Kara Lawson emerges as leading candidate for Duke WBB job

[Carnac]

Coach G with Joy Smith (Cheek) as the assistant

Second choice... the Drake Coach.

Why were they so quick to dismiss her as a candidate? Is there something going on here we don't know about?
Duke tells former coach Gail Goestenkors she is not candidate to replace McCallie.
Duke's search committee informed Goestenkors, who ran the program from 1992 to 2007, that the school wanted to go a different direction and not look to the past.

Contacted by ESPN, Goestenkors confirmed that and said she did not get an interview. Goestenkors, 57, said she was disappointed but wished the school the best. She said she is still very eager to coach again at the college level and would pursue future opportunities.

 

[DeeHusky]

Kara Lawson should check in with Lindsay Whalen. It ain't easy.

Minnesota isn’t Duke

 

[triaddukefan]

Like Louisiana Tech did with Kim Mulkey. I understand they decided to take a "frugal" approach in contract negotiations and lost out to Baylor. She would have returned Tech to prominence and won national championships for them if they had hired her. Tech is still nowhere to be found on the landscape of WCBB. When was the last time they were ranked?

I know nothing about your AD White. Does he have a less than stellar track record of securing good hires?

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. He also extended the contract of Bob Davie.. then fired him a few years later.

Why were they so quick to dismiss her as a candidate? Is there something going on here we don't know about?

Kevin White is the AD

 

[triaddukefan]

If Lawson is hired.... and is ultimately successful... Duke fans need to root for Tennessee to be successful as well. Wouldn't want another struggling UT program coming into Durham and swiping away another successful Duke WBB coach

 

[willtalk]

Why were they so quick to dismiss her as a candidate? Is there something going on here we don't know about?
Duke tells former coach Gail Goestenkors she is not candidate to replace McCallie.
Duke's search committee informed Goestenkors, who ran the program from 1992 to 2007, that the school wanted to go a different direction and not look to the past.

Contacted by ESPN, Goestenkors confirmed that and said she did not get an interview. Goestenkors, 57, said she was disappointed but wished the school the best. She said she is still very eager to coach again at the college level and would pursue future opportunities.

It certainly appears that there was something going on in respect to her relationship with the administration in how she left the program during her previous stint at Duke. I believe we discussed this in some detail on a previous thread about Coach G desire to return to coaching. I suggested that the situation that existed at her leaving might have created some baggage for her prospects at another position. What ever it was and who ever was to blame seems irrelevant. The fact was it had a such a polarizing effect on the program that it lasted long after she was gone.

 

[UConnCat]

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.

 

[MSSportsGuy]

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.

 

[ConnecticutBB]

Who might Kara hire as her assistances?

 

[VFLfan]

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.

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!

 

[triaddukefan]

Who might Kara hire as her assistances?

Holly Warlick?

 

[kat0189]

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.

 

[bballnut90]

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.

 

[Huskybass]

I think Kara Lawson would be a great hire. She is bright, insightful and hard working. She would be great for WCBB for a long time.

 

[mudcat]

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.

Agree with your assessment of Kara, but Dawn was BOTH talented and basketball smart.

 

[noirwestern]

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.

 

[bballnut90]

Agree with your assessment of Kara, but Dawn was BOTH talented and basketball smart.

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.

 

[Wbbfan1]

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.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

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. He also extended the contract of Bob Davie.. then fired him a few years later.




Kevin White is the AD

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.

 

[Dillon77]

Holly Warlick?

The thought hit me yesterday.....

- 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.

 

[huskeynut]

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.

 

[Carnac]

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]

 

[Adriacus]

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.

 

[eebmg]

Officially accepted

 

[garddog]

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.

 

[DEpup]

I hope her salary is deserving and they didn't low ball her....