Harper gets that distinction by coaching 1 -- count 'em -- 1 NCAAT game with NC State, with players left to her by the late Kay Yow. We lost to UCLA (coached at the time by Nikki Caldwell) in the first round.
Well I watch the show on ESPNU and they basically did the same thing. The did a long story on DiDi injury and rehab and inteviewed Georga coach but nothing else. Did a little bit on Baylor but no break downs on any matchups. They said their would be a program tomorrow for that, but lets wait and see. They really were not prepared to do any breakdowns today.
I don't care if it isn't politically correct and I am sure there are qualified women out there but the people ESPN hires to do these programs have a hard time staying on topic. This is expecially true when the announce games. They are not good representatives of women in sports in the field of sports reporting. Probably because they hire ex players and coaches that have very little announcing talent. This is ironic because women have complained for years about the good ole boy system that kept them as ousiders. Well what do they do? They establish their own good ol girl system of insiders that keeps real sports announcers and analysts on the outs.
There are a number of reasons that there is more parity in womens basketball. One of them is that the level of coaching has improved via more competition. In the past there were just a few good coaches and the rest were ex players who thought having played was enough. The problem was that the game had advanced so much and the athletes were so much better that the system of coaching most of those players studied under and learned from was obsolite. There were many schools who would not even consider hiring a male coach. Good ole girl system in practice.
I think two things - The best women that networks develop in sports seem to be constantly moved into (or choose to move into) the bigger money sports. The networks do it partly to improve their image of being a progressive employer, and the employees do it because the pay is better. It will continue to be an issue as long as the men's sports carry better ratings and more cash. Golf and Tennis which are pretty close to equal have I think the best and comparable quality reporters/analysts between the genders.
The biggest change in coaching that has occurred is money - at the D1 level very few coaches were making a primary breadwinner living wage forty years ago. When Geno started I have no idea what his wage was, but he was certainly not on the gravy train. That has changed big time and assistant coaches in the big programs are making good money. That changes who can actually take coaching jobs, and who can make a career choice to stay coaching when they marry and have kids.
When Geno started there weren't many men in the profession and as the money increased there was some resentment that suddenly men were applying for jobs they never wanted before. I think it was never a really big deal, but it was real and understandable seeing as no one was looking to hire women in the men's sports. I think the worst of it has disappeared and the 'old guard' is now Geno and Tara and Gary, and CViv.
