Kara Lawson emerges as leading candidate for Duke WBB job | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Kara Lawson emerges as leading candidate for Duke WBB job

So much for Kevin White's ND connection.

Lawson is a splashy hire that will garner a lot of kudos among the WBB cognoscente. Once the glow from the initial coverage wears off the hard work will begin. Kara will need to hire an experienced bench coach, preferably one with HC experience. She'll need some recruiters, preferably with established relationships in the '22 class and beyond. The books are all but closed on the '21 class but she'll probably place calls to uncommitted kids, including Azzi Fudd and Kiki Iriafen. What does she have to lose? The current Duke roster is not good. There is work to be done and getting elite kids to be part of a rebuild will be her initial challenge.
 
Lawson isn’t a bad hire but an interesting one.....I’ve always been a fan and think she has a great basketball mind. She has very limited experience for a D1 job in a power 5 conference and one that has some history of success. The roster in Durham is very weak talent wise so the task is a large one. I will be curious to see who joins her staff.

I do think she has the pedigree and knowledge to be successful somewhere but if she truly wanted to get into coaching she should have spent at least a few seasons as an assistant on a D1 staff but if the school is willing to take the risk then that’s their prerogative.
 
MSSportsGuy said:
Lawson isn’t a bad hire but an interesting one.....I’ve always been a fan and think she has a great basketball mind. She has very limited experience for a D1 job in a power 5 conference and one that has some history of success. The roster in Durham is very weak talent wise so the task is a large one. I will be curious to see who joins her staff.

I do think she has the pedigree and knowledge to be successful somewhere but if she truly wanted to get into coaching she should have spent at least a few seasons as an assistant on a D1 staff but if the school is willing to take the risk then that’s their prerogative.
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Fully agree with your assessment. I LOVE Kara and think she has a brilliant b-ball mind, but it’s a huge risk for a D-1 program to take on someone with relatively little coaching experience. I hope she does well tho and will be rooting for her!
 
BOOM!

Kara Lawson to Duke would be huge. When I read Duke wasn't considering GG at all, I was shocked b/c I couldn't think of any other candidate so good you wouldn't at least consider GG again. Well, I didn't think of Kara Lawson—now it makes sense to me.
 
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I know playing experience doesn't necessarily translate to good coaching, but aside from how knowledgeable she is giving commentary, a good sign is that she became a great basketball player due to playing smart and efficiently rather than relying on physical ability. She never was tall or particularly quick, she just played heady smart basketball and thrived for her entire career. Reminds me of Dawn Staley in that regard. My guess is that if she gets the job she'll be an excellent head coach. Yeah, it's a bit risky hiring someone without much coaching experience but throughout her career as a player and announcer, she seems to have an "it" quality that you don't see commonly.
 
bballnut90 said:
I know playing experience doesn't necessarily translate to good coaching, but aside from how knowledgeable she is giving commentary, a good sign is that she became a great basketball player due to playing smart and efficiently rather than relying on physical ability. She never was tall or particularly quick, she just played heady smart basketball and thrived for her entire career. Reminds me of Dawn Staley in that regard. My guess is that if she gets the job she'll be an excellent head coach. Yeah, it's a bit risky hiring someone without much coaching experience but throughout her career as a player and announcer, she seems to have an "it" quality that you don't see commonly.
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Agree with your assessment of Kara, but Dawn was BOTH talented and basketball smart.
 
Got bored with this thread so took a peek at what's going on at a few other sites, okay, one other site and found it far more entertaining. Apparently Lawson will take the job but only for the training it would provide so she can then ascend to the throne and set the women's basketball world right.
 
mudcat said:
Agree with your assessment of Kara, but Dawn was BOTH talented and basketball smart.
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Both were extremely talented players but neither was particularly athletic or physically gifted compared to their peers. Dawn maybe when she was younger, but not by the time she was in the W. Their game and ability to thrive at higher levels stemmed from basketball skills/fundamentals (largely developed from work ethic) and IQ/decision making.
 
I think Kara would be a Great Hire. Her involvement with USA Basketball has already gotten her knowledge and involvement with the Top players over the next two or three years. She knows the players and they know her. There's a lot of talent in the Virginia/Washington DC area and I'm sure the players know her name. Yes, she will need to hire good assistants and I"m wondering if she won't consider a former Duke player(s) as one or more of her assistants. I can bet there won't be any former Lady Vol assistants hired.
 
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triaddukefan said:
Funny you ask this. White has been in Durham since 2008.... this will be his first hire in a top 3 sport (FB, MBB, WBB). He did make a great hire for our Baseball team in Coach Pollard. At ND.... I do know he hired Charlie Weis, and extended his contract after 2 seasons.... and that... didn't go so well. Hired and Fired Tyrone Willingham... and hired.. George O'Leary. :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: He also extended the contract of Bob Davie.. then fired him a few years later.




Kevin White is the AD :rolleyes:
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Well, at least George O'Leary would have been a good hire. It's kind of quaint what brought him down in light of current events. Fudging resume. Ha.
 
triaddukefan said:
Holly Warlick? :oops:
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The thought hit me yesterday.....

Dillon77 said:
- Would help immensely for her to get a seasoned coach with HC experience in the office and on the bench next to her. I wonder if she'd think of her former assistant coach at UTenn, one Holly Warlick. Holly isn't the greatest bench coach in mankind (sorry for the Capt. Obvious), but she is -- ironically -- a superb recruiter, knows the region and probably still has contacts throughout the AAU world.
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I like Kara. She's smart, articulate, high basketball IQ (hate that phrase BTW) and personable. So don't get me wrong with my next statements.

Being a head coach at a place like Duke is no easy task. Expectations, right or wrong, will be sky high if Kara is hired. If she doesn't win quickly and beat some big named teams, it could all go south really fast. Fandom is a fickled monster.

Some are saying she will recruit well based on her name recognition. Maybe at the beginning. Name recognition wears thin if you can't develop players and win and win big. Ask Holly or Karen! Does she have the ability to develop players? Its one thing to have the talent to play as Kara did. Its a whole different ballgame to be able to teach all those little details that separate the average player from the AA.

How is she going to handle all the administrative work that the position demands? Does she know what's involved? Some have said to surround her with quality assistants. Well isn't that the head coach's job to select her assistants? If I was a new head coach, I would want to selecting mu assistants.

In Kara's favor, she is following a coach who has a mixed bag reputation. You don't want to follow a legend. It usually doesn't work out well.

If she takes the job, I sincerely hope she succeeds. She is a quality person.
 
The latest reports have Lawson as the leading candidate for the job. The Raleigh News & Observer first reported that Duke had zeroed in on Lawson to be its next coach. Lawson would be the first Black head coach in program history. The former University of Tennessee star, who played under Hall of Fame coach Pat Summitt, is on the board of trustees at her alma mater. Lawson, however, recently criticized the lack of diversity in Tennessee's coaching ranks during a June board meeting. "It's not just striking," Lawson said of the lack of diversity at Tennessee, "there isn't any."

The sources requested anonymity because the negotiations are still ongoing. While the job has yet to be offered to Lawson, she emerged as the choice of the school’s administration this week.

Lawson, the former Tennessee and WNBA star player, is currently a Boston Celtics assistant coach. She is with the team in Orlando, isolated per NBA protocols and is set to help run practice this weekend. Celtics co-owner Steve Pagliuca, who also is a Duke Board of Trustees member, supports Lawson’s hiring at the school, sources said.

It's late in the recruiting game for the 2020 class. Every player in the top 100 of the 2020 ESPN Hoopgurlz class has committed. Duke has one player in the top 100 from the 2020 class coming in. #37 Vanessa DeJesus, 5-8 PG from Sierra Canyon HS (CA).

Other posters have said that the roster is pretty thin. They lose 2 seniors, return 5 freshmen along with one incoming freshman for a total of 11 players. Her staff may want to find a player or two to fill out the roster this year. If she takes the job, she should not have any problems finding experienced coaches that would love to work with her and be more than willing to accept the challenge of rebuilding the WBB program, and return it to prominence. Duke finished 3rd in the ACC going 18-12 this past season.

[Roster]
 
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The hidden issue with hiring Kara Lawson is creating the inherent attachment to her husband Damien Barling [a Sacramento sports “shock jock”]. Likely to be less of an issue at Duke than it would have been at Tennessee. But any hire of a “highly visible” employee with a “highly visible” spouse who makes a living by stirring controversy is at best worrisome and at worst a ticking time bomb. Generally, we know little about coaches spouses unless something bad occurs. Hiring a coach whose spouse’s job is to drive ratings by shocking listeners is assuming a fairly substantial risk.
 
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Triad, Hiring back former coaches doesn't work out normally, no matter the sport. State tried it in baseball, not good at all. UConn in football, and there are others. There are always hard feelings and issues when a coach leaves and then wants to come back.

I think Kara will do you guys wonderfully. I miss her commentary because it was smart and to the point, not rah rah bull crap.
 
garddog said:
Hiring back former coaches doesn't work out normally, no matter the sport.
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Mike Riley had a decent 2nd stint as football coach at Oregon St. after a brief foray into the NFL.
 
DEpup said:
I hope her salary is deserving and they didn't low ball her....
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What constitutes a lowball offer during a pandemic where colleges across the country are slashing budgets, laying off staff? Some colleges can't even hire assistant coaches before of hiring freezes. She accepted the job so the money must have been fine even if its way lower than what Duke paid the last coach.
 
HuskyMJ said:
What constitutes a lowball offer during a pandemic where colleges across the country are slashing budgets, laying off staff? Some colleges can't even hire assistant coaches before of hiring freezes. She accepted the job so the money must have been fine even if its way lower than what Duke paid the last coach.
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Kara will be a good coach, she really knows the game, and how much hard work it takes. She will win some games early just by knowing how to exploit other teams weaknesses.
 
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baggerbob said:
Kara will be a good coach, she really knows the game, and how much hard work it takes. She will win some games early just by knowing how to exploit other teams weaknesses.
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Maybe she's getting her feet wet for her dream job to be the 1st person to replace a legend, and continue greatness at Uconn.
 
A great get for Duke as Kara has all the connections she lacks experience. Her coaching career is very little. She knows her stuff, she has contacts and shes taking on a program that need to be rebuilt and has alot of holes that need to be filled. That aint easy espeically without much experience. I feel it will be a work in process for her and she will need to surround herself with coaches who are experienced.

As far as recruiting. She needs alot and most of the top kids for the next year have made their decisions and commitmented. Yeah its Duke and Kara but there is no base to start with. Duke needs a bunch of top kids and that takes time and as for those top kids do they want to come in and be a big fish in a little pond? You can bet there will be no Championships for a couple of years. As good as Vic Schaefer is he has something to start with, he has a proven record as a coach and he has Texas to draw from with competition from A&M and Baylor. Kara has nothing to start with compared to them.

Duke has alot of potential with Kara however Kara has alot of work infront of her. As for Tenn not taking Kara. A couple of thoughts. The people who put up the big money at Tenn want Football. WBB is at the bottom of the list. I would think that Tenn wasnt going to pay big bucks for Kara or anyother coach because the big money fans want Football.

So we will take a wait and see with Duke. I wish them the best of luck as well as Kara and it will be fun to watch however UConn Baylor Stanford SC are on top right now and will be for the next 4 years.
 
DEpup said:
I hope her salary is deserving and they didn't low ball her....
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With no inside knowledge, I did have a theory that the Celtics may help Duke through this process. My guess given the pandemic her value add as an assitant and development coach has diminished as well as NBA budgets (the Blazers laid off several from their front office staff). Still letting go Kara would have been terrible PR for the Celtics and the NBA. This move (like the Ivey move) is easy to explain. Plus with the Duke Trustee/Celtic Owner connection you never knwo the the money flows. My guess is Kara didn't take a pay cut.
 
domerduck said:
With no inside knowledge, I did have a theory that the Celtics may help Duke through this process. My guess given the pandemic her value add as an assitant and development coach has diminished as well as NBA budgets (the Blazers laid off several from their front office staff). Still letting go Kara would have been terrible PR for the Celtics and the NBA. This move (like the Ivey move) is easy to explain. Plus with the Duke Trustee/Celtic Owner connection you never knwo the the money flows. My guess is Kara didn't take a pay cut.
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She definitely didn't take a pay cut. If she was making $100K with Boston she was doing well with no prior NBA experience. If she's getting $500K with Duke that's great because it would take her many years with any NBA team to get to that as an assistant.
 
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