Next Generation Head Coaches (Today's Great Assistants?) | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Next Generation Head Coaches (Today's Great Assistants?)

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UcMiami

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If you look around sports in general, there are very few great players who are great coaches - and fewer that have gotten into it recently. The best coaches are more typically the ones who really loved sport, but just weren't at the top level of physical capabilities - too short, too slow, whatever. They made up for their lack of physical skills as long as they could by being the best students of the game, and then they found ways to still be associated with sport by taking any jobs that were available. There are probably more historically in women's basketball, because there was no professional avenue for college graduates, so if they really loved the game and wanted to stay around it, they took assistant jobs on graduation. Now that they can have a viable professional career if they want to start coaching they are 10-15 years behind their less talented but equally committed peers in learning the craft of coaching.
Shea Ralph is an example of that - great college player who because of physical limitations (bad knees) started a coaching career almost 15 years ago and is by training better equip than her teammate Sue, who has spent those 15 years playing, to take on a HC job.
 

KnightBridgeAZ

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It is always good to know you want to coach in your playing days - of course part of the problem is that the true stars are (often) not thinking about it, I feel.

Courtney Locke, a back-up point guard at Rutgers, has had a decent Assistant Coaching career, and I mention her because she specifically had that interest from day one and was at Rutgers specifically to learn from CVS. As was Katie Adams, I think she went into High School ball I haven't followed her. OTH, I never necessarily new that Chelsea Newton and Tasha Pointer were specifically planning on going into coaching, but they did. As did Usha Gilmore and several others.

Then again, who knew Linda Miles would ever become a ref?
 

Kibitzer

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I have posted before about a few assistant coaches who did very well when they got the opportunity to become head coach.

Start with Vince Lombardi, Assistant at West Point, then NY Giants. Only HC job was at a parochial high school in NJ, until the Green Bay Packers hired him. We know how that worked out.

Pittsburgh Steelers have had three head coaches in 48 years (Noll, Ccowher, Tomlin). None had any HC experience and all three won Super Bowls (7 in all).

Then there was that Auriemma guy, once an assistant at Virginia.

From what I have read, each was subjected to a lengthy and rigorous interview that convinced the teams or school that they were better than the competition. So give some credit to those who did the vetting.

(P.S. No vetting at Tennessee,)
 

UcMiami

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Kib - nice.
I think there is also some pattern to WCBB assistants turning into good head coaches - they have strong ambitions to run their own programs - Muffet and Geno and even Walz moved through assistant jobs pretty rapidly before getting HC jobs. Jeff took the longest but never stayed in an assistant post long as he moved up the chain.
I wonder if Uconn assistant positions aren't 'too good' in that they may blunt that ambition. I think both Marissa and Shea at this point if they want an HC job should find one - they really aren't 'learning' anything new anymore - time to find out what they are capable of. But in order to do that they will be leaving a really good job with great pay and benefits.
 
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I have posted before about a few assistant coaches who did very well when they got the opportunity to become head coach.

Start with Vince Lombardi, Assistant at West Point, then NY Giants. Only HC job was at a parochial high school in NJ, until the Green Bay Packers hired him. We know how that worked out.

Pittsburgh Steelers have had three head coaches in 48 years (Noll, Ccowher, Tomlin). None had any HC experience and all three won Super Bowls (7 in all).

Then there was that Auriemma guy, once an assistant at Virginia.

From what I have read, each was subjected to a lengthy and rigorous interview that convinced the teams or school that they were better than the competition. So give some credit to those who did the vetting.

(P.S. No vetting at Tennessee,)

I am not taking the bait Kibitzer:p.
 

Kibitzer

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I am not taking the bait Kibitzer:p.

I'll put another morsel on the hook because it's instructive.

When Cowher left the Steelers, he left two very effective assistants behind: Russ Grimm and Ken Wisenhunt. Both were immensely popular with players, press, and Steeler Nation. All discussion focused on which of them would get the HC job. It was unthinkable that any outsider would even be considered. The Rooneys established an evaluation group that cast a wide net, and they were thorough and objective.

The announcement that Mike Tomlin had been hired was greeted with a combination of shock, dismay, and indignation -- soon followed up with some very nasty remarks by a fringe of the fan base. The meanest comments accused the Rooneys of succumbing to the "Rooney Rule" which required all NFL owners to give Blacks a fair shot at open coaching positions. (This small but noisy element of Tomlin-haters hasn't yet shut up.)

My point is to suggest that head coaching jobs are best filled by due diligence, not by a whim of an AD or team owner -- or by the departing coach.
 
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DaddyChoc

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who says Shea isn't being groomed by Geno, maybe he allows her to sit in the big chair and handle some situation... as a Leader/Supervisor/Coach its very important to teach those under you all the details of the job, I do! Never know when something comes up... and not only one person should know how to turn on the lights.

10 years ago Geno wasn't thinking of retiring so Jamell and Tonya almost had no choice but to look elsewhere but today Geno may be hanging them up soon (who knows) so he's grooming Shea/Marissa.

and is Shea interested, if so... hopefully she's asking a lot of questions and is involved in many of Geno's meeting.

Having Jen come over to replace Geno would be a slap in the face to Shea, as would have been the case if Ollie didn't get the job when Calhoun stepped down
 
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IMO, whoever replaces the legend should be given a nice long term contract and enough room to fail to allow time to wade through the previous administration, the high expectations, the almost certain initial disappointment, and to firmly establish their own program. It would be a mistake to try to make the UConn program a continuation/carbon copy of the Auriemma/Daly juggernaut. It should happen on the order of the Landry/Johnson transition or, as the formidable Kibitzer instructs, the Noll/Cowher/Tomlin transition. The men's program kept it in the family and it has worked in the first few years. North Carolina has done the same through three post Dean Smith hires. How many other programs stay within the family? Who is to say which is the better way to go?

DaddyChoc, I do not necessarily agree that hiring Coach Rizzotti would be a slap in the face to Coach Ralph. Side by side, Rizzotti, by virtue of her HC and international experience, is far more qualified. But the better qualifications are not likely to be what the eventual decision would hinge on. In the end, it will come down to whom Coach Auriemma and Coach Daly agree upon; As it should be. They have more than earned the right to choose their successor.
 

stwainfan

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Tyler Summitt is in his second year as HC. He is also young. I think he is going to have a great career. I wonder if Catchings will get into coaching.
I think she could be a outstanding coach.
 
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