I've heard most of what you stated in the past. What still does not make sense to me is why Plonsky would not want Gail to retain any of the current assistant coaches. Typically, you have an AD trying to force conditions on a new hire of who they will be required to retain, and new head coaches hate that restriction.
@southie , that is a very good question. And honestly, I do not know. I can ask my source (who provided me the information I posted from Gail Goestenkors herself).
Most Texas fans wanted Gail to retain our other assistant head coach, and former men's hoopster, Travis Mays, as he was the one who had proven himself on the job.
Side note...it is crazy to see how his career has progressed and what has happened at SMU, especially given your statement about him having proven himself while at Texas.
Duke had a similar situation. Tia Jackson was one of Goestenkors' assistant coaches in her last few years at Duke. She had very good success on the recruiting trail and was well-liked by the players.
When Goestenkors left for Texas in 2007, Jackson was brought to Washington by former athletic director Todd Turner to change the culture of women’s basketball. But after one year, 4 of 6 freshmen transferred (one mother of a player described Jackson "an old school, ’60s, boys P.E., tyrant coach"). In four seasons under Jackson, Washington never finished better than 13-18 and her overall record was 45-75.
Jackson was subsequently hired by Rutgers as an assistant coach (Jackson played for Stringer at Iowa). She spent four years there, before leaving for Miami in 2015, where she has been an assistant coach ever since.
Can you tell me why she hired Lakale Malone of all people? That just didn't move the needle in any way.
Honestly, it had a lot to do with her availability -- and the lack of availability of others.
Of Gail's assistants at Duke, Gale Valley joined her at Texas. But as for the others? As I mentioned above, Jackson decided to leave Duke to take the HC job at Washington. And Shannon Perry decided to stay at Duke to coach under McCallie -- which did not last, as Perry left Duke after only one year under McCallie (after a year away from coaching, Perry later took an assistant coaching job at UCLA, where she has been since 2011).
With neither Jackson nor Perry following her to Duke, Goestenkors needed someone. And frankly, she needed someone who knew the Big 12 recruiting landscape. Malone had been the at Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator at Nebraska for four years. Connie Yori's teams during those years improved from the basement of the Big 12 to .500/middle of the pack status, eventually improving to 22 wins (10-6 in conference play, for 4th place) and making the NCAA Tournament in Malone's last year.
At the time, it made some sense, considering Jackson/Perry not following Goestenkors, the timing (already April 2007, heading into the spring/summer recruiting cycle), and how Malone appeared on paper.
