have had a HC job in a top program, but chooses life style and other priorities.
Auriemma, VanDerveer differ on decline in female coaches

 

[Samanthabrown3]

I'm with Tara. And I don't think CD has any more a lifestyle priority than Geno does.

 

[bags27]

Weird that Tara can argue that the reason there aren't more female headcoaches is because there are so many that they compete with each other (that's the recycling argument at the end).
OTOH, I don't get Geno's argument that women essentially have better things to do than watch spoiled 17 year olds; that sounds entirely patronizing to suggest that men don't mind doing it.

While most of the top teams are coached by women, the number of female coaches overall has dropped significantly. I think that calls for more than glib remarks by Geno or back-of-the-envelope observations by Tara.

 

[OldAlum]

Yeah, and probably the question needs to be raised in a different environment to get more thoughtful responses.

 

[Charliebball]

Per Raul;

The folks at Deadspin don't like what Geno has to say about the declining number of female head coaches in WBB...........

http://deadspin.com/geno-auriemma-on-decrease-in-female-basketball-coaches-1793876637

 

[Jeff H]

Geno's theory seems to imply that women realize something about there being more to life (or that there are lot's better things to do than coach) that men don't. So women choose not to coach while men do. While there may be something to that theory I would call it less than scientific.

 

[Wbbfan1]

I side with Tara. It seems that as Women's Head Coach Salaries increase, their are some AD's seem to say, I need to hire a Male to coach my Women's Basketball Team. Don't know what the hiring percentages are, but I believe that if the Starting Head Coaching Salary is north of $300K, majority of the new hires have been Male.

There are some schools like Stanford, Notre Dame. Vandy and Texas would never hire a Male unless it was a coach like Jeff Walz or someone of his Stature was available. Even then I'm not sure they would, unless the Boosters required they do so. Normally I would include the Lady Vols, but with the reorganization of their Athletic Department and getting rid of the Women's AD, who knows what they will do when Holly leaves.

 

[CocoHusky]

I knew this was going to happen as I was watching Tara presser live. There are no sides to pick here. Tara and Geno have two separate (non-conflicting) theories as to why the number of women coaches are declining. Both theories are perfectly valid.
Geno says the number of women coaches are declining because Women have more & better options.
Tara says the women that are in the profession are not properly supported and compared to men don't have the ability to "recycle"-move from one job to another like Jhonny Dawkins getting fired at Stanford and moving on in a few weeks to coach UCF?

 

[eebmg]

Disappointed in Geno's response. If you want the game to grow and attract the best coaches which I think everyone agrees is necessary, you should not describe the HC job or young hopeful players, the vast majority (I know I am assuming but a DI player is not an easy or lucrative career choice) of whom are determined and hard working, that way. I realize that there may be some young players with difficult attitudes and that might be a little more prevalent outside of UConn but I think most WCBB players are hardworking and not spoiled. It is not like the men's game where you may have to deal with these one and done players so I really do not get why he said this. I guess women should avoid teaching as a whole just because kids (of both gender's) can be very difficult. I hope it was one of those cases where in the cause of entertainment, he just did not think it through. Anyway, lets get on with the games. Go UConn.

 

[DefenseBB]

....and Emma Baccellierri is so connected within the Women's NCAA Coaching Committee to know that Geno is wrong as he obviously is not versed in this? I also like how she cherry picked the discussion not picking up the point that women have higher and better pay opportunities for them then they did 12-20 years ago. Aaaarrrgggghhhh! If I had a Twitter account I would call her out...

 

[CocoHusky]

Dead spin is dead wrong!
That is not what Geno said.
What Geno said is that the numbers are declining because Women have more & better options". He specifically said "That (Women having more options) is a good thing"

 

[Teacherdeb]

Weird that Tara can argue that the reason there aren't more female headcoaches is because there are so many that they compete with each other (that's the recycling argument at the end).
OTOH, I don't get Geno's argument that women essentially have better things to do than watch spoiled 17 year olds; that sounds entirely patronizing to suggest that men don't mind doing it.

While most of the top teams are coached by women, the number of female coaches overall has dropped significantly. I think that calls for more than glib remarks by Geno or back-of-the-envelope observations by Tara.

I listened to Geno's remarks on this subject with the preconceived idea that, in typical fashion, now that some WBB coaching jobs are better paid, more guys are going for them, and men are getting these jobs because of the deeply rooted sexism that still exists with men AD's, who will consciously or subconsciously pick men over women. I still think that's true, but Geno's answer has validity as well, and was a smarter response.

 

[CocoHusky]

This is so frustrating. I would encourage everyone to go back and listen to the questions and the complete answers from both Tara & Geno press conference rather than relying on this very slanted article or the dead spin hatched piece.
@eebmg there is significant (the whole darn thing) context missing from that description of the HS kids. The missing context is that Geno was pointing out that Women have better choices than coaching. He specifically mention working at Travelers and going home at a decent hour rather than being in a gym watching HS kids. Better options should be the main take away not all kids are spolied.

 

[bags27]

You may well be right about this Coco. I still don't understand why women have better choices and why men don't.....

The level of news reporting generally is so bad that no one can trust anything anymore. And sports reporting of WCBB doesn't command the best of a bad lot of reporters (which itself is sexist). See the thread I started with the NYTimes version which doesn't contain that (to my mind, unfortunate) quotation.

 

[GoUconn7961]

Doesn't Geno say something controversial every season to take the attention away from the team..?

 

[Florida Fan]

Weird that Tara can argue that the reason there aren't more female headcoaches is because there are so many that they compete with each other (that's the recycling argument at the end).
OTOH, I don't get Geno's argument that women essentially have better things to do than watch spoiled 17 year olds; that sounds entirely patronizing to suggest that men don't mind doing it.

While most of the top teams are coached by women, the number of female coaches overall has dropped significantly. I think that calls for more than glib remarks by Geno or back-of-the-envelope observations by Tara.

The NYTIMES more clearly offered another reason, namely the increase in salaries for women's basketball coaching positions AND males holding the majority of college AD positions equaling hiring more males looking for the bigger money available with less competition.

 

[HoopsFan21]

Doesn't Geno say something controversial every season to take the attention away from the team..?

No. It's only as controversial as some poor journalism major wants to make it. This time of year the media spotlight shines brightest, so when the coaches speak it gets picked up by everyone looking for an angle to earn their meager pay check. If he made the same comments during the Memphis post-game presser in January, you think anyone cares?

 

[Bgillon]

I hope he is right but I don't have any data to prove one way or the other. Do you? If you don't have stats to support your belief that he is wrong, then you can only say you believe otherwise, not that he is wrong. So often opinions masquerade as facts.

 

[Beemer]

It's dangerous to generalize & speculate but I'll do it anyway: IMO most (but not all) women want a balanced life- career, family, hobbies etc over a life that demands that you prioritize one aspect over the other, which is what happens in demanding professions like coaching a major sports team. Most (but not all) men seem more willing to make that trade off in favor of the high powered career.

Then, like any sport that has achieved national attention and the increased financial rewards that come with it, wcbb is now much more favorably viewed in terms of career attractiveness by men who wouldn't have even considered it before. So now you have an ever larger % of men competing with the same relatively small % of women for these positions.

I know there are other aspects to this situation but I'm confining my remarks to this aspect.

For now, anyway

 

[HoopsFan21]

I hope he is right but I don't have any data to prove one way or the other. Do you? If you don't have stats to support your belief that he is wrong, then you can only say you believe otherwise, not that he is wrong. So often opinions masquerade as facts.

Agree with you on this. So many people nowadays combat a fact with the opposite argument followed by "well that's my opinion." One can have an opinion and still be wrong.

 

[jimazee]

I hope he is right but I don't have any data to prove one way or the other. Do you? If you don't have stats to support your belief that he is wrong, then you can only say you believe otherwise, not that he is wrong. So often opinions masquerade as facts.

This...in the age of the Internet, unlimited blogage (sic), and "social" media. Facts aren't that important any more .

 

[Henry]

I heard his comments in full and felt he gave a perfect answer. Dead spin probably decided to vilify a guy who has done more for his sport and more to encourage women in basketball just because they felt they could distort his comments for publicity. Over the past 10-20 years more opportunities have arisen for women to play basketball after college. The star college players have other options and are taking them. When Kim Mulkey graduated there was no WNBA and as she loved basketball made the decision to go into coaching. Pat Summitt had no other options. Diana Taurasi will never coach and neither will any of the top players until long after they have stopped playing. Geno was very honest and did not disparage anybody. This is absolute BS.

 

[eebmg]

This is so frustrating. I would encourage everyone to go back and listen to the questions and the complete answers from both Tara & Geno press conference rather than relying on this very slanted article or the dead spin hatched piece.
@eebmg there is significant (the whole darn thing) context missing from that description of the HS kids. The missing context is that Geno was pointing out that Women have better choices than coaching. He specifically mention working at Travelers and going home at a decent hour rather than being in a gym watching HS kids. Better options should be the main take away not all kids are spolied.

I did listen to the entire session and while there is much else discussed regarding opportunities and lifestyle issues which I am at best luke warm on (all people/genders want to maximize lifestyle issues no shocker) , I imagine some people including me focused on the detail that concerns them the most. I for one do not care one bit about the demographics of the coaching staffs. I just care about the growth of the game.

I pointed out the 'spoiled kids and better opportunities part' because it affected "me" the most. Such comments and generalizations , even if out of context which they really were not, imho are not helpful to the growth of the game and attracting the best coaches. If you make the job sound like a thankless painful hardship that is not worthwhile (which is just opinion), how do we get the best coaches to consider these options (man or women).

I like listening to Geno and like his fearlessness to comment on any subject but sometimes, this leads to less than stellar responses.

 

[Henry]

Tara has a point but Geno did touch on that. He said that women have the opportunity to study in other areas and can have careers in fields that pay better and allow a more normal life than coaching.