Warlick gets 1-year extension

[Boxerpups4me]

I'm happy with how Holly is running the program. We are still getting top recruits and she has kept us relevant and at the doorstep of once again being an elite team. There are things that she will improve at as she becomes a more seasoned coach, such as in game situations, substitutions and drawing up better last second plays in which we are behind a couple of points. She is def not an X's and O's type coach, but neither was Coach Summitt. As long as we stay injury free and with all the talent the Lady Vols have, we should have a better idea of coach Holly at the end of the season. Realistically though, if we can't make the final four this year with the massive amount of talent we have, I will become a very discouraged fan. I really have my hopes up for this year..

 

[CocoHusky]

I'm happy with how Holly is running the program. We are still getting top recruits and she has kept us relevant and at the doorstep of once again being an elite team. There are things that she will improve at as she becomes a more seasoned coach, such as in game situations, substitutions and drawing up better last second plays in which we are behind a couple of points. She is def not an X's and O's type coach, but neither was Coach Summitt. As long as we stay injury free and with all the talent the Lady Vols have, we should have a better idea of coach Holly at the end of the season. Realistically though, if we can't make the final four this year with the massive amount of talent we have, I will become a very discouraged fan. I really have my hopes up for this year..

I can't think of anything more important than Xs & Os when it comes to evaluating a coach. I also think Pat was darn good at it.

 

[Alydar]

I'm happy with how Holly is running the program. We are still getting top recruits and she has kept us relevant and at the doorstep of once again being an elite team. There are things that she will improve at as she becomes a more seasoned coach, such as in game situations, substitutions and drawing up better last second plays in which we are behind a couple of points. She is def not an X's and O's type coach, but neither was Coach Summitt. As long as we stay injury free and with all the talent the Lady Vols have, we should have a better idea of coach Holly at the end of the season. Realistically though, if we can't make the final four this year with the massive amount of talent we have, I will become a very discouraged fan. I really have my hopes up for this year..

A massive amount of talent is enough to win enough games to get a high seed but to get to the FF teams have to beat others with similarly "massive" levels of talent. I'll concede that the LV talent level has increased but there is little in the way of experience playing together. It's presumptuous to assume that Tenn can simply out-talent the other elite competition because they add Russell & DeShields.

Tenn has FF potential but in 2016/17. The starters need a year playing together to get there.

 

[Bayareahusky]

It is incredible to me that the Holly fans are willing to forgive or explain away past mediocre performances and point to the year coming up..... as the year Holly will break through.... there seems always to be an excuse or explanation for not reaching the Final 4 which I guess is the mark they are shooting for..... the last year or two..... the cry has been "if not for injuries" ..... and the players who were injured were indispensable..... and then with graduation..... the players who graduated and were healthy and playing were indispensable..... even though they were the exact players seen as a weakened starting 5

- I will never understand UT's contention on crippling injuries..... they had much more talent than MD in game to make the FF last year. At least going by high school All American credentials..... they made Brenda's team look good..... scored only 48 points the entire game..... and what about the game vs. Gonzaga..... #2 seed TN vs #11 seed Gonzaga..... 6 HSAAs vs 1HSAA...... and had to go to overtime to win..... my point being Tenn should be handling these teams without so much difficulty..... my impression is TN fans saw MD as Goliath..... not me

- and regarding Holly personally.....I think that 30 yrs as asst coach next to the best in the business..... one year as acting head coach, and now going into her 4th year on top of all this experience ..... I would have expected more by now from her...... especially when her recruiting is good.... again pointing to HSAAs....

As UC fan, I am quite happy she is entrenched in the HC position..... she will not do poorly, her teams will play good defense, and the recruiting train will stop frequently enough in Knoxville..... but head coach is more important in WCBB than any position player, and i fear CHW will not blaze a trail to the NCAA trophy.

 

[cabbie191]

I'm happy with how Holly is running the program. We are still getting top recruits and she has kept us relevant and at the doorstep of once again being an elite team. There are things that she will improve at as she becomes a more seasoned coach, such as in game situations, substitutions and drawing up better last second plays in which we are behind a couple of points. She is def not an X's and O's type coach, but neither was Coach Summitt. As long as we stay injury free and with all the talent the Lady Vols have, we should have a better idea of coach Holly at the end of the season. Realistically though, if we can't make the final four this year with the massive amount of talent we have, I will become a very discouraged fan. I really have my hopes up for this year..

I am in the camp that thinks Warlick has done an admirable job keeping the Tennessee program from falling off the wheels. But, with one potential notable exception, I also believe she has largely reached her plateau. To your point that she will improve as she becomes more seasoned: granted that being head coach is significantly different than being an assistant, but she now has 34 years of college coaching on her resume. How much more seasoned can she become? If she doesn't know her X's and O's, or clock management, or substitutions by now, ...........

The possible exception to her on-going tenure at Tennessee, in my opinion, won't be so much game management as it is personnel management. As others have speculated, can she impose her will on the team so that the Lady Vols play more as a team than as a collection of gifted athletes? If Warlick somehow finds it within herself to become a more dominant personality and takes full reins of the team, then Tennessee will likely find itself in hallowed ground again.

 

[meyers7]

LINK

 

[stwainfan]

I think the one thing Tennessee Has been missing. Is that superstar type player aka Parker. DeShields I think can fill that spot. I think Russell being healthy now gives the team a force inside.

 

[Bayareahusky]

Yeah, Parker was transformational player..... Very few players at college level could coach themselves.... had that supreme level of talent.... parker was one of those..... probably D Taurisi, C Holdsclaw too..... they were incredible players.....

I still contend that Head Coach is more vital to success of any team than is any positional player..... superstars above notwithstanding.

 

[Boxerpups4me]

I can't think of anything more important than Xs & Os when it comes to evaluating a coach. I also think Pat was darn good at it.

I understand your point, and yes Pat was a great coach no question. However her focus was more defense and rebounding vs complicated x's and o's type offense. UCONN fans are more accustomed to really good fluid half court sets, which has worked very well for Geno. Holly, as predicted, believes in that same defense and rebounding mantra, and it's worked for us to the tune of 8 national championships, so I still believe we can win more NC's using that strategy. Now, Holly has to excel in other areas of the coaching spectrum other than just preaching "defense and rebounding win championships". If we get to the final four, we are going to play teams who have excellent coaches, so Holly will have to bring her A game. We will need more than just super talented players to win a NC this season.

 

[Boxerpups4me]

The possible exception to her on-going tenure at Tennessee, in my opinion, won't be so much game management as it is personnel management. As others have speculated, can she impose her will on the team so that the Lady Vols play more as a team than as a collection of gifted athletes? If Warlick somehow finds it within herself to become a more dominant personality and takes full reins of the team, then Tennessee will likely find itself in hallowed ground again.

Now this I can totally agree with you on. If there was one area where I wish Coach Holly would try to work on would be to be a little more "fierce". Now, I'm not saying she needs to try and copy Coach Summit, but like you say being a bit more dominant and deliberate with her coaching duties. I also think if she came across as more confident and decisive in interviews, then her image outside of Tennessee fans might become a bit more positive..

 

[Boxerpups4me]

Yeah, Parker was transformational player..... Very few players at college level could coach themselves.... had that supreme level of talent.... parker was one of those..... probably D Taurisi, C Holdsclaw too..... they were incredible players.....

I still contend that Head Coach is more vital to success of any team than is any positional player..... superstars above notwithstanding.

Yes, especially in championship situations. A minor coaching mistake in the final four or NC game could mean the difference between a win or loss.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Smedrickulation! Confabulated dripsydropsyoussey. Hypermaculated kudzu 48 hours later. Just my opinion about the whole topic HERE.

 

[Boxerpups4me]

It is incredible to me that the Holly fans are willing to forgive or explain away past mediocre performances and point to the year coming up..... as the year Holly will break through.... there seems always to be an excuse or explanation for not reaching the Final 4 which I guess is the mark they are shooting for..... the last year or two..... the cry has been "if not for injuries" ..... and the players who were injured were indispensable..... and then with graduation..... the players who graduated and were healthy and playing were indispensable..... even though they were the exact players seen as a weakened starting 5

- I will never understand UT's contention on crippling injuries..... they had much more talent than MD in game to make the FF last year. At least going by high school All American credentials..... they made Brenda's team look good..... scored only 48 points the entire game..... and what about the game vs. Gonzaga..... #2 seed TN vs #11 seed Gonzaga..... 6 HSAAs vs 1HSAA. and had to go to overtime to win..... my point being Tenn should be handling these teams without so much difficulty..... my impression is TN fans saw MD as Goliath..... not me

- and regarding Holly personally.....I think that 30 yrs as asst coach next to the best in the business..... one year as acting head coach, and now going into her 4th year on top of all this experience ..... I would have expected more by now from her. especially when her recruiting is good.... again pointing to HSAAs....

As UC fan, I am quite happy she is entrenched in the HC position..... she will not do poorly, her teams will play good defense, and the recruiting train will stop frequently enough in Knoxville..... but head coach is more important in WCBB than any position player, and i fear CHW will not blaze a trail to the NCAA trophy.

UCONN fans might not be aware of the football coaching situation that Tennessee faced when we fired our longtime football coach, Phillip Fulmer. He had one or two bad years as head coach and most fans were ready for a change. You might wonder what that has to do with Holly and her situation. Well, some Lady Vol fans think we would be in a better situation if we hired a bigger name head coach, but doing that could send the program into a tailspin, especially if we don't hire the right person, which is exactly what happened to the football program. So, with that said, I'm ok with the results of Holly's tenure so far.

To your point about injuries, the Harrison injury was a major blow. If we weren't shooting or rebounding well, we could more than likely count on Harrison to pull us out of a slump. We won a lot of games we shouldn't have because of Harrison. Not to mention losing Mercedes to her injury for the year. When was the last time UCONN had to deal with season injuries to their team's best player?? I don't recall any other than losing KML for a few games. So, I will give Holly a pass for not making the FF4 this past season. Now, if we don't make it to the ff4 this year with the amount of talent we have, and short of any major injuries, then I will find it very hard to explain that or excuse it away like you say..

 

[rvwsleep]

Now this I can totally agree with you on. If there was one area where I wish Coach Holly would try to work on would be to be a little more "fierce". Now, I'm not saying she needs to try and copy Coach Summit, but like you say being a bit more dominant and deliberate with her coaching duties. I also think if she came across as more confident and decisive in interviews, then her image outside of Tennessee fans might become a bit more positive..

I agree about Holly having to be in complete control in order to take the team where you want it to go.
BTW, do you post under a similar monicker -boxerpupsrcool ?

 

[Boxerpups4me]

I agree about Holly having to be in complete control in order to take the team where you want it to go.
BTW, do you post under a similar monicker -boxerpupsrcool ?

Yes, I post there on Volnation. I also appreciate the UCONN fans who take the time to post there. They make very interesting observations and cool points..

 

[CocoHusky]

UCONN fans might not be aware of the football coaching situation that Tennessee faced when we fired our longtime football coach, Phillip Fulmer. He had one or two bad years as head coach and most fans were ready for a change. You might wonder what that has to do with Holly and her situation. Well, some Lady Vol fans think we would be in a better situation if we hired a bigger name head coach, but doing that could send the program into a tailspin, especially if we don't hire the right person, which is exactly what happened to the football program. So, with that said, I'm ok with the results of Holly's tenure so far.

To your point about injuries, the Harrison injury was a major blow. If we weren't shooting or rebounding well, we could more than likely count on Harrison to pull us out of a slump. We won a lot of games we shouldn't have because of Harrison. Not to mention losing Mercedes to her injury for the year. When was the last time UCONN had to deal with season injuries to their team's best player?? I don't recall any other than losing KML for a few games. So, I will give Holly a pass for not making the FF4 this past season. Now, if we don't make it to the ff4 this year with the amount of talent we have, and short of any major injuries, then I will find it very hard to explain that or excuse it away like you say..

UCONN also lost Morgan Tuck for most of a season and still went undefeated.

 

[Boxerpups4me]

UCONN also lost Morgan Tuck for most of a season and still went undefeated.

That's true and this past season she played like an All American..Surprised she didn't make that list.However, when she was out that season, UCONN as usual had an embarrassment of riches to easily overcome her absence...Unfortunately, Tennessee didn't have the same luxury..

 

[Bayareahusky]

I understand your point, and yes Pat was a great coach no question. However her focus was more defense and rebounding vs complicated x's and o's type offense. UCONN fans are more accustomed to really good fluid half court sets, which has worked very well for Geno. Holly, as predicted, believes in that same defense and rebounding mantra, and it's worked for us to the tune of 8 national championships, so I still believe we can win more NC's using that strategy. Now, Holly has to excel in other areas of the coaching spectrum other than just preaching "defense and rebounding win championships". If we get to the final four, we are going to play teams who have excellent coaches, so Holly will have to bring her A game. We will need more than just super talented players to win a NC this season.

Yes, agreement that super players cannot probably win the whole thing without a solid and competent effort from the coaching staff

I remember Pat, and how she personally willed her teams to win...... quotes like "if you do not start playing like you want it this second half .... you can walk back to Knoxville!!!" She got the results..... yes! And for the record I thought, too, that she was a good X's and o's coach.....

 

[stwainfan]

Former Indiana coach Bobby Knight said this about Pat. "If I were to pick the three or four coaches who taught the game of basketball. Best in my time in coaching. Pat Summitt would be one of them."

 

[Bayareahusky]

UCONN fans might not be aware of the football coaching situation that Tennessee faced when we fired our longtime football coach, Phillip Fulmer. He had one or two bad years as head coach and most fans were ready for a change. You might wonder what that has to do with Holly and her situation. Well, some Lady Vol fans think we would be in a better situation if we hired a bigger name head coach, but doing that could send the program into a tailspin, especially if we don't hire the right person, which is exactly what happened to the football program. So, with that said, I'm ok with the results of Holly's tenure so far.

To your point about injuries, the Harrison injury was a major blow. If we weren't shooting or rebounding well, we could more than likely count on Harrison to pull us out of a slump. We won a lot of games we shouldn't have because of Harrison. Not to mention losing Mercedes to her injury for the year. When was the last time UCONN had to deal with season injuries to their team's best player?? I don't recall any other than losing KML for a few games. So, I will give Holly a pass for not making the FF4 this past season. Now, if we don't make it to the ff4 this year with the amount of talent we have, and short of any major injuries, then I will find it very hard to explain that or excuse it away like you say..

Yes I am very familiar with Philip Fulmer..... Tenn would like to have that one back..... I remember also when Marty Schottenheimer got fired from the Chargers after a 14-2 season..... due to losing in the playoffs..... the person who followed fared no better....

Yeah the reason I mentioned the injuries..... is i hear this frequently from the TN Nation..... and looking at it (I think) objectively.... the players they put on the court still were better players than what their competition puts on the court.... perhaps I am giving TN too much credit..... but they should be beating the teams they are losing to by virtue of fact they had 6 healthy high school All Americans playing for most of last year.... far outnumbering their competition..... your point on Harrison is a good one... and positional play, yes TN was hurt by loss of depth on the front line.....

To your question....we have had our share of injuries over the years which have cost us..... I remember in 2001 with shea ralph and svetlana injured..... no NCAA title that year though we did make the FF.....

 

[DaddyChoc]

Yes, I post there on Volnation. I also appreciate the UCONN fans who take the time to post there. They make very interesting observations and cool points..

I never saw that you "liked" my comments

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

As I've stated before, TN is not going to make any Final Fours anytime soon! They can have 15 DD's, they're done!
They're at the "Remember when we USED to be great" stage!
Ariel Massengale going into her senior year said "the last 2 seasons the players basically called the plays out on the court and ignored the coaching staff, but this season we trust our coaches more and we'll be running plays as they call them!"
How does Holly Warlick let her players get away with that? She had to know something was fishy!
Can you see MoJeff saying we called our plays out on the court, Geno would roast a player who purposely changed a play he called in a timeout because they didn't TRUST the coaching staff!
Two years ago Holly also made a comment at a post game presser in early January that the reason the defense was a little shaky was the coaching staff hadn't gone over that yet they were concentrating on offense at the time! HUH????????
I hope Holly coaches 38 years as Pat Summitt did!

 

[Alydar]

I never saw that you "liked" my comments

LOL Me neither. Just the opposite.

 

[Alydar]

To your point about injuries, the Harrison injury was a major blow. If we weren't shooting or rebounding well, we could more than likely count on Harrison to pull us out of a slump. We won a lot of games we shouldn't have because of Harrison. Not to mention losing Mercedes to her injury for the year. When was the last time UCONN had to deal with season injuries to their team's best player?? I don't recall any other than losing KML for a few games. So, I will give Holly a pass for not making the FF4 this past season. Now, if we don't make it to the ff4 this year with the amount of talent we have, and short of any major injuries, then I will find it very hard to explain that or excuse it away like you say..

Tenn was a great defensive team last year. UConn was also a great defensive team but also a great offensive team. Four of UConn's starters had had 30 point games while at UConn and each was capable of carrying the offense on any given night. All 5 had to accounted for by their opponents. Half of Tenn's points came from their 3 now-departed seniors. There were too many Tenn players that could be essentially ignored as offensive threats and that will be the case again this year. I understand that LV fans are convinced that DeShields and Russell more than make up for the lost offense. That may well be true but can they make up for the loss of 16 years of experience on the defensive end? And both are coming off injuries that have sidelined them for significant periods over the last year and a half.

As far as UConn losing their best player, they had 6 last year that were at least as good as Harrison. And therein lies the difference between the 2 rosters.

 

[triaddukefan]

Tenn was a great defensive team last year. UConn was also a great defensive team but also a great offensive team. Four of UConn's starters had had 30 point games while at UConn and each was capable of carrying the offense on any given night. All 5 had to accounted for by their opponents. Half of Tenn's points came from their 3 now-departed seniors. There were too many Tenn players that could be essentially ignored as offensive threats and that will be the case again this year. I understand that LV fans are convinced that DeShields and Russell more than make up for the lost offense. That may well be true but can they make up for the loss of 16 years of experience on the defensive end? And both are coming off injuries that have sidelined them for significant periods over the last year and a half.

As far as UConn losing their best player, they had 6 last year that were at least as good as Harrison. And therein lies the difference between the 2 rosters.

Which 6 ?