Monday, August 29, 2011

Black Men Need Not Apply?

There are over 340 D-1 women's basketball programs in the country. If you exclude the Historically Black Colleges and Universities, who are mostly in the SWAC and MEAC conferences, there are just 12 African-American males who are head coaches in D-1. There are 13 minority males who are head coaches, Jose Fernandez at South Florida, being Latino. Here is the list of African-American male head coaches in D-1, for the 2011-12 season.

Michael Cooper-USC
Phil Seymore-Providence
Quentin Hillsman- Syracuse
Jason Flowers-CS Northridge
Oties Epps-Evansville
Greg McCall- CS Bakersfield
Wendell Hudson- Alabama
Edgar Farmer- Wofford
Mike Bozeman-George Washington
Jeff Williams- La Salle
Errol Rogers- Louisiana-Lafayette
Kenny Brooks (AKA-The JERK) -JMU

Two African-American males were hired just this past summer; Oties Epps-Evansville and
Greg McCall- CS Bakersfield.

*****If I have forgotten to list any African-American male coaches, from NON HBCU's, please let me know. I will make the corrections. But, I would bet that figure doesn't get to 25.*********

So, for this topic let's say there are about 325 D-1 women's basketball programs. Of those 325 schools only 12 have an African-American male head coach. That is a staggering figure and something that needs to be changed. Even FBS football has a higher percentage of black head coaches than D-1 women's basketball!! So, let's look at this situation and see what can be done to fix it.

Now, why aren't there more African-American male head coaches in D1 women's basketball?

Before I go on, I want to say this: If you're a part of WBB that thinks there shouldn't be any male coaches, please click the X at the upper right hand corner and STOP following women's basketball NOW. It's people like YOU, who are hurting the advancement of the great game of women's basketball.

Killing two birds with one stone: I firmly believe that athletic directors would rather hire a female African-American instead of a male African-American as head coach, because that fills an athletic department's minority hiring in two categories, race: African-American, and gender: female. That's fine, as long as the African-American female is qualified. But, a school is doing the players and the sport of women's basketball a disservice, when they don't hire the best candidate, regardless of race or gender. Some of the hirings clearly shows schools have not hired the best candidate.

Candidate Pool: But, how big is the candidate pool of African-American male coaches? Who are the leading candidates of African-American male assistant coaches, to become head coaches? Hell, ARE, there any?

The usual way to become a head coach is to be an assistant coach. So how many African-American male assistant coaches are there in D1? I can't find that figure online online. Why? Maybe when I did my Hottest Female Coaches, I should have counted the number of African-American assistant coaches. I go to a lot of women's games and I will look at a school's website, including the coaching staff, and I just don't see a large number of African-American males assistant coaches in women's basketball. Off the top of my head, without doing much research I can name seven African-American male assistant coaches; Brandon Manning at Arizona, Kevin Morrison at Washington, Michael Cooper II at USC, Derek Wynn and Jeff Cammon at Cal St. Long Beach, and Carrick Dehart at UCR. Why aren't African-American males getting into college coaching? There is a large number of African-American males who coach at the club level. Do they apply for college jobs? Would coaches hire them?

Former NBA player, Tariq Abdul–Wahad, wanted to get into coaching women's college basketball. His only experience was coaching his daughter's club team. So, he wasn't expecting to be a first assistant. He was willing to pay his dues; break down film, film exchange etc. He applied for several jobs, but was turned down for every one!! Until this summer when Renee Jimenez hired Tariq Abdul–Wahad, as an assistant at D-2, Cal St. Monterey Bay. Why did Tariq get turned down for jobs, even as a third assistant? Maybe they didn't like his French accent? Are/were coaches threatened by his NBA pedigree? Or, are some coaches discriminating based upon gender?

There are many female head coaches who have NEVER hired a male assistant coach. If somebody like Rene Portland was forced out because of her stupid homophobic discrimination, why are female head coaches, who practice gender discrimination, allowed to continue coaching? This will only stop when a male assistant coach, sues a head coach for gender discrimination.

Role models: A young white female can look up to Pat Summitt, Tara VanDerveer, Kim Mulkey-Robertson, and Muffet McGraw. All are successful female white head coaches. A young African-American female can look up to C. Vivian Stringer, Teresa Weatherspoon, and Dawn Staley. All are successful female African-American head coaches. A young white male can aspire to become a Geno Auriemma, Gary Blair, Joe McKeown and Kevin McGuff. All are successful male white head coaches.

Who does a young African-American male have to look up? The most accomplished African-American male head coach is that jerk, Kenny Brooks at JMU. He paid his dues, working up from an assistant to becoming the head coach, then taking JMU to multiple NCAA appearances, and becoming the school in Virginia. That's saying a lot, because that meant taking overtaking UVa and Old Dominion, two traditional women's basketball powers. Why wasn't he a candidate for the Virginia head coach job? But, maybe it is a good thing he didn't get the UVa job; he would be more of an insufferable jerk, if he did!! But, damn, if Kenny Brooks is the standard bearer, it's a pretty low standard!

Only somebody with their head buried in the ground, would think there isn't a problem with the lack of African-American male head coaches. What can be done about this problem? Does the Women's Basketball Coaches' Association, even think this is an issue? Will they take the time to look at this issue? If they do, what can the WBCA do about this? What about the Black Coaches Association?

As with anything, I want to see the game of women's basketball advance. Women's basketball doesn't get the respect it deserves and everybody involved in women's basketball needs to work toward getting that respect. There are many qualified coaches, both black and white, and male and female. But the numbers just don't add up for an African-American male coach in women's basketball.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Twitter 101

I'll admit, when Twitter first came out, I didn't give a damn. What do I need that, for? But, then it seemed like everybody was on Twitter. So I signed up for a Twitter account and started tweeting. Then all of a sudden people followed me. Then I followed more and more people.

I like Twitter, because I get a behind the scenes account of what coaches have to go through putting a team together. I love seeing the passion of so many coaches to improve kids lives. As I have tweeted often, assistant coaches are the unsung heroes of college programs. Believe it or not, that passion showed me, I need to quit a job I hate and find what I really want to do!! Oh, the best time to be on Twitter, in my opinion, is during the July recruiting period. You see the passion, hard work, stress, and logistical nightmare of recruiting in July!

But, as we have seen recently, there is a dark side to Twitter, tweets can come back to haunt you. So, everybody, whether a coach or professional athlete, needs to be careful what they tweet.

Twitter needs to:

1. Set up a way so that people can approve followers, BUT not make their tweets private. This would prevent those spammers from following you. Right now, you have to make your Twitter account private.

2. When somebody sends a direct message to another person, the person who received that direct message, should be able to reply in a direct message. The way Twitter works now, if I follow somebody, they can send me a direct message. But, I can't send them a direct message, even if they sent me a direct message first.

Nobody asked, but here is my guide to Twitter for women's basketball programs:

1. I can't say this enough, but put a damn link to your school's athletic website or your WBB homepage, on your Twitter account. Yes, it's easy to google and find a school's website, but why should followers, go to another page and type in the search words; when with one click from your Twitter account, followers will get to the same place? Remember, a Twitter account without a link to your school's website, is like a business card without an address or phone number.

2. I don't care if a coach drinks. They are adults, who are legally able to drink, and as long as it doesn't become a problem and/or they don't get busted for a DUI, it's not a big deal. But, pictures of a college coach drinking or tweets saying they are drinking, just isn't a good idea.

3. Don't be a panhandler. What is a panhandler? A coach who rarely tweets, but when they do, they ask for something. "Come to the game tonight." "Camp sign ups, start now." I mean, throw your followers a bone or two, by tweeting something about your program, before asking them for something.

4. God Squad. Everybody has the right to practice whatever religion, he or she chooses. But, my personal feeling is that, your relationship with God, is a private matter. If you feel the need to tweet about your relationship with God, you are too insecure about your relationship with God. Are you a coach or a preacher? But, to each his or her own. I follow many coaches who belong to the God Squad, and if it becomes overbearing, I will stop following them.

5. Place to vent? I'll admit, I use Twitter as a place to vent. But, should a coach, use Twitter as a place to vent? I think it depends on how the coach vents. Calling out a player shouldn't be done. But, a coach could tweet; "Practice was a struggle today. We need to do better tomorrow."

6. Power of Positive Thinkers: Judging by the tweets of some coaches, you would think everything is going great. They always tweet, great practice or great works. I understand, this PC world we live in now, but give me a break. We are talking about 17-22 year old kids. They aren't great everyday. They have their bad moments, practices, workouts, etc. Again coaches can use Twitter anyway they want, but these always positive coaches, quickly get deleted from my follow list.

7. I'm a foodie who hates the chains!! I love seeing Tweets about foods. While I understand, feeding the chains, maybe necessary when feeding the entire team, I hate seeing coaches feed the chains, when they are out on the road. Be like Cal State Northridge head coach, Jason Flowers, who frequents the mom and pop restaurants!!

8. I love seeing new trends on Twitter: When Lindsay Gottlieb, became the new head coach at Cal, she did a "Twitter Tour" She took pictures of places around Cal. I thought that was awesome!!

9. Develop thick skin and don't be a jerk like Kenny Brooks, the JMU head coach. That jerk is such a no class loser. I just tweeted a comment about karma; The jerk misspelled Hofstra, and his JMU team lost to Hofstra. I'm not a spell checker and it wasn't that big of a deal. But, that was proof, of karma. Anyways that loser coach, started bragging about winning back to back CAA championships and I called him out on that. Instead of being humble, he was a no class jerk, taking a cheap shot at me. Anyways, I stopped following that jerk and what little respect I had for that loser, is now totally gone.

10. If you're a young assistant coach or somebody wanting to get into college coaching, don't come off like a resident genius. That means don't criticize other coaches on Twitter. I've seen tweets by young assistant coaches, just ripping the game plan or adjustments of well established coaches. Those well established coaches, have lots and lots of friends in the coaching ranks. If you're just starting out as an assistant coach, it would be in your best interest, not to tweet critical comments about other coaches.

I fully expect the NCAA, to regulate Twitter, soon. I bet they will make a stupid rule, like, recruits can't follow coaches on Twitter. Just what women's college basketball needs; more NCAA involvement!!

Sunday, March 6, 2011

2010-11 Hottest Female Coaches in WBB

Who are the hottest female coaches in college women's basketball, for the 2010-11 season? After months of research, LA Women's Hoops, has complied a list, conference by conference, of the hottest female coaches in college women's basketball.

Some comments about this list:

I originally was going to have two lists; Mandy Close, and the next 50 hottest female coaches. So, I started to pick the hottest coaches by conference, and that list came up to 93 coaches. Then, I didn't really want to cut that list down to the Top 50. So, I decided it would just be better to list the hottest coaches by conference.

Of course, Mandy Close of Montana St. still tops the list of Hottest female coaches in WBB. She is by far the hottest female coach in WBB. Nobody and I mean, nobody comes close. No pun intended.

D-1 coaches only.

Lists are in alphabetical order, by school. Not, who is the hottest in that conference.

Some coaches I have met and seen firsthand how beautiful they are, but most are based on their photos in their online bios.

I picked at least one coach from each conference.

I had a limit of four coaches per conference.

A memo to all photographers, take more pictures of coaches, including assistant coaches.

If this type of lists offends you, please develop thicker skin.

Everybody has different opinions about beauty. Be respectful when commenting about why a coach is on this list.

America East (4)

Hartford: Jennifer Rizzotti

Maine: Caren Fiorillo

New Hamshire: Maureen Magarity

New Hamshire: Margaret Carey

ACC (2)

NC. ST: Kellie Harper

Wake Forest: Candice Jackson

Atlantic Sun: (4)

Campbell: Megan Hall

FGCU: Abby Scharlow


Jacksonville: Ginny Boggess


Stetson: Lynn Bria

A-10 (4)

Dayton: Angie Russell

Duquesne: Carmen Bruce

La Salle: Jayme Callahan

Temple: Waynetta Veney

Big East (4)

UConn: Shea Ralph

Pitt: Mallorie Winn

Rutgers: Carlene Mitchell

St. John’s: Megan Duffy

Big Sky (3)

Montana St.: Mandy Close The most gorgeous female coach in women's college basketball. You will never meet a nicer, more friendly, more down to earth person than Mandy. I honestly believe, she has no idea how gorgeous she really is.

Portland St.: Sherri Murrell


Sac. St.: Jourdan Willard

Big South (2)

Gardner Webb: Brooke Wilkinson

Winthrop: Chris Vozab

Big 10 (3)

Michigan: Tianna Kirkland

Minnestoa: Kelly Roysland

Northwestern: Caroline McCombs Very tough for me, being a BALTIMORE RAVENS fan, to put a coach who is a fan of the steelers AND yankees on this list. But, there is no denying she is a very beautiful woman.

Big 12 (2)

CU: Jennie Baranczyk

Oklahoma: Stacy Hansmeyer

Big West (3)

Long Beach St.: Laura Freimuth

Long Beach St.: Jody Wynn

UCR: Seyram Gbewonyo

CAA (3)

Drexel: Amy Mallon

Northeastern: Victoria Wancel

Towson: Stacy Alexander

CUSA (3)

SMU: Lisa Dark

Southern Miss: Cara Hyatt

Tulane: Doshia Woods

Horizon League (4)

Cleveland St.: Kate Peterson Abiad

Detroit: Emily Samuelson

Valpo: Christy Smith

Wright St.: Katrina Merriweather

Indy (2)

NJIT: Margaret McKeon She was very beautiful as a blonde, now as a brunette, she is every bit as beautiful, if not more so.

Seattle: Kristen O'Neill Those beautiful eyes, one look into those eyes and you know you're looking into the eyes of a very beautiful woman. Also, one of the nicest people you ever want to meet.

Ivy (3)

Columbia: Shanna Cook

Harvard: Kelly Finley

Princeton: Courtney Banghart

MAAC (3)

Canisius: Beth O'Boyle

Manhattan: Caitlin Flood

Marist: Alisa Kresge

MAC (3)

Ball St.: Kelly Packard

Buffalo: Cara Pearson

WMU: Kristin Koetsier-Miller

MEAC (1)

Hampton: Ashlee Finley

MVC (3)

Bradley: Kari Kerkhoff

Illinois St.: Sheila Roux If you saw her Twitter profile picture, where she is wearing a pink dress, was she ever HOT!! She could have melted all that snow that covered Bloomington, IL.

WSU: Kristy Guffey

MWC (1)

TCU: Tonya Haut

Northeast (3)

LIU: Colleen Mullen

Mt. St. Mary's: Brianna Gauthier

St. Francis (NY): Brenda Milano

OVC (2)

Austin Peay: Carrie Daniels

Murray St.: Ashley Hayes

Pac-10 (4)

Cal: Joanne Boyle

UCLA: Nikki Caldwell

UCLA: Stacie Terry

USC: Laura Beeman

Patriot (2)

Army: Erin Mills

Bucknell: Brenna Rollie

SEC (2)

Florida: Amanda Butler

Georgia: Kim Hairston

Southern (4)

ASU: Andrea Gross

Elon: Rachel Stockdale

Samford: Andrea Ward

Chattanooga: Nikki Blassingame

Southland (3)

Nicholls St.: Catherine Blanchard

SFA: Jodi Greve

Texas St.: Holly Sartor

SWAC (3)

Alabama A & M: Altherias Warmley

Alabama St.: Freda Freeman-Jackson

Jackson St.: Taneisha Rogers

Summit (4)

IPFW: Courtney Nicley

UMKC: Candace Whitaker

Oakland: Anne Noja

South Dakota St.: Emilee Gusso

Sun Belt (3)

ULL: Lori Morris

MT: Kim Clark

WKU: Latasha Dorsey

WCC (4)

St. Mary's: Tracy Johnston

USD: Cindy Fisher

USF: Blair Hardiek

Santa Clara: Marissa White

WAC (2)

La. Tech: Ebony Felder

Utah St.: Hanna Howard