McGraw on Loyd

[cabbie191]

I don't get the problem of the "hour after the final". The season is over, and now the coach and team have months to regroup
for the next season knowing what they know. Emphasizing the "low" salary in the WNBA is so misleading, when it covers a small part of the whole year, with other opportunities thereafter. That she is the same age as those finishing their senior year may have been a factor
for her also. It seems like hubris to predict her dire future.

True the season is over but the emotions sure weren't at the time, and probably still aren't, and this goes for both teams. Don't you think the Huskies are still on a high?

 

[wire chief]

Cabbie, it is precisely because of a practical circumstance, not an emotional one. The draft is tomorrow, and the pros must have time
to evaluate.

 

[boontonbomber]

I personally don't agree with the comments The Muffett made in this interview, especially the "didn't have a chance to talk Jewell out of it paraphrase)!" I think the whole timing issue was a factor. Jewell had to declare by the next day to be eligible for the draft so she would have to tell ND that night after the UCONN game! Where I think Jewell made her biggest mistake was going to the coaching staff earlier and saying I know I could leave early because I'm 22 but I've decided to stay! Then to turn around and say I'm declaring for the WNBA Draft tomorrow! The same result but not the betrayal angle of NO then YES!
Jewell will get the $50,000 from the WNBA and she'll get in the $200,000 to $250,000 range maybe more from a foreign team! This is why I say Morgan Tuck will stay for her RS year she would not command that type of money off of 2 possible years! For Morgan there is NO reason to leave!
And really people isn't there a holier than thou attitude here? If Stewie or MoJeff were in the 22 year old situation that Jewell is in and either/or both of them declared for the WNBA Draft THE BONEYARD would be ablaze with, "How could she/they, do that?" "Don't they have any loyalty to Geno, the staff and their team mates?" The large majority of BYers would go insane against them! We have people insulting a player after a dismal performance, let alone to leave early for the pros!
I do agree I think this Jewell Loyd story is a bad move all the way around, but that's the way things work in 2015!

Absolutely right, Coach. Just imagine Geno's reaction if either Moriah or Breanna left early. Probably not printable.

 

[UcMiami]

Kind of loosey goosey with that sticker price tuition though. If Jewell was say a cross-country runner on no athletic scholarship, would she have been paying $62K? No way. Average financial aid is more than $30K at ND. Of course WCBB athletes with their schedules and workloads also have pretty tough schedules, especially when they are on a top team and are playing a sport that with unfortunately too great a frequency can give them a career-ending injury as with Shea Ralph, so saying that they get maybe $30+K for 5 months of grueling work and many more months of required training puts the deal in a little less sparkling light. And if the men get a pass for a short college stay to go after a few years of professional ball and decent money, I see no reason why the women with even more constraints to their playing careers should be at all chastised when grabbing the opportunity when they can get it.

That is the published price, and most financial aid comes in the form of a variety of student loans and student work programs - very little of the total cost is actually 'foregiven' it is just paid for in different ways, and the work programs are not as much 'fun' as the work programs for athletes. And 5 months of grueling work and many more months of required training is actually what builds up their professional career possibilities. The professional athletes that succeed and have long and successful careers learn that 'all that grueling work and training' becomes even more important each passing year.
The only professional sports that actually have their own training programs are baseball and hockey, though basketball has started down that route as well - though so far basketball is not taking high school kids, but college kids that did not stick with an NBA team their first time around. For men's basketball and football and women's basketball, college is the minor leagues where HS kids get a chance to mature and acquire the skills and work habits that make them employable as a professional.

Jewel Loyd as an 18 year old was unemployable in a professional league - three years at ND maturing, being trained, working in the weight room, and being coached on a team of equally skilled players and being put into competition against equally skilled players has made her employable. She could not have done that on her own, unless she moved to a foreign country, got a visa and joined a club team - which is the foreign equivalent of a college team in the US. And in the US she also received an education, room, and board - not sure what the European club teams are paying their junior team members, but suspect it isn't much. Sort of like the farm teams in baseball, or the junior teams in hockey.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Whoa - Wasserman Group, Lindsay Kagawa Colas - represent Taurasi, Bird, Delle Donne, Griner, Moore, and 9 others, along with 10 of US women's soccer players (Lori Chalupny, Ashlyn Harris, Tobin Heath, Lauren Holiday, Ali Krieger, Sydney Leroux, Alex Morgan, Heather O’Reilly, Megan Rapinoe and Abby Wambach)

EDIT - and Augustus, Charles, Dolson, Lawson, among others.

Was credited for "negotiated the first deal for a female basketball player with Nike’s Jordan Brand" ... assuming this is Maya.

Yes, Maya was the first female basketball player to be signed by the Jordan Brand.

People have discussed the $50K salary in the WNBA and the $200-$800K or so that Jewell will start with in Europe, but considering her agency, I look for Jewell to sign a 7-figure (total, not per year) shoe contract before the end of May.

 

[HuskyNan]

How do you know she sacrificed a degree? I haven't seen her announce she has no plans to ever finish, nor I have I seen ND say they won't let her. Its not like a degree from ND is really so special.

It's a prestigious university that's considered among the best in the country.

 

[irish76]

Most of you are ignoring the elephant in the room: ND womens b-ball has a serious morale problem. Reimer walks off the team mid season. Loyd exits stage left before the OKC regional. McGraw must be held accountable. She was an affable Dr Jeckyll on camera. I suspect she was a much different person in the locker room. McGraw must be extremely frustrated by so many championship losses. That translates to a huge amount of pressure on the players. Loyd would have born the brunt of that pressure next year. It's ironic that McGraw received an endowment this season. Next season she will be under the scrutiny of Swarbrick.

 

[Huskies Rule]

Not sure if this is the right thread, but I really liked these few lines I found on the Oklahoma U. women's basketball message board:

"If we could just get one of their (UConn's) top six it could change our program. They're going to lose Mosqueda-Lewis and still be a steamroller. I've been in love with that Jefferson since she stepped on their campus."
"Sucks for ND. They worked so hard to be the one to step in front of the bus."

 

[ocoandasoc]

I don't believe that her decision to go pro is a bad one, but loyd could have handled this a LOT better. She could have told her coach when she changed her mind, and maybe ask her not to tell the other players. McGraw got blindsided. Nobody can just shrug that off.

 

[j66kicker]

I don't believe that her decision to go pro is a bad one, but loyd could have handled this a LOT better. She could have told her coach when she changed her mind, and maybe ask her not to tell the other players. McGraw got blindsided. Nobody can just shrug that off.

Maybe Muffett should have been more approachable or cultivated a better relationship with her star player

 

[2Husky]

I don't believe that her decision to go pro is a bad one, but loyd could have handled this a LOT better. She could have told her coach when she changed her mind, and maybe ask her not to tell the other players. McGraw got blindsided. Nobody can just shrug that off.

How do you know Loyd didn't tell McGraw as soon as she decided? McGraw getting blind sided isn't necessarily Loyd's fault.

Maybe Muffett should have been more approachable or cultivated a better relationship with her star player

This is at least equally likely as the reason McGraw felt blind sided.

 

[UConnNick]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned here is the risk of injury. What if she blows out a knee during her final collegiate season? All of her hopes and dreams could go up in smoke in the nanosecond it takes for that to happen. For some elite level athletes, that's not worth the risk if it might jeopardize their long term career goals.

 

[HuskyNan]

Most of you are ignoring the elephant in the room: ND womens b-ball has a serious morale problem. Reimer walks off the team mid season. Loyd exits stage left before the OKC regional. McGraw must be held accountable. She was an affable Dr Jeckyll on camera. I suspect she was a much different person in the locker room. McGraw must be extremely frustrated by so many championship losses. That translates to a huge amount of pressure on the players. Loyd would have born the brunt of that pressure next year. It's ironic that McGraw received an endowment this season. Next season she will be under the scrutiny of Swarbrick.

ND's recent domination of the ACC and appearances in the title game has seen it rise into UConn-like prominence, meaning that ND is now living in the fishbowl that UConn's been in for the last 15 years. That, plus ESPN's insistence on making UConn-ND into the new UConn-Tenn means that Every.Single.Thing. that Muffet and her players do and say are going to be magnified about 1000x.

Geno's done things that another coach could do and folks would shrug. Yell at the reporter for the campus paper? For most coaches, this wouldn't be an issue whatsoever, just a head-shaker - if it made the news at all. But Geno, man, he got dragged over the coals, articles and opinion columns were written, and Geno had to issue a public apology. Now, Muffet is starting to see some of the same scrutiny from fans and the press and I think it must be getting to her. When she lost her composure last year and unthinkingly blurted out some ill-advised comments about Geno, she was excoriated in the papers and on ESPN. Five years ago, it would have been a non-issue, but now she's a perennial championship contender and she's under the microscope. That's got to be causing her to feel a tremendous amount of pressure.

I think the pressure of undefeated seasons and championship games is wearing on Muffet. The more she dominates the ACC and more championship games she gets to, the worse it's going to get. Maybe instead of poking at Geno, the two of them should split a bottle of wine and talk about handling the pressure and the press because, currently, the two of them are in a class of their own.

 

[hjoerring]

I don't know why getting a degree from ND or from any school for that matter is really that important. The real importance is what your major is. Who care about ND. They're kind of full of themselves and overinflated, just like their football program. I know kids with a Harvard degree that have a hard time finding jobs. Focus on your major not just some school name on that degree.

Oh my God! Don't say that. Here at the Yard and in the U.S. in general the college degree is a fetish. It matters little that so many are graduating with a HS reading level, or have a degree in a subject that they cannot use for anything-- including getting into Grad school. We have become a factory for giving out BA/BS and that line keep moving. At least KU is up front about this state of affairs. The rest keep on lying because these student athletes are really cheap labour- the return is so high.

Lloyd may have reached her limits with the team and/or college ball. Wanted to move on and do what she has worked her ass off for so many years. When you get to this juncture- sometimes you just have to jump or get in the boat. Everything else is just talk. Those of us who have been in similar situations know how difficult it is to walk away. After 3 years of studying a particular discipline at a major university I came to the realization that I wanted out. I could not see my self doing this for a living All around me said the the expected: finish and then you can do something else- at least you will have a degree. I wanted out another day would have been too much of a burden to carry. Stupid. Perhaps in the eyes of those who have such clarity of vision. Telling my family was hard. Telling my advisor who had secured a scholarship for me was even harder. In fact, I avoided him as much as I could. My point. It was not necessarily easy for Lloyd to go and say I am leaving. She probably was cagely without lying. Not giving the staff the additional time to moralize her and her decision. My daughter would like to take a year off from her studies to travel and work as an aupair girl in France. I'm not happy and have offered her money- if that is what she would like. But it is more and am willing to give her the space and support if it turned out different then she would have it. Yes, I could go the moral route, the adult route, the route of truths, etc. Sometimes others know best for them, even if things turn sour. Base on what I heard, it would have been nice if coach MaGraw not hung the young woman's laundry out- which may, in the end, turn out to be her own laundry. Wouldn' t that be interesting.

 

[cabbie191]

I don't know what type of student Lloyd was, nor her major. In the interviews she did that I saw, I was impressed with how articulate she is compared to her peers so I am of the belief that she is an intelligent woman.

I think hjoerring is right that the value of a college degree is diminshed at some schools, and to a lesser extent that the major matters. But I still come down on the side that it is paramount that young people in this country get a college degree - if nothing else, the fact that you have stuck it through 4 or 5 years means something to prospective employers. For most people who aren't going to be successful because they are athletic or have a career as a celebrity, the degree is a gatekeeper.

 

[UcMiami]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned here is the risk of injury. What if she blows out a knee during her final collegiate season? All of her hopes and dreams could go up in smoke in the nanosecond it takes for that to happen. For some elite level athletes, that's not worth the risk if it might jeopardize their long term career goals.

What if she blows out her knee this summer - all her hopes and dreams of a long and profitable professional career go out the window and she is left looking for work without a college degree - which she ends up having to complete on her own dime!

 

[connboy77]

Most of you are ignoring the elephant in the room: ND womens b-ball has a serious morale problem. Reimer walks off the team mid season. Loyd exits stage left before the OKC regional. McGraw must be held accountable. She was an affable Dr Jeckyll on camera. I suspect she was a much different person in the locker room. McGraw must be extremely frustrated by so many championship losses. That translates to a huge amount of pressure on the players. Loyd would have born the brunt of that pressure next year. It's ironic that McGraw received an endowment this season. Next season she will be under the scrutiny of Swarbrick.

It is kind of strange to see a post from a Notre Dame Fan dumping on McGraw. I'm not sure I agree with you that there is a serious morale problem at ND. Time will tell if you are right!

 

[Sonny44]

The announcers at the game felt McGraw gave up too soon toward the end;not fouling, maybe she felt the same, and said seeya...

...together with the frustration over her poor performance in the title game, she just wanted to get away from it all?

 

[Wbbfan1]

There were too many tweets from the ND Sports Information Director that emphatically stated Jewel was not turning Pro. There's no way that Muffet McGraw knew Jewel was turning pro and not returning for her Senior Year.

Rivals: Muffet Shocked with Jewel's Decision. https://notredame.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1757300

How do you know Loyd didn't tell McGraw as soon as she decided? McGraw getting blind sided isn't necessarily Loyd's fault.


This is at least equally likely as the reason McGraw felt blind sided.

 

[Wbbfan1]

Jewel to give Exclusive Interview before the Draft.

http://www.elkharttruth.com/sports/...uffet-McGraw-puzzled-by-Jewell-Loyd-exit.html

 

[BRS24]

I think the pressure of undefeated seasons and championship games is wearing on Muffet. The more she dominates the ACC and more championship games she gets to, the worse it's going to get. Maybe instead of poking at Geno, the two of them should split a bottle of wine and talk about handling the pressure and the press because, currently, the two of them are in a class of their own.

Nan is onto something here. Geno and staff have learned over last 20 years of how to manage expectations, pressure, staying at the top. Even Calhoun mentioned that until you break through and get to the top and win it all, it's painful. They teach the players how to manage the hype, stay focused on one game at a time, and I think they try to take most of the burden away from players. It also helps to have players that understand how to manage the hype. Maybe this is where the success of Geno getting quite a few players that also are selected for USAB. If you can handle repping your country, you might be able to handle a ferocious fan base.

 

[Striper69]

Most of you are ignoring the elephant in the room: ND womens b-ball has a serious morale problem. Reimer walks off the team mid season. Loyd exits stage left before the OKC regional. McGraw must be held accountable. She was an affable Dr Jeckyll on camera. I suspect she was a much different person in the locker room. McGraw must be extremely frustrated by so many championship losses. That translates to a huge amount of pressure on the players. Loyd would have born the brunt of that pressure next year. It's ironic that McGraw received an endowment this season. Next season she will be under the scrutiny of Swarbrick.

Reimer walked off due to pressure from the public which she wasn't used to. Jewell left because of her own decision (money talks?).
Muffet wasn't alone in losing to UCONN this year and wasn't really expected to beat them even with Loyd because of Stewart.

It will just be a kind of "rebuilding year".

 

[Striper69]

ND's recent domination of the ACC and appearances in the title game has seen it rise into UConn-like prominence, meaning that ND is now living in the fishbowl that UConn's been in for the last 15 years. That, plus ESPN's insistence on making UConn-ND into the new UConn-Tenn means that Every.Single.Thing. that Muffet and her players do and say are going to be magnified about 1000x.

Geno's done things that another coach could do and folks would shrug. Yell at the reporter for the campus paper? For most coaches, this wouldn't be an issue whatsoever, just a head-shaker - if it made the news at all. But Geno, man, he got dragged over the coals, articles and opinion columns were written, and Geno had to issue a public apology. Now, Muffet is starting to see some of the same scrutiny from fans and the press and I think it must be getting to her. When she lost her composure last year and unthinkingly blurted out some ill-advised comments about Geno, she was excoriated in the papers and on ESPN. Five years ago, it would have been a non-issue, but now she's a perennial championship contender and she's under the microscope. That's got to be causing her to feel a tremendous amount of pressure.

I think the pressure of undefeated seasons and championship games is wearing on Muffet. The more she dominates the ACC and more championship games she gets to, the worse it's going to get. Maybe instead of poking at Geno, the two of them should split a bottle of wine and talk about handling the pressure and the press because, currently, the two of them are in a class of their own.

That's what drove John Wooden out of the game. No matter what he did the fans weren't satisfied.

 

[ctdad]

Most of you are ignoring the elephant in the room: ND womens b-ball has a serious morale problem. Reimer walks off the team mid season. Loyd exits stage left before the OKC regional. McGraw must be held accountable. She was an affable Dr Jeckyll on camera. I suspect she was a much different person in the locker room. McGraw must be extremely frustrated by so many championship losses. That translates to a huge amount of pressure on the players. Loyd would have born the brunt of that pressure next year. It's ironic that McGraw received an endowment this season. Next season she will be under the scrutiny of Swarbrick.

You are a troll hiding under an Irish moniker. You have no clue as to any aspect of the Irish program, morale, pressure or otherwise.

As an alum, I can tell you that for the most part, the administration doesn't really care one way or the other about athletic success. The only sports job with any real pressure is the head football coach, and that pressure comes from the alumni, not the administration. Men's basketball is a distant second in following , women's basketball farther down than that. Most alums don't follow teams that closely in any sport other than football.

 

[ctdad]

It is kind of strange to see a post from a Notre Dame Fan dumping on McGraw. I'm not sure I agree with you that there is a serious morale problem at ND. Time will tell if you are right!

He/she is not an ND fan, merely a troll masquerading as one.

 

[ctdad]

Reimer walked off due to pressure from the public which she wasn't used to. Jewell left because of her own decision (money talks?).
Muffet wasn't alone in losing to UCONN this year and wasn't really expected to beat them even with Loyd because of Stewart.

It will just be a kind of "rebuilding year".

Thank you. Rumor has it that one of Reimer's issues was that the coaching staff was trying to coach her as they had Achonwa, and she needed a different way. Her overall play after her sabbatical tells me the adjustment was made on both sides.

 

[Orangutan]

Most of you are ignoring the elephant in the room: ND womens b-ball has a serious morale problem. Reimer walks off the team mid season. Loyd exits stage left before the OKC regional. McGraw must be held accountable. She was an affable Dr Jeckyll on camera. I suspect she was a much different person in the locker room. McGraw must be extremely frustrated by so many championship losses. That translates to a huge amount of pressure on the players. Loyd would have born the brunt of that pressure next year. It's ironic that McGraw received an endowment this season. Next season she will be under the scrutiny of Swarbrick.

If morale is so horrible, why did Cable apply for a 5th year?

 

[Wbbfan1]

Lindsay Kagawa Colas of the Wasserman Media Group is Jewel's Agent. I speculated she might sign with with Roc Nation who represent Skylar. This group represents. EDD, Brittney Griner, Sue Bird, DT and Others

http://www.wmgllc.com/wasserman-signs-wnbas-rookie-of-the-year-delle-donne/

 

[msf22b]

Musing about the college thing in my field…classical music
Degree is nice, but means nothing.

With regard instrumentalists, kids in the Masters and doctoral programs in Juilliard are there because they can't win an audition and get a real job.

My cousin (back in the 40's) figured that out before most others, never bothered to even finish High School at the then prestigious Music and Art. Instead apprenticed himself to the composer Wallingford Riegger, later had his own chair at BinghamtonU (w/o a High School diploma).

I remember a 19-year old violinist, playing with us one summer at Caramoor who had just won the assistant concertmaster's gig at Vancouver but had mixed feelings about dropping out of Juilliard prior to her junior year. I told her to forget school, you've completed the necessary training; move on.

And my son had taken a great deal of pain to scope out an appropriate college, decided on the University of Glasgow
(Scotland). He lasted 6-weeks, hated the town (felt unsafe in the rock clubs), the school, the staff, big mistake. Was gainfully employed with his own TV show less than a year later and stands to do just fine (or better).


Perhaps in molecular biology or public school teaching you need a degree but in Music it does't necessarily mean a thing.

 

[uconnfan68]

"Sucks for ND. They worked so hard to be the one to step in front of the bus."

LOL