Today, the game of basketball losts a true champion and legend. Kay Yow, head coach of North Carolina St. passed away after a very long battle with breast cancer. A list of Coach Yow's accomplishments would be so long. She touched the lives of so many people and is one of the true pioneers of the game.
She will be missed.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
The Big West Conference- UC Riverside
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.
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.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
The Big West Conference-UC Irvine
On the on going look at Big West schools, www.lawomenshoops.com looks at UC Irvine (UCI).
First some background. Collen Matsuhara took over as head coach for the 1991-92 season. She replaced Dean Andrea who was the head coach for thirteen seasons. The first three seasons were tough:
1991-92 5-22
1992-93 2-24
1993-94 5-22
But things turned around during the 94-95 season, UCI went 19-11, won the Big West Tournament, and went to the NCAA Tournament, losing to Stanford.
During the 1995-96 season, UCI struggled, going 12-16 but quickly rebounded and went16-13 during the 1996-97 season. Then to the surprise of many Dan Guerrero, did not renew Colleen's contract. Yes, that Dan Guerrero, the current athletic director at UCLA. The AD who hired Tricky Ricky to lead their football program into NCAA probation. There were many theories as to why Dan didn't resign Colleen; he wanted a male coach, he didn't think Colleen could lead UCI to a higher level. Either way he did hire Mark Adams, Colleen's top assistant.
Adams would stay at UCI for seven full seasons and was basically forced to resign seven games into his eighth season.
Adams would continue some of the success of Colleen, early on but then basically went feast or famine, having one winning season, then having a bad season.
1997-98 16-11
1998-99 11-16
99-00 12-15
00-01 16-14
01-02 8-20
02-03 17-12
03-04 6-20
Some of Coach Adams' problems had to do with injuries to players. Many highly touted recruits never played or rarely played due to injuries.
Then after a 0-7 start to the 04-05 season, UCI forced Coach Adams to resign. By this time Bob Chichester was the UCI AD. Molly Tuter was named interim head coach by Chichester. Molly would go 8-14, for the rest of the 04-05 season.
Chichester, again making the mistake that many BW schools have done, didn't do a real search and just gave Molly a four year contract. Tuter had a lot of good ideas of improving UCI. The biggest and most radical difference was recruiting players from overseas. Tuter's first real recruiting class, players who entered UCI for the 06-07 season, included players from the Netherlands and Latvia. But of those four players she signed, only one player remains on the team this season, Rebecca Maessen. The following season, 07-08, she signed a player from New Zealand. But again that player, Kim Barnes left UCI.
Then in a surprise move Molly Tuter resigned in late May of 2008. There were some rumors as to why Tuter resigned, but I have too much respect for Coach Tuter and will not spread those rumors.
To my shock, UCI did do a search, even hiring a search firm, ChampsSearch to help in finding a head coach. Billie Moore, Hall of Fame coach for UCLA and Cal State Fullerton, was in charge of this search. But UCI wasted an entire month looking for a coach between the time of Tuter's official resignation and the annoucement of the hiring of the ChampsSearch.
On August 4, 2008 UCI announced the hiring of former Stanford star, Molly Goodenbour. Goodenbour was an All American at Stanford, won two national championships, being named the Most Outstanding Player for the 1992 Final Four played at the LA Sports Arena. Goodenbour would play overseas, then in the ABL and WNBA.
Goodenbour started her coaching career as an assistant at University of San Francisco, USF for the 1994-95 season. She would then continue her playing career with the ABL and WNBA. After retiring as a player, she was an assistant coach for one season at Santa Rosa JC, then became head coach for three seasons,
2002-03 20-10
03-04 24-6
04-05 25-5
Goodenbour would then return to USF as an assistant for the 2005-06 season. After that season she was named head coach at D-2 Chico St.
06-07 24-5
07-08 28-6
While Goodenbour was successful on the court, her tenture at Chico St, was marred by many players being kicked off the team and some leaving the program, including the star player and hometown favorite, and reports of verbal abuse and intimidation of players. You can read all the details here.
There are always two sides to each story and who knows whether or not the former head coach at Chico St, Lynne Roberts didn't have anything to do with it. One of the players who quit and complained the most, Amber Simmons, transfered to BW rival Pacific. Surprise!!! Pacific just happens to be where Lynne Roberts became head coach.
Now I'll be honest, I've followed Goodenbour's career since she was at Stanford. So while I try to be unbiased, I am on Goodenbour's side in this situation. I would be even if I wasn't a fan of Molly before hand. When playing sports, it's accepted that coaches will just profanity at times. It's accepted that coaches will yell at players. Of course there are limits but I don't think Goodenbour came close to crossing any lines, if in fact those allegations, mentioned in the story, are true.
Kids these days need to grow up and stop being coddled and just take the yelling and stop crying. I think many kids think being mistreated means, they didn't get their way. And they also need to learn that when things go wrong, they can't go crying to mommy and daddy and expect them to make things better. If they have an issue with a coach, go talk to that coach. You're an adult now, mommy and daddy shouldn't be a crutch anymore.
UCI is currently 3-13. Goodenbour of course deserves a chance to be successful.
So why can't UCI be successful? They have good academics, a wonderful, if boring as hell, location, and of course great weather. But some issues I've heard is the lack of commitment to athletics at UCI. This is shown by UCI having funding issues for athletics. Yes, they did add baseball but only because students voted to raise their fees to pay for it.
Facilities: While the Bren Center is a very nice arena, the other support facilities are lacking. They team doesn't have a lockerroom or a team room. Crawford Hall which houses the athletic department offices, is outdated and UCI athletics has outgrown those facilites. Now they did build some portable offices for some sports, baseball for instance to relieve overcrowding in Crawford Hall. But what about improving support facilities for the women's basketball program? Coach's Offices actually inside the Bren Center? A team room inside the Bren Center?
Salary. Molly Tuter didn't make $100,000 as a first year head coach. I do not know Molly Goodenbour's salary but I bet it's not much higher than $110,000. With that kind of salary, how does UCI expect to attract and keep good quality coaches? Factor in the high cost of housing, especially in OC, and that $100,000 doesn't go very far. Assistant coaches don't make much either. One coach actually took a pay cut from his job as a teacher, to become coach at UCI. UCI has to increase salaries for the entire coaching staff.
But dispite all this, I think UCI has made some strides. The fact that the new AD, Mike Izzi, actually did a search was shocking, since the last two coaches, Adams and Tuter, were promoted to head coach. Then Izzi figured out they don't have a clue about how to conduct a search and/or weren't getting enough good candidates, they hired a search firm. Whether that search firm found the best candidate, remains to be seen.
But I think UCI did the right thing hiring a search firm. But now they need to hold Goodenbour to a high standard. If things aren't turning around by the third year, they need to put her on notice and tell her she needs to win or she will not be getting a new contract.
With the sorry state of women's basketball in the BW, there is no reason why a team can't turn things around within three years.
First some background. Collen Matsuhara took over as head coach for the 1991-92 season. She replaced Dean Andrea who was the head coach for thirteen seasons. The first three seasons were tough:
1991-92 5-22
1992-93 2-24
1993-94 5-22
But things turned around during the 94-95 season, UCI went 19-11, won the Big West Tournament, and went to the NCAA Tournament, losing to Stanford.
During the 1995-96 season, UCI struggled, going 12-16 but quickly rebounded and went16-13 during the 1996-97 season. Then to the surprise of many Dan Guerrero, did not renew Colleen's contract. Yes, that Dan Guerrero, the current athletic director at UCLA. The AD who hired Tricky Ricky to lead their football program into NCAA probation. There were many theories as to why Dan didn't resign Colleen; he wanted a male coach, he didn't think Colleen could lead UCI to a higher level. Either way he did hire Mark Adams, Colleen's top assistant.
Adams would stay at UCI for seven full seasons and was basically forced to resign seven games into his eighth season.
Adams would continue some of the success of Colleen, early on but then basically went feast or famine, having one winning season, then having a bad season.
1997-98 16-11
1998-99 11-16
99-00 12-15
00-01 16-14
01-02 8-20
02-03 17-12
03-04 6-20
Some of Coach Adams' problems had to do with injuries to players. Many highly touted recruits never played or rarely played due to injuries.
Then after a 0-7 start to the 04-05 season, UCI forced Coach Adams to resign. By this time Bob Chichester was the UCI AD. Molly Tuter was named interim head coach by Chichester. Molly would go 8-14, for the rest of the 04-05 season.
Chichester, again making the mistake that many BW schools have done, didn't do a real search and just gave Molly a four year contract. Tuter had a lot of good ideas of improving UCI. The biggest and most radical difference was recruiting players from overseas. Tuter's first real recruiting class, players who entered UCI for the 06-07 season, included players from the Netherlands and Latvia. But of those four players she signed, only one player remains on the team this season, Rebecca Maessen. The following season, 07-08, she signed a player from New Zealand. But again that player, Kim Barnes left UCI.
Then in a surprise move Molly Tuter resigned in late May of 2008. There were some rumors as to why Tuter resigned, but I have too much respect for Coach Tuter and will not spread those rumors.
To my shock, UCI did do a search, even hiring a search firm, ChampsSearch to help in finding a head coach. Billie Moore, Hall of Fame coach for UCLA and Cal State Fullerton, was in charge of this search. But UCI wasted an entire month looking for a coach between the time of Tuter's official resignation and the annoucement of the hiring of the ChampsSearch.
On August 4, 2008 UCI announced the hiring of former Stanford star, Molly Goodenbour. Goodenbour was an All American at Stanford, won two national championships, being named the Most Outstanding Player for the 1992 Final Four played at the LA Sports Arena. Goodenbour would play overseas, then in the ABL and WNBA.
Goodenbour started her coaching career as an assistant at University of San Francisco, USF for the 1994-95 season. She would then continue her playing career with the ABL and WNBA. After retiring as a player, she was an assistant coach for one season at Santa Rosa JC, then became head coach for three seasons,
2002-03 20-10
03-04 24-6
04-05 25-5
Goodenbour would then return to USF as an assistant for the 2005-06 season. After that season she was named head coach at D-2 Chico St.
06-07 24-5
07-08 28-6
While Goodenbour was successful on the court, her tenture at Chico St, was marred by many players being kicked off the team and some leaving the program, including the star player and hometown favorite, and reports of verbal abuse and intimidation of players. You can read all the details here.
There are always two sides to each story and who knows whether or not the former head coach at Chico St, Lynne Roberts didn't have anything to do with it. One of the players who quit and complained the most, Amber Simmons, transfered to BW rival Pacific. Surprise!!! Pacific just happens to be where Lynne Roberts became head coach.
Now I'll be honest, I've followed Goodenbour's career since she was at Stanford. So while I try to be unbiased, I am on Goodenbour's side in this situation. I would be even if I wasn't a fan of Molly before hand. When playing sports, it's accepted that coaches will just profanity at times. It's accepted that coaches will yell at players. Of course there are limits but I don't think Goodenbour came close to crossing any lines, if in fact those allegations, mentioned in the story, are true.
Kids these days need to grow up and stop being coddled and just take the yelling and stop crying. I think many kids think being mistreated means, they didn't get their way. And they also need to learn that when things go wrong, they can't go crying to mommy and daddy and expect them to make things better. If they have an issue with a coach, go talk to that coach. You're an adult now, mommy and daddy shouldn't be a crutch anymore.
UCI is currently 3-13. Goodenbour of course deserves a chance to be successful.
So why can't UCI be successful? They have good academics, a wonderful, if boring as hell, location, and of course great weather. But some issues I've heard is the lack of commitment to athletics at UCI. This is shown by UCI having funding issues for athletics. Yes, they did add baseball but only because students voted to raise their fees to pay for it.
Facilities: While the Bren Center is a very nice arena, the other support facilities are lacking. They team doesn't have a lockerroom or a team room. Crawford Hall which houses the athletic department offices, is outdated and UCI athletics has outgrown those facilites. Now they did build some portable offices for some sports, baseball for instance to relieve overcrowding in Crawford Hall. But what about improving support facilities for the women's basketball program? Coach's Offices actually inside the Bren Center? A team room inside the Bren Center?
Salary. Molly Tuter didn't make $100,000 as a first year head coach. I do not know Molly Goodenbour's salary but I bet it's not much higher than $110,000. With that kind of salary, how does UCI expect to attract and keep good quality coaches? Factor in the high cost of housing, especially in OC, and that $100,000 doesn't go very far. Assistant coaches don't make much either. One coach actually took a pay cut from his job as a teacher, to become coach at UCI. UCI has to increase salaries for the entire coaching staff.
But dispite all this, I think UCI has made some strides. The fact that the new AD, Mike Izzi, actually did a search was shocking, since the last two coaches, Adams and Tuter, were promoted to head coach. Then Izzi figured out they don't have a clue about how to conduct a search and/or weren't getting enough good candidates, they hired a search firm. Whether that search firm found the best candidate, remains to be seen.
But I think UCI did the right thing hiring a search firm. But now they need to hold Goodenbour to a high standard. If things aren't turning around by the third year, they need to put her on notice and tell her she needs to win or she will not be getting a new contract.
With the sorry state of women's basketball in the BW, there is no reason why a team can't turn things around within three years.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
The Big West Conference- Cal State Northridge
In an ongoing look at schools in the Big West Conference, www.lawomenshoops.com looks at Cal State Northridge(CSN).
First some background Cal State Northridge moved up to Division 1 for the 1990-91 season. They struggled to find funding for all programs, including 1-AA football, and a conference to call home. In the 94-95 season they were members of a four team conference called the America West Conference. Cal Poly, Sac St, Southern Utah were the other teams in the AWC. The NCAA requires six teams for a conference to have an automatic bid to the NCAA basketball tournament, thus with no automatic bid to NCAA championships, the AWC, wasn't really a conference. The America West Conference only lasted two seasons, 94-95 and 95-96. Starting with the 96-97 season: Cal Poly went to the Big West. CSN and Sac. St accepted invitations to the Big Sky Conference. Southern Utah would later accept an invitation to the Mid Con Conference, now call the Summitt League. After the 2000-01 season CSN became members of the Big West Conference because CSN couldn't improve their football facilities to satisfy the Big Sky Conference.
Kim Chandler was CSN's head coach from 1992-93 to 1994-95. Well, she was named interim head coach, nine games into the 1991-92 season and then got job full time after the season.
There is no doubt Chandler had a lot of things to deal with during her time as head coach. Money being a big factor, working with only about eight scholarships, which is half of what the NCAA allows for women's basketball. A limited recruiting budget. No conference and even in the American West, didn't have an automatic bid to the NCAA. Of course, the lack of facilities. Then in 1994, the Northridge earthquake. Things got so bad at CSN that the WBB program was going to be cut, if a student fee referendum in 1995 didn't pass. The referendum was passed thus saving women's basketball.
But the biggest question hanging over Chandler was, whether or not she was qualified too be a D-1 head coach. Chandler was hired as head coach when she was 26 years old. She didn't have much experience prior to be hired. She was an assistant coach at Bowling Green for a season and Florida Souther for one season, before being an assistant at CSN for a year and a half, before being named interim coach. So at best a 26 year old coach with about three years experience as an D1 assistant coach. Sixteen players and six assistant coaches left the CSN program during Chandler's tenture, many because they were unhappy with Chandler. Chandler resigned in March of 1995.
Chandler was replaced by Oregon St assistant coach Micheal Abraham. Abraham was the long time assistant coach at Long Beach St, when LB was a top 5 women's basketball program. Abraham came with some NCAA baggage. The NCAA would place Oregon St on probation for violations that occurred during the time Abraham was on staff at OSU.
Abraham was brash and confident, some would say cocky. He recruited from all over the world!! CSN had players from France, Serbia, and Sweden on the roster during Abraham's tenture. By the third season, Abraham was starting to see the rewards of his recruiting efforts, winning 14 games.
95-96 5-22
96-97 4-23 First year in the Big Sky
97-98 14-14
But in the fall of 1998, things came crashing down on Micheal Abraham. He was arrested for helping broker a drug deal. He would eventually serve time in federal prison. Of course he resigned as head coach at CSN. After his arrest, there were newspaper reports that players suspected drug use by Coach Abraham but the athletic director at the time, Paul Bubb, did nothing about their concerns. This would lead the resignation of Bubb and Judith Brame, Sr. Associate Athletic Director.
Frozena Jerro replaced Abraham as interim coach for the 98-99 season. The 98-99 season would turn out to be the pinnacle for CSN. They went 21-8, winning the Big Sky regular season and post season championships. They lost to Colorado St in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
At the Big Sky Championship game vs Portland St., it was announced that Frozena Jerro was given a contract to be the head coach at CSN. Classic case of both politics and thrill of the moment, getting the better of the athletic director, Sam Jankovich, who was hired to straighten the mess that was CSN's athletic department. Jankovich was the AD at Miami during the rise of the Hurricane football program.
But Jerro had very little experience as a college assistant coach. She was an assistant at Houston for two seasons, 93-94 and 94-95, and one season at King Junior High School in Berkeley. Then one season, 97-98 at CSN. That is not enough experience to hire somebody as a head coach.
But when a coach leads a team to their first NCAA tourney and happens to be black, there is no way you can't hire that coach without some serious badlash. But the next three years Jerro proved she couldn't handle being a head coach at the D1 level. Going from 21 wins, in her first year, to 9 wins in her last full season.
The program was a place where players recruited by Abraham, transfered and/or players not getting along with the head coach and the players recruited by Jerro were not as talented as the players they replaced. Jerro would resign five games into the 01-02 season.
1998-99 21-8
1999-2000 18-10
00-01 9-18
01-02 0-5 First year in the Big West.
Then CSN promoted Ken Turner and Paula Nirschl as interim co coaches for 01-02 season. They would finish the year with a 2-19 record.
But CSN to their credit did a full search. In a surprising move, athletic director Dick Dull, hired Tammy Holder. But unlike Jerro and Chandler, Holder had lots of experience, she was head coach at Richmond and the Seattle Reign of the ABL and was an assistant for eight years. The surprising part was that Holder told me didn't even know where Northridge was, when she saw the head coaching position opening in the NCAA news. As a side note, John Margaritis, the current UCR coach was among the finalists for the job that was given to Holder.
But after two tough seasons, she got things turned around in her third year.
02-03 3-24
03-04 6-20
04-05 18-11
But just when the future for WBB looked bright for CSN, in the summer of 05, Holder left to be an assistant at South Carolina.
Instead of doing a full search to find a replacement, CSN just promoted Staci Schulz to head coach. Schulz had only eight years of college coaching experience, never being a head coach. Her first year was a bit tough since she lost star player Ofa Tulihihifo to a leg injury. But Schulz's second season, 06-07, with Ofa and six other seniors, she again underacheived and won only 13 games. The 07-08 season saw a diaster for CSN, 1-26, sinking to depths they haven't seen since the Kim Chandler era.
05-06 10-20
06-07 13-16
07-08 1-26
So in the past 15 years, CSN has made the mistake of hiring an inexperience head coach, not once, not twice, but three times!!!! Yes, three different AD's did the hiring but they all made the same mistake.
One other thing that should be mentioned is the lack of experience of the assistant coaches at CSN. The third assistant coach is usually a former player who recently graduated, so it's expected that the coach will be inexperienced.
But the other two assistant coaches should not be inexperienced. During the 1998-99 season, Frozena Jerro, Karen Howell and Tara Harrington were the assistant coaches. The combined D-1 experience for the three? THREE years, all by Coach Jerro, who would be named interim head coach after Coach Abraham was arrested. Harrington was the third assistant, just finished her playing career at Stanford.
In the 2001-02 season, Ken Turner, Paula Nirschl, and Denise Woods had a combined, ZERO years of D-1 experience. Woods being the third assistant, after finishing her playing career at USC. Combine that with the inexperience of Coach Jero, six years in D-1, three as head coach, and you have a recipe for failure.
Even the coaching staff for the 08-09 season is inexperienced, Carla Houser has seven years experience as a D-1 assistant coach. All with CSN. Abby Vaughn has been at CSN for two years. Before that, Vaughn only one years worth of D-1 experience, at San Jose St. Cory O'Dell, was the former head coach at Chaminade and an assistant at Alaska-Anchorage, both D-2 schools, but has no D-1 experience before coming to CSN.
So increasing the salaries for both head and assistant coaches will greatly improve the ability to attract coaches with more experience. This is something the school needs to do.
As of today, CSN is 3-12. Will Staci be resigned to a new contract after this season? I believe she signed a four year contract when she was hired. Will the current CSN AD, Rick Mazzuto, make the same mistakes of three other AD's? What standards will Mazzuto use to judge her record? He certainly can't be happy with the direction the program is going. But then again he could be just like every other BW AD and maybe he could care less about the WBB program.
First some background Cal State Northridge moved up to Division 1 for the 1990-91 season. They struggled to find funding for all programs, including 1-AA football, and a conference to call home. In the 94-95 season they were members of a four team conference called the America West Conference. Cal Poly, Sac St, Southern Utah were the other teams in the AWC. The NCAA requires six teams for a conference to have an automatic bid to the NCAA basketball tournament, thus with no automatic bid to NCAA championships, the AWC, wasn't really a conference. The America West Conference only lasted two seasons, 94-95 and 95-96. Starting with the 96-97 season: Cal Poly went to the Big West. CSN and Sac. St accepted invitations to the Big Sky Conference. Southern Utah would later accept an invitation to the Mid Con Conference, now call the Summitt League. After the 2000-01 season CSN became members of the Big West Conference because CSN couldn't improve their football facilities to satisfy the Big Sky Conference.
Kim Chandler was CSN's head coach from 1992-93 to 1994-95. Well, she was named interim head coach, nine games into the 1991-92 season and then got job full time after the season.
There is no doubt Chandler had a lot of things to deal with during her time as head coach. Money being a big factor, working with only about eight scholarships, which is half of what the NCAA allows for women's basketball. A limited recruiting budget. No conference and even in the American West, didn't have an automatic bid to the NCAA. Of course, the lack of facilities. Then in 1994, the Northridge earthquake. Things got so bad at CSN that the WBB program was going to be cut, if a student fee referendum in 1995 didn't pass. The referendum was passed thus saving women's basketball.
But the biggest question hanging over Chandler was, whether or not she was qualified too be a D-1 head coach. Chandler was hired as head coach when she was 26 years old. She didn't have much experience prior to be hired. She was an assistant coach at Bowling Green for a season and Florida Souther for one season, before being an assistant at CSN for a year and a half, before being named interim coach. So at best a 26 year old coach with about three years experience as an D1 assistant coach. Sixteen players and six assistant coaches left the CSN program during Chandler's tenture, many because they were unhappy with Chandler. Chandler resigned in March of 1995.
Chandler was replaced by Oregon St assistant coach Micheal Abraham. Abraham was the long time assistant coach at Long Beach St, when LB was a top 5 women's basketball program. Abraham came with some NCAA baggage. The NCAA would place Oregon St on probation for violations that occurred during the time Abraham was on staff at OSU.
Abraham was brash and confident, some would say cocky. He recruited from all over the world!! CSN had players from France, Serbia, and Sweden on the roster during Abraham's tenture. By the third season, Abraham was starting to see the rewards of his recruiting efforts, winning 14 games.
95-96 5-22
96-97 4-23 First year in the Big Sky
97-98 14-14
But in the fall of 1998, things came crashing down on Micheal Abraham. He was arrested for helping broker a drug deal. He would eventually serve time in federal prison. Of course he resigned as head coach at CSN. After his arrest, there were newspaper reports that players suspected drug use by Coach Abraham but the athletic director at the time, Paul Bubb, did nothing about their concerns. This would lead the resignation of Bubb and Judith Brame, Sr. Associate Athletic Director.
Frozena Jerro replaced Abraham as interim coach for the 98-99 season. The 98-99 season would turn out to be the pinnacle for CSN. They went 21-8, winning the Big Sky regular season and post season championships. They lost to Colorado St in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
At the Big Sky Championship game vs Portland St., it was announced that Frozena Jerro was given a contract to be the head coach at CSN. Classic case of both politics and thrill of the moment, getting the better of the athletic director, Sam Jankovich, who was hired to straighten the mess that was CSN's athletic department. Jankovich was the AD at Miami during the rise of the Hurricane football program.
But Jerro had very little experience as a college assistant coach. She was an assistant at Houston for two seasons, 93-94 and 94-95, and one season at King Junior High School in Berkeley. Then one season, 97-98 at CSN. That is not enough experience to hire somebody as a head coach.
But when a coach leads a team to their first NCAA tourney and happens to be black, there is no way you can't hire that coach without some serious badlash. But the next three years Jerro proved she couldn't handle being a head coach at the D1 level. Going from 21 wins, in her first year, to 9 wins in her last full season.
The program was a place where players recruited by Abraham, transfered and/or players not getting along with the head coach and the players recruited by Jerro were not as talented as the players they replaced. Jerro would resign five games into the 01-02 season.
1998-99 21-8
1999-2000 18-10
00-01 9-18
01-02 0-5 First year in the Big West.
Then CSN promoted Ken Turner and Paula Nirschl as interim co coaches for 01-02 season. They would finish the year with a 2-19 record.
But CSN to their credit did a full search. In a surprising move, athletic director Dick Dull, hired Tammy Holder. But unlike Jerro and Chandler, Holder had lots of experience, she was head coach at Richmond and the Seattle Reign of the ABL and was an assistant for eight years. The surprising part was that Holder told me didn't even know where Northridge was, when she saw the head coaching position opening in the NCAA news. As a side note, John Margaritis, the current UCR coach was among the finalists for the job that was given to Holder.
But after two tough seasons, she got things turned around in her third year.
02-03 3-24
03-04 6-20
04-05 18-11
But just when the future for WBB looked bright for CSN, in the summer of 05, Holder left to be an assistant at South Carolina.
Instead of doing a full search to find a replacement, CSN just promoted Staci Schulz to head coach. Schulz had only eight years of college coaching experience, never being a head coach. Her first year was a bit tough since she lost star player Ofa Tulihihifo to a leg injury. But Schulz's second season, 06-07, with Ofa and six other seniors, she again underacheived and won only 13 games. The 07-08 season saw a diaster for CSN, 1-26, sinking to depths they haven't seen since the Kim Chandler era.
05-06 10-20
06-07 13-16
07-08 1-26
So in the past 15 years, CSN has made the mistake of hiring an inexperience head coach, not once, not twice, but three times!!!! Yes, three different AD's did the hiring but they all made the same mistake.
One other thing that should be mentioned is the lack of experience of the assistant coaches at CSN. The third assistant coach is usually a former player who recently graduated, so it's expected that the coach will be inexperienced.
But the other two assistant coaches should not be inexperienced. During the 1998-99 season, Frozena Jerro, Karen Howell and Tara Harrington were the assistant coaches. The combined D-1 experience for the three? THREE years, all by Coach Jerro, who would be named interim head coach after Coach Abraham was arrested. Harrington was the third assistant, just finished her playing career at Stanford.
In the 2001-02 season, Ken Turner, Paula Nirschl, and Denise Woods had a combined, ZERO years of D-1 experience. Woods being the third assistant, after finishing her playing career at USC. Combine that with the inexperience of Coach Jero, six years in D-1, three as head coach, and you have a recipe for failure.
Even the coaching staff for the 08-09 season is inexperienced, Carla Houser has seven years experience as a D-1 assistant coach. All with CSN. Abby Vaughn has been at CSN for two years. Before that, Vaughn only one years worth of D-1 experience, at San Jose St. Cory O'Dell, was the former head coach at Chaminade and an assistant at Alaska-Anchorage, both D-2 schools, but has no D-1 experience before coming to CSN.
So increasing the salaries for both head and assistant coaches will greatly improve the ability to attract coaches with more experience. This is something the school needs to do.
As of today, CSN is 3-12. Will Staci be resigned to a new contract after this season? I believe she signed a four year contract when she was hired. Will the current CSN AD, Rick Mazzuto, make the same mistakes of three other AD's? What standards will Mazzuto use to judge her record? He certainly can't be happy with the direction the program is going. But then again he could be just like every other BW AD and maybe he could care less about the WBB program.
Monday, January 5, 2009
The Big West Conference- Cal Poly
I prefer to call the Big West conference, the Big Worst conference, because in women's basketball it is a terrible conference. For SEVEN STRAIGHT, that's right, SEVEN STRAIGHT years there have been two or more BW teams that lost 20 or more games.
01-02 season: Fullerton, Northridge, and Irvine.
02-03 season: Fullerton, Northridge, and Riverside.
03-04 season: Fullerton, Northridge, Riverside, and Irvine.
04-05 season: Fullerton, Irvine, Pacific.
05-06 season: Northridge and Pacific.
06-07 season: Long Beach, Irvine, and Pacific.
07-08 season: Northridge, Long Beach, and Irvine. Cal Poly and Fullerton both lost 19 games each.
For the 08-09 season, Long Beach, Irvine, and Northridge have 10,11, and 12 losses already. Anybody dare to say two of those teams WON'T lose 20 games?
So what are the problems? Why are BW schools losing? I will take a school by school look of Big West schools that are struggling. But first some general comments.
The first question should be, what are the expectations for BW Women's Basketball. I'm not expecting any BW school to become the next UConn or Tenn. But the BW can become a good conference with a RPI, as a conference between 12-15, a solid mid major. Not the 25 over below, meaning one of the worst conferences in the nation. So what's preventing the BW from getting to that level?
In my opinions scholarship money is not one of the reasons why BW schools are losing. Yes the BW doesn't have the money of the bigger schools in conferences where football brings in a ton of money. But all Big West schools must provide 80% of NCAA maximum for scholarships. So all BW schools have at least funding for 12 scholarships. The NCAA allows 15 schoalrships for women's basketball. Twelve scholarships are more than enough to win. Plus all BW schools spend about the same amount of money for WBB. It's not like one school spends, $250,000 with another school spends, $5 million. Most BW schools spend about $750,000 a year on women's basketball. So one school doesn't have such a big advantage over the other eight schools.
That's not to say BW schools should put more money into women's basketball. They should try to find more funding for programs.
I do think the relatively low salaries for BW head and assistant coaches, is a factor in the poor quality of play in the BW. It's hard to hire good experienced assistant coaches and if you find a good quality assistant coach, it's hard to keep that coach because other schools come in an offer larger salaries.
So what are the reasons for the sorry state of Big West Women's Basketball?
Apathy towards women's basketball:
I think almost all BW schools could care less about WBB. Their attitude is get good kids, who graduate and don't get into trouble. Also don't lose too much money.
No expectations or standards.
In any business there are certain expectations and standards. If you're in sales and you don't meet you sales quotas, you're not going to be working for that company much longer. If you're a teacher and if your students aren't passing the tests, you're not going to be teaching much longer.
But in the BW, why aren't there any standards for winning in women's basketball?
If a coach has been at the school for twelve years and has never had a winning record, how is that coach still at the school?
I wanted to comment on academics. Yes, it's important for kids to graduate. Yes it's important for kids to go to class. But if you have a 100% graduation rate, but can't finish 500 overall, you shouldn't keep your job as head coach.
So let's look at each school. First up Cal Poly and head coach Faith Mimnaugh:
How can a school like Cal Poly keep Faith Mimnaugh for 12 long, losing seasons? In eleven years she was 121-185, with ZERO winning overall records and only two winning records in the BW.
This is her record at Cal Poly:
Year: Overall BW
97-98 6-20 3-12
98-99 8-18 2-13
99-00 9-19 5-10
00-01 12-17 5-9
01-02 11-17 7-9
02-03 10-17 6-10
03-04 14-14 10-8
04-05 11-16 5-13
05-06 13-14 7-7
06-07 14-14 9-5
07-08 13-19 8-8
Cal Poly was a D2 school until the 93-94 season. Starting in 94-95 they moved up to D1. Cal Poly students passing a fee referendum to pay for the move to D1. During the 94-95 and 95-96 seasons, Cal Poly was in the four team American West Conference. Then starting with the 96-97 season they became members of the Big West Conference.
Back in 2006 Cal Poly gave Faith a one year contract extension but never bothered to announce it through the Cal Poly's SID office. WHY? What do they have to hide?
Interesting that all three of Faith's assistant coaches from the 04-05 season left the program. Amy Saneholtz going to Montana St, Kristi Baker to Utah St, and Odessa Jenkins going into private business. Anytime all three assistant coaches leave, that should raise red flags. I'm sure all three assistants thought about the possibility that they would have to move on after the 05-06 season, and decided to leave on their own terms.
In June of 2007 Cal Poly did issue a release that Faith got a two year contract extension, with the contract ending of the 08-09 season.
So during the 06-07 season, what great things did Faith do to get that two year extension? 14-14 overall, 9-5 in the BW, mind you, a BW with three teams that lost 20 or more games.
Currently Cal Poly is 8-5 overall and 1-1 in the BW. But her 7 non BW wins, have come to teams with a 31-42 record. Her 4, no BW losses have come to schools with 30-12 record. Meaning she hasn't beaten a team worth a damn. Her best wins are against San Diego and Illinois-Chicago. Not exactly powerhouses.
Faith's contract is up at the end of the year. The real question is by what standards will Cal Poly use to decide whether Faith gets a new contract? If she has a 16-14 overall record will Faith get a new contract? Shouldn't the decision be over her entire career and not just ONE season or even one week's (during the Big West Tournament) of good play?
At the very least Cal Poly should see that Faith has reach her "ceiling" at Cal Poly. You know what you're going to get. Why not try to find somebody else who maybe able to acheive more?
One other thing. Faith is white. The AD at Cal Poly is white. San Luis Obispo is mostly white. The coach, who Cal Poly fired and Faith replaced after two years was black. Karen Booker had a two year record of 9-44. No doubt she should have been fired. But if Cal Poly was so quick to pull the trigger on Booker's firing, why then have they put up with Faith's losing ways, for so long?
If people don't think race plays a factor in the hiring and firing of coaches, you are clueless. Go stick your head in the sand. And it works both ways. Some black coaches should be fired but aren't because of the potential backlash of firing a black coach.
This wasn't meant to be a Faith Mimnaigh bashing. She is a very nice person who does care about her players. But it's clear to see she is not a good head coach and should not be resigned to a new contract, no matter what her 08-09 record maybe.
Next up, Cal State Northridge and Staci Schulz.
01-02 season: Fullerton, Northridge, and Irvine.
02-03 season: Fullerton, Northridge, and Riverside.
03-04 season: Fullerton, Northridge, Riverside, and Irvine.
04-05 season: Fullerton, Irvine, Pacific.
05-06 season: Northridge and Pacific.
06-07 season: Long Beach, Irvine, and Pacific.
07-08 season: Northridge, Long Beach, and Irvine. Cal Poly and Fullerton both lost 19 games each.
For the 08-09 season, Long Beach, Irvine, and Northridge have 10,11, and 12 losses already. Anybody dare to say two of those teams WON'T lose 20 games?
So what are the problems? Why are BW schools losing? I will take a school by school look of Big West schools that are struggling. But first some general comments.
The first question should be, what are the expectations for BW Women's Basketball. I'm not expecting any BW school to become the next UConn or Tenn. But the BW can become a good conference with a RPI, as a conference between 12-15, a solid mid major. Not the 25 over below, meaning one of the worst conferences in the nation. So what's preventing the BW from getting to that level?
In my opinions scholarship money is not one of the reasons why BW schools are losing. Yes the BW doesn't have the money of the bigger schools in conferences where football brings in a ton of money. But all Big West schools must provide 80% of NCAA maximum for scholarships. So all BW schools have at least funding for 12 scholarships. The NCAA allows 15 schoalrships for women's basketball. Twelve scholarships are more than enough to win. Plus all BW schools spend about the same amount of money for WBB. It's not like one school spends, $250,000 with another school spends, $5 million. Most BW schools spend about $750,000 a year on women's basketball. So one school doesn't have such a big advantage over the other eight schools.
That's not to say BW schools should put more money into women's basketball. They should try to find more funding for programs.
I do think the relatively low salaries for BW head and assistant coaches, is a factor in the poor quality of play in the BW. It's hard to hire good experienced assistant coaches and if you find a good quality assistant coach, it's hard to keep that coach because other schools come in an offer larger salaries.
So what are the reasons for the sorry state of Big West Women's Basketball?
Apathy towards women's basketball:
I think almost all BW schools could care less about WBB. Their attitude is get good kids, who graduate and don't get into trouble. Also don't lose too much money.
No expectations or standards.
In any business there are certain expectations and standards. If you're in sales and you don't meet you sales quotas, you're not going to be working for that company much longer. If you're a teacher and if your students aren't passing the tests, you're not going to be teaching much longer.
But in the BW, why aren't there any standards for winning in women's basketball?
If a coach has been at the school for twelve years and has never had a winning record, how is that coach still at the school?
I wanted to comment on academics. Yes, it's important for kids to graduate. Yes it's important for kids to go to class. But if you have a 100% graduation rate, but can't finish 500 overall, you shouldn't keep your job as head coach.
So let's look at each school. First up Cal Poly and head coach Faith Mimnaugh:
How can a school like Cal Poly keep Faith Mimnaugh for 12 long, losing seasons? In eleven years she was 121-185, with ZERO winning overall records and only two winning records in the BW.
This is her record at Cal Poly:
Year: Overall BW
97-98 6-20 3-12
98-99 8-18 2-13
99-00 9-19 5-10
00-01 12-17 5-9
01-02 11-17 7-9
02-03 10-17 6-10
03-04 14-14 10-8
04-05 11-16 5-13
05-06 13-14 7-7
06-07 14-14 9-5
07-08 13-19 8-8
Cal Poly was a D2 school until the 93-94 season. Starting in 94-95 they moved up to D1. Cal Poly students passing a fee referendum to pay for the move to D1. During the 94-95 and 95-96 seasons, Cal Poly was in the four team American West Conference. Then starting with the 96-97 season they became members of the Big West Conference.
Back in 2006 Cal Poly gave Faith a one year contract extension but never bothered to announce it through the Cal Poly's SID office. WHY? What do they have to hide?
Interesting that all three of Faith's assistant coaches from the 04-05 season left the program. Amy Saneholtz going to Montana St, Kristi Baker to Utah St, and Odessa Jenkins going into private business. Anytime all three assistant coaches leave, that should raise red flags. I'm sure all three assistants thought about the possibility that they would have to move on after the 05-06 season, and decided to leave on their own terms.
In June of 2007 Cal Poly did issue a release that Faith got a two year contract extension, with the contract ending of the 08-09 season.
So during the 06-07 season, what great things did Faith do to get that two year extension? 14-14 overall, 9-5 in the BW, mind you, a BW with three teams that lost 20 or more games.
Currently Cal Poly is 8-5 overall and 1-1 in the BW. But her 7 non BW wins, have come to teams with a 31-42 record. Her 4, no BW losses have come to schools with 30-12 record. Meaning she hasn't beaten a team worth a damn. Her best wins are against San Diego and Illinois-Chicago. Not exactly powerhouses.
Faith's contract is up at the end of the year. The real question is by what standards will Cal Poly use to decide whether Faith gets a new contract? If she has a 16-14 overall record will Faith get a new contract? Shouldn't the decision be over her entire career and not just ONE season or even one week's (during the Big West Tournament) of good play?
At the very least Cal Poly should see that Faith has reach her "ceiling" at Cal Poly. You know what you're going to get. Why not try to find somebody else who maybe able to acheive more?
One other thing. Faith is white. The AD at Cal Poly is white. San Luis Obispo is mostly white. The coach, who Cal Poly fired and Faith replaced after two years was black. Karen Booker had a two year record of 9-44. No doubt she should have been fired. But if Cal Poly was so quick to pull the trigger on Booker's firing, why then have they put up with Faith's losing ways, for so long?
If people don't think race plays a factor in the hiring and firing of coaches, you are clueless. Go stick your head in the sand. And it works both ways. Some black coaches should be fired but aren't because of the potential backlash of firing a black coach.
This wasn't meant to be a Faith Mimnaigh bashing. She is a very nice person who does care about her players. But it's clear to see she is not a good head coach and should not be resigned to a new contract, no matter what her 08-09 record maybe.
Next up, Cal State Northridge and Staci Schulz.
Big West Coach’s Salaries
Big West Coach’s Salaries
Sept 9, 2005.
I read a lot of articles about women’s basketball. The past few months, the salaries of coaches listed in those articles really got my attention. I couldn’t believe how much coaches in conferences like the Mountain West and Western Athletic Conference are being paid. Coaches in those two conferences are making a lot more than coaches in the Big West.
A San Diego paper listed new head coach Beth Burn’s salary at $129,000 per year. The article also listed the salaries of three other Mountain West Conference coaches. All three made much more than Burns’ $129,000. Don Flanagan at New Mexico made $170,000. Regina Miller made $189,000 at UNLV and Ardie McInelly made $144,723. So roughly half of the nine teams in the MWC make over $125,000 a year. (Union-Tribute August 30, 2005)
In the WAC, former Fresno St. head coach, Stacey Johnson-Klein made a base salary of $150,000 and with incentives she could have made over $225,000. (Fresno Bee, March 17, 2005) San Jose St. head coach Janice Richard got a two year contract extension with an increase in salary to $118,000. (Mercury News, April 7, 2005)
As for assistant coaches:
Adrian Wiggins was the first assistant at Fresno St for three seasons. He made $83,000. (Fresno Bee, March 17, 2005)
Selena Ho was an assistant at UCI for two seasons. She left UCI for Oregon and her base salary at Oregon is $50,000 as the third assistant. (Register-Guard June 1, 2005)
So this got me wondering about the salary structure in the Big West. Before I go on, I am not trying to say or imply that any of the coaches in the BW are not qualified. I am not trying to say or imply that BW coaches do not work hard. I have seen these coaches spend long hours at summer tournaments. I know they spend long days and nights preparing their teams. I have spent time interviewing and/or talking to these coaches. They know a lot about the game of basketball and how to teach that knowledge to players. All I’m trying to point out is that these coaches are underpaid and deserve more money!!!
So I asked each BW coach two simple questions:
Do you make over $100,000?
Do any of your coaches make $50,000 or more?
Of the five coaches who replied, two decided not to answer. Three coaches said they do not make $100,000 and only one said they had an assistant coach who was making $50,000. Also an article in a SLO paper listed Cal Poly’s coach Mimnaugh’s salary as less than $100,000. (The Tribune, March 19, 2005)
I do know from talking to boosters and those close to programs that two other BW coaches who did not reply, do make more than $100,000 and one other assistant coach makes over $50,000. So only two of the nine BW coaches make over $100,000 a year, compared to the MWC where four coaches make over $125,000? Only two assistant coaches make $50,000? A BW coach has been the head coach for nine years and still isn’t making $100,000? There are a lot of coaches in the BW who are being underpaid!!!!!!
Now factor in the high cost of living in California, you have a double edged sword, low pay and high cost of living. Have you seen the housing prices in the areas near BW schools? Think you can buy a house or condo in or around Orange County for less than $500,000? Do you know the cost of a two bedroom apartment in the Valley? An extra $25,000 to $50,000 a year in salary could very well the difference between buying a house and renting an apartment. Or the difference between buying a house within a reasonable commute to the school and having a two hour commute each way.
I don’t want to hear excuses that Fresno St and San Diego St. have football teams and access to more money. Most of the football money goes back into the football program. Both schools are part of Cal State University system. The salary scale at the CSU’s do not vary that much and even if they do vary, it’s certainly not $50,000 more at San Diego St than the four BW schools that are members of the CSU system.
Higher salaries allow for schools to attract, hire, and keep quality coaches. But more than that, I believe higher salaries show a commitment not only to the women’s basketball program but to the overall success of the athletic department. That may mean boosters at each school need to step up and supplement the salaries schools can pay, just like Fresno St. Or shifting resources from other sports that do not get the media attention, after all women’s basketball is a Big West priority sport and should be treated as such.
If schools can’t afford to pay the higher salaries or the booster money isn’t there, then BW schools need to get creative. Maybe the schools could buy houses in the area and then allow the coaches to live in those houses for free or at greatly reduced rent. Or at least work out some deal with home and/or apartment owners so that the coaches get a greatly reduced rate. Saving say $1,500 a month on rent can go a long way for a coach making less than $50,000 a year.
So if the BW is serious about becoming a strong women’s basketball conference they need to start paying their coaches at rates that are equal to those of schools in other conferences.
Ed. Note: I do not think comparing salaries of BW schools and WCC schools is fair. The WCC has eight private schools. Private schools practice non-disclosure when it comes to salaries.
Sept 9, 2005.
I read a lot of articles about women’s basketball. The past few months, the salaries of coaches listed in those articles really got my attention. I couldn’t believe how much coaches in conferences like the Mountain West and Western Athletic Conference are being paid. Coaches in those two conferences are making a lot more than coaches in the Big West.
A San Diego paper listed new head coach Beth Burn’s salary at $129,000 per year. The article also listed the salaries of three other Mountain West Conference coaches. All three made much more than Burns’ $129,000. Don Flanagan at New Mexico made $170,000. Regina Miller made $189,000 at UNLV and Ardie McInelly made $144,723. So roughly half of the nine teams in the MWC make over $125,000 a year. (Union-Tribute August 30, 2005)
In the WAC, former Fresno St. head coach, Stacey Johnson-Klein made a base salary of $150,000 and with incentives she could have made over $225,000. (Fresno Bee, March 17, 2005) San Jose St. head coach Janice Richard got a two year contract extension with an increase in salary to $118,000. (Mercury News, April 7, 2005)
As for assistant coaches:
Adrian Wiggins was the first assistant at Fresno St for three seasons. He made $83,000. (Fresno Bee, March 17, 2005)
Selena Ho was an assistant at UCI for two seasons. She left UCI for Oregon and her base salary at Oregon is $50,000 as the third assistant. (Register-Guard June 1, 2005)
So this got me wondering about the salary structure in the Big West. Before I go on, I am not trying to say or imply that any of the coaches in the BW are not qualified. I am not trying to say or imply that BW coaches do not work hard. I have seen these coaches spend long hours at summer tournaments. I know they spend long days and nights preparing their teams. I have spent time interviewing and/or talking to these coaches. They know a lot about the game of basketball and how to teach that knowledge to players. All I’m trying to point out is that these coaches are underpaid and deserve more money!!!
So I asked each BW coach two simple questions:
Do you make over $100,000?
Do any of your coaches make $50,000 or more?
Of the five coaches who replied, two decided not to answer. Three coaches said they do not make $100,000 and only one said they had an assistant coach who was making $50,000. Also an article in a SLO paper listed Cal Poly’s coach Mimnaugh’s salary as less than $100,000. (The Tribune, March 19, 2005)
I do know from talking to boosters and those close to programs that two other BW coaches who did not reply, do make more than $100,000 and one other assistant coach makes over $50,000. So only two of the nine BW coaches make over $100,000 a year, compared to the MWC where four coaches make over $125,000? Only two assistant coaches make $50,000? A BW coach has been the head coach for nine years and still isn’t making $100,000? There are a lot of coaches in the BW who are being underpaid!!!!!!
Now factor in the high cost of living in California, you have a double edged sword, low pay and high cost of living. Have you seen the housing prices in the areas near BW schools? Think you can buy a house or condo in or around Orange County for less than $500,000? Do you know the cost of a two bedroom apartment in the Valley? An extra $25,000 to $50,000 a year in salary could very well the difference between buying a house and renting an apartment. Or the difference between buying a house within a reasonable commute to the school and having a two hour commute each way.
I don’t want to hear excuses that Fresno St and San Diego St. have football teams and access to more money. Most of the football money goes back into the football program. Both schools are part of Cal State University system. The salary scale at the CSU’s do not vary that much and even if they do vary, it’s certainly not $50,000 more at San Diego St than the four BW schools that are members of the CSU system.
Higher salaries allow for schools to attract, hire, and keep quality coaches. But more than that, I believe higher salaries show a commitment not only to the women’s basketball program but to the overall success of the athletic department. That may mean boosters at each school need to step up and supplement the salaries schools can pay, just like Fresno St. Or shifting resources from other sports that do not get the media attention, after all women’s basketball is a Big West priority sport and should be treated as such.
If schools can’t afford to pay the higher salaries or the booster money isn’t there, then BW schools need to get creative. Maybe the schools could buy houses in the area and then allow the coaches to live in those houses for free or at greatly reduced rent. Or at least work out some deal with home and/or apartment owners so that the coaches get a greatly reduced rate. Saving say $1,500 a month on rent can go a long way for a coach making less than $50,000 a year.
So if the BW is serious about becoming a strong women’s basketball conference they need to start paying their coaches at rates that are equal to those of schools in other conferences.
Ed. Note: I do not think comparing salaries of BW schools and WCC schools is fair. The WCC has eight private schools. Private schools practice non-disclosure when it comes to salaries.
Interview with Staci Schulz
Interview with Staci Schulz: August 26, 2005
Staci Schulz will be starting her first season as head coach at Cal State Northridge. A native of South Dakota, Schulz has was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Northridge for the last three seasons. Schulz has also coached at Western Illinois and UNLV.
LA Women’s Hoops had the chance to talk with Coach Schulz. Find out about her love of motorcycles (After all Sturgis is held in South Dakota) and what it will take to Northridge to continue their great turn around.
Tell us about yourself.
I played at a small school, Mount Marty College in South Dakota. It was about one hour from my home town in South Dakota. Back then in South Dakota, I didn’t know AAU basketball, travel teams. I didn’t all that stuff I know now.
I went to graduate school at Western Illinois. There I had a graduate assistantship in the PE department. I was teaching graduate level classes but at the whole time I knew I wanted something to do with basketball. So I volunteered with the women’s team with Regina Miller. Then Regina Miller got the job at UNLV and I started an entry level position at UNLV and after four years I was leading the recruiting efforts.
What brought you to Northridge three years ago?
I was looking to make a change from UNLV, since I had been there for four years. Like Northridge, UNLV at the time was it was in need of a change and was a rebuilding process. After four years at UNLV we made it to the NCAA tournament.
So the Northridge job came up and at the time before Tammy Holder got the job, I had applied here. I have family here so I wanted to be closer to my sister and her family. So I moved into the area and got the assistant’s job with Tammy.
Ed. Note: Former Northridge head coach Frozena Jerro is an assistant at UNLV, under Regina Miller. What a small world?
Talk about how you found out about Tammy resigning and going to South Carolina. Did you have any idea she was going to South Carolina.
No, I didn’t have any idea she was leaving. It was pretty abrupt. I knew she missed home. She’s from the East and is really an East Coast person. But I didn’t know that the job at South Carolina was in the works.
Tammy sat us down and told us that she was going back home. We were like WOW!!! We didn’t know but the decision was already made. It’s not like we knew before the decision was made. But she also played a key role with the administration here to make sure they communicated with us and the team to at least give us a shot at the keeping the staff here.
We were a little nervous for us. But it took a little while during the search process and we were out recruiting almost the whole month of July before we knew anything.
When did you decide to go after the head coaching job at Northridge?
Immediately, I knew I wanted to stay here for the same reasons I moved here. I have my sister here and the rest of the staff have family here too. None of us wanted to go anywhere. Really if I didn’t have the job, I don’t think any of us would still here. Just because that’s really how it goes. When they bring in a new head coach, a lot of times the new head coach wants to bring in his or her own staff. That’s just how it goes in the business. So we were all pulling together and we all wanted to stay. Everyone had the chance to speak to the administration about what they wanted to see happen. The team has their chance to talk to the administration.
The first reports after Tammy left, was that they would hire somebody as an interim coach. Do you know when they changed their minds and offered the permanent position?
Immediately when I talked to administers they told me they wanted to look into it and see where things were. They took into consideration the continuity of the current team and the continuity of the recruiting efforts. We have a good sized class, an impact type class with Ofa, to replace this year.
If they were going to put somebody in as an interim coach, that would have affected recruiting. You can’t go out and recruit someone and say “Come play for us and we’ll let you know who your coach is, in a year.” That was a huge consideration for them.
Also the current team, we had some rebuilding success. We were returning every single player and gaining two more players. I think a major change in the staff could have change the continuity of the direction of the program.
The other two assistants, Carla Houser and Margo Clark are going to stay. Are you going to have a chance to find the third assistant?
As a matter of fact the job listing just got posted today on the NCAA website. That will be a little bit of a process too. We are going to be a bit behind but we’re all been working pretty hard around here. We don’t even have time to decorate our office. (laughing) , recruiting and getting ready for the school year.
Can you talk about Carla Houser and Margo Clark?
The team loves both assistant coaches.
Carla will be taking over my position as recruiting coordinator. As far as I can tell she will do a better job than I did. (laughing) She’s pumped up about it. In the past she done some scheduling.
The new trend in recruiting is that high school junior are committing earlier so that’s been Carla’s focus. Not only are we recruiting our current class but she’s sending letters to high school juniors to get more attention to our school.
Coach Mo is like a big sister in a way. They look up to them. Coach Mo has done film exchange and she’s also our academic liaison. Our team has taken a great jump academically the last year, so she’s done a great job.
A lot of roles can change depending on who the third assistant will be. But all four coaches will be very involved with recruiting.
After you got hired did you have a chance to talk to the whole team?
Not as a whole team. Most of them were around all summer. At the time about half the team was here. So we got them together and Janet Lucas, Interim Athletic Director at Northridge, wanted to talk to them and make a presentation about the hire. They were excited. There was a shout out in the room at that moment. It was a goose bumpy moment for everybody.
Talk about your philosophy on scheduling?
Every year we want to challenge our team. I really think anything can happen. We are still challenging them with the Pac-10 and Mountain West. I’m not so worried about the end record as long as the games we are playing early are used as a learning experience.
I won’t take a big loss for money. I don’t think that prepares us either.
There seems to be some schools in the Big West who is willing to take a big loss for money. Does that help the conference?
Not always. But sometimes that out of the coaching control. I know coaches around the country who say they need so many guarantee games to help the program out.
But if you’re going to do something like that, it has to be a winnable game or at least good competition.
What are your expectations for the team?
To continue to do well. To take more steps forward. A transition can go many different ways. It can go poorly. It can go pretty good, keep it at the same level. Or take a step forward. I think with the continuity of what’s going on, I expect at least to maintain our performance from last year but our goals our to take a step forward. Our goals are to win our conference and that means going to the NCAA tournament. That’s our next goal is to increase our wins even more.
Talk about Ofa. Will she be able to play this year?
Ofa was never really an injury. It was a recurring issue. There was never an additional tear or anything. She’s back at 100%.
The thing about Ofa is that she is so unselfish that it adds to her greatness. She will always thank her team. She do not care if she doesn’t have the greatness night because that means someone else on her team did. But then she’ll turn things around and have a wonderful night.
Talk about the two new players. How did they feel about the coaching change? What kind of impact do you think they’ll make.
They didn’t have any concerns. They will contribute. I can’t say to what extent at this point but I think a great deal. I expect them to contribute but at what level it’s up to them. It’s a transition for them just going to college and then there a change with the coaching but it may go smoother for them than the returning players.
Ashley Blake is a combo guard. She handles the ball real well but she can also shoot the 3. Her high school coach Karen White is now an assistant coach at Pacific.
Crystal Hahs is a post player from San Clemente and she will battle for playing time.
With Crystal you have another post player to go with Katie Holloway and Jazelle Burries. Are you happy with your post position?
I expect all our post player to battle for playing time. I think Katie Holloway needs to battle against players like Jazelle. Jazelle has come a long way since her freshmen year. I really expect all of them to make each other better and go against each other really hard each day and share playing time. I don’t think any one post player is going to have so much more playing time than the other. I think they are all right there.
What difference will the player notice between your style of coaching and Coach Holder’s?
I think we are going to come out a little more aggressive. Coach Holder was always energetic but now we are going to take that energy and add a little killer instinct. I don’t want to change the energy this team has. I hope to press and run even more. It should be an exciting brand of basketball.
The difference between the team this year and last year was they were juniors finally. We know each other and we played with each other. It’s not like how close we can get to winning this game. It’s now we are in every game and can beat anybody. I think it’s a natural progression to have this killer instinct. We have this attitude of Respect All but fear none.
How will it be different for the team with you as Head Coach?
The role is certainly different but the one thing about Coach Holder is she always involved the entire staff in practices. She let us implement an offense.
When the three of us were assistants, I wasn’t the “fun” coach and was closer to the head coach side of things. So I think how they look at me will be similar.
What did you learn most from Coach Holder?
Have fun with this. At my previous experience it was a serious matter. My job became all I ever was. Coach Holder really taught us to have fun in what we’re doing. You have a lot of fun by working hard and getting it down.
We still take basketball very serious. But we have fun and enjoy the people around us.
What do you look for when recruiting a player?
Like our current team, they are all good people. We don’t have issues on our team in the three years I’ve been here. That a lot of Coach Holder but she instilled that on the rest of us. We recruit good people and we turn out great people.
I’m pleased to see we have good students. When you have good students, coaches get to coach. Coaches don’t have to worry about academics.
We have three scholarships for sure. We would love to get a post position who is really physical and a point guard who is really quick and can handle the ball.
The success of the program has allowed us to talk to some players we weren’t able to with the six wins. But now with 18 wins, kids are saying yes I’m interested in talking to you.
How tough is it to recruit with Northridge’s sub par facilities?
It can be challenging. But I don’t worry about that. We try to sell the coaching staff, the current team and where this program is going. We try to sell our school.
We talked about your staff and the athletic department getting new offices. How do you think getting new offices will help?
That will help. The offices themselves here are fine. But pulling up outside and walking into the hallway is not that attractive. The new building will help a lot.
Can you talk about Dick Dull resigning as Athletic Director and becoming head of major fundraising? How that affects your program?
Last year he wasn’t the direct supervisor of many sports because he was really trying to improve our athletic department’s image. I think major fundraising is an extension of that.
I think already he’s hire a wonderful administrator in Janet Lucas. (Interim Athletic Director) She has through the first year was handling the functional, day to day duties. I think the transition was smooth.
I expect great things and I expect to see him around, just not in the athletic department building.
How can the administration be more helpful for your program?
More scholarship dollars. Not that we don’t have our numbers. (NCAA max for women’s basketball is 15 scholarships) but it would give us a little more freedom to recruit across the country. Even though it is my goal is to recruit locally as much as possible. There is just too much talent around here.
Last year, what was your biggest weakness?
I would say early in the season we weren’t in top shape. I really want the team to be in the best shape going into game number one. It’s always different going from practicing for a month and your first game, so you’re always going feel that a little bit. But a lot of times we had to push through because we were a little winded.
Toward the end of the season we had a lot of players with nagging injuries, at a lot of practices we didn’t have 10 healthy players. What would happen is that a lot of players had to play a lot of minutes.
I really feel like if we get them in good shape and bring them along, we’ll have healthier people throughout the year. Which means we’ll have more people contributing and the more people that can contribute the better off you’ll be.
Last year Coach Holder wanted to find a true point guard. Have you found a true point guard?
I think Ashley Blake will contribute. I think most of that goal (finding a point guard) was met. We’re still looking for another point guard this year. Not looking to replace the point guard we have, but we’re looking for even more of a true point guard. Someone with serious ball handling skills.
Let’s talk about some issues in the Big West.
What do you think about losing Idaho and Utah State?
It will be nice not to make that trip. Going to both schools on the same weekend made it very challenging. Both programs are competitive. I’m not sure how that will effect our conference’s RPI. Everybody makes the Big West Tournament so it takes a little pressure off in that respect.
I’m pleased about not having to make the trip, even though I would love to continue to play each team but I don’t know if I want to play them there. Maybe we can combine Utah State with another Utah school.
What do you think about UC Davis coming in?
I think it’s great. They have a great friendly coaching staff, very friendly, good competitive type people. I love communicating with them. It’s been great bumping elbows with them on the recruiting trail.
Going there for the first time last year, a very fun crowd, and fun people to be around up there. It’s not that that bad of a trip with Pacific up there already.
What do you think about the 2pm Saturday afternoon games?
It’s a good efficient thing to do. Because it was between 2 and 4pm we wanted as many 4pm games as possible. Just because it’s a little later in the day and turns into evening at least, you get your shot around without getting up at the crack of dawn.
But the way the economy is right now I can understand not paying for a extra night at a hotel. So I understand it though I do not prefer it.
If I talked to you a year from now, what will have to happen for you to consider this year a success?
Number 1 I want to believe no matter what our record is, we competed every single game, every single minute. I know teams go through slumps. But I think the reason our team is a diamond in the rough, is that they have that competitive spirit about them.
Success is have a similar record and respect from the basketball community, that team really did it again.
But our goals about bigger than what I would consider success.
They still need to make a transition. They are pleased to have the current staff they had the past three years. But it’s still a transition, nobody can deny that. I think making it through the transition with a respectable record and the respect of the basketball community and the players have a good college basketball experience is success, enough.
When you want to get away from basketball what do you do?
I love riding motorcycles. I have a Road King. (That’s a Harley Davidson, for you uneducated people out there.) and I have a horse too. So those are my two escapes. It’s a great thing to be able to do for a couple hours.
(It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Coach Schulz likes to ride motorcycles. After all she’s from South Dakota, home of Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. Though surprisingly she’s never been to Sturgis which is like a kid in LA never going to Disneyland.)
Staci Schulz will be starting her first season as head coach at Cal State Northridge. A native of South Dakota, Schulz has was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Northridge for the last three seasons. Schulz has also coached at Western Illinois and UNLV.
LA Women’s Hoops had the chance to talk with Coach Schulz. Find out about her love of motorcycles (After all Sturgis is held in South Dakota) and what it will take to Northridge to continue their great turn around.
Tell us about yourself.
I played at a small school, Mount Marty College in South Dakota. It was about one hour from my home town in South Dakota. Back then in South Dakota, I didn’t know AAU basketball, travel teams. I didn’t all that stuff I know now.
I went to graduate school at Western Illinois. There I had a graduate assistantship in the PE department. I was teaching graduate level classes but at the whole time I knew I wanted something to do with basketball. So I volunteered with the women’s team with Regina Miller. Then Regina Miller got the job at UNLV and I started an entry level position at UNLV and after four years I was leading the recruiting efforts.
What brought you to Northridge three years ago?
I was looking to make a change from UNLV, since I had been there for four years. Like Northridge, UNLV at the time was it was in need of a change and was a rebuilding process. After four years at UNLV we made it to the NCAA tournament.
So the Northridge job came up and at the time before Tammy Holder got the job, I had applied here. I have family here so I wanted to be closer to my sister and her family. So I moved into the area and got the assistant’s job with Tammy.
Ed. Note: Former Northridge head coach Frozena Jerro is an assistant at UNLV, under Regina Miller. What a small world?
Talk about how you found out about Tammy resigning and going to South Carolina. Did you have any idea she was going to South Carolina.
No, I didn’t have any idea she was leaving. It was pretty abrupt. I knew she missed home. She’s from the East and is really an East Coast person. But I didn’t know that the job at South Carolina was in the works.
Tammy sat us down and told us that she was going back home. We were like WOW!!! We didn’t know but the decision was already made. It’s not like we knew before the decision was made. But she also played a key role with the administration here to make sure they communicated with us and the team to at least give us a shot at the keeping the staff here.
We were a little nervous for us. But it took a little while during the search process and we were out recruiting almost the whole month of July before we knew anything.
When did you decide to go after the head coaching job at Northridge?
Immediately, I knew I wanted to stay here for the same reasons I moved here. I have my sister here and the rest of the staff have family here too. None of us wanted to go anywhere. Really if I didn’t have the job, I don’t think any of us would still here. Just because that’s really how it goes. When they bring in a new head coach, a lot of times the new head coach wants to bring in his or her own staff. That’s just how it goes in the business. So we were all pulling together and we all wanted to stay. Everyone had the chance to speak to the administration about what they wanted to see happen. The team has their chance to talk to the administration.
The first reports after Tammy left, was that they would hire somebody as an interim coach. Do you know when they changed their minds and offered the permanent position?
Immediately when I talked to administers they told me they wanted to look into it and see where things were. They took into consideration the continuity of the current team and the continuity of the recruiting efforts. We have a good sized class, an impact type class with Ofa, to replace this year.
If they were going to put somebody in as an interim coach, that would have affected recruiting. You can’t go out and recruit someone and say “Come play for us and we’ll let you know who your coach is, in a year.” That was a huge consideration for them.
Also the current team, we had some rebuilding success. We were returning every single player and gaining two more players. I think a major change in the staff could have change the continuity of the direction of the program.
The other two assistants, Carla Houser and Margo Clark are going to stay. Are you going to have a chance to find the third assistant?
As a matter of fact the job listing just got posted today on the NCAA website. That will be a little bit of a process too. We are going to be a bit behind but we’re all been working pretty hard around here. We don’t even have time to decorate our office. (laughing) , recruiting and getting ready for the school year.
Can you talk about Carla Houser and Margo Clark?
The team loves both assistant coaches.
Carla will be taking over my position as recruiting coordinator. As far as I can tell she will do a better job than I did. (laughing) She’s pumped up about it. In the past she done some scheduling.
The new trend in recruiting is that high school junior are committing earlier so that’s been Carla’s focus. Not only are we recruiting our current class but she’s sending letters to high school juniors to get more attention to our school.
Coach Mo is like a big sister in a way. They look up to them. Coach Mo has done film exchange and she’s also our academic liaison. Our team has taken a great jump academically the last year, so she’s done a great job.
A lot of roles can change depending on who the third assistant will be. But all four coaches will be very involved with recruiting.
After you got hired did you have a chance to talk to the whole team?
Not as a whole team. Most of them were around all summer. At the time about half the team was here. So we got them together and Janet Lucas, Interim Athletic Director at Northridge, wanted to talk to them and make a presentation about the hire. They were excited. There was a shout out in the room at that moment. It was a goose bumpy moment for everybody.
Talk about your philosophy on scheduling?
Every year we want to challenge our team. I really think anything can happen. We are still challenging them with the Pac-10 and Mountain West. I’m not so worried about the end record as long as the games we are playing early are used as a learning experience.
I won’t take a big loss for money. I don’t think that prepares us either.
There seems to be some schools in the Big West who is willing to take a big loss for money. Does that help the conference?
Not always. But sometimes that out of the coaching control. I know coaches around the country who say they need so many guarantee games to help the program out.
But if you’re going to do something like that, it has to be a winnable game or at least good competition.
What are your expectations for the team?
To continue to do well. To take more steps forward. A transition can go many different ways. It can go poorly. It can go pretty good, keep it at the same level. Or take a step forward. I think with the continuity of what’s going on, I expect at least to maintain our performance from last year but our goals our to take a step forward. Our goals are to win our conference and that means going to the NCAA tournament. That’s our next goal is to increase our wins even more.
Talk about Ofa. Will she be able to play this year?
Ofa was never really an injury. It was a recurring issue. There was never an additional tear or anything. She’s back at 100%.
The thing about Ofa is that she is so unselfish that it adds to her greatness. She will always thank her team. She do not care if she doesn’t have the greatness night because that means someone else on her team did. But then she’ll turn things around and have a wonderful night.
Talk about the two new players. How did they feel about the coaching change? What kind of impact do you think they’ll make.
They didn’t have any concerns. They will contribute. I can’t say to what extent at this point but I think a great deal. I expect them to contribute but at what level it’s up to them. It’s a transition for them just going to college and then there a change with the coaching but it may go smoother for them than the returning players.
Ashley Blake is a combo guard. She handles the ball real well but she can also shoot the 3. Her high school coach Karen White is now an assistant coach at Pacific.
Crystal Hahs is a post player from San Clemente and she will battle for playing time.
With Crystal you have another post player to go with Katie Holloway and Jazelle Burries. Are you happy with your post position?
I expect all our post player to battle for playing time. I think Katie Holloway needs to battle against players like Jazelle. Jazelle has come a long way since her freshmen year. I really expect all of them to make each other better and go against each other really hard each day and share playing time. I don’t think any one post player is going to have so much more playing time than the other. I think they are all right there.
What difference will the player notice between your style of coaching and Coach Holder’s?
I think we are going to come out a little more aggressive. Coach Holder was always energetic but now we are going to take that energy and add a little killer instinct. I don’t want to change the energy this team has. I hope to press and run even more. It should be an exciting brand of basketball.
The difference between the team this year and last year was they were juniors finally. We know each other and we played with each other. It’s not like how close we can get to winning this game. It’s now we are in every game and can beat anybody. I think it’s a natural progression to have this killer instinct. We have this attitude of Respect All but fear none.
How will it be different for the team with you as Head Coach?
The role is certainly different but the one thing about Coach Holder is she always involved the entire staff in practices. She let us implement an offense.
When the three of us were assistants, I wasn’t the “fun” coach and was closer to the head coach side of things. So I think how they look at me will be similar.
What did you learn most from Coach Holder?
Have fun with this. At my previous experience it was a serious matter. My job became all I ever was. Coach Holder really taught us to have fun in what we’re doing. You have a lot of fun by working hard and getting it down.
We still take basketball very serious. But we have fun and enjoy the people around us.
What do you look for when recruiting a player?
Like our current team, they are all good people. We don’t have issues on our team in the three years I’ve been here. That a lot of Coach Holder but she instilled that on the rest of us. We recruit good people and we turn out great people.
I’m pleased to see we have good students. When you have good students, coaches get to coach. Coaches don’t have to worry about academics.
We have three scholarships for sure. We would love to get a post position who is really physical and a point guard who is really quick and can handle the ball.
The success of the program has allowed us to talk to some players we weren’t able to with the six wins. But now with 18 wins, kids are saying yes I’m interested in talking to you.
How tough is it to recruit with Northridge’s sub par facilities?
It can be challenging. But I don’t worry about that. We try to sell the coaching staff, the current team and where this program is going. We try to sell our school.
We talked about your staff and the athletic department getting new offices. How do you think getting new offices will help?
That will help. The offices themselves here are fine. But pulling up outside and walking into the hallway is not that attractive. The new building will help a lot.
Can you talk about Dick Dull resigning as Athletic Director and becoming head of major fundraising? How that affects your program?
Last year he wasn’t the direct supervisor of many sports because he was really trying to improve our athletic department’s image. I think major fundraising is an extension of that.
I think already he’s hire a wonderful administrator in Janet Lucas. (Interim Athletic Director) She has through the first year was handling the functional, day to day duties. I think the transition was smooth.
I expect great things and I expect to see him around, just not in the athletic department building.
How can the administration be more helpful for your program?
More scholarship dollars. Not that we don’t have our numbers. (NCAA max for women’s basketball is 15 scholarships) but it would give us a little more freedom to recruit across the country. Even though it is my goal is to recruit locally as much as possible. There is just too much talent around here.
Last year, what was your biggest weakness?
I would say early in the season we weren’t in top shape. I really want the team to be in the best shape going into game number one. It’s always different going from practicing for a month and your first game, so you’re always going feel that a little bit. But a lot of times we had to push through because we were a little winded.
Toward the end of the season we had a lot of players with nagging injuries, at a lot of practices we didn’t have 10 healthy players. What would happen is that a lot of players had to play a lot of minutes.
I really feel like if we get them in good shape and bring them along, we’ll have healthier people throughout the year. Which means we’ll have more people contributing and the more people that can contribute the better off you’ll be.
Last year Coach Holder wanted to find a true point guard. Have you found a true point guard?
I think Ashley Blake will contribute. I think most of that goal (finding a point guard) was met. We’re still looking for another point guard this year. Not looking to replace the point guard we have, but we’re looking for even more of a true point guard. Someone with serious ball handling skills.
Let’s talk about some issues in the Big West.
What do you think about losing Idaho and Utah State?
It will be nice not to make that trip. Going to both schools on the same weekend made it very challenging. Both programs are competitive. I’m not sure how that will effect our conference’s RPI. Everybody makes the Big West Tournament so it takes a little pressure off in that respect.
I’m pleased about not having to make the trip, even though I would love to continue to play each team but I don’t know if I want to play them there. Maybe we can combine Utah State with another Utah school.
What do you think about UC Davis coming in?
I think it’s great. They have a great friendly coaching staff, very friendly, good competitive type people. I love communicating with them. It’s been great bumping elbows with them on the recruiting trail.
Going there for the first time last year, a very fun crowd, and fun people to be around up there. It’s not that that bad of a trip with Pacific up there already.
What do you think about the 2pm Saturday afternoon games?
It’s a good efficient thing to do. Because it was between 2 and 4pm we wanted as many 4pm games as possible. Just because it’s a little later in the day and turns into evening at least, you get your shot around without getting up at the crack of dawn.
But the way the economy is right now I can understand not paying for a extra night at a hotel. So I understand it though I do not prefer it.
If I talked to you a year from now, what will have to happen for you to consider this year a success?
Number 1 I want to believe no matter what our record is, we competed every single game, every single minute. I know teams go through slumps. But I think the reason our team is a diamond in the rough, is that they have that competitive spirit about them.
Success is have a similar record and respect from the basketball community, that team really did it again.
But our goals about bigger than what I would consider success.
They still need to make a transition. They are pleased to have the current staff they had the past three years. But it’s still a transition, nobody can deny that. I think making it through the transition with a respectable record and the respect of the basketball community and the players have a good college basketball experience is success, enough.
When you want to get away from basketball what do you do?
I love riding motorcycles. I have a Road King. (That’s a Harley Davidson, for you uneducated people out there.) and I have a horse too. So those are my two escapes. It’s a great thing to be able to do for a couple hours.
(It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Coach Schulz likes to ride motorcycles. After all she’s from South Dakota, home of Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. Though surprisingly she’s never been to Sturgis which is like a kid in LA never going to Disneyland.)
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