Will Jen Rizzotti be the next coach at St. John's?

[pick6s]

If she wants to stay close to CT, her best options in terms of moving up are Providence, BC, or St. John's.

 

[uconnfan68]

If she wants to stay close to CT, her best options in terms of moving up are Providence, BC, or St. John's.

None of them seem to really support wcbb (SJU, maybe, but only very recently). I wouldn't consider any of them a big step up for her.

 

[EricLA]

SJU would be a huge step for her. KBA was able to get a top 10 kid to come to SJU and several other top 40-50 types. i don't think Jen has EVER recruited a top 50 kid to U-Hart. if she's happy at U-Hart then I hope she stays. If she ever hopes to be the HC at UCONN, i think she needs to go to a bigger program. i think she'd be a great choice.

 

[jsloanjr]

Life is all about timing and Jen will make the right choice when the time is right.

 

[msf22b]

Its a great idea.

 

[alexrgct]

SJU would be a huge step for her. KBA was able to get a top 10 kid to come to SJU and several other top 40-50 types. i don't think Jen has EVER recruited a top 50 kid to U-Hart. if she's happy at U-Hart then I hope she stays. If she ever hopes to be the HC at UCONN, i think she needs to go to a bigger program. i think she'd be a great choice.

I agree. She clearly is keeping her eye on the UConn job down the road. SJU would be a significant step up in the interim and would allow her the opportunity to gain experience coaching against top teams other than UConn.

 

[Blakeon18]

Jen has proven she can coach-up great talent...see her repeat history with age group USA basketball teams.
She has not show an ability to recruit great talent. Maybe UHart is not an ideal place to do that but I am a bit surprised
she hasn't landed some of the local Ct. kids who went to BE schools....including several to St. John's.
I wonder if she is not seriously considering applying as we speak.

 

[semper]

If she wants a career, she needs to step up to the plate, and take a swing at a more high profile position. Now is the time....

 

[alexrgct]

Jen has proven she can coach-up great talent...see her repeat history with age group USA basketball teams.
She has not show an ability to recruit great talent. Maybe UHart is not an ideal place to do that but I am a bit surprised
she hasn't landed some of the local Ct. kids who went to BE schools....including several to St. John's.
I wonder if she is not seriously considering applying as we speak.

Honestly, I think both SJU and Jen would be lucky to have each other.

 

[UcMiami]

SJU would be an interesting option - a big step up in terms of competition, but a relatively similar type of school to Hartford - BCS league but not a football school. And a program where she wouldn't be starting from scratch but trying to continue an upward trend. And still in the northeast.

 

[Jonathan Husky]

Honestly, I think both SJU and Jen would be lucky to have each other.

I usually agree with you Alex but don't think St Johns is a big enough step up for her. Either in exposure or salary (a guess).

She has a very successful record as an USA coach and is known throughout the WCBB Coaching Community. I only see her moving for a top WCBB school which St Johns isnt despite Kim Barnes Erico hard work --10 years.!!!

 

[alexrgct]

I usually agree with you Alex but don't think St Johns is a big enough step up for her. Either in exposure or salary (a guess).

She has a very successful record as an USA coach and is known throughout the WCBB Coaching Community. I only see her moving for a top WCBB school which St Johns isnt despite Kim Barnes Erico hard work --10 years.!!!

The number of top schools is very limited, and even moreso when she seems inclined to stay in the Northeast.

Playing in the Big East would require coaching against a number of high profile programs every year with an expectation that you'll actually win some of those games. That's a huge step up from Hartford and a much bigger challenge than Team USA. If she really wants UConn when Geno retires, I want to see her field competitive teams on a tougher high-profile league. Everyone loves Jen for what she meant to UConn, but I firmly believe she has something to prove between now and when the job becomes available. SJU is a solid intermediary step.

 

[Jonathan Husky]

Except for unforseen circumstances I doubt the UConn job will become available for some time. Plenty of time to prove herself at a better place than St.Johns. New York is adifficult place to raise a family and I believethat is a consideration for Jen.

Plus, I don't believe she is necessarily the top candidate for the job. My money is on Shea Ralph even if she remains on the UConn staff for another 5 years or Jamelle Elliot, who is doing a great job at Cincy. I believe Geno sees Jamelle as his successor not Jen.

 

[Icebear]

Generally, I do not like coaches moving up from within a program to head coach if they have not been a head coach and handled that set of responsibilities somewhere. Being a head coach is very different from being on a coaching staff even as #2. I would consider CD a definite exception but I am not sure I would consider Shea as one.

 

[Samanthabrown3]

She clearly is keeping her eye on the UConn job down the road.

What makes you think this?

 

[Jonathan Husky]

Generally, I do not like coaches moving up from within a program to head coach if they have not been a head coach and handled that set of responsibilities somewhere. Being a head coach is very different from being on a coaching staff even as #2. I would consider CD a definite exception but I am not sure I would consider Shea as one.

Ice

I seem to recall an Asst Coach at Virginia stepped up to a head coaching job at UConn. Not within the same program but Geno certainly did not have head coaching experience. The reason I think Shea or Jamelle will be serious contenders to replace Geno is because they are obsessed with basketball. It is the most important thing in their lives. They will be successful coaches at UConn or elsewhere.

 

[alexrgct]

What makes you think this?

I wish I could find the quote, but she said something last year that basically said she wants the job without explicitly coming out and saying it.

 

[Icebear]

Ice

I seem to recall an Asst Coach at Virginia stepped up to a head coaching job at UConn. Not within the same program but Geno certainly did not have head coaching experience. The reason I think Shea or Jamelle will be serious contenders to replace Geno is because they are obsessed with basketball. It is the most important thing in their lives. They will be successful coaches at UConn or elsewhere.

Ice

I seem to recall an Asst Coach at Virginia stepped up to a head coaching job at UConn. Not within the same program but Geno certainly did not have head coaching experience. The reason I think Shea or Jamelle will be serious contenders to replace Geno is because they are obsessed with basketball. It is the most important thing in their lives. They will be successful coaches at UConn or elsewhere.

A completely different era in WCBB. The stakes are much, much higher today and vastly more complicated.

 

[Vowelguy]

Plusses:
+ Catholic
+ Northeastern
+ Less than 90 mins from childhood home (New Fairfield)

On the downside, with both her and her husband being coaches, child care (kids are 7 & almost 4) is a high concern -- if they currently have family doing that, they may be reluctant to move away.

 

[ThisJustIn]

Imagine - Geno coaching against Tonya, Jam and Jen.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Imagine - Geno coaching against Tonya, Jam and Jen.

And maybe Shea at some point.

He also has his buddies Muffet, Doug, and Harry. It's the Geno Auriemma Conference.

 

[UcMiami]

SJU is a huge step up compared to Hartford in terms of competition and recruiting.
At Hartford the expectation is that once every three years you will win the conference title and get a chance to be blown away in the first round of the NCAA tournament. You may play one or two games against a ranked opponent some years. You are expected to maybe get one bottom half of the top 50 recruit every few years and fill out your team with those players that are ranked in the next 200.
At SJU you are playing 16+ games against the BE every year and an additional 2 or 3 games against ranked opponents, and expected to finish in the top half, most years making the NCAA, and every once in awhile getting to the sweet 16 or elite 8. You are expected to hit on a top 20 recruit some years and one or two top 50 players and fill the rest of your team from the top 100.
As far as promoting an assistant within one of the top 10 programs in the country - probably not going to happen. I like Shea a lot, but if what she wants is the Uconn job when Geno retires, then she is probably going to have to take a HC job somewhere in the next few years. Running any college program is a huge step up from being an assistant and ADs of big programs want some sort of track record (especially at public universities.) When assistants do get hired into programs as HC it is usually either a step down in conference (Temple) or it is from a highly successful program to one that is plumbing the depths of their conference (Cinci.)
(This would not hold true for CD as it did not for HW at TN - but there you are talking of associate HCs who have been on the job for 20+ years.)

 

[JS]

I wish I could find the quote, but she said something last year that basically said she wants the job without explicitly coming out and saying it.

Don't know if this is what you're thinking of. From a joint news conference with Geno (as reported by Rich):

Rizzotti’s thoughts on her career and her future:
“Yeah, I think about my future,’’ Rizzotti said. “I think about me in the coaching realm of things. I’m involved in USA Basketball. I’m involved on the WBCA Board. So obviously I’m very interested in the future of the game and women’s basketball in general. And I know I’m 36, but at some point in my life I’d like to be able to win a national championship as a coach. And I think that there’s few places in the country where you can do that. So certainly it crosses my mind, but it’s never gotten to the point where I felt like I needed to leave Hartford to do that yet. I’m really happy there professionally. I’m obviously very happy in Connecticut personally. So as long as that fits who I am and what I want for my life and my family there’s no rush.’’

[emphasis supplied]

 

[alexrgct]

Thank you JS. That was exactly the quote I was looking for. Made it pretty apparent that a) she wants to coach a big-time program, b) she loves living in CT, c) it just so happens that there's a program in CT that's as big-time as it gets, d) she realizes the head coaching position of that program is not available in the short and intermediate term, but e) given her age, her personal happiness where she is, and her involvement in WBB external to Hartford, she's happy to bide her time.

 

[huskyblooz]

All I know is Ashley Perez is unbelievable. Saw her play tonight and there is nothing she can't do.