Geno v Tara

[bluedevil]

So whoever retires last will have the record for most wins. They say records are made to be broken but I don't think this one will be one of them unless the schedule is expanded to 50 games a season. With that in mind who do you think wants it more G or T? They are close in age..who retires first? I remember Geno once said he couldn't imagine coaching at 70. That might change. So who you got G or T.?

 

[eebmg]

So whoever retires last will have the record for most wins. They say records are made to be broken but I don't think this one will be one of them unless the schedule is expanded to 50 games a season. With that in mind who do you think wants it more G or T? They are close in age..who retires first? I remember Geno once said he couldn't imagine coaching at 70. That might change. So who you got G or T.?

Tara because that would be her holy grail. Geno has so many historic records, he can toss a longevity award back

 

[Vowelguy]

Tara

 

[uconnfan68]

So whoever retires last will have the record for most wins. They say records are made to be broken but I don't think this one will be one of them unless the schedule is expanded to 50 games a season. With that in mind who do you think wants it more G or T? They are close in age..who retires first? I remember Geno once said he couldn't imagine coaching at 70. That might change. So who you got G or T.?

Pencil Geno in for at least 5 more years, maybe more. Hope his health stays well.

 

[CompSci87]

Tara because that would be her holy grail. Geno has so many historic records, he can toss a longevity award back

Her holy grail? Hardly. Tara is not excited about her own personal records and is always embarrassed to be recognized for them. She just loves coaching.

I think who coaches longer and ends up with the most wins will come down to health and energy. Both will coach until it's not fun anymore.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

I'll never forget Tara, smarting from the beat down UConn put on Stanford in the 1995 Final Four, coming out with the pronouncement that Tennessee would slaughter the Huskies. What does that have to do with the question at hand? Nothing ... or everything.

 

[chrissaran]

Geno's not that far behind considering how many fewer years he's coached.

 

[CompSci87]

I'll never forget Tara, smarting from the beat down UConn put on Stanford in the 1995 Final Four, coming out with the pronouncement that Tennessee would slaughter the Huskies. What does that have to do with the question at hand? Nothing ... or everything.

Such a contrast with Geno who has never said anything snarky or open to criticism in his career.

 

[oldude]

Such a contrast with Geno who has never said anything snarky or open to criticism in his career.

Geno never said anything snarky or critical about Tara, including this week when asked about tying Pat Summit’s record. He made it very clear that while UConn and TN have a long history, Tara holds the record.

 

[JellyBean]

I think they both want to coach as long as they can until it isn't any fun anymore. They both are competitors and like someone already stated, as long as they are healthy and having fun doing what they love, we might see these two going into they are mid 70s!!

 

[Alydar]

Such a contrast with Geno who has never said anything snarky or open to criticism in his career.

True, but Geno gets criticized for it. I've never read one thing about Tara's poorly chosen comments. In fact I remember another female coach accused Geno of cheating and the media has dodged talking about that ever since.
Edit: I don't think Tara's "Tenn will clobber em" was snarky. But she is universally worshipped as a basketball genius so why has she never been asked about that? If Geno had made a comment similar to that there would have been a panel formed to discuss it.

But back to the topic I'd say that Tara would trade a whole bunch of her wins for more titles.

 

[Vowelguy]

Such a contrast with Geno who has never said anything snarky or open to criticism in his career.

It is very odd to lose by 30 snd then say the team that beat you has no chance.

 

[Aluminny69]

I'll never forget Tara, smarting from the beat down UConn put on Stanford in the 1995 Final Four, coming out with the pronouncement that Tennessee would slaughter the Huskies. What does that have to do with the question at hand? Nothing ... or everything.

Didn't Tara also have disparaging remarks about Rebecca Lobo? And then gave her limited minutes when Tara coached the Olympic Team?

 

[DefenseBB]

True, but Geno gets criticized for it. I've never read one thing about Tara's poorly chosen comments. In fact I remember another female coach accused Geno of cheating and the media has dodged talking about that ever since.
But back to the topic I'd say that Tara would trade a whole bunch of her wins for more titles.

Tara may get one this year. Her teams have usually lacked the dominance nationally these last 10-15 years but this years team can play with anyone.

Interesting is there are going to be 4 really elite teams over the new few years in:
1. Stanford, who is probably the worst of these four even though they have great young players
2. Oregon, whose #1 recruiting class is pretty freakin good and have top coach.
3. SC who, while struggling a bit this year with tons of talent add the #1 class for next year
4. UConn, who garnered the #1 recruit this year, garnered the #1 recruit next year, has solid scorers in Edwards, Makurat and now an emerging Griffin and we add 2 elite shooters, a third very good shooter and some more size next year!

I see a big gap between these 4 and the next tier of schools.

 

[DefenseBB]

Didn't Tara also have disparaging remarks about Rebecca Lobo? And then gave her limited minutes when Tara coached the Olympic Team?

That has been some posters narrative on here but the data and comments from Rebecca herself do not support that theory. Rebecca was the youngest player on that team by 2 years, Lisa Leslie and Nikki McCray were next at 24. Rebecca played on this dominant team that was 8-0, averaged 101 points per game and rotated many players onto the court. I think Rebecca was 10th in playing time and scoring as a 22 year-old. She was NOT the most talented player on this team so her playing time should have been limited to begin with.

 

[Vowelguy]

Didn't Tara also have disparaging remarks about Rebecca Lobo? And then gave her limited minutes when Tara coached the Olympic Team?

Tara didn’t like that Lobo was “placed” on the team even though there were pros that were better. And then she did make several negative comments. Slower than iceberg I believe was one.

That said the minutes lobo got were deserved — she was the 12th best of 12.

 

[RPM101370]

C’mon! If we’re playing Tara’s greatest hits we have to mention “we have six Nykesha Sales’.” Followed promptly by a Sales -delivered beat down. ?

p.s. I really respect Tara and her accomplishments but it’s still fun to reminisce!

Courant

 

[hoophuskee]

Didn't Tara also have disparaging remarks about Rebecca Lobo? And then gave her limited minutes when Tara coached the Olympic Team?

This is all old news - water under the bridge. But yes she did.

She treated Rebecca awful. She was arrogant toward UCONN that year and got what she deserved. What coach says during a presser "We have 5 Nykesha Sales" when asked of another team's star recruit during the FF?

Her USA team did not need that 12th player. Instead of letting it roll off her back she decided to go extreme and instead took it out on the player that led her team to wipe out Tara's. You're really intent on screaming at the 12th player rather than the players that are going to be needed to get your gold? The men didn't rip Laetner like Tara ripped Rebecca.

But she has been terrific over the years. At one time I disliked her immensely now I like her a lot. She is one helluva coach - obviously - and deserves a ton of respect.

 

[MSGRET]

Didn't Tara also have disparaging remarks about Rebecca Lobo? And then gave her limited minutes when Tara coached the Olympic Team?

She didn't want to have Rebecca on the team. The Olympic committee was the one that got Rebecca on the team. Rebecca was one of the most recognized WBB players and they TOLD Tara that Lobo is on the team.

 

[X conn]

Didn't Tara also have disparaging remarks about Rebecca Lobo? And then gave her limited minutes when Tara coached the Olympic Team?

 

[X conn]

I was at the USA vs Australia game when the crowd started chanting “put in Lobo” in 1996. US went on to win gold. IIRC she never played that night

 

[MSGRET]

Why did Tara hate Rebecca so much, did Rebecca choose UConn over Standford and she resent her for that or was it something else?

 

[JoePgh]

Why did Tara hate Rebecca so much, did Rebecca choose UConn over Standford and she resent her for that or was it something else?

I'm not sure about this because I wasn't a UConn WCBB fan at the time, but I have read that Tara and others who had been part of the sport for a long time were resentful of the amount of national publicity (even away from the sports pages) that this newcomer team from UConn was suddenly getting, and that Rebecca individually was getting, when the old-timers had "labored in the fields" for years to build the sport without ever attracting comparable attention.

Rebecca was the face of women's basketball in the US in the 1995-96 time frame, even though she wasn't nearly the best women's player in the game. I can understand where that would generate resentment among those who knew (or thought) that they were better, and had been playing longer and more successfully.,

 

[jonson]

I think Tara has mellowed quite a bit over the years. Once upon a time in the Pac 10 when Oregon actually had a fairly good WBB program and won (or shared) back-to-back titles in 98-99 and 99-2000 (I believe Stanford had won or shared 9 of the previous 12), a pre-Alana Smith Tara complained that two Australian players on the Oregon roster were "mercenaries."

 

[FridaFriend]

I feel like holding a grudge against Tara for 25 years is a bit much.