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bball_craz_31

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Seeing how some people are feeling after today's game, I hope people dont get upset with me sharing this but here goes. I feel that unless there is a massive turn around on the defensive end, Marlene will either be gone after this season or possibly given next year however I dont see her being the answer for our program. As bad as it sounds, I put together my wish list of top 10 people I would like considered to be the next gopher head coach if the Coaching job becomes open.

1. Niele Ivey-Associate Coach at Notre Dame
2. Samantha Williams-Assistant Coach at Louisville
3. Nell Fortner-SEC Network Analysis/Former Head Coach at Auburn
4. Marisa Moseley-UCONN Assistant Coach/Former Gopher Assistant
5. Chelsea Newton-Georgia Assistant Coach/WNBA Champion with Sacramento Monarchs
6. Aaron Johnson-South Dakota St Head Coach
7. Fred Chmiel-South Carolina Assistant Coach/Former Gopher Assistant Coach
8. Tina Thompson-Texas Assistant Coach/WNBA Legend
9. Joy Cheek-Vanderbilt Assistant Coach/Former Ohio St Assistant/Former WNBA player
10. Carol Ross-SEC Network Analysis/Former LA Sparks Head Coach/Former Head Coach at Ole Miss

There are various reasons for these choices that range is how they have helped players develop or how they have assisted in their program recruiting. I understand some of these are a long shot, but it could still be a decently big job especially if its after this season with all that is returning next year. would love to hear if there are any other coaches out there people have their eye on in case of the head coaching position coming open this season or next.
 


It's Johnston, and yes AJ is a very good coach. The dollars would definitely be better here, but he has built a roster at SDSU that has a great chance to get to the Dance every year, and have a chance to advance as they showed last year when they came within a few seconds of the Sweet Sixteen. Doing that in the B1G would be a much greater challenge.
 

A quick list (assuming we want to spend money):

Tonya Cardoza: Now in her ninth season at Temple after taking over from Dawn Staley.

Joe Tartamella: Was a long time Kim Barnes-Arico assistant at St. John's and succeeded her when she left for Michigan.

Jim Flanery: Creighton (I'm thinking there's a big Flanery fan on this board) He does seem dedicated to Creighton.

Cameron Newbauer: We saw him coach Belmont against the Gophers and yes he appears to coach a bit like Jeff Walz and yes I'm sure he wants to move up.
 

I'd scratch off Joy Cheek. She's been bouncing from team to team and those teams haven't exactly done well with her with it.

Carol Ross? What were her circumstances leaving Mississippi? Why would anybody leave a P5 college job to be an assistant in the WNBA? Seems suspect to me.

To me, associate head coach means you're locked in as the next coach when the head coach retires. I think Ivey will hold on in ND, and Daily in UConn.

Fortner is too similar to Ross for me, and she'd probably rather have an AD job anyway.

A UConn assistant might be intriguing. Not seeing it play out though.

Too much love for WNBA on list.

Johnston would be my top realistic pick on the list. Maybe he could help close the borders for Minnesota since so many Minnesota recruits go to SDSU.

I wouldn't mind giving Yori a shot. She's obviously a great coach and probably has learned from her experiences at Nebraska. More risk here than Johnston though.
 


Well, we all know that the AD has a "list" for all coaching positions. He said that after hiring Fleck. What we don't know is how important women's athletics are to him and how interested he'd be in making another coaching change after the high profile football coaching change. Seems to me that coaches in women's sports sometimes get more leeway than coaches in men's revenue sports because some men's sports directly affect the bottom line. But we all know this AD is attendance-conscious. He listed that as one of the reasons for making a football coaching change. Either way, no decision would ever be made until the end of the season. That being said, if he ever decides to make a change, I'd submit the following partial list:

1) Geno (tongue-in-cheek)
2) Dawn Staley (tongue-in-cheek)
3) Niele Ivey
4) Becky Hammon (San Antonio Spurs assistant)
5) Jim Peterson (Lynx assistant)
6) Whalen (Signed a two-year extension at the end of last year. She's probably not yet ready to hang up the sneakers and she has no coaching experience, but I'm convinced that she would be a very good coach if she ever decided that was her next career path. She's always been an overachiever as a player and I think she would do the same as a coach.)
7) Johnston

Other notes: Not a Connie Yori fan after all the stuff that came out during her departure at Nebraska. Didn't like her much before that either.

Looking back, it's my feeling that one of the biggest mistakes the U ever made was not to hire/consider Jeff Walz as the Brenda Oldfield replacement. He was one of her assistants at the time and it was my feeling that he would have easily taken that position if offered it. I recall that Brenda's sister Stacy (also one of her assistants at that time) was more frequently mentioned as a possible replacement at that time. But that was mostly because the U seemed steadfast in its interest in having a female coach in that position.

And finally, I wonder if I'm correct in thinking that the BIG is underachieving with the quality of its women's basketball coaches. I think Freese is one of the best coaches in the country, although I'm not a fan of hers. McGuff is having a terrible time getting this year's OSU team to play up to its potential, but he's a great recruiter. I'd rate him as a good coach because of that. Merchant, Bluder, Versyp, Stringer, Moren, Barnes-Arico....all of those appear to be OK coaches, but not great coaches. Maybe Barnes-Arico turns out to be a very good coach. I like what she's doing with the Michigan program....so far.
 

In all fairness, all 3 of the Notre Dame assistants have the title of Associate instead of assistant. Plus she was mentioned as interested in the job 3 years ago, and frankly was my #1 choice back then. I like Johnston and I agree with her positives however I will be honest, I would hesitate to pull the trigger on him simply because his situation reminds me of when Kevin Borseth left Wisconsin Green-Bay for Michigan then went running back because he liked his small school/smaller are life. I get the same vibe from Johnston. I was thinking about Whalen and her still playing doesn't really seem to be a problem because Dawn Staley coached for 5-6 seasons at Temple while still playing in the WNBA. I just feel she may be more of Reeve assistant once her playing days are done. I do say that if or when the Head Coaching position at U of Minnesota comes open, I have more faith it will be an actual nation wide search compared to what Teague did.



Shades said:
I'd scratch off Joy Cheek. She's been bouncing from team to team and those teams haven't exactly done well with her with it.

Carol Ross? What were her circumstances leaving Mississippi? Why would anybody leave a P5 college job to be an assistant in the WNBA? Seems suspect to me.

To me, associate head coach means you're locked in as the next coach when the head coach retires. I think Ivey will hold on in ND, and Daily in UConn.

Fortner is too similar to Ross for me, and she'd probably rather have an AD job anyway.

A UConn assistant might be intriguing. Not seeing it play out though.

Too much love for WNBA on list.

Johnston would be my top realistic pick on the list. Maybe he could help close the borders for Minnesota since so many Minnesota recruits go to SDSU.

I wouldn't mind giving Yori a shot. She's obviously a great coach and probably has learned from her experiences at Nebraska. More risk here than Johnston though.
Click to expand...
 

bball_craz_26 said:
In all fairness, all 3 of the Notre Dame assistants have the title of Associate instead of assistant. Plus she was mentioned as interested in the job 3 years ago, and frankly was my #1 choice back then. I like Johnston and I agree with her positives however I will be honest, I would hesitate to pull the trigger on him simply because his situation reminds me of when Kevin Borseth left Wisconsin Green-Bay for Michigan then went running back because he liked his small school/smaller are life. I get the same vibe from Johnston. .
Click to expand...

I've never thought Niele Ivey was going to move; but her name does frequently come up. Last spring, Ivey and Courtney Banghart (Princeton head coach and another name for the list) were finalists for the Vanderbit job that went to Stephanie White.

One reason there's a Borseth vibe to Johnston is that Johnston accepted the UWGB job when Borseth went to Michigan and then, a day later, on his way back to South Dakota, decided to stay at SDSU. Matt Bollant then took the UWGB job. I'm not a Johnston fan; but more important, he seems most comfortable at SDSU.
 

If they hired a man for that position, the U would spontaneously combust. LW is a no brainer.
Let her learn on the job. The upside is too good to not try.
 



Ignatius L Hoops said:
I've never thought Niele Ivey was going to move; but her name does frequently come up. Last spring, Ivey and Courtney Banghart (Princeton head coach and another name for the list) were finalists for the Vanderbit job that went to Stephanie White.

One reason there's a Borseth vibe to Johnston is that Johnston accepted the UWGB job when Borseth went to Michigan and then, a day later, on his way back to South Dakota, decided to stay at SDSU. Matt Bollant then took the UWGB job. I'm not a Johnston fan; but more important, he seems most comfortable at SDSU.
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Hmmm.... I never realized Ivey was looking. I suppose Vanderbilt is one of your higher paying jobs and Minnesota would be about half the pay. If Minnesota landed Ivey, she'd be a good candidate to jump ship if a better opportunity opened up.

Man, I thought it was a near majority on Johnston, and then Ignatius had to cast a dissenting vote. Would you rather continue with the apparent misery that will almost assuredly continue under Stollings?

And I'm not buying the "let Stollings get her own recruits in here" argument. Any little success she's had has been on the backs of Borton recruits. Kelley was a good get, but that's not enough.
 

Shades said:
Hmmm.... I never realized Ivey was looking. I suppose Vanderbilt is one of your higher paying jobs and Minnesota would be about half the pay. If Minnesota landed Ivey, she'd be a good candidate to jump ship if a better opportunity opened up.
Click to expand...

I also had to refresh my memory that the StarTrib listed Ivey as one of three leading candidates for the Gopher job. FWIW the others listed were Adams and Johnston.
 

Shades said:
Hmmm.... I never realized Ivey was looking. I suppose Vanderbilt is one of your higher paying jobs and Minnesota would be about half the pay. If Minnesota landed Ivey, she'd be a good candidate to jump ship if a better opportunity opened up.

Man, I thought it was a near majority on Johnston, and then Ignatius had to cast a dissenting vote. Would you rather continue with the apparent misery that will almost assuredly continue under Stollings?

And I'm not buying the "let Stollings get her own recruits in here" argument. Any little success she's had has been on the backs of Borton recruits. Kelley was a good get, but that's not enough.
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Never liked Johnston, never will. The U can do better, not that the most recent hire evidences that -- and I will never understand how what then appeared to be one of the best set-ups for an incoming coach in the country, if not the best set-up (with two future first-team All-Americans in the house) resulted in this hire. And, yes, the U should hire a woman. Particularly with a male volleyball coach -- although there's an ongoing attempt to poach him, apparently -- it's hard to imagine them not doing so.
 

thatjanelpick said:
Never liked Johnston, never will. The U can do better, not that the most recent hire evidences that -- and I will never understand how what then appeared to be one of the best set-ups for an incoming coach in the country, if not the best set-up (with two future first-team All-Americans in the house) resulted in this hire. And, yes, the U should hire a woman. Particularly with a male volleyball coach -- although there's an ongoing attempt to poach him, apparently -- it's hard to imagine them not doing so.
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I have been putting Niele Ivy as # 1 for 3 years. Mega tongue went with his VCU connection. She has been the key recruiter for the string of all American point guards starting with Skylar Diggings and now with Jackie Young. I also love the idea of Whalen as all she does is win ! I agree this position may not be a priority for Coyle but feel free to email him.
 



I'm new to this board but my suggestion would be Carolyn Kieger - head coach at Marquette.

http://www.gomarquette.com/sports/w-baskbl/mtt/carolyn_kieger_898192.html

She is from Minnesota and played at Marquette. She has a very impressive resume including time as an assistant at Miami before taking over Marquette a few years ago. Marquette is having an outstanding year this year with a very young team. I recall watching her intro press conference and being so much more impressed with her than I was with Coach Stollings. It is a name that I think we should be aware of. Just my two cents. Look forward to being a part of gopherhole.
 

Two former Notre Dame assistants clashed last night when Wisconsin visited Penn State. Tsipis and Washington are both former ND assistants. I tend to agree with the Borseth-Johnston comparison and that's a bit of a red flag. Also, I had forgotten that Johnston took the Green Bay job and then changed his mind. That might well be another cause for concern.
 

Isn't SDSU to GB a fairly lateral move? I'm not bugged about it.
 

Moments5 said:
I'm new to this board but my suggestion would be Carolyn Kieger - head coach at Marquette.

http://www.gomarquette.com/sports/w-baskbl/mtt/carolyn_kieger_898192.html

She is from Minnesota and played at Marquette. She has a very impressive resume including time as an assistant at Miami before taking over Marquette a few years ago. Marquette is having an outstanding year this year with a very young team. I recall watching her intro press conference and being so much more impressed with her than I was with Coach Stollings. It is a name that I think we should be aware of. Just my two cents. Look forward to being a part of gopherhole.
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"She is from Minnesota and played at Marquette."

Hmmm... just like Bell. You wouldn't be here following Bell's career? Have you noticed the heavy criticism Bell has been getting for her persistent turnovers?
 

Moments5 said:
I'm new to this board but my suggestion would be Carolyn Kieger - head coach at Marquette.
Click to expand...

Welcome to the board. Kieger tore her Achilles last December so she is confined to scooting around the sidelines on her chair. Like the Gophers they've defeated Wisconsin, 81-75; Georgetown, 84-77 and Seton Hall, 83-77. For good measure they also defeated Arizona State.
 

Shades said:
"She is from Minnesota and played at Marquette."

Hmmm... just like Bell. You wouldn't be here following Bell's career? Have you noticed the heavy criticism Bell has been getting for her persistent turnovers?
Click to expand...

My post had nothing to do with Bell. I guess I don't understand the connection to Bell. I know Bell left after one year along with a handful of others as they were recruited by the previous staff. I'm simply saying that what Kieger has done at Marquette is impressive. I'd love Jim Peterson to be the choice but I think he's inclined to stay in the WNBA but I do believe Kieger is a smart possibility.
 


I haven't seen enough of Marquette the past two years to comment on Kieger, however I count myself among those who can favor those with local ties. Seems that many Minnesotans get paranoid that any good college coach we have will then leave us for greener pastures. Although we haven't been blessed with many great football or basketball coaches in recent years/decades. Must be "Lou Holtz Syndrome". I agree with the thought that Jim Pete isn't likely to leave the Lynx. As it is, he's got a couple of good gigs as Lynx assistant and Timberwolves color analyst. But if the Gophers are looking for a coach sometime in the coming years, it might merit a phone call. Welcome to the board, Moments5.
 

Jim Peterson stepped down as Lynx assistant coach. Could that increase the buzz for him coaching the Gophers? I wouldn't mind. Pretty sure he's good with defensive schemes.
 

Shades said:
Jim Peterson stepped down as Lynx assistant coach. Could that increase the buzz for him coaching the Gophers? I wouldn't mind. Pretty sure he's good with defensive schemes.
Click to expand...

Just heard and I hope he might be interested in the U job. Hard to see how she keeps her job unless they win the Big tourney and that is highly unlikely. I do think it is interesting how closely they stayed with MD and OSU for most of the game.
 

Shades said:
Jim Peterson stepped down as Lynx assistant coach. Could that increase the buzz for him coaching the Gophers? I wouldn't mind. Pretty sure he's good with defensive schemes.
Click to expand...


First thing I thought about.
 

Pete's a class act. No problem with the X and O part. Would wonder on the recruiting end.But hey, bring in a couple go-getter asst't coaches to fill that part of it.
 


thatjanelpick said:
And on the Y chromosome end. If the Gophers are going to look to the Lynx, I can think of a lot more popular and interesting choice, albeit one without much of a coaching resume. :)
Click to expand...

Or Peterson takes the job with Whalen as an assistant.

After a couple of years, Peterson retires and Whalen takes over.
 

I like that idea Ski U Mah. Had the same thought. That would allow LW to finish her Lynx career if she so chooses. She has two years remaining on her extended contract, as I recall. I've always previously been critical of those who also like the idea of hiring "one of us" as Gopher coaches, but in this instance I'm just ready to toss them the keys. There will be those who would point out that JP has no recruiting experience, LW has no coaching or recruiting experience, but I don't care. I'm of the feeling that LW would be able to get some recruits just with her reputation as a player. Dawn Staley has turned out to be a decent college coach and if LW wants to coach after her playing career I have no doubt she could do the same.
 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...emerging-new-face-womens-basketball/81760334/

No, I'm not in favor of Jim Petersen and/or Lindsey Whalen taking the head coaching job; but here's an article describing how Dawn Staley ended up at Temple while playing in the WNBA.

And it would also be a complete accident of history, something Staley never planned or wanted when then-Temple athletics director Dave O’Brien reached out to her in 2000 and asked if she was interested in the job even though she had no coaching experience and still was playing at an elite level.

For Staley, who had emerged from the North Philadelphia projects to become an international star, it could have come off as little more than a publicity stunt at a program that had struggled to win games or attract fans. And a time when her contemporaries had popularized women’s basketball and gotten the WNBA off the ground, Staley’s focus was completely on her playing career.

“Not one ounce of me wanted to coach,” she said. “They kept asking and asking and I was saying, ‘No, no, no.’ ..


But at the 2000 Women’s Final Four in Philadelphia, which Staley attended as a member of the Olympic team, O’Brien convinced her to visit to campus. She inadvertently walked into a job interview.

“He walks me into a conference room and there are 12 people sitting at the table and they start firing these questions at me,” Staley said. “That was their search committee. They’re asking me, ‘Where do you see yourself in five years?’ I have no idea. They asked if I saw myself as a coach. I said, ‘No, not at all.’ I don’t know how they left that room thinking I was the person for the job.”

But O’Brien, who died two years ago, knew how to push Staley’s buttons.

Doubt and defiance had fueled her entire life from the time she showed up at the asphalt courts in the Raymond Rosen projects, a 5-6 dynamo taking on the boys and eventually becoming a national high school player of the year before going to Virginia and overcoming social and academic struggles to win national player of the year in 1991 and 1992.

When O’Brien stopped asking her to take the job and instead challenged her to show some leadership to turn the program around, she suddenly became interested. When her friends in coaching told her it would be virtually impossible to coach a college program and play in the WNBA at the same time, she was sold.
 

Probably too expensive, I know, but if it were to happen, it'd probably happen by Monday, right?
 

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