Tough Decisions Ahead for Lady Vols [merged thread]

[easttexastrash]

It will be interesting to see which universities benefit most in recruiting from this situation. Please excuse the use of the word benefit. It is not meant in a vulture kind of way.

I suspect that Duke and Baylor are going to be bigger players in recruiting than they have been. Which team in the SEC is going to be the biggest draw for these top recruits in the south who want to stay in the south and not venture off to UCONN or Stanford.

 

[Bestiarius]

Then over five years I'd put a ton of money in the bank and then retire.

If it's a proven coach, I doubt if $1.5 mil will do it. It's a great opportunity to negotiate as long a contract as possible, work 2 years, fail miserably, and live comfortably on the buy out.

 

[UcMiami]

Not at all what I was saying so let me clarify. When Pat announced her diagnosis I never doubted that it was indeed made when she said it was. If she was looking to "mislead anyone" she would have stayed silent.

However, I now believe that symptoms of the disease were occurring more than the year before diagnosis. The reason I was so shocked by Pat's appearance at the ND game was because I thought she was at the very onset of the disease. I no longer believe that is true.

ML - I completely agree (again with no background but a bit of personal experience) regarding the onset. When I saw a bit of a game with TN at least a year ago I was really shocked at Pat's physical appearance, and thought she must have been quite sick with something to have changed appearance so quickly from the year before. While I believed it an 'internal medicine' issue of some sort, I now believe it was actually a manifestation of the current diagnosis. I also think the decision to go to the Mayo Clinic doesn't happen if symptoms are not already quite noticable. The actual beginning could date back a number of years, and could have resulted in quite subtle changes of behavior. I do think the fued with Geno was quite real (a case of oil and water) but it may explain some of the later flare ups.

 

[Icebear]

This sort of indicates that Pat knew earlier than she is stating than she did, which I do not believe to be the truth. I believe her when she says that she was diagnosed last year after the season was over. I am not saying that she did not have symptoms earlier, but I do not believe that she mislead anyone for the past few years.

The average period from onset to diagnosis is 3.2 years. During that time the person does not necessarily know they have a problem until it accrues toward the time of diagnosis.

 

[triaddukefan]

It will be interesting to see which universities benefit most in recruiting from this situation. Please excuse the use of the word benefit. It is not meant in a vulture kind of way.

I suspect that Duke and Baylor are going to be bigger players in recruiting than they have been. Which team in the SEC is going to be the biggest draw for these top recruits in the south who want to stay in the south and not venture off to UCONN or Stanford.

Well if Duke is going to be a bigger player in recruiting then they have been... then I will be one happy Blue Devil Fan. Over the past decade... with the exception of a few years.. I think Duke has recruited as good as any school not named Tenn or UCONN. Especially the past several years.

I would like to see UVA emerge as a factor again. Great academic school.... they play in a nice shiny newer arena...... good location... I can definitely see them as a program on the rise.

 

[semper]

I agree completely with Ice, and have said so for some time now. Seeing Pat in person in South Bend confirmed it. All the facts over the last four years or so are part of a consistent picture in my view.

Want to reiterate that no one over here celebrating. For us, this is a tragedy too.

 

[Dairyair]

Pat is Tennessee. I would find it hard to believe that it's the institution and not Pat that Davis wants to attend there. I'd be shocked if she decides to renew her commitment Tennessee.

Posted from poolside in Cancun!

Bingo! Kids flocked to Tenn not because of the nice weather or the beauty of downtown Knoxville...they went to play for a legendary coach. As someone else said, much of Pat's success came at a time when WCBB was a mere afterthought at most universities. I don't mean that as disrespectfully, just stating what I think to be true. For years, when high school players started looking at colleges, of course they'd be attracted to Pat's gaudy record at Tenn. It will take a DECADE or more for Tenn to get back to the heights it once enjoyed, if it ever does, regardless of who gets the inevitable job of succeeding Pat.

BTW, DD, I would have given your post a "Like" except for the Cancun crack!

 

[JS]

BTW, DD, I would have given your post a "Like" except for the Cancun crack!

Glad to hear you're in Cancun too. But watch out for that stuff. It's debilitating.

 

[lcjeff]

Jeff; I don't think anyone on this board is "celebrating" what is going on with Pat. While Pat has certainly taken some criticism over here, it has never risen (sunk) to the level of vituperation that some posters on the Summitt (no need to name them) have used in vilifying Geno. (Back in the good old days of the UT/UConn feuding, it was those UT fans who drew the bulk of the fire from this quarter.)I don't think any of us ever really "hated" Pat, the way many over yonder hate Geno.

If Pat were her old self, yes, there would be a good amount of schadenfreude over here, not least on my part. But Pat is NOT her old self, and that changes the situation drastically. There is just nothing about Alzheimer's that lends itself to celebration. This is not a rivalry situation. Speaking for myself, and, I think, for all of us UConn fans, this is a situation in which the past is past, and everything that happened then fades into unimportance. The old Pat we could rail at; Pat in her new situation has nothing but the best wishes of all of us and our hopes that things go as well as they possibly can under the circumstances. The gravity of the situation trumps any leftover negative feelings.

I was actually directing that toward the "lunatic fringe" of fans that UConn,as well as all other programs,have.That element that cannot seperate basketball from life and reality.I meant no offense to anyone here unless they fall into that category.

 

[rocky rococo]

It's not just anyone that can replace Pat Summitt. Even to have a fair chance, it has to be a person with their own independent stature that will give them an extended grace period with fans, media, alumni etc. that will be needed to reshape that program for the post-Pat era. I've thought about the "usual gang of suspects" more or less listed above, but none of them has that critical element. As I watched the Tenn-USC game last night, it passed my mind that Dawn Staley does have that stature.

 

[Kibitzer]

I was actually directing that toward the "lunatic fringe" of fans that UConn,as well as all other programs,have.That element that cannot seperate basketball from life and reality.I meant no offense to anyone here unless they fall into that category.

I believe that you will have great difficulty searching this board for a post that has a tone of celebration. I also choose to avoid comparison of the Boneyard and any other message board that may present discussion of this delicate and unfortunate topic.

 

[RadyLady]

Dawn Staley at tennessee.....just thinking out loud.....

 

[Icebear]

Dawn Staley at tennessee.....just thinking out loud.....

TN and the Summitt will have to get used to cursing if that is going to happen.

 

[RadyLady]

TN and the Summitt will have to get used to cursing if that is going to happen.

uh-huh....

Think about it, though....it makes sense.

 

[grizz36]

Dawn Staley at tennessee.....just thinking out loud.....

What? A cursing wiseass from Philadelphia in Vol land? Too much poetic justice to become reality.

 

[Replicant]

Nikki Caldwell returning to TN and having the mantle passed from Pat would be as natural an outcome as the swallows returning to San Juan Capistrano. She's an ideal choice to maintain the traditions and continuity of TN's storied program as a former player and asst. coach. Yet she'd also fill the need to bring a newness and vitality to the program as one of wcbb's best young coaches, recruiters and motivators. I'll be surprised if this isn't the same conclusion the Tenn AD reaches - Caldwell's LSU contract notwithstanding.

 

[RadyLady]

Just listened to the youtube posted here. This is one heartbroken fan I must say, and I do empathize with her. Shekinna's disappearences are a mystery, but if I try to walk in her shoes, I would say this:
I, too am fresh off a loss of a loved one, a very young loved one who was too young to die. I know the shock, the grief, and the depression, and what those can take out of you and effect your day, every day. I struggle every day with this, and it is hard work sometimes just to get motivated enough to get out the door. But I am a fighter, I will be ok. Perhaps (and this is just my theory)Pat's illness has really hit this girl hard, and she might be dealing with these swings of strong emotion. I don't know, I am guessing, but this may be why she has changed so much this year.

I also agree that Glory Johnson plays her heart out each and every game, and IMO I think that it is torture for her to have to sit in the post game pressers and talk about what happened and what they need to do to get the W. She is a raw talent and I have seen improvement in her game during the couple of since I watched her as a freshman,and I don't think that I have ever seen her not working hard (making mistakes, yes, but who doesn't) and giveing her all.

The girls on that team do need an emotional leader. I just wonder if anyone will step up and take the reins. It will be a different team if they do.

 

[HuskyNan]

I believe that you will have great difficulty searching this board for a post that has a tone of celebration. I also choose to avoid comparison of the Boneyard and any other message board that may present discussion of this delicate and unfortunate topic.

No, there were two posters openly celebrating the LV's loss with what I thought was unseemly exuberance. Since those posts were juxtaposed among others discussing PHS's future, there may have been the feeling that the celebration was inappropriate. Unfortunately, when the level of the board falls to new lows we are all viewed as perpetrators, or at least enablers of such behavior, with some reason.

BTW, one post of the aforementioned posts was deleted but was unfortunately up for a while and the other remains, as it was marginal.

 

[vtcwbuff]

Any celebration here is probably directed more at certain UTenn fans than at the program.

 

[HuskyNan]

Any celebration here is probably directed more at certain UTenn fans than at the program.

Unfortunately not, at least in the case of the deleted post. As noted elsewhere, we have our own fringe element.