Notable WBB Coaching Changes

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Ignatius L Hoops

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Two recent notable resignations:

The Jimmy Dykes experiment ends in Arkansas. In three seasons, Dykes went 16-36 in the SEC (43-49 overall).

http://www.wholehogsports.com/news/2017/mar/03/jimmy-dykes-resigns/

Dykes was hired in March 2014 by Long to replace Tom Collen, who was fired after recording a 132-90 record in seven seasons.

His hiring drew criticism from some in the women’s basketball community who said it took away an opportunity from more deserving candidates. Among those who publicly criticized Long’s decision to hire Dykes were longtime Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer, then-Yale coach Chris Gobrecht, former Mississippi State coach Brenda Paul and former NCAA president Judy Sweet.

Dykes, a former men’s assistant under Eddie Sutton at Arkansas, Kentucky and Oklahoma State, had not coached at any level since 1991, had no head-coaching experience and had never coached the women’s game.


Cynthia Cooper-Dyke resigned at Southern Cal.

Cynthia Cooper-Dyke has resigned after four years coaching basketball at her alma mater Southern California.

She had a 70-56 record, including 14-16 this season. Cooper-Dyke left on Friday, a day after the Trojans lost to California 71-58 in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament in Seattle. They were 5-13 in league play, finishing tied for ninth.

Cooper-Dyke says in a statement that "what is best right now is that I step aside." She gave no other explanation.

USC athletic director Lynn Swann also didn't elaborate, saying only that Cooper-Dyke "is a great Trojan."

Hired in 2014, Cooper-Dyke guided the Trojans to the Pac-12 Tournament title and an NCAA Tournament berth while going 22-13. Her team was 15-15 in 2015 and 19-13 last season.
 

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/spor...ators-amanda-butler-fired-20170306-story.html

Another power conference opens: Amanda Butler out at Florida.


After 10 seasons at her alma mater, coach Amanda Butler ran out of chances to turn the Florida Gators into an SEC power in women’s basketball.

The school announced Butler would not return following a 15-16 season (5-11 SEC) that ended with a 67-48 loss to Texas A&M during the second round of last week’s conference tournament.

Butler, who turned 45 Monday, finished her career at UF 190-137.

Butler’s firing is the first coaching change under new athletic director Scott Stricklin.

"Amanda obviously loves the University of Florida,” Stricklin said in a statement. “She worked tirelessly trying to grow this program and help it achieve consistent success, and her efforts will always be appreciated. These decisions are always difficult, and more so in this instance because of the person Amanda is and how well she is liked throughout our department.

“I believe this program has the resources and support to achieve sustained success and compete for championships."
 

http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/co...cle_921e5f3b-3a28-5803-be86-b3672d5a6282.html

Former Gopher Assistant, Barb Smith is out at Illinois State.

After four seasons, Illinois State women’s basketball coach Barb Smith will not return next season, ISU Director of Athletics Larry Lyons announced Saturday...

...In her four seasons at Illinois State, Smith's teams accumulated an overall record of 28-93 and a 20-52 in MVC play. Smith was named the seventh women’s basketball coach in Illinois State history on April 15, 2013, bringing 27 years of Division I collegiate coaching experience.
 

http://www.fightingillini.com/news/2017/3/14/illinois-makes-womens-basketball-coaching-change.aspx

Matt Bollant is out at Illinois:

University of Illinois Director of Athletics Josh Whitman announced Tuesday that Matt Bollant has been relieved of his duties as head women's basketball coach effective immediately.

Bollant averaged 12 wins per year during his five seasons at Illinois, compiling a 61-94 record overall and 22-62 in Big Ten play. He led the Fighting Illini to 19 wins and a tie for fifth place in the Big Ten in his first season in 2013 when his team advanced to the WNIT Quarterfinals. He is 343-149 in 15 seasons as a head coach, following stops at Bryan College and Wisconsin-Green Bay.
 

Bollant had a promising young club this year. It's my guess that the off-season events from last year came back to haunt him.
 


Meanwhile, a bunch of Bollant's transferred-out players are in the NCAA tournament: Grant and Coleman at DePaul, White at FSU, Kissinger at Creighton (she's redshirting -- not sure why she didn't get to play right away as White did).
 

tripledouble said:
Bollant had a promising young club this year. It's my guess that the off-season events from last year came back to haunt him.
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He never got anything going on the court. Off the court, he had the Mike Divilbiss mess and subsequent law suit. All in all, his stint was worse than the Jolette Law era. His first year was the best. He was 9-7 in the B1G and even then two of those wins were because the Gophers seemed to be the only team traumatized by the Buzz defense. After that season, the B1G record was ugly, the lawsuit was ugly and, as Thatjanelpick pointed out, he had transfer problems.

I thought he'd make the transition from UWGB. Anyways, Bollant was not a good fit at Illinois. He might have been better at Wisconsin if he'd beat out Bobbie Kelsey for the Badger job.
 

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2017-03-14/update-bollant-says-storm-affected-us.html

A few quotes from Champaign:

“He just came into today in my office and started the conversation with, ‘I’m going to let you go,’” Bollant said Tuesday afternoon, standing on the Illini’s practice court inside the Ubben Basketball Complex. “Illinois is a great place. Josh, in a short time, has been great. I wish them the very best. I want this program to have success and be great.”

Illinois continued its lengthy NCAA tournament drought during Bollant’s tenure, which saw several players transfer and a $10 million lawsuit filed against the program two years ago, with the Illini last making the NCAA tournament in 2003.

Bollant, who had one year remaining on his contract and will receive the remaining balance of approximately $450,000, said he spoke to the team this afternoon.

“Obviously, there were a lot of tears and emotions,” Bollant said. “That’s hard."


“We’ve been here five years, and the product doesn’t look how it’s supposed to look. I get that,” Bollant said. “We went through a 100-year storm, and that storm affected us, no doubt about it. We lost six good players in that storm. I feel like the freshmen are going to take a jump and be great next year. The future is bright, but if I’m coming in from Josh’s point of view, it doesn’t look it should look after five years.”
 




I bet a bunch of these schools -- Florida, Illinois, USC -- are throwing a bunch of money at the Drake coach.
 

thatjanelpick said:
I bet a bunch of these schools -- Florida, Illinois, USC -- are throwing a bunch of money at the Drake coach.
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Probably; but I don't think the Courtney Graham lawsuit from last December has been resolved. Drake and Baranczyk denied the charges.

http://www.kcci.com/article/lawsuit-drake-coach-forced-to-resign-due-to-sexuality/8542404

A former Drake University assistant basketball coach has filed a discrimination lawsuit against the school.

In a lawsuit filed last Friday, Courtney Graham claims she was forced to resign because of her sexuality.

Graham alleges that 6six months after she was hired, her now-wife came to a Drake basketball game.

According to Graham's lawsuit, Graham’s duties as an assistant coach reduced following her wife’s appearance at the game.

The lawsuit claims that Graham was kept out of meetings, sent home without explanation and repeatedly asked to resign her position.

Graham’s lawsuit charges sexual discrimination and distress because she says she was forced out for being a homosexual.
 

http://www.umkckangaroos.com/ViewAr...00&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=211522030&DB_OEM_ID=18300

Another former Gopher Assistant is dismissed: Marsha Freese is out at UMKC.

UMKC Director of Athletics Carla Wilson announced Wednesday that women’s basketball head coach Marsha Frese will be relieved of her duties effective immediately. Frese was 47-101 in five seasons as the Roos head coach.

“After careful review, I have made the difficult decision to make a change in the women’s basketball program,” Wilson said. “I want to thank Marsha and her staff for their efforts over the past five years. Her commitment to high academic standards and to community service were outstanding. Unfortunately, under her leadership, the expectations for competitive success have not been met. I wish Marsha and her staff all the best in their future endeavors.”
 

http://www.newschannel5.com/sports/newbauer-agrees-to-deal-to-become-florida-head-coach

One of the ready to move up coaches has moved up: Cameron Newbauer, the Jeff Walz protégé, (whom lead Belmont against the Gophers) is taking the Florida job. The rumored Becky Hammon to Florida move was rumored to have fallen thru.

Florida has reached a deal to hire Belmont women's basketball coach Cameron Newbauer to the same position, sources tell NewsChannel 5.

An official announcement from the school is expected later Monday. A news conference at the Gainesville campus has been scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

Newbauer is 79-49 in four seasons at Belmont, having guided the Bruins to back to back OVC regular season and tournament championships.
 



Ignatius L Hoops said:
http://www.newschannel5.com/sports/newbauer-agrees-to-deal-to-become-florida-head-coach

One of the ready to move up coaches has moved up: Cameron Newbauer, the Jeff Walz protégé, (whom lead Belmont against the Gophers) is taking the Florida job. The rumored Becky Hammon to Florida move was rumored to have fallen thru.

Florida has reached a deal to hire Belmont women's basketball coach Cameron Newbauer to the same position, sources tell NewsChannel 5.

An official announcement from the school is expected later Monday. A news conference at the Gainesville campus has been scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

Newbauer is 79-49 in four seasons at Belmont, having guided the Bruins to back to back OVC regular season and tournament championships.
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I suspect Andy Landers would tell you that Newbauer is HIS protege.
 


Ignatius L Hoops said:
You're right. Although, to me, he's always looked more Walz than Landers-probably the hair.
Click to expand...

Maybe we can agree Newbauer is Walz's hairtege, in the same way that Matt Insell is Matthew Mitchell's (and, of course, Insell is also MM's basketball protege)?
 

http://www.espn.com/womens-college-...791/mike-neighbors-named-arkansas-women-coach

Leaving Seattle for Fayetteville:

A person familiar with the situation says Washington coach Mike Neighbors has been hired as the women's basketball coach at Arkansas.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press on Monday because no announcement has been made.

Neighbors succeeds Jimmy Dykes, who was let go by the school last month. He joins an Arkansas team that was 13-17 this season.

Neighbors took over at Washington in 2013 and guided the Huskies to their first Final Four last year. He is an Arkansas native.

http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2017/04/michigan_womens_basketball_ass.html

Megan Duffy gets a head coaching gig:

Just two days after helping Michigan to a WNIT title, Megan Duffy landed her first head coaching position.

Duffy, who spent the last three years as an assistant to Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico, was named the new head coach at Miami University in Ohio on Monday. The Dayton, Ohio, native is the ninth head coach in program history and replaces Cleve Wright, who posted a 35-87 record in four seasons before being fired last month.

Duffy played four years at Notre Dame (2002-06), three seasons in the WNBA and then overseas before embarking on her coaching career. She spent three seasons (2009-12) on Barnes Arico's staff at St. John's and the next two years as the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator at George Washington before arriving at Michigan.
 

http://www.swishappeal.com/2017/4/3/15162934/sources-usc-interviews-curt-miller-wnba-ncaaw

Swish Appeal: Curt Miller and Tonya Cardoza have interviewed for the USC position:

As the coaching carousel continues this offseason, one particular search that’s been somewhat quiet is the one by USC. But multiple sources have informed Swish Appeal, that one person that has interviewed for the Trojans’ vacant position: Connecticut Sun head coach Curt Miller.
 

http://www.wholehogsports.com/news/2017/apr/03/good-neighbors-sec-colleagues-happy-new-arkansas-c/

Mike Neighbors; the numbers. $600,000/year with an additional $390,000/year in athletic and academic incentives.

Arkansas must pay $1 million to break Neighbors' contract with Washington, which paid $290,004 per year through 2023, according to the Seattle Times.

"If Mike is willing to leave a top 10 program and come to a program that finished at the bottom of the SEC, then that's his loyalty and love for the state, and his love for his family, because his kids still live there," said Gary Blair, Texas A&M's head coach who supervised Neighbors from 1999-2001 at Arkansas. "He wants to come back because he wants to be a difference-maker."

Neighbors got his foray into the college game when he was hired as a support staffer for Blair in 1999, one year after the Razorbacks' only trip to the Final Four. Neighbors previously had been a high school head coach at Cabot and Bentonville, a job he landed one year after graduating from the University of Arkansas.

"One of my best recruiting jobs ever was taking Mike, when he was making $72,000 a year, and hiring him at Arkansas as my first director of basketball operations for $14,000," Blair said. "Now that's a pretty damn good job of recruiting because he was married and with a kid at the time. But he was willing to learn and wanting to get in the college game. Mike has paid his dues."
 

http://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id...ormer-wisconsin-coach-bobbie-kelsey-assistant

Former Badger head coach, Bobbie Kelsey, is now a LA Sparks assistant. It worked for Curt Miller.

The Los Angeles Sparks have hired former Wisconsin women's coach Bobbie Kelsey as an assistant.

Wisconsin fired Kelsey after the 2015-16 season; she went 47-100 during five years with the Badgers. She has been working at the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County in Madison.

Sparks coach Brian Agler said Monday that Kelsey's duties with the Sparks will involve game preparation and practice.
 

Former Illini head coach, Matt Bollant, lands at Eastern Illinois replacing former Ohio State assistant, Debbie Black:

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2017-04-14/bollant-lands-eastern-illinois.html

Exactly one month later, Bollant has another Division I job — a mere 55 minute drive from Champaign-Urbana. Eastern Illinois announced Bollant’s hire Friday afternoon.

“We had exceptional interest from all across the nation in the Eastern Illinois head coaching position,” Eastern Illinois athletic director Tom Michael said. “Matt was a candidate that stood out among those resumes with his proven track record of building winning programs at our level. He sold the committee on his vision for returning EIU women’s basketball back to the upper levels of the Ohio Valley Conference where it can contend for conference championships and post-season play.”

Bollant will replace Debbie Black, whose contract was not renewed following the 2016-17 season. The Panthers went 9-19 this past season and 5-11 in the Ohio Valley Conference. Black finished her four-year run in Charleston with a 34-80 overall record. Bollant inherits an Eastern Illinois team that graduated just one senior and is set to return its leading scorer in 5-foot-4 guard Grace Lennox.
 

http://www.ocregister.com/2017/04/21/usc-rehires-former-womens-basketball-coach-mark-trakh/

This is a pretty amazing act of desperation; but probably the right move. USC has stunk since Trakh was fired. I just remember his dyed blond hair when they played at Williams arena in the NCAA tourney; I think it was one of those "if we get to the tourney, I will..." things. I also recall that his USC teams had a terrible run of injuries during his tenure especially to expected star Jacki Gemelos.

USC returned to its past Friday when it rehired women’s basketball coach Mark Trakh, the first coaching hire by Athletic Director Lynn Swann.

Trakh, 61, spent the past six seasons at New Mexico State. He was dismissed at USC in 2009 after failing to make the NCAA Tournament in three of his five seasons.

“I’m excited to once again be a part of the great tradition at USC,” Trakh said in a statement. “The goal and expectation is always to get to the Final Four. I feel that there is a ton of potential in this team and I look forward to start working with them.”

Trakh was offered the USC job after several candidates turned down the Trojans. One stumbling block from getting a big-name coach is that USC was believed to be offering about $350,000 per season.

Stanford associate coach Kate Paye rejected an offer earlier this month. Florida Gulf Coast coach Karl Smesko turned it down last week. Long Beach State coach Jody Wynn, a former USC player and Trakh assistant, interviewed with USC but was offered more money by Washington ($400,000) and accepted their offer last week.
 

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