I just don't get the fascination with Gail G. In an earlier time of the evolution of WCBB, she was a very good coach, she left a great situation and was terrible at Texas. In 5 years as Longhorn coach, she finished 4th ONE TIME and that was her only time above .500 in conference play! She then managed to finish 6th twice and 7th twice before resigning and that was 9 years ago. Since then, she's done nothing to stay in the game and be worthy of some many dreamy eyed fan bases. In fact a few astute programs even specifically said, "we have not interest in Gail".
After her time at Texas, she spent two years as a WNBA assistant coach and has done high-end consulting and program evaluation for college coaches before joining Central Michigan.
Duly noted. So let’s agree to disagree. Gail was able to sign on to Central Michigan this year as an assistant coach and put in the work and preparation that is needed to show any elite programs she is ready again to coach successfully. Whether or not she is able to is really the question.
My last comment is the “Texas recruiting conspiracy” that keeps getting trotted out about her failure at Texas. I do believe she struggled to connect on some level with some youth programs but to say that WAS the reason for failure is simply not true. I heard the story of the offended former assistant at Texas who “poisoned” Gail and that was debunked myth and if anything as a minor effort. Simply put, sometimes coaches can’t replicate success at other programs. Let’s see CMU have success first and then I might be open to thinking Gail will make an effective comeback.
This is not quite accurate, because it ignores the actions of AD Chris Plonsky and former Assistant Coach Clarissa Davis-Wrightsil.
In very short summary, Plonsky told Goestenkors not to keep any of the Texas assistant coaches, so she did not (and brought some of her own people). Davis-Wrightsil was outraged and essentially trashed Texas and Coach G to all of her connections in the Texas high school basketball scene -- and believe me, Davis-Wrightsi's network and contacts were extensive.
Gail's contacts were with AAU coaches, which worked very well in her recruiting strongholds - DC/MD/VA and NY/NJ/PA. In Texas, the high school/local coaches are the ones with the power and the sway, so to speak.
Gail did not have the right contacts for Texas, but the actions of Plonsky and Davis-Wrightsil all but guaranteed that Texas would not be getting the top-tier in-state recruits during her tenure.
I would argue Goestenkors' biggest mistake was a different one. Duke sold itself, because Goestenkors BUILT it to sell itself. But Goestenkors also failed to realize how the Duke brand and the combination of athletics, academics, alumni network, etc. played a part in her recruiting strategy. And when a recruit came for a visit, Duke had the ability to bring in Coach K for a quick meeting (which he did, for example, with Krystal Thomas who committed to Goestenkors when she was at Duke, but who played for McCallie).
Whereas Joanne P. McCallie overestimated how much Duke (and the Duke brand) sold itself, Goestenkors underestimated it, in terms of making the final pitches to recruits.
Goestenkors was never able to make the Texas brand work for her. She was from MI, had been an assistant at Purdue (IN), and had been the head coach at Duke (NC). And I think she thought all of the work she put in at Duke would transfer over to Texas; instead, as an outsider, she had to start, in many ways, from scratch, like she did in her early days at Duke. I believe that was where the fatigue and exhaustion had set in.
It has been a long time and I can't remember all that went down...but if Duke DID push to get GG replaced, that was just a stupid, asinine short-sighted move. Why fix something that wasn't broken?
Goestenkors was not running "toward" Texas; she was running "away" from Duke. My honest believe is
the statements from then-AD Joe Alleva were the deciding factor in her decision to leave. I am repeating the comments here:
Compared to the top tier of coaches in the women's game, however, Goestenkors' salary does not stack up. Tennessee's Pat Summitt is the highest-paid coach in women's college basketball at an average of $1.125 million guaranteed over six seasons, and Geno Auriemma's contract with Connecticut guarantees him $988,000 per year.
[Coach G made less than $500,000 at the time]
"They've both won a lot of national championships and are part of programs that make money for their institutions. They bring in profit for their athletic departments, and that's not the case for our women's program," Alleva said. "I'm sure some of these other institutions will offer significantly large packages to encourage her to go.
I firmly believe that Goestenkors was not running toward Texas, but running away from Duke. She felt disrespected and devalued -- and rightfully so. But I also believe that without those statements from then-AD Joe Alleva, she would have taken more time to evaluate her decision and would have chosen to stay at Duke.
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