Blue & Gold News: Plitzuweit's time was short but impactful

Ignatius L Hoops

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Some speculation for the move pulled from the article:

She was a popular addition to the WVU sports scene, seemingly dedicated to her job, pleasant to deal with, and for those of you who weren’t sportswriters and had to spell Plitzuweit every time her team played, had few drawbacks.

Well, the money played a big role in that, and hopefully that will get through to new athletic director Wren Baker, who now is looking at his first major hire.

See, if you are going to play with the big folks, you have to pay like the big folks.

Baker didn’t hire Plitzuweit — Shane Lyons did — but he must hire her replacement, and, make no doubt about it, money was involved in her decision to go to a team that this past year went 11-19 — the exact reversal of her regular-season record at WVU.

...This move allows her to be closer to her home and her family, and we understand and respect that,” Baker said.(This is important, for her parents have health problems and she would be closer to their Midwest home than she is in Morgantown.)
 


Some more from West Virginia:

In matter of just a few hours, the tone surrounding the West Virginia women’s basketball program drastically changed from one of moving in the right direction to utter chaos. A source tells WVSN that this disarray was caused by the manner in which now former WVU head coach Dawn Plitzuweit handled her decision to depart the school.

This source, who wishes to remain anonymous, wanted to set the record straight about the speculation of when Plitzuweit may have told her team about her choice to accept the head coach position at Minnesota and what reports are actually accurate. The source confirms that the players first learned about the news on Twitter, not from Plitzuweit herself. According to the source, someone tipped off the players to check Twitter while they were on the bus headed back to Morgantown. They then saw the speculation about Minnesota possibly hiring their coach.




Furthermore, this source says the reports indicating Plitzuweit was crying after informing her team in the locker room immediately after the Mountaineers loss to Arizona in the NCAA Women’s Tournament are false. The source says nothing was said at that time about the 50-year-old coach leaving WVU.

Any confusion about whether or not Plitzuweit and her staff traveled back to Morgantown from College Park, Maryland has now also been dispelled by this source. The source confirms no coach, not Plitzuweit, nor any other assistant coach on the staff were on the bus with the team as they made the three hour trip back home following the end of their season. It was around this time when the news began to leak about Plitzuweit being a top target of Minnesota. Mitchell Northam, a freelance member of the Sports Now family of networks, was the first to report that information. Those rumors quickly transitioned into reports that she would be taking over the Golden Gophers job. That night then closed with others stepping away from those claims, stating that no deal had been reached and nothing was official

Fast forward to the next morning, still less than 24 hours after the Mountaineers suffered an early postseason exit, and the Minnesota program confirmed the hiring of Plitzuweit. After telling WVU she would in fact be accepting the offer from Minnesota, Plitzuweit did eventually address her team about all of this.

WVU Director of Athletics Wren Baker even confirmed a meeting was called for the players with remaining eligibility for the next day at 11 am. The source reiterated that this meeting was only for players who had the ability to return to the school and Plitzuweit has still not talked with the players who do not have any edibility left in their college careers. Baker opened up about what was discussed in this meeting during a press conference with the media, including WVSN, on Monday. He said Plitzuweit did briefly talk with the players at that meeting. Based on what she said to the players at the meeting and when she finalized her choice with him, Baker says he feels Plitzuweit leaving for Minnesota is mostly about her desire to be closer to family and not a slight to West Virginia or West Virginia University.

Baker has also made it clear finding a new women’s basketball head coach is now his top priority. This is something he hopes to have accomplished within the next month

Due to the uncertainty and questions stemming from this shocking development, some were open with their criticism of Plitzuweit’s handling of the situation. While fans focused on the fact she left in general, others pointed to understanding the business of sports, but a displeasure in the murkiness of how it all went down.


WVSN will continue to keep tabs on this story and provide any update as we learn more.
 


Some more from West Virginia:
Leaving is messy. Leaving after one season is messier. Leaving after one season in a social media rumor mill is messiest.

She probably didn’t handle it great but there’s no good way to handle it.
 

Leaving is messy. Leaving after one season is messier. Leaving after one season in a social media rumor mill is messiest.

She probably didn’t handle it great but there’s no good way to handle it.
Hence the mentions of Coyle's quick departure from Syracuse. At least, we didn't send the Gopher emblazoned football equipment hauler rolling through the West Virginia mountains.

I'm not sure who was happier after their year one escape to Minnesota; was it Coyle or Plitzuweit? It's close; but I'm saying Coyle. He got emotional over Goldy while Plizuweit was baffled by Ski-U-Mah.
 

I'm confused as to what exactly she did wrong??? Are they upset she and the coaches didn't ride the bus home after their loss? Is that unusual? I don't think Coach can be blamed for some anonymous source leaking the hire on Twitter. Obviously, another anonymous source says she was crying with her players after the game and telling them about the move. This was false, and unfortunately says a lot about our Twitter society. Everyone trying to get the scoop, whether accurate or not. She told the players as soon as the hiring was confirmed. Unfortunately, it appears Minnesota may have confirmed the hire before she had a chance to tell the players.
 


I'm confused as to what exactly she did wrong??? Are they upset she and the coaches didn't ride the bus home after their loss? Is that unusual? I don't think Coach can be blamed for some anonymous source leaking the hire on Twitter. Obviously, another anonymous source says she was crying with her players after the game and telling them about the move. This was false, and unfortunately says a lot about our Twitter society. Everyone trying to get the scoop, whether accurate or not. She told the players as soon as the hiring was confirmed. Unfortunately, it appears Minnesota may have confirmed the hire before she had a chance to tell the players.
A lot of the comments I have read were upset with her in how it was communicated. I believe the coaches would normally have been on the bus after the game. The writer who covers Arizona women’s basketball is the one who I saw post something about seeing Coach with tears after the game.

It was not exactly the same situation, but I recall Teri Moren was supposed to depart with her previous team on a summer international tour when she found out she got the Indiana job.
 

The leak was from Minnesota, as at least one player told their parents of the hire on Friday. One parent told friends in the basketball community, which was then shared with a group I am in. Not sure who ultimately spread the info which led to the now- deleted tweet, but it did come from a MN- based account….
 




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