OT: Nice story I read about on another board re: Stanford and Cal | The Boneyard

OT: Nice story I read about on another board re: Stanford and Cal

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Fightin Choke

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Sleep-deprived and feeling a bit down, coach Lindsay Gottlieb took a stroll last March a day after California's season ended in the NCAA tournament. She was still absorbing being abruptly thrown into the offseason.

Her phone buzzed with a text message. Hall of Fame Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer, whose team was still playing, wrote: "Do you have any scholarships left?"

Gottlieb had an open spot — but wanted to know who her colleague was talking about. VanDerveer provided a quick rundown on a 6-foot-3 forward from New Zealand named Penina Davidson. Gottlieb texted back with one word, "Interested!!!!!!" with "about 5,000 exclamation points," she said.

The rival coaches worked together to find Davidson a new home when the young woman's test scores didn't get her into Stanford, a thoughtful gesture by both sides not seen every day in college athletics.
 
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Penina will be a welcome addition! Rebounded well in the exhibition and hit one from deep. Has a beautiful shot. Props to Tara for helping out a good kid!
 

UcMiami

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I would imagine life for Tara includes a number of these messages/calls, especially for any overseas players. I don't know how rigorous Stanford's standards are but know they are relatively so and really respect that they are rigid, and no idea how many relatively easy classes are available, but I am pretty sure the 'relatively easy' is a much higher standard there than at most D1 scholarship schools.
What Tara, and even more so the men's football coaches, are able to accomplish with a far reduced pool of available athletes is really impressive. The academic reputation (and location) are great pluses with academically gifted athletes, but that pool is a fraction of what other coaches can even look at.
 

Gate81

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great story about doing what's right for the player, regardless of competition and how it could actually impact Tara's team.
Obviously she feels that Gottlieb is also a class act, though I must say that I'm disappointed by the reaction/suspicion of foul play by some of the paranoid folks on Cal's blog. Kudos to Tre Cal above.

It's all good, for the player and the team. How many other coaches in America would do this, especially given that Davidson now is playing against her team, for the conference rival? I definitely can't name a handful.
 
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