Naismith women’s basketball coach of the year candidates | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Naismith women’s basketball coach of the year candidates

fomalhaut said:
I disagree. Staley should not win even if South Carolina wins. She's coaching the defending national champions with a virtually injury-free team. Indiana, Notre Dame, and some other team I'm forgetting have had very strong seasons with significant injury issues.
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Her team has been the clear cut #1 team all year and better than everyone else. They're undefeated against the #3 SOS while the #2 in the country has 6 losses right now. I'd probably pick Moren but Dawn would absolutely deserve it if she won. She's done a heck of a job this year and I think you could argue this is her best coaching job yet.

And keep in mind, Geno has won many COY awards when he's had more talent than anyone else in the country and minimal health issues. Overcoming adversity isn't a requirement for winning the award, though I agree it should be taken into consideration. The only times he hasn't won COY during an undefeated season is when another team had an undefeated regular season as well (Nebraska in 2010, Notre Dame in 2014, Mississippi State in 2018).
 
cancontent said:
What about Shauna Green for Illinois? Talk about a significant turnaround.
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Did an absolutely fantastic job in her first year. The team leveled off/came back to earth a bit during the grueling B1G schedule, which might be one reason why she's not on the list.
 
RadfordRam said:
Dawn!
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Happy Big Brother GIF by MOODMAN
 
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Jackcatscal said:
I’m a little surprised that no one has mentioned Tara VanDerveer.
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She hasn't done a great job this year IMO. Her squad should be the clear cut #2 team in the country and shouldn't have 5 losses.
 
Rowdy831 said:
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As far as Geno. 5 losses to him is like 12 to anyone else. He always talks about the expectations at UCONN for a player are very high, will they are for him too. He did a good job this year for sure but no worthy of COA consideration. But then again neither is Vic.
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Expectations do not diminish performance. If anything, expectations inhibit performance.

Lombardi said fatigue makes cowards of us all. Fatigue, also, makes losers of us all. This team played games with the minimum players required. This team had a game postponed because the minimum players required weren't physically able to play. The postponed game had to be rescheduled into an already crowded schedule contributing to fatigue, which, when paired with expectations, contributes to injury which contributes to fatigue which contributes to losses.

Coach Auriemma had a year worthy of inclusion on the list. Those that compiled the list do no one a favor by leaving him off.
 
Bald Huskie said:
I think it should be Moren or Brooks. BUT, with 10 candidates to choose from, it is absolutely a joke Geno isn't there. I didn't expect him to win, but not to be recognized with what he went through this year is a slap in the face. Lets win this thing and finish what we started.
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I concur with you!!
 
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hoopsfan22 said:
And you know he won't be on it next year either because everyone will say a senior laden team that has Paige, Azzi, Aubrey, Nika, Aaliyah, and Caroline is expected to go 39-0 and win the national championship.
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This is exactly why Dawn shouldn’t be on the list this year; she had too much returning talent to NOT win. I’d also say Mulkey has not played a schedule worthy of COY and she even admitted she made an easy schedule based on who she thought she had coming in/back this year.
 
cancontent said:
How does any league (professional/amateur)?
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Beats me, but shouldn't a team or coach's season be considered in totality for season awards and not just the season ex-the final 3-4 weeks?
 
hoopsfan22 said:
Beats me, but shouldn't a team or coach's season be considered in totality for season awards and not just the season ex-the final 3-4 weeks?
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It's a fair question to ask and I'm sure it's been asked a lot ever since this type of award came into existence. And @HuskyNan's reply makes a good point. It's hard to consider a coach of a Cinderella team during the NCAA tournament being the coach of the year if their team underperformed during the regular season.
 
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cancontent said:
It's a fair question to ask and I'm sure it's been asked a lot ever since this type of award came into existence. And @HuskyNan's reply makes a good point. It's hard to consider a coach of a Cinderella team during the NCAA tournament being the coach of the year if their team underperformed during the regular season.
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But at least you could consider the tourney run while currently you cannot. There likely would not be enough votes to push the cinderella's coach to the top spot in such a scenario anyway. That's a corner case being used to defeat common sense that the season in totality should be considered. Unless we are saying the voters simply aren't smart enough to see such unlikely scenarios for what they are?
 
hoopsfan22 said:
But at least you could consider the tourney run while currently you cannot. There likely would not be enough votes to push the cinderella's coach to the top spot in such a scenario anyway. That's a corner case being used to defeat common sense that the season in totality should be considered. Unless we are saying the voters simply aren't smart enough to see such unlikely scenarios for what they are?
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1) I'm not saying they shouldn't consider, but that's not how it works here or in a lot of sports. And there could be an issue with people remembering what happened recently and forgetting what happened over the course of the season.

2) We'd be saying this for a lot of Coach/Player of the Year award in most sports.

Take the NFL for a comparison. Brian Daboll won over Sean McDermott, Doug Pederson, Kyle Shanahan, and Nick Siranni. Daboll earned it for getting an anemic Giants team to the play-offs, yet Siranni took his team to the Superbowl. Andy Reid who won the Superbowl wasn't even in the running.

Daboll's work was impressive considering no one saw the Giants making the play-offs, let alone having a winning season. If the play-offs were considered, his success could have been overshadowed by Siranni and Reid because their teams made it to the Superbowl.
 
southofnorth said:
This is exactly why Dawn shouldn’t be on the list this year; she had too much returning talent to NOT win. I’d also say Mulkey has not played a schedule worthy of COY and she even admitted she made an easy schedule based on who she thought she had coming in/back this year.
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So should Geno have not been a finalist for the award during all of his undefeated seasons? He always had far more talent than anyone else.

It's mind boggling to me that someone would suggest Staley hasn't done a top 10 coaching job this year while leading her team to an undefeated season.
 
bballnut90 said:
So should Geno have not been a finalist for the award during all of his undefeated seasons? He always had far more talent than anyone else.

It's mind boggling to me that someone would suggest Staley hasn't done a top 10 coaching job this year while leading her team to an undefeated season.
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No, he shouldn’t have. Dawn is a tremendous coach and so are Geno and Kim, but Dawn brought back the core of last year’s national championship team and brought in some extra talent, too. Kim played a subpar schedule, so her win-loss record is somewhat deceiving. I don’t think Geno should’ve won in 2016 (2015-16 season) when he had Stewart, Jefferson, and Tuck coming back plus the freshmen and sophomore classes he had that year. That year was an embarrassment of riches and there were likely other candidates that did more with less. That’s who should win COY—the coach that exceeds any/all expectations given their circumstances. That’s what Geno did this year given the injuries before and during the season. To say Staley deserves the award this year to a huge disservice to what Geno was able to do this season despite so much adversity on and off the court. Staley absolutely is a great coach, but top 10 this year? That’s a stretch.
 
southofnorth said:
No, he shouldn’t have. Dawn is a tremendous coach and so are Geno and Kim, but Dawn brought back the core of last year’s national championship team and brought in some extra talent, too. Kim played a subpar schedule, so her win-loss record is somewhat deceiving. I don’t think Geno should’ve won in 2016 (2015-16 season) when he had Stewart, Jefferson, and Tuck coming back plus the freshmen and sophomore classes he had that year. That year was an embarrassment of riches and there were likely other candidates that did more with less. That’s who should win COY—the coach that exceeds any/all expectations given their circumstances. That’s what Geno did this year given the injuries before and during the season. To say Staley deserves the award this year to a huge disservice to what Geno was able to do this season despite so much adversity on and off the court. Staley absolutely is a great coach, but top 10 this year? That’s a stretch.
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With that logic Geno also misses out on literally half of his COY awards (2016, 2009, 2002, and 2000) and you could make a case he shouldn't have any at all considering he's consistently had more talent than anyone the past 3 decades. If you go undefeated, you usually haul in the hardware regardless if you were preseason #1 or not. 13 past recipients have won Naismith Coach of the Year for leading their teams to undefeated records through the regular season.

The award isn't who has exceeded expectations or overcome the most adversity, it's who has done the best job. Dawn's team has dominated in a year filled with parity, going undefeated vs the #3 SOS in the country. To say 10 coaches have done a better coaching job than her is ludicrous.
 
hoopsfan22 said:
UConn has 29 wins. How many other teams in the top 25 have that many victories? UConn has done that while winning 11 games against top 25 NET teams and playing the toughest schedule. How many other teams have that many wins against top NET teams? UConn won the regular season conference title as well as the conference tourney. And Geno has done it with a cobbled together half a team at times and without his best players. If Geno can't win it this year, then when can he?
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Two very enthusiastic thumbs up! For this team, after what it’s been through, to have two conference titles, at least a two, maybe even a one seed for the big tournament, and a legitimate shot at it’s 15th consecutive final four, is simply incredible! I’d like to see another coach who could do the same! Obviously people can have different opinions on who should actually win, but to not even include him on the list of most deserving coaches is, in my view, a travesty!
 
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We're talking about two different things here: who should be on the list of 10 finalists, and who should win the award. I don't believe Dawn Staley should win, but I absolutely agree that she should be on the list of finalists. Auriemma, by the way, has won the most awards (8), but didn't win when Connecticut went undefeated in 2010 and 2014. Auriemma not being in the top 10 is as much a fiasco as Angel Reese being left off the 15 Wooden finalists.
 
fomalhaut said:
We're talking about two different things here: who should be on the list of 10 finalists, and who should win the award. I don't believe Dawn Staley should win, but I absolutely agree that she should be on the list of finalists. Auriemma, by the way, has won the most awards (8), but didn't win when Connecticut went undefeated in 2010 and 2014. Auriemma not being in the top 10 is as much a fiasco as Angel Reese being left off the 15 Wooden finalists.
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Worth noting, both winners in 2010 and 2014 coached their teams to undefeated seasons entering the NCAA tournament, so the award still went to an undefeated coach.
 
bballnut90 said:
Worth noting, both winners in 2010 and 2014 coached their teams to undefeated seasons entering the NCAA tournament, so the award still went to an undefeated coach.
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So your argument is that a coach who is undefeated in the regular season (Nebraska actually lost in the Big 12 tournament, which may have happened after they voted) should win if they are the only one?
 
fomalhaut said:
We're talking about two different things here: who should be on the list of 10 finalists, and who should win the award. I don't believe Dawn Staley should win, but I absolutely agree that she should be on the list of finalists. Auriemma, by the way, has won the most awards (8), but didn't win when Connecticut went undefeated in 2010 and 2014. Auriemma not being in the top 10 is as much a fiasco as Angel Reese being left off the 15 Wooden finalists.
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Supposedly, talent wasn't the reason Reese was not on the list. It could have been character or academics.
 
fomalhaut said:
We're talking about two different things here: who should be on the list of 10 finalists, and who should win the award. I don't believe Dawn Staley should win, but I absolutely agree that she should be on the list of finalists. Auriemma, by the way, has won the most awards (8), but didn't win when Connecticut went undefeated in 2010 and 2014. Auriemma not being in the top 10 is as much a fiasco as Angel Reese being left off the 15 Wooden finalists.
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The Wooden Award has a list of criteria and Reese didn't meet the components. She is listed as a semi-finalist on the Naismith awards for Player of the Year. She's getting her due.

Bald Huskie said:
Supposedly, talent wasn't the reason Reese was not on the list. It could have been character or academics.
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It's not supposedly, it's definitely that talent wasn't the reason. Both LSU's Athletic Department and Coach Mulkey confirmed she didn't meet criteria. Mulkey even referenced GPA being the likely reason.
 
bballnut90 said:
With that logic Geno also misses out on literally half of his COY awards (2016, 2009, 2002, and 2000) and you could make a case he shouldn't have any at all considering he's consistently had more talent than anyone the past 3 decades. If you go undefeated, you usually haul in the hardware regardless if you were preseason #1 or not. 13 past recipients have won Naismith Coach of the Year for leading their teams to undefeated records through the regular season.

The award isn't who has exceeded expectations or overcome the most adversity, it's who has done the best job. Dawn's team has dominated in a year filled with parity, going undefeated vs the #3 SOS in the country. To say 10 coaches have done a better coaching job than her is ludicrous.
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None of what you said negates my points. The coach with the most talent—especially returning talent—should not be given the award just because they went undefeated. Going undefeated means next to nothing besides (assuming we’re talking undefeated in both the regular and post season) a national championship. Is it difficult? Clearly it is, or more teams would’ve done it. Is it impressive and the signs of a great coach? Absolutely, and that’s how that coach should be remembered. Is it worthy of COY when that coach has the reigning POY and almost all key contributors back? No, it’s not. To say otherwise is ludicrous.

Again, Staley is an outstanding coach; no one’s denying that. However, she had the best team coming into this season by nearly every measure and that has rarely been in question. To say that there aren’t 10 other coaches that dealt with more adversity, defied expectations, and/or did more with less this season is outright wrong and you know it.

How is exceeding expectations in the face of adversity not a sign of a great coach? You’re really saying a coaching job like what Geno has managed this year despite injuries and other issues doesn’t deserve to be on this list over Dawn? Why? Because he didn’t go undefeated? COY should go to the coach that did the best job that year. That’s why it’s called coach of the YEAR and not “coach that won the most” or “coach that did what they were expected to do”. It’s literally about who did the best coaching job given their situation that year. Saying anything else is just nonsense.
 
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