On the on going look at Big West schools, www.lawomenshoops.com looks at UC Riverside (UCR).
UCR was a Division 2 program until they made the move to D-1 in the late 90's after students voted to raise their fees to fund the move. UCR became members of the Big West in 2001-02. Jennifer Young was the head coach for UCR when the Highlanders made the move up to D-1. Young was hired for the 1997-98 season.
1997-98 15-11
1998-99 8-19
99-00 11-16
00-01 9-18
01-02 16-13 First year in BW
02-03 8-20
03-04 7-21
Young took her team through the four year provisional years to D-1. In their first year in the Big West, UCR, went 16-13, finishing tied for second in the Big West, with Pacific. They would lose to Pacific in the BW Tournament semi finals. But that team was a senior laden team, lead by Amy Houchens and Julie Shaw. Houchen was 1st team All BW. After that season, Young faced a rebuilding year, with only Cassandra Reeves returning from the year before.
They team would struggle to an 8-20 record. The following season would also be a struggle, 7-21. Athletic Director Stan Morrison decide that Young wasn't the coach to lead UCR to greater heights and decided not to renew her contract.
In one of the best kept secrets ever, UCR did a search and found John Margaritis, an assistant at Northern Arizona, to take over the program. What I mean by best kept secrets is that, UCR never made public the people on the search committee, hell, if there was even a search committee, or any of the finalists for the job.
Hiring a male head coach may upset the old girl network that ruins women's basketball. But unlike some other hirings, San Diego St. hiring Jim Tomey, who had never coach women's or girls basketball before, UCR hired a coach with plenty of experience coaching women's basketball. I never have an issue with a school hiring a male coach, who has coached women's basketball before. But it's not right for any school to hire a male coach, who has never coached women's basketball.
Also for the idiot, female fans who hate the hiring of any male coaches, just shut up. You are part of the problem, not part of the solution.
Coach Margaritis was lucky, in that Coach Young signed Kemie Nkele. Nkele would become the cornerstone for the turnaround of UCR. So with Nkele and basically the entire team back, who won jsut 7 games the year before, Margaritis lead them to a winning season, going 16-13, for the 04-05 season. Nkele was Freshmen of the Year and 1st team all BW.
Then Margaritis and his coaching staff signed a group of freshmen who would become great players for the program, Amber Cox and Seyram Gbewonyo. They would go:
16-15 7-7 in the 05-06 season and won the BWT. The Highlanders ended Cal State Santa Barbara's streak of 11 straight BWT championships. UCR would lose to #1 seed North Carolina in their first ever appearance in the NCAA tourney.
In the 06-07 season, UCR improved, going 21-11, 12-2 in the BW and winning their second straight BWT Championship. They would play Arizona St. tough in the first round of the NCAA before losing.
The 07-08 season would be a struggle, 14-16, 10-6, because of injuries to Kemie Nkele. UCR would end up losing to UC Davis in the BWT semi finals.
08-09 season brought a healthy Kemie Nkele and a senior laden class. UCR would go 19-12, 14-2, and lost to Cal Poly in the BWT semi finals.
Now some people will consider that a successful 4-5 year run. While I will give UCR credit, it was a good run, I think they underachieved.
UCR did toughen their schedule during that time. They even beat a top 20 team in the 08-09 season, Vandy.
But they didn't win another BW championship after the 06-07 season. They didn't add anymore impact players to their roster after the Amber Cox and Seyram Gbewonyo class. Hell they didn't add an outside shooter who would have really opened things up for Nkele inside. Maybe that outside shooter could have put UCR over the top?
So some questions about UCR's rise and possible fall:
But how did UCR rebuild so quickly? They had to overcome a few drawbacks. It is Riverside, there is nothing to do there. You're in the middle of the desert, hot as hell, not close to LA or the beach. Academics: It is a UC and while people say UCR is the safety school for UC's, UCR still does have a smaller pool of recruits.
So with all those drawbacks, UCR was able to find under the radar type recruits, who came together under a good coaching staff.
Why did their recruiting suffer? IMO the major reason was after assistant coach and recruiting coordinator, Seton Sobolewski, left to become head coach at Idaho St. after the 06-07 season, recruiting suffered. The staff wasn't able to find or get those impact players that Seton brought to UCR.
Now UCR has recruited some D-1 transfers, including a set of twins who played at Arizona, for the 09-10 season. But they are looking a major rebuilding program. How long will this rebuilding take? Only time will tell.
They do have a very good coach who can blend together talent, quickly. He now needs to work on bringing that talent into the program on a consistent basis. Not once every 4-5 years.
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