It is never too early to start the Coaching Carousel.
In the LA area, we have nine D-1 schools.
The following coaches are safe from being let go from their schools. I also think all of the schools will not be affected by the turning of the coaching carousel.
USC, UCLA, Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach St., UC Riverside, UC Irvine, Pepperdine.
The following two programs need to make a change.
Cal State Northridge- Staci Schulz
LMU- Julie Wilhoit. This is the tough choice an athletic director has to make. Do you get rid of a coach who has won but hasn't won enough? Most schools seem happy if their women's basketball team wins 15-17 games a year, have their players gradudate, and not get in trouble. That is exactly the attitude that is preventing women's basketball from improving. Yes, having players graduate and stay out of trouble is very important. But coaches need to be held to a higher standard. Winning 17 games isn't enough, if you have the talent to win 20 games and go to the NCAA tournament.
Julie Wilhoit, long ago reached her ceiling at LMU. In 2004 she lead the Lions to the NCAA tournament. Sadly she has been living off that NCAA run six years later. Wilhoit has won, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19 wins in the five seasons since the 2004 NCAA team. For the 2009-10 season Julie Wilhoit has been struggling. Currently LMU is 12-14, 5-7 in the WCC. But a closer look at her record shows four of the five WCC wins include sweeps of USF and Santa Clara, two teams combined who have won, 2 games in the WCC and 7 games TOTAL!!
Then the fact that Wilhoit hasn't beaten a team with a pulse, that's all an AD needs to let Wilhoit go. In non conference, the team with the highest RPI, that LMU beat is Cal Poly, with a RPI of 161. The rest of their 11 wins have been against teams with RPI's of 200 or lower!! Portland, who LMU beat over the weekend, had a RPI of 159.
It is time for a coaching change at LMU.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Monday, February 1, 2010
Possible Conference Expansion.
College athletics is always changing. The last twenty years have seen many schools left conferences, chasing the almighty dollar. So let's take a look at possible expansion for the Big West and West Coast conferences.
Big West:
Currently the Big West has nine schools, all in California. The Big West thinks small, so they will only admit schools in California. In terms of scheduling, a nine team conference is a nightmare, with one team always having the night off, from BW competition. Also some schools have to make two trips up north, to Pacific and Davis, instead of one trip. That means schools are spending more money than they need to.
I will list schools the Big West may look to add, as their 10th member. But a few things to keep in mind. Schools will be in CA. Schools must sponsor all seven BW priority sports, M & W soccer and basketball, baseball, softball, women's volleyball. Schools need to make some sort of geographic sense. The Big West has five LA area schools. Travel partners should be UOP-Davis, SB-CP, then a rotation of the five LA area schools.
Cal State Bakersfield-Bake will be a full D-1 member on July 1, 2010. They would be a perfect geographic fit; travel partners with Northridge. Nice facilities. The only game in town, no competition with other schools, like in the LA area.
In strictly a women's basketball point of view, they would be a very strong contender for the BW championship.
But Bake made the move up to D-1 about five years ago and they still haven't gotten an invitation from the Big West. Why? Bake's men's basketball is terrible. They would be a RPI drain on the BW. While they play in a nice off campus arena, they don't draw jack. 2,000 fans in a 10,000 seat arena is nothing. 2009 was Bake's first year for baseball. They of course struggled, so they would be an RPI drain. They barely have a baseball facility; they have the field, dugouts, and some bleachers. Otherwise, they have a long way to go before calling it a stadium.
My prediction: Bakersfield is the BW's last resort option for a 10th member.
Sac. St.:
They have all the BW priority sports. But terrible facilities. Basketball plays in a 1,500 seat high school gym. Both teams are terrible. In WBB, Sac St hasn't finished a season with double digits wins in over a decade. Though they may reach that level this year.
Students voted for an arena but Sac St president did a bait and switch, instead spending the money on building a football field house, instead of an arena.
The only way Sac St would come into the Big West is, they either drop football or decide to go independent in football, like Cal Poly and UC Davis. Ok, both CP and Davis are in the Great West for football. But the Great West won't be a conference, after a couple schools move to other conferences.
Sac St would only come into the BW, if they can no longer afford all the travel cost of being in the Big Sky. Even though there is a budget crunch in CA, Sac St is staying on course with the Big Sky.
In terms of travel partners, Sac St. doesn't make sense with any school. Adding Sac. St to the BW, means three teams in Northern California. The likely travel partner would be Northridge.
My prediction: Sac. St. has football fantasies and they won't drop out of the Big Sky.
San Jose St.- Former BW member, now a member of the WAC. They would have to drop football in order to come back to the BW. But they seem to be focused on making their football program as strong as possible. The money from Boise St BCS team, will help.
Good facilities. But both basketball teams have struggled of late. Though their men's team is having a turn around season, this year. But the women's program is terrible. They maybe looking for a new coach soon.
As with Sac St., adding San Jose St. would mean three Northern California teams in the Big West.
My prediction- Not happening. San Jose St. won't drop football within the next 5-7 years. So they won't be come members of the Big West.
WCC:
The WCC will only add small private schools. I also believe they will add two schools to make ten. Since nine schools makes for tough scheduling. The WCC currently has eight schools, all schools are on the West Coast, meaning all schools are in states that touch the Pacific Ocean. I know Cal Stat Long Beach alums and fans are too stupid to understand that point.
Seattle and Denver are two private schools. Seattle is making the move back up to D1. They are Washington so, geographically they make sense.
Denver will be kicked out of the Sun Belt Conference because they don't sponsor enough sports. While Denver is a western school, they aren't on the West Coast. I doubt Denver will be invited.
My prediction:
This may seem like a very long shot, but I could see this happening:
Seattle will be admitted into the WCC, it is only a matter of when.
UOP will be the other team admitted to the WCC. Why? UOP has a very good men's program and a good arena. Travel partners in the WCC will be LMU-Pepperdine, UOP-St. Mary's, USF-Santa Clara, Seattle-Gonzaga and Portland-USD.
If UOP does get into the WCC, then what school would the BW add?
Big West:
Currently the Big West has nine schools, all in California. The Big West thinks small, so they will only admit schools in California. In terms of scheduling, a nine team conference is a nightmare, with one team always having the night off, from BW competition. Also some schools have to make two trips up north, to Pacific and Davis, instead of one trip. That means schools are spending more money than they need to.
I will list schools the Big West may look to add, as their 10th member. But a few things to keep in mind. Schools will be in CA. Schools must sponsor all seven BW priority sports, M & W soccer and basketball, baseball, softball, women's volleyball. Schools need to make some sort of geographic sense. The Big West has five LA area schools. Travel partners should be UOP-Davis, SB-CP, then a rotation of the five LA area schools.
Cal State Bakersfield-Bake will be a full D-1 member on July 1, 2010. They would be a perfect geographic fit; travel partners with Northridge. Nice facilities. The only game in town, no competition with other schools, like in the LA area.
In strictly a women's basketball point of view, they would be a very strong contender for the BW championship.
But Bake made the move up to D-1 about five years ago and they still haven't gotten an invitation from the Big West. Why? Bake's men's basketball is terrible. They would be a RPI drain on the BW. While they play in a nice off campus arena, they don't draw jack. 2,000 fans in a 10,000 seat arena is nothing. 2009 was Bake's first year for baseball. They of course struggled, so they would be an RPI drain. They barely have a baseball facility; they have the field, dugouts, and some bleachers. Otherwise, they have a long way to go before calling it a stadium.
My prediction: Bakersfield is the BW's last resort option for a 10th member.
Sac. St.:
They have all the BW priority sports. But terrible facilities. Basketball plays in a 1,500 seat high school gym. Both teams are terrible. In WBB, Sac St hasn't finished a season with double digits wins in over a decade. Though they may reach that level this year.
Students voted for an arena but Sac St president did a bait and switch, instead spending the money on building a football field house, instead of an arena.
The only way Sac St would come into the Big West is, they either drop football or decide to go independent in football, like Cal Poly and UC Davis. Ok, both CP and Davis are in the Great West for football. But the Great West won't be a conference, after a couple schools move to other conferences.
Sac St would only come into the BW, if they can no longer afford all the travel cost of being in the Big Sky. Even though there is a budget crunch in CA, Sac St is staying on course with the Big Sky.
In terms of travel partners, Sac St. doesn't make sense with any school. Adding Sac. St to the BW, means three teams in Northern California. The likely travel partner would be Northridge.
My prediction: Sac. St. has football fantasies and they won't drop out of the Big Sky.
San Jose St.- Former BW member, now a member of the WAC. They would have to drop football in order to come back to the BW. But they seem to be focused on making their football program as strong as possible. The money from Boise St BCS team, will help.
Good facilities. But both basketball teams have struggled of late. Though their men's team is having a turn around season, this year. But the women's program is terrible. They maybe looking for a new coach soon.
As with Sac St., adding San Jose St. would mean three Northern California teams in the Big West.
My prediction- Not happening. San Jose St. won't drop football within the next 5-7 years. So they won't be come members of the Big West.
WCC:
The WCC will only add small private schools. I also believe they will add two schools to make ten. Since nine schools makes for tough scheduling. The WCC currently has eight schools, all schools are on the West Coast, meaning all schools are in states that touch the Pacific Ocean. I know Cal Stat Long Beach alums and fans are too stupid to understand that point.
Seattle and Denver are two private schools. Seattle is making the move back up to D1. They are Washington so, geographically they make sense.
Denver will be kicked out of the Sun Belt Conference because they don't sponsor enough sports. While Denver is a western school, they aren't on the West Coast. I doubt Denver will be invited.
My prediction:
This may seem like a very long shot, but I could see this happening:
Seattle will be admitted into the WCC, it is only a matter of when.
UOP will be the other team admitted to the WCC. Why? UOP has a very good men's program and a good arena. Travel partners in the WCC will be LMU-Pepperdine, UOP-St. Mary's, USF-Santa Clara, Seattle-Gonzaga and Portland-USD.
If UOP does get into the WCC, then what school would the BW add?
Friday, January 29, 2010
Mid Season Comments
Some mid season comments for women's college basketball in 2009-10.
Big West- Only two teams with a winning record, Cal Poly and UC Davis. Five teams that will lose 20 games or come damn close to it. Northridge, Pacific, and Irvine are locks for 20 losses. This would continue the Big West's streak of, at least two teams with 20 or more losses. The streak is currently at eight seasons. In 8 out of the last 9 seasons, the BW has had THREE teams with 20 or more losses. I'm betting it will be 9 out of 10 seasons, after this year.
Cal State Fullerton- Marcia Foster has Fullerton playing with more discipline and accountability. Team isn't that talented but has some good players. They just need more talent.
Long Beach St.- New coach, Jody Wynn, who is getting the most out of the limited talent. Have already match win total from last year, with basically the same team. Wynn will have to show she can recruit more talent. I know she can and she will.
Cal State Northridge- This better be Staci Schultz's last year at CSN. They are terrible, 1-6 in the Big West, 3-14 overall.
UCI-Maly-Karros is a dominant player in the BW. Jada Smith-Williams is another good player. But UCI struggled through non conference and is under .500 in the BW.
UCR-struggled like crazy in non conference. But has turned things around in conference. Not tough since the BW sucks.
LMU- Julie Wilhoit needs to be fired. She reached her ceiling five years ago. A Wilhoit team will win between 15-17 games, lose some games they should have won, and play a weak schedule. She has been running on fumes. Time for a change at LMU.
Big West- Only two teams with a winning record, Cal Poly and UC Davis. Five teams that will lose 20 games or come damn close to it. Northridge, Pacific, and Irvine are locks for 20 losses. This would continue the Big West's streak of, at least two teams with 20 or more losses. The streak is currently at eight seasons. In 8 out of the last 9 seasons, the BW has had THREE teams with 20 or more losses. I'm betting it will be 9 out of 10 seasons, after this year.
Cal State Fullerton- Marcia Foster has Fullerton playing with more discipline and accountability. Team isn't that talented but has some good players. They just need more talent.
Long Beach St.- New coach, Jody Wynn, who is getting the most out of the limited talent. Have already match win total from last year, with basically the same team. Wynn will have to show she can recruit more talent. I know she can and she will.
Cal State Northridge- This better be Staci Schultz's last year at CSN. They are terrible, 1-6 in the Big West, 3-14 overall.
UCI-Maly-Karros is a dominant player in the BW. Jada Smith-Williams is another good player. But UCI struggled through non conference and is under .500 in the BW.
UCR-struggled like crazy in non conference. But has turned things around in conference. Not tough since the BW sucks.
LMU- Julie Wilhoit needs to be fired. She reached her ceiling five years ago. A Wilhoit team will win between 15-17 games, lose some games they should have won, and play a weak schedule. She has been running on fumes. Time for a change at LMU.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Arrogance or Delusional?
I read a story about Kari Duperron in the Daily Breeze. The story from the Daily Breeze on Feb. 15, 2008. The story was mainly about a female coaching a sophomore high school basketball team. But the arrogance or is it delusionals of grandeur, of the story is what really got me upset. This link is the archive section of
The Daily Breeze.
Before I go on, this isn't a rip job on Kari Duperron but a comment to any recent college graduate, who is entering college coaching. You have to pay your dues as an assistant coach before thinking of getting any type of head coaching interest. I mean if former Stanford and Tenn players paid their dues before becoming head coaches, even at smaller schools; why shouldn't somebody from a smaller school like Cal Poly, pay their dues too.
The story mentions that after the 2006-2007 season, Kari, at 26 years old, with only half a season experience as a D-1 assistant coach, was suprised she didn't get a job as a head coach at smaller colleges. The story didn't mention exactly what schools I'm guessing schools like Hope International.
Kari didn't get any jobs she was applying for and felt politics was the reason she didn't get the job.
Now let's look at Kari's resume.
She played at Cal Poly, NEVER having a winning season as a college player.
She spent four seasons as the director of basketball operations at UCLA. Do you know what director of basketball operations does? That is a glorified gopher job. They make tapes, they get things ready for practice, they get what the coaches need. This isn't a coaching job. It is an administration job.
Then in her last season as operations director, she was an assistant coach for half the season.
That's it!! No coaching experience, no recruiting experience, nothing. And she thinks somebody with that resume deserves to be a head coach?
But instead of putting the blame on herself and her lack of expereince she blames it on her lack of connections!!! She worked for Kathy Olivier at UCLA, who is very well connected. I'm sure Olivier gave Kari good reviews, because Kari is currently an assistant coach at UNLV under; Kathy Olivier.
This is a quote from the story. "From what I've learned in the coaching business, you never know what will happen," she said. "I feel like it's based so much more on connections than qualifications. It was fun to be at the pure stage of the game again and to be around boys who, even as sophomores, know basketball is what they want. I can't really tell what my next step will be because I'm enjoying this level. I couldn't tell you what is next, to be honest."
Kari, I'll tell you what to do next, be a part of a winning season as an assistant coach. Get more experience as a coach. There are assistant coaches who paid their dues and never get a chance to become a head coach. What makes Kari think she deserves to be a head coach. For somebody barely five years out of college, to think she deserves to be a head coach, even at a small school, is just delusional.
As I mentioned earlier, Kari is starting her second year, as an assistant coach at UNLV for Kathy Olivier. She maybe she has learned that to become a head coach, you need to pay your dues.
Again, this isn't meant to be a rip job on Kari Duperron but a comment on any recent college graduate, who is entering college coaching.
The Daily Breeze.
Before I go on, this isn't a rip job on Kari Duperron but a comment to any recent college graduate, who is entering college coaching. You have to pay your dues as an assistant coach before thinking of getting any type of head coaching interest. I mean if former Stanford and Tenn players paid their dues before becoming head coaches, even at smaller schools; why shouldn't somebody from a smaller school like Cal Poly, pay their dues too.
The story mentions that after the 2006-2007 season, Kari, at 26 years old, with only half a season experience as a D-1 assistant coach, was suprised she didn't get a job as a head coach at smaller colleges. The story didn't mention exactly what schools I'm guessing schools like Hope International.
Kari didn't get any jobs she was applying for and felt politics was the reason she didn't get the job.
Now let's look at Kari's resume.
She played at Cal Poly, NEVER having a winning season as a college player.
She spent four seasons as the director of basketball operations at UCLA. Do you know what director of basketball operations does? That is a glorified gopher job. They make tapes, they get things ready for practice, they get what the coaches need. This isn't a coaching job. It is an administration job.
Then in her last season as operations director, she was an assistant coach for half the season.
That's it!! No coaching experience, no recruiting experience, nothing. And she thinks somebody with that resume deserves to be a head coach?
But instead of putting the blame on herself and her lack of expereince she blames it on her lack of connections!!! She worked for Kathy Olivier at UCLA, who is very well connected. I'm sure Olivier gave Kari good reviews, because Kari is currently an assistant coach at UNLV under; Kathy Olivier.
This is a quote from the story. "From what I've learned in the coaching business, you never know what will happen," she said. "I feel like it's based so much more on connections than qualifications. It was fun to be at the pure stage of the game again and to be around boys who, even as sophomores, know basketball is what they want. I can't really tell what my next step will be because I'm enjoying this level. I couldn't tell you what is next, to be honest."
Kari, I'll tell you what to do next, be a part of a winning season as an assistant coach. Get more experience as a coach. There are assistant coaches who paid their dues and never get a chance to become a head coach. What makes Kari think she deserves to be a head coach. For somebody barely five years out of college, to think she deserves to be a head coach, even at a small school, is just delusional.
As I mentioned earlier, Kari is starting her second year, as an assistant coach at UNLV for Kathy Olivier. She maybe she has learned that to become a head coach, you need to pay your dues.
Again, this isn't meant to be a rip job on Kari Duperron but a comment on any recent college graduate, who is entering college coaching.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Cal State Fullerton
Up next in my ongoing look at the history of Big West schools is Cal State Fullerton.
Some of the bad:
Last winning season 1990-91.
Nine, 9, 20 losss seasons, include SEVEN STRAIGHT!!!!!!
Eleven, 11, single digit win seasons.
Two, .500 seasons.
Most wins, 16.
Most losses, 27 in 2000-01.
The first six years of this decade, CSF was following the lines of Sac. St, with no double digit win seasons. Why was that? What led to such a bad start to this decade?
Year Overall Record Conference Record
Maryalyce Jeremiah
2008-09 10-20 5-11
2007-08 11-19 8-8
2006-07 16-16 7-7
2005-06 11-17 7-7
2004-05 8-20 6-12
2003-04 9-20 8-10
Barbara Ehardt
2002-03 7-21 5-11
2001-02 4-24 2-14
2000-01 1-27 1-13
Denise Curry
1999-2000 2-25 1-14
First a little history. Basketball hall of famers, Billie Moore and Nancy Dunkle made CSF a powerhouse through the 1970's. In the early 80's former USC coach Chris Gobrecht lead CSF to some winning seasons.
Maryalyce Jeremiah came to CSF for the 85-86 season. In her seven seasons at CSF, she led CSF to two NCAA tourney appearances and produced All American Genia Miller in 1991.
Jeremiah became the Senior Women's Administrator (SWA) after the 91-92 season. Being the SWA, meant Jeremiah was basically in charge of all the women's program at CSF. Her first duty was to find a replacement, as head coach for herself!
The three finalists came down to:
Mark Trakh, yes that Mark Trakh, who had established Brea High School, into the dominant high school program on the West Coast and maybe the entire nation.
Sue Guevara, who back then was an assistant coach at Michigan.
Debbie Ayres, who was head coach at Solano College where she had to resurrect the program after a ten year absence. Ayres would go 34-24 in her two years at Solano.
1990-91 10-16
1991-92 24-8
Ayres spent one season as an assistant at Iowa St. and was a high school coach for five years.
Even forgetting what a great job Mark Trakh did rebuilding Pepperdine, it would seem pretty clear that Guevara or Trakh were the two best candidates.
But Jeremiah choosed Ayres as the coach. Many people, including me felt it was based solely on the fact that Ayres was a woman. There are many people who believe that Jeremiah would never hire a male head coach.
Anyways right off the bat, Ayres was hurt by the lost of Kisa Hughes, an All BW freshman center, who would transfer to UCLA and All BW freshman PG, Lianne Ishikawa, who would eventually transfer to LMU.
Ayres was also limited by an athletic budget that allowed for only one assistant coach, where other schools had three assistant coaches.
Ayres record at CSF:
92-93 8-19
93-94 5-22
94-95 14-15
95-96 7-20
96-97 10-16
But in her third year, Ayres was able to hire a full staff of assistants, getting Kelley Hall as her recruiting coordinator was a huge deal.
She would take a senior heavey squad and led them to the semi finals of the BWT, where they lost to eventual champions UCI.
Here 95-96 squad she brought in a ton of freshmen who were suppose to be the foundation for the program. Most of those players were recruited by Coach Hall, who left to become an assistant at Auburn.
But injuries, suspensions, and just general bad luck led to a 7-20 record.
Without Coach Hall's recruiting efforts, the next two seasons would produce 10-16 and 10-17 records.
Ayres contract was up and CSF did not give her an extension. Not that Coach Ayres went away quietly. After Denise Curry was hired as her replacement, Ayres made a comment that While I didn't win at CSF, she hasn't coached basketball. Nice and classy Debbie Ayres.
So why wasn't Ayres successful?
Yes the transfers of two All BW freshmen members hurt her.
Yes, the injuries were hanging over the program like a dark cloud.
Yes, the first two seasons with a bare bones coaching staff hurt.
But the main reason for Coach Ayres, failures were her inexperience!!! She wasn't a D-1 coach. She hadn't been at any place to establish a long, winning track record. It would be one thing if Ayres had that .586 winning perct. for 20 years at Solano. But she had the same amount of winning seasons as losing seasons at Solano, ONE. I don't think she was the right choice as coach. Now people will say well Trakh was a high school coach who had never coached D-1. Yes, very true. But Trakh had established an elite high school girls basketball program. He produced All Americans, dominant winning seasons, a long track record of success. Yes, he would have gone through some growing pains at CSF, the same growing pains he went through during his early years at Pepperdine. But I still think he would have been a better choice. Plus he was from the area, not more than 10 minutes from the CSF campus. Why they had somebody from Michigan and from Northern California as the finalists, is beyond me.
Another thing about Ayres is the high rate of attrition with her program. Many players did not finish their eligibility at CSF. Some only stayed for a couple years. Now, there are many reasons why kids leave a program, homesick, not getting along with coach, not liking the school or location. But under Ayres players at least 2-3 players each year would leave the program. One the most shocking was Lee Moulin, a highly touted recruit from Brea High School. She didn't even last a year, she left the team right before CSF was going to Hawaii, back then Hawaii's women's sports were in the BW. Since Brea HS is about ten minutes from CSF, do you think any of the players at Brea would want to come to CSF, after what happened with Lee?
Many players I talked to said Ayres played favorites. Usually I would just chalk up that kind of talk to a bitter benchwarmer. But what I found was that players who started and got a lot of playing time, felt that way about Ayres.
Then somebody who I thought would turn the program around, Dennise Curry was hired. Since CSF kept everything quiet, there was no mention of the other finalists. I don't think there was even a search committee.
Curry was an All American at UCLA, won a Gold Medal in 84, and one of the best women's players ever. But she was in over her head at CSF. She spent so much time coaching these national teams, she didn't recruit and the record reflects that. Curry's last team had only 10 players on the team. She lost 4 seniors (Andre Thieme, Ronda Anderson, Natasha Stokely, Heather Cunningham)and two players quit (Ada Lake and Missy Bynon) from the year before. That is SIX scholarships to use. But Curry only brought in four players, all freshmen. Where is the recruiting? Even if she gave out all six scholarships, she still had THREE more scholarships to give out before reaching the NCAA max of 15!!!!! Of course that season, 99-2000 was a disaster.
She also had the attitude she was too good for a program like CSF. Here she is, a gold medalist, All American etc and she wouldn't talk to many fans. She didn't think the facilities were up to D-1 standards. Well no kidding. It's not like the facilities went from good to bad overnight. They were the same facilites when Curry was interviewing for the job as when she was hired. She wouldn't get out to the summer tournaments to find players. She thought kids should know who she is. What kids who played for Curry found out was that she was nothing but an arrogant, out of touch, worthless coach.
Denise Curry
97-98 10-17
98-99 4-22
99-2000 2-25
By the end of Curry's reign of error, she said she wouldn't seek a contract extension. See Faith, learn from Denise Curry. On another side note, it didn't surprise me that Mary Hegarty was a diaster at LB, because she hired Denise Curry as an assistant. Curry is a prime example of a great player who can't coach the game.
In the spring of 2000, CSF actually did a search. Well change that. Jeremiah dictated who CSF was going to hire, under a so called search committtee. The finalists were Curt Miller, an assistant at Colorado St., Tina Krah, who had a 17-146 record in six seasons at San Jose St. and Barbara Ehardt, who helped turn SB into a powerhouse and most recently an assistant at Washington St. and BYU.
Miller, helped Colorado St. to a Sweet 16 appearance, WNIT final four, and a first round NCAA win, during his three seasons at CSU.
Ehardt who didn't coach during the 99-2000 season, was at Washington St. the three seasons prior, but the never made the NCAA or WNIT.
How the hell Krah, was spent the 99-2000 season as an assistant to Curry, got to be a finalist, boggles the mind. Either CSF attracted a bad list of candidates or the people on the search committee didn't have a clue. With CSF, I'm guessing it is the latter.
So again Jeremiah selected a female head coach and hired Ehardt, who signed a three year contract. Now Ehardt was hired so late, May of 2000, that she was behind in the recruiting game and had to play catch up.
Ehardt's biggest mistake? Hiring an inexperienced coaching staff. I know that the third assistant is usually somebody just out of college or who just finished playing overseas. So the hiring of former SB player Stephanie Shadwell was fine. Actually, it was the best hire she made.
But she hired John Bartleson and kept Trimeka Jackson, from Curry's staff as the other two assistant coaches. Bartleson who played at New Mexico St. was inexperienced and a real jerk according to many people at CSF. He would eventually marry a player on the CSF team. Jackson was just a lazy coach with a bad work ethic.
Ehardt brought in some players who weren't even good JC players. So her first season she would go 1-25. She got a little more talent her second season and but results weren't that much better, 4-24.
Her last season, she hired a player, who just finished playing at CSF, to be her assistant coach. A former player non of the players respected as their teammate, so they sure as hell didn't respect as their coach.
But with some time to recruit and bring in some talent, Ehardt went 7-21.
Since Ehardt's contract was up, Brian Quinn, the AD at CSF told Ehardt she wasn't going to get an extension. I can understand not giving her an extension. But the way Quinn handled that situation, after CSF lost in the BWT, showed no class. Ehart deserved better.
Ehardt had nothing to work with when she was hired. People say the cupboard is bare, well Ehardt didn't even have any walls to hang the damn cupboards.
She built those walls and those walls were just getting strong enough to support the cupboards, when the rug was pulled out from under her.
But Ehardt made her share of mistakes. I already talked about her hiring of assistant coaches. But she lacked game coaching experience. She wanted to be like Mark French, subbing in 3-5 kids at a time. Well it worked for French because French had the talent. But at CSF, she didn't have that kind of talent.
She also lacked the ability to relate to and recruit black players. I am not saying she is racist. Ehardt isn't racist. But she doesn't have much experience going to black areas and recruiting black kids. Check Ehardt's resume. Santa Barbara, BYU and Washington St. Three places with low black student enrollments and black population in the cities, the schools are located at.
During this time many chances were happening in the CSF athletic department. John Easterbrook retired and Jeremiah was a finalist for the job. Brian Quinn got the job, much to Jeremiah's disappointment. From CSF insiders, Jeremiah was a pain in Quinn's side. Quinn was looking for a way to get Jeremiah out of the athletic administration. So when Ehardt's contract came up, this was the perfect chance.
So for the 2003-04 Jeremiah came back to coach CSF.
Jeremiah had been out of coaching for eleven years. So she needed to make recruiting contacts quickly. She hired a great recruiter in Marcia Foster.
But turning around CSF proved tough. Jeremiah found you can't come home again, unlike Beth Burns who came back to San Diego St. and turned them into a budding West Coast power.
Jeremiah wasn't able to produce a winning record. She didn't find a raw player who she could develop, like Genia Miller.
Her best record, 16-16, with many of Ehardt's recruits who were seniors. But she slipped to 11-19 and 10-20 her last two years. In Oct of 2008, Jeremiah said she would retire at the end of the 08-09 season. But as I have stated before, instead of doing a full search, CSF promoted Marcia Foster.
It remains to be seen where Foster can do the job. But why didn't Jeremiah get the job done?
The talent level greatly increased at CSF under Jeremiah. But they couldn't find that program changing impact player.
She didn't recruit that many post players and the post players she did recruit didn't develop into good players.
I think that Jeremiah tried too much to be positive with the players, when at times they needed a strict disciplinarian. I also think the players looked to Jeremiah as a grandmother figure and not as the strong leader type.
The players also lacked basketball IQ. I've saw many games where CSF was up by 10-15 points but they lacked basketball IQ and discipline. When you're up by that many points, you don't take shots, especially 3 pointers, with less than 10 second have gone off on the shot clock. But CSF constantly did this and Jeremiah wouldn't say anything. Where is the discipline and coaching? This isn't the Paul Westhead gun and gun offense.
So the bigger question; why hasn't CSF had a winning record in over 17 years?
Well as you can see bad hiring choices is clearly an example.
If they hired Mark Trakh in 1992, CSF may have gone to 3-5 NCAA tourneys. It would also have been great to see Trakh vs French. I understand there were some tensions between those two coaches.
If CSF hired Curt Miller in 2000, maybe CSF would have gone 179-73 during that time. 179-73 is Miller's record at Bowling Green, where he was hired a year after he was a finalist for the CSF job.
The only time I have an issue with male coaches being head coaches in women's college basketball, is when a coach has never coached women's or girls, gets a head coaching job for women. San Diego St. did that when they hired Jim Tomey, who was a high school boys head coach and an assistant for the men's program at SDSU.
I think both Trakh and Miller were the top candidates for CSF at the time but they didn't get the job. CSF has never had a male head coach. Even male assistant coaches are rare at CSF. Coach Ehardt had Bartleson and Coach Ayres had Rondre Jackson, Tom Powers and Kelley Hall on their staffs. During Jeremiah's six seasons this decade, she didn't have a male coach on her staff. Marcia Foster hasn't hired a male coach on her first staff. That is four male assistant coaches in 17 years.
Pick the best candidate. Not the candidate that fits your political/social agenda. When Jeremiah was the assistant AD, there was no question she pushed the Title IX agenda.
Facilities.
At the beginning of the decade CSF has among the worst facilites in the Big West. But to their credit they have made facility improvements a priority but the facilities are still lacking.
They fixed up Titan Gym. New floor, new scoreboard, new seats, expanded upper level seating on the southside. But CSF needs an arena but an arena is not in the plans. And CSF lacks the vision and leadership to get an arena.
But there are the facilites most fans don't see. At seperate times, Coach Ayres and Coach Ehardt took me on a tour of the team's lockerrom and was I in for a shock. With Coach Ayres, this was in 94 or 95. The lockerroom was split into two, with the women's volleyball team having their part of the lockerroom and the basketball team having their own. There was a huge cage in the middle of the lockerroom that was being used as a storage room. They were sharing the lockerroom with the volleyball and women's soccer team. So about 65 athletes sharing a very small room. The lockers were metal lockers, like those in high school.
In 2001, Ehardt gave me a tour and the cage was gone, the women's soccer team had their own lockerroom in the football stadium. But the volleyball team was still sharing the lockerroom. There was new carpet, new paint, and while the lockers were still the metal lockers, they had been painted and had name plates. So improvements had been made. Improvements, yes, but still not up to D-1 standards. Most D-1 lockerrooms have nice wooden lockers with TV and couches in the room. Since an arena isn't in the plans, CSF needs to renovate the lockerrooms for the women's program. That room is big enough to be a nice lockerroom for both the women's basketball and volleyball teams. There maybe enough room to have a common "player's louge" with sofas and a TV.
Coach's Offices.
When Debbie Ayres and Denise Curry were the head coach, they had two offices for the coaches!!! That worked when Ayre had only one assistant during her first two years. But since then CSF has had three assistant coaches. In case you're a LB gradudate, that meant the three assistant coaches had to share one small office, while the head coach got her own office.
Until 2000 all three assistant coaches were in one small office, while the head coach had her own office. John Easterbrook got most of the athletic department to move into the Titan House, which freed up the office space for men's and women's basketball. Now the four women's coaches have each have their own office.
The office furniture was upgraded too, thanks to a CSF Alum, who many people saw at games but wouldn't reconize him, since he was the mascot, Titan Tuffy. Coach Ehardt was put into contact with Titan Tuffy by a CSF alum. Gone were the old metal desks and chairs that belonged in classrooms. In their place nice solid wood desks and nice comfortable chairs.
If people don't think a lockerroom or coach's offices aren't important, they have never coached or don't have a clue. Will a kid pick a school just because of a nice lockerroom or office? No. But a kid will NOT pick a school because of them.
It will be interesting to see what is in store for CSF under Marcia Foster. I think her made a mistake hiring such an inexperience staff. Hopefully that can be overcome but we'll just have to wait and see.
Some of the bad:
Last winning season 1990-91.
Nine, 9, 20 losss seasons, include SEVEN STRAIGHT!!!!!!
Eleven, 11, single digit win seasons.
Two, .500 seasons.
Most wins, 16.
Most losses, 27 in 2000-01.
The first six years of this decade, CSF was following the lines of Sac. St, with no double digit win seasons. Why was that? What led to such a bad start to this decade?
Year Overall Record Conference Record
Maryalyce Jeremiah
2008-09 10-20 5-11
2007-08 11-19 8-8
2006-07 16-16 7-7
2005-06 11-17 7-7
2004-05 8-20 6-12
2003-04 9-20 8-10
Barbara Ehardt
2002-03 7-21 5-11
2001-02 4-24 2-14
2000-01 1-27 1-13
Denise Curry
1999-2000 2-25 1-14
First a little history. Basketball hall of famers, Billie Moore and Nancy Dunkle made CSF a powerhouse through the 1970's. In the early 80's former USC coach Chris Gobrecht lead CSF to some winning seasons.
Maryalyce Jeremiah came to CSF for the 85-86 season. In her seven seasons at CSF, she led CSF to two NCAA tourney appearances and produced All American Genia Miller in 1991.
Jeremiah became the Senior Women's Administrator (SWA) after the 91-92 season. Being the SWA, meant Jeremiah was basically in charge of all the women's program at CSF. Her first duty was to find a replacement, as head coach for herself!
The three finalists came down to:
Mark Trakh, yes that Mark Trakh, who had established Brea High School, into the dominant high school program on the West Coast and maybe the entire nation.
Sue Guevara, who back then was an assistant coach at Michigan.
Debbie Ayres, who was head coach at Solano College where she had to resurrect the program after a ten year absence. Ayres would go 34-24 in her two years at Solano.
1990-91 10-16
1991-92 24-8
Ayres spent one season as an assistant at Iowa St. and was a high school coach for five years.
Even forgetting what a great job Mark Trakh did rebuilding Pepperdine, it would seem pretty clear that Guevara or Trakh were the two best candidates.
But Jeremiah choosed Ayres as the coach. Many people, including me felt it was based solely on the fact that Ayres was a woman. There are many people who believe that Jeremiah would never hire a male head coach.
Anyways right off the bat, Ayres was hurt by the lost of Kisa Hughes, an All BW freshman center, who would transfer to UCLA and All BW freshman PG, Lianne Ishikawa, who would eventually transfer to LMU.
Ayres was also limited by an athletic budget that allowed for only one assistant coach, where other schools had three assistant coaches.
Ayres record at CSF:
92-93 8-19
93-94 5-22
94-95 14-15
95-96 7-20
96-97 10-16
But in her third year, Ayres was able to hire a full staff of assistants, getting Kelley Hall as her recruiting coordinator was a huge deal.
She would take a senior heavey squad and led them to the semi finals of the BWT, where they lost to eventual champions UCI.
Here 95-96 squad she brought in a ton of freshmen who were suppose to be the foundation for the program. Most of those players were recruited by Coach Hall, who left to become an assistant at Auburn.
But injuries, suspensions, and just general bad luck led to a 7-20 record.
Without Coach Hall's recruiting efforts, the next two seasons would produce 10-16 and 10-17 records.
Ayres contract was up and CSF did not give her an extension. Not that Coach Ayres went away quietly. After Denise Curry was hired as her replacement, Ayres made a comment that While I didn't win at CSF, she hasn't coached basketball. Nice and classy Debbie Ayres.
So why wasn't Ayres successful?
Yes the transfers of two All BW freshmen members hurt her.
Yes, the injuries were hanging over the program like a dark cloud.
Yes, the first two seasons with a bare bones coaching staff hurt.
But the main reason for Coach Ayres, failures were her inexperience!!! She wasn't a D-1 coach. She hadn't been at any place to establish a long, winning track record. It would be one thing if Ayres had that .586 winning perct. for 20 years at Solano. But she had the same amount of winning seasons as losing seasons at Solano, ONE. I don't think she was the right choice as coach. Now people will say well Trakh was a high school coach who had never coached D-1. Yes, very true. But Trakh had established an elite high school girls basketball program. He produced All Americans, dominant winning seasons, a long track record of success. Yes, he would have gone through some growing pains at CSF, the same growing pains he went through during his early years at Pepperdine. But I still think he would have been a better choice. Plus he was from the area, not more than 10 minutes from the CSF campus. Why they had somebody from Michigan and from Northern California as the finalists, is beyond me.
Another thing about Ayres is the high rate of attrition with her program. Many players did not finish their eligibility at CSF. Some only stayed for a couple years. Now, there are many reasons why kids leave a program, homesick, not getting along with coach, not liking the school or location. But under Ayres players at least 2-3 players each year would leave the program. One the most shocking was Lee Moulin, a highly touted recruit from Brea High School. She didn't even last a year, she left the team right before CSF was going to Hawaii, back then Hawaii's women's sports were in the BW. Since Brea HS is about ten minutes from CSF, do you think any of the players at Brea would want to come to CSF, after what happened with Lee?
Many players I talked to said Ayres played favorites. Usually I would just chalk up that kind of talk to a bitter benchwarmer. But what I found was that players who started and got a lot of playing time, felt that way about Ayres.
Then somebody who I thought would turn the program around, Dennise Curry was hired. Since CSF kept everything quiet, there was no mention of the other finalists. I don't think there was even a search committee.
Curry was an All American at UCLA, won a Gold Medal in 84, and one of the best women's players ever. But she was in over her head at CSF. She spent so much time coaching these national teams, she didn't recruit and the record reflects that. Curry's last team had only 10 players on the team. She lost 4 seniors (Andre Thieme, Ronda Anderson, Natasha Stokely, Heather Cunningham)and two players quit (Ada Lake and Missy Bynon) from the year before. That is SIX scholarships to use. But Curry only brought in four players, all freshmen. Where is the recruiting? Even if she gave out all six scholarships, she still had THREE more scholarships to give out before reaching the NCAA max of 15!!!!! Of course that season, 99-2000 was a disaster.
She also had the attitude she was too good for a program like CSF. Here she is, a gold medalist, All American etc and she wouldn't talk to many fans. She didn't think the facilities were up to D-1 standards. Well no kidding. It's not like the facilities went from good to bad overnight. They were the same facilites when Curry was interviewing for the job as when she was hired. She wouldn't get out to the summer tournaments to find players. She thought kids should know who she is. What kids who played for Curry found out was that she was nothing but an arrogant, out of touch, worthless coach.
Denise Curry
97-98 10-17
98-99 4-22
99-2000 2-25
By the end of Curry's reign of error, she said she wouldn't seek a contract extension. See Faith, learn from Denise Curry. On another side note, it didn't surprise me that Mary Hegarty was a diaster at LB, because she hired Denise Curry as an assistant. Curry is a prime example of a great player who can't coach the game.
In the spring of 2000, CSF actually did a search. Well change that. Jeremiah dictated who CSF was going to hire, under a so called search committtee. The finalists were Curt Miller, an assistant at Colorado St., Tina Krah, who had a 17-146 record in six seasons at San Jose St. and Barbara Ehardt, who helped turn SB into a powerhouse and most recently an assistant at Washington St. and BYU.
Miller, helped Colorado St. to a Sweet 16 appearance, WNIT final four, and a first round NCAA win, during his three seasons at CSU.
Ehardt who didn't coach during the 99-2000 season, was at Washington St. the three seasons prior, but the never made the NCAA or WNIT.
How the hell Krah, was spent the 99-2000 season as an assistant to Curry, got to be a finalist, boggles the mind. Either CSF attracted a bad list of candidates or the people on the search committee didn't have a clue. With CSF, I'm guessing it is the latter.
So again Jeremiah selected a female head coach and hired Ehardt, who signed a three year contract. Now Ehardt was hired so late, May of 2000, that she was behind in the recruiting game and had to play catch up.
Ehardt's biggest mistake? Hiring an inexperienced coaching staff. I know that the third assistant is usually somebody just out of college or who just finished playing overseas. So the hiring of former SB player Stephanie Shadwell was fine. Actually, it was the best hire she made.
But she hired John Bartleson and kept Trimeka Jackson, from Curry's staff as the other two assistant coaches. Bartleson who played at New Mexico St. was inexperienced and a real jerk according to many people at CSF. He would eventually marry a player on the CSF team. Jackson was just a lazy coach with a bad work ethic.
Ehardt brought in some players who weren't even good JC players. So her first season she would go 1-25. She got a little more talent her second season and but results weren't that much better, 4-24.
Her last season, she hired a player, who just finished playing at CSF, to be her assistant coach. A former player non of the players respected as their teammate, so they sure as hell didn't respect as their coach.
But with some time to recruit and bring in some talent, Ehardt went 7-21.
Since Ehardt's contract was up, Brian Quinn, the AD at CSF told Ehardt she wasn't going to get an extension. I can understand not giving her an extension. But the way Quinn handled that situation, after CSF lost in the BWT, showed no class. Ehart deserved better.
Ehardt had nothing to work with when she was hired. People say the cupboard is bare, well Ehardt didn't even have any walls to hang the damn cupboards.
She built those walls and those walls were just getting strong enough to support the cupboards, when the rug was pulled out from under her.
But Ehardt made her share of mistakes. I already talked about her hiring of assistant coaches. But she lacked game coaching experience. She wanted to be like Mark French, subbing in 3-5 kids at a time. Well it worked for French because French had the talent. But at CSF, she didn't have that kind of talent.
She also lacked the ability to relate to and recruit black players. I am not saying she is racist. Ehardt isn't racist. But she doesn't have much experience going to black areas and recruiting black kids. Check Ehardt's resume. Santa Barbara, BYU and Washington St. Three places with low black student enrollments and black population in the cities, the schools are located at.
During this time many chances were happening in the CSF athletic department. John Easterbrook retired and Jeremiah was a finalist for the job. Brian Quinn got the job, much to Jeremiah's disappointment. From CSF insiders, Jeremiah was a pain in Quinn's side. Quinn was looking for a way to get Jeremiah out of the athletic administration. So when Ehardt's contract came up, this was the perfect chance.
So for the 2003-04 Jeremiah came back to coach CSF.
Jeremiah had been out of coaching for eleven years. So she needed to make recruiting contacts quickly. She hired a great recruiter in Marcia Foster.
But turning around CSF proved tough. Jeremiah found you can't come home again, unlike Beth Burns who came back to San Diego St. and turned them into a budding West Coast power.
Jeremiah wasn't able to produce a winning record. She didn't find a raw player who she could develop, like Genia Miller.
Her best record, 16-16, with many of Ehardt's recruits who were seniors. But she slipped to 11-19 and 10-20 her last two years. In Oct of 2008, Jeremiah said she would retire at the end of the 08-09 season. But as I have stated before, instead of doing a full search, CSF promoted Marcia Foster.
It remains to be seen where Foster can do the job. But why didn't Jeremiah get the job done?
The talent level greatly increased at CSF under Jeremiah. But they couldn't find that program changing impact player.
She didn't recruit that many post players and the post players she did recruit didn't develop into good players.
I think that Jeremiah tried too much to be positive with the players, when at times they needed a strict disciplinarian. I also think the players looked to Jeremiah as a grandmother figure and not as the strong leader type.
The players also lacked basketball IQ. I've saw many games where CSF was up by 10-15 points but they lacked basketball IQ and discipline. When you're up by that many points, you don't take shots, especially 3 pointers, with less than 10 second have gone off on the shot clock. But CSF constantly did this and Jeremiah wouldn't say anything. Where is the discipline and coaching? This isn't the Paul Westhead gun and gun offense.
So the bigger question; why hasn't CSF had a winning record in over 17 years?
Well as you can see bad hiring choices is clearly an example.
If they hired Mark Trakh in 1992, CSF may have gone to 3-5 NCAA tourneys. It would also have been great to see Trakh vs French. I understand there were some tensions between those two coaches.
If CSF hired Curt Miller in 2000, maybe CSF would have gone 179-73 during that time. 179-73 is Miller's record at Bowling Green, where he was hired a year after he was a finalist for the CSF job.
The only time I have an issue with male coaches being head coaches in women's college basketball, is when a coach has never coached women's or girls, gets a head coaching job for women. San Diego St. did that when they hired Jim Tomey, who was a high school boys head coach and an assistant for the men's program at SDSU.
I think both Trakh and Miller were the top candidates for CSF at the time but they didn't get the job. CSF has never had a male head coach. Even male assistant coaches are rare at CSF. Coach Ehardt had Bartleson and Coach Ayres had Rondre Jackson, Tom Powers and Kelley Hall on their staffs. During Jeremiah's six seasons this decade, she didn't have a male coach on her staff. Marcia Foster hasn't hired a male coach on her first staff. That is four male assistant coaches in 17 years.
Pick the best candidate. Not the candidate that fits your political/social agenda. When Jeremiah was the assistant AD, there was no question she pushed the Title IX agenda.
Facilities.
At the beginning of the decade CSF has among the worst facilites in the Big West. But to their credit they have made facility improvements a priority but the facilities are still lacking.
They fixed up Titan Gym. New floor, new scoreboard, new seats, expanded upper level seating on the southside. But CSF needs an arena but an arena is not in the plans. And CSF lacks the vision and leadership to get an arena.
But there are the facilites most fans don't see. At seperate times, Coach Ayres and Coach Ehardt took me on a tour of the team's lockerrom and was I in for a shock. With Coach Ayres, this was in 94 or 95. The lockerroom was split into two, with the women's volleyball team having their part of the lockerroom and the basketball team having their own. There was a huge cage in the middle of the lockerroom that was being used as a storage room. They were sharing the lockerroom with the volleyball and women's soccer team. So about 65 athletes sharing a very small room. The lockers were metal lockers, like those in high school.
In 2001, Ehardt gave me a tour and the cage was gone, the women's soccer team had their own lockerroom in the football stadium. But the volleyball team was still sharing the lockerroom. There was new carpet, new paint, and while the lockers were still the metal lockers, they had been painted and had name plates. So improvements had been made. Improvements, yes, but still not up to D-1 standards. Most D-1 lockerrooms have nice wooden lockers with TV and couches in the room. Since an arena isn't in the plans, CSF needs to renovate the lockerrooms for the women's program. That room is big enough to be a nice lockerroom for both the women's basketball and volleyball teams. There maybe enough room to have a common "player's louge" with sofas and a TV.
Coach's Offices.
When Debbie Ayres and Denise Curry were the head coach, they had two offices for the coaches!!! That worked when Ayre had only one assistant during her first two years. But since then CSF has had three assistant coaches. In case you're a LB gradudate, that meant the three assistant coaches had to share one small office, while the head coach got her own office.
Until 2000 all three assistant coaches were in one small office, while the head coach had her own office. John Easterbrook got most of the athletic department to move into the Titan House, which freed up the office space for men's and women's basketball. Now the four women's coaches have each have their own office.
The office furniture was upgraded too, thanks to a CSF Alum, who many people saw at games but wouldn't reconize him, since he was the mascot, Titan Tuffy. Coach Ehardt was put into contact with Titan Tuffy by a CSF alum. Gone were the old metal desks and chairs that belonged in classrooms. In their place nice solid wood desks and nice comfortable chairs.
If people don't think a lockerroom or coach's offices aren't important, they have never coached or don't have a clue. Will a kid pick a school just because of a nice lockerroom or office? No. But a kid will NOT pick a school because of them.
It will be interesting to see what is in store for CSF under Marcia Foster. I think her made a mistake hiring such an inexperience staff. Hopefully that can be overcome but we'll just have to wait and see.
Things Could Be Worse
As bad as I make some Big West teams out to be, it maybe a shocker but there are still some teams that are worse!!! One of those teams resides in California. Sacramento St. The city that The Rock serenades.
Sac St. of the Big Sky Conference.
Year Overall Rec Conf. Rec.
Dan Muscatell
2008-09 9-21 7-9
2007-08 6-22 4-12
2006-07 3-27 1-15
2005-06 9-17 4-10
2004-05 8-20 4-10
2003-04 1-26 1-13
Carolyn Jenkins
2002-03 3-24 1-13
2001-02 0-27 0-14
2000-01 3-23 1-15
Sue Hoffman
1999-00 6-21 4-12
Here are the sad and sorry facts.
The entire decade Sac St. did not reach double digits in victories!!!!
Fives seasons, half the decade, that you can count their win total on one hand and not even use your thumb!!
The most wins for Sac. St this decade? 9 wins last year.
Two seasons where they didn't even win TWO games!!!
They had NINE seaons this decade with 20 losses or more.
FIVE seasons, half the decade, that they won one or less conference games!!!
Sac. St. had three coaches during the decade, Sue Hoffman who guided the program's move from D-2 to D-1. Then Carolyn Jenkins, a former assistant to the Queen at Stanford. Then Dan Muscatell, a former assistant at Oregon. Muscatell left after the 08-09 season and now a 27 year old coach, Jamie Craighead will guide Sac. St into the next decade.
Hoffman had been at Sac. St. for over 20 years as a player and coach. While it is tough for any school moving up to D-1, Sac. St was underfunded and that really hurt Coach Hoffman. Hoffman at times during the D-1 era, had no recruiting budget, had about half the scholarships as other D-1 schools, and of course played ina 1,600 seat high school gym. Hmm, why does this sound like Cal State Northridge? There were also reports that she wore her religious beliefs on her seelve.
Anyways Hoffman resigned and Sac. St. hired former Stanford assistant, Carolyn Jenkins. Even though Sac. St put more money into the program, more scholarship, a recruiting budget, Jenkins destroyed this program. What a terrible coach, she won SIX games during her three year reign of error at Sac. St. Many players hated her and her coaching ways. But unlike Faith Mimnaugh, Jenkins had a clue and did not seek a contract extension.
So Sac. St went up to Oregon and hired Dan Muscatell. Muscatell did a good job during his six years at Sac. St. When he got to Sac. St., the program was like an abandoned, run down house, that was going to be condemned. He did do a good job of building a foundation for the program. The really didn't have much to work with, when he got the job. Whether he could have taken the program is another level remained to be seen.
If there was one thing about his program, Muscatell recruited his players from the area he knew, Oregon and Washington. There weren't that many players from CA. Out of state players cost more in terms of scholarships than CA players. And to me, if you're giving a scholarship to an out of state kid, that kid better be an impact player.
During Muscatell reign, things were looking up on the facilities side too. Sac. St. students passed a fee referendum to build a new arena!!!! But the school President, did a bait and switch and instead of the money going to build a new arena, the money went to build a new football fieldhouse. The spin from the President was that they needed to teardown the old fieldhouse to make room for the new arena and student rec center. The arena now has no funding and in this terrible economy, won't find any funding. Oh well maybe the kids who are starting kindergarden this fall, will have an arena by the time they are old enough to go to Sac. St.
The reason I point out terrible program is that I'm a firm believer in you're only as strong as your weakest link. Women's basketball won't improve until the terrible programs in the women's basketball improve. I find most women's college basketball fans love the UConn's, Tenns etc. They could care less about the other programs. Well until the women's game consistently has a Cinderella at the dance, it won't have a broader appeal. The only way for Cinderella to be invited to the dance is for Cinderella to improve her appearance.
Sac St. of the Big Sky Conference.
Year Overall Rec Conf. Rec.
Dan Muscatell
2008-09 9-21 7-9
2007-08 6-22 4-12
2006-07 3-27 1-15
2005-06 9-17 4-10
2004-05 8-20 4-10
2003-04 1-26 1-13
Carolyn Jenkins
2002-03 3-24 1-13
2001-02 0-27 0-14
2000-01 3-23 1-15
Sue Hoffman
1999-00 6-21 4-12
Here are the sad and sorry facts.
The entire decade Sac St. did not reach double digits in victories!!!!
Fives seasons, half the decade, that you can count their win total on one hand and not even use your thumb!!
The most wins for Sac. St this decade? 9 wins last year.
Two seasons where they didn't even win TWO games!!!
They had NINE seaons this decade with 20 losses or more.
FIVE seasons, half the decade, that they won one or less conference games!!!
Sac. St. had three coaches during the decade, Sue Hoffman who guided the program's move from D-2 to D-1. Then Carolyn Jenkins, a former assistant to the Queen at Stanford. Then Dan Muscatell, a former assistant at Oregon. Muscatell left after the 08-09 season and now a 27 year old coach, Jamie Craighead will guide Sac. St into the next decade.
Hoffman had been at Sac. St. for over 20 years as a player and coach. While it is tough for any school moving up to D-1, Sac. St was underfunded and that really hurt Coach Hoffman. Hoffman at times during the D-1 era, had no recruiting budget, had about half the scholarships as other D-1 schools, and of course played ina 1,600 seat high school gym. Hmm, why does this sound like Cal State Northridge? There were also reports that she wore her religious beliefs on her seelve.
Anyways Hoffman resigned and Sac. St. hired former Stanford assistant, Carolyn Jenkins. Even though Sac. St put more money into the program, more scholarship, a recruiting budget, Jenkins destroyed this program. What a terrible coach, she won SIX games during her three year reign of error at Sac. St. Many players hated her and her coaching ways. But unlike Faith Mimnaugh, Jenkins had a clue and did not seek a contract extension.
So Sac. St went up to Oregon and hired Dan Muscatell. Muscatell did a good job during his six years at Sac. St. When he got to Sac. St., the program was like an abandoned, run down house, that was going to be condemned. He did do a good job of building a foundation for the program. The really didn't have much to work with, when he got the job. Whether he could have taken the program is another level remained to be seen.
If there was one thing about his program, Muscatell recruited his players from the area he knew, Oregon and Washington. There weren't that many players from CA. Out of state players cost more in terms of scholarships than CA players. And to me, if you're giving a scholarship to an out of state kid, that kid better be an impact player.
During Muscatell reign, things were looking up on the facilities side too. Sac. St. students passed a fee referendum to build a new arena!!!! But the school President, did a bait and switch and instead of the money going to build a new arena, the money went to build a new football fieldhouse. The spin from the President was that they needed to teardown the old fieldhouse to make room for the new arena and student rec center. The arena now has no funding and in this terrible economy, won't find any funding. Oh well maybe the kids who are starting kindergarden this fall, will have an arena by the time they are old enough to go to Sac. St.
The reason I point out terrible program is that I'm a firm believer in you're only as strong as your weakest link. Women's basketball won't improve until the terrible programs in the women's basketball improve. I find most women's college basketball fans love the UConn's, Tenns etc. They could care less about the other programs. Well until the women's game consistently has a Cinderella at the dance, it won't have a broader appeal. The only way for Cinderella to be invited to the dance is for Cinderella to improve her appearance.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Faith Mimnaugh
Some readers maybe wondering why I always rip Faith Mimnaugh. In case you missed it, I have included links to three stories that I wrote about Faith and her terrible record at CP.
Faith and her terrible 12 year record at Cal Poly.
Faith and her ACC schedule during the 08-09 season.
This story includes links to newspapers stories where Faith is making excuses for her sorry record and begging for a contract extension.
So now let me explain to you, why CP keeping Faith just bothers me on so many levels.
The competitive level: How can any program keep a coach around after that coach can't produce ONE winning season after eleven years? A coach should be given at most five years to turn things. If after five years, aren't getting better, a coach should be fired!!! Very, very few exceptions.
To make matters worse, all this happening in a very bad Big West. Where during the last EIGHT straight years, there have been at least TWO Big West teams that have lost 20 games or more. In 7 of those years, there were three or more teams that lost 20 or more games. So even with that Faith can only produce ONE winning season in 12 years?
I already wrote about how much of a fraud her 08-09 record is since she only beat one non conference team, Bakersfield, who had a winning record and she was only 1-4 vs the top 2 BW teams, UCSB and UCR. Even then, she only beat UCR by 2 points on a last second basket. So it was in the BWT semi final game. So what, she lost the next day to UCSB. She lost to #6 seed CSF. She only beat the bottom feeders of the BW, by an average of 8 points, while UCR and UCSB beat the bottom feeders by 12 or more points.
She lost two of her best players to graduation. I highly doubt the 09-10 team will come anywhere close to the 21 wins of last year.
Excuses, excuses, and more excuses: Everything from Faith have been about excuses. if it wasn't injuries, then it was the high academics of CP. I mean come on. Just admit you suck as a coach Faith. I mean every coach suffers injuries. Every coach has their own issues with their university. UCR built a solid program and they have tougher academics and are in the middle of nowhere. CP is in one of the most scenic places on the West Coast.
No self respecting coach who is worth a damn, would think not having a winning record, especially in such a sorry conference, is acceptable.
Denise Curry ruined the program at Cal State Fullerton by going 16-64 overall and 10-35 in the BW. But instead of making excuses and begging for an extension, Curry resigned because she knew she was a clueless head coach. So stop making so many damn excuses Faith and schedule something other than cupcakes, win against that schedule, hell just win baby!!! Since you clearly have proven you can't do that, just resign, instead of begging for an extension.
Welcome back the Soviets:
CP has been so secreative about the contract extensions given to Faith. In this story about Faith, I provided a link to a CP press release from 2007 that Faith got a two year contract extension, that ended after the 08-09 season.
But much to my surprise, after the 08-09 season, it was mentioned that Faith had ANOTHER year left on her contract. A search of the CP's website did not show any press release about Faith receiving an extension. A call and email to the CP athletics media relations office, got nowhere. The guy said, I'm not at my computer, so I can't help you. I never got a reply to my email inquiring about Faith's contract situation. Clueless AD. Comrade Alison Cone never replies to my emails or the emails from CP fans who have written Clueless Comrade Cone about Faith's terrible record.
Why does CP keep almost everything about Faith top secret? Is Clueless Cone's real last name Khrushchev or Brezhnev? Maybe she is afraid of the backlash from CP fans? Here's a toast of vodka Comrade Cone.
Seriously though, CP is a state school that is funded by public tax money. There is no reason for CP to keep things like a contract extension secret. Hell, Faith's salary is public information. So why CP won't release any information about Faith getting a contract extension, is beyond me, especially since we sure as hell don't live in Soviet Russia.
The Race Card: I know people don't like to talk about race. That is why there is and will always be a race problem in the US. Faith is white. Clueless Allison Cone, the AD at CP, is white. CP is in a lily white area. They fired the last head coach, after two terrible seasons. The coach, Karen Booker, was black.
Why was CP so quick to fire Booker but put up with Faith for 11 straight losing seasons? If you don't think it has anything to do with the fact that Faith is white, please stick your head in the sand. While there are some examples of white coaches not getting a fair chance to turnaround a program, see Cal State Fullerton, Barbara Ehardt, nobody can say that Faith didn't get a fair chance to turn CP around. ELEVEN, 11!!!! long, losing seasons before being able to produce a winning record but CP still keeps a white head coach? Would a black head coach get the same chance? If you really believe that, then I have some land to sell you.
There is no way any black head coaches would have been able to survive 11 straight losing seasons. Almost all black head coaches will only get the length of their original contract to produce a winner. In 2003 a wave a black head coaches were fired, didn't get an extension etc. Traci Waites, a former player at Long Beach St. was one of those coaches. Waites went 53-85 (.384) overall record and 20-62 (.244) Big East mark during her five seasons. Ok it was the Big East, one of the best conferences. But anybody can see that type of record isn't good enough.
This is Faith's record in her first five seasons.
2001-02 11-17 7-9
2000-01 12-17 5-9
1999-00 9-19 5-10
98-99 8-18 2-13
97-98 6-20 3-12
Totals 46-91 22-53.
Just looking at the numbers, Waites had a better overall record and only won two less games in conference. Of course comparing the Big East, with UConn, Miami, Notre Dame, Rutgers to the BW is like comparing Phillips BBQ to a national chain that cooks their ribs in an oven and drowns it in BBQ sauce. So Waites record is much more impressive, considering the level of competition she played, compared to the Hostess schedule Faith always plays.
So tell me why Faith got six more years at CP but Waites was let go by Pitt? No, it has nothing to do with Faith being white and Waites being black, right?
Faith and her terrible 12 year record at Cal Poly.
Faith and her ACC schedule during the 08-09 season.
This story includes links to newspapers stories where Faith is making excuses for her sorry record and begging for a contract extension.
So now let me explain to you, why CP keeping Faith just bothers me on so many levels.
The competitive level: How can any program keep a coach around after that coach can't produce ONE winning season after eleven years? A coach should be given at most five years to turn things. If after five years, aren't getting better, a coach should be fired!!! Very, very few exceptions.
To make matters worse, all this happening in a very bad Big West. Where during the last EIGHT straight years, there have been at least TWO Big West teams that have lost 20 games or more. In 7 of those years, there were three or more teams that lost 20 or more games. So even with that Faith can only produce ONE winning season in 12 years?
I already wrote about how much of a fraud her 08-09 record is since she only beat one non conference team, Bakersfield, who had a winning record and she was only 1-4 vs the top 2 BW teams, UCSB and UCR. Even then, she only beat UCR by 2 points on a last second basket. So it was in the BWT semi final game. So what, she lost the next day to UCSB. She lost to #6 seed CSF. She only beat the bottom feeders of the BW, by an average of 8 points, while UCR and UCSB beat the bottom feeders by 12 or more points.
She lost two of her best players to graduation. I highly doubt the 09-10 team will come anywhere close to the 21 wins of last year.
Excuses, excuses, and more excuses: Everything from Faith have been about excuses. if it wasn't injuries, then it was the high academics of CP. I mean come on. Just admit you suck as a coach Faith. I mean every coach suffers injuries. Every coach has their own issues with their university. UCR built a solid program and they have tougher academics and are in the middle of nowhere. CP is in one of the most scenic places on the West Coast.
No self respecting coach who is worth a damn, would think not having a winning record, especially in such a sorry conference, is acceptable.
Denise Curry ruined the program at Cal State Fullerton by going 16-64 overall and 10-35 in the BW. But instead of making excuses and begging for an extension, Curry resigned because she knew she was a clueless head coach. So stop making so many damn excuses Faith and schedule something other than cupcakes, win against that schedule, hell just win baby!!! Since you clearly have proven you can't do that, just resign, instead of begging for an extension.
Welcome back the Soviets:
CP has been so secreative about the contract extensions given to Faith. In this story about Faith, I provided a link to a CP press release from 2007 that Faith got a two year contract extension, that ended after the 08-09 season.
But much to my surprise, after the 08-09 season, it was mentioned that Faith had ANOTHER year left on her contract. A search of the CP's website did not show any press release about Faith receiving an extension. A call and email to the CP athletics media relations office, got nowhere. The guy said, I'm not at my computer, so I can't help you. I never got a reply to my email inquiring about Faith's contract situation. Clueless AD. Comrade Alison Cone never replies to my emails or the emails from CP fans who have written Clueless Comrade Cone about Faith's terrible record.
Why does CP keep almost everything about Faith top secret? Is Clueless Cone's real last name Khrushchev or Brezhnev? Maybe she is afraid of the backlash from CP fans? Here's a toast of vodka Comrade Cone.
Seriously though, CP is a state school that is funded by public tax money. There is no reason for CP to keep things like a contract extension secret. Hell, Faith's salary is public information. So why CP won't release any information about Faith getting a contract extension, is beyond me, especially since we sure as hell don't live in Soviet Russia.
The Race Card: I know people don't like to talk about race. That is why there is and will always be a race problem in the US. Faith is white. Clueless Allison Cone, the AD at CP, is white. CP is in a lily white area. They fired the last head coach, after two terrible seasons. The coach, Karen Booker, was black.
Why was CP so quick to fire Booker but put up with Faith for 11 straight losing seasons? If you don't think it has anything to do with the fact that Faith is white, please stick your head in the sand. While there are some examples of white coaches not getting a fair chance to turnaround a program, see Cal State Fullerton, Barbara Ehardt, nobody can say that Faith didn't get a fair chance to turn CP around. ELEVEN, 11!!!! long, losing seasons before being able to produce a winning record but CP still keeps a white head coach? Would a black head coach get the same chance? If you really believe that, then I have some land to sell you.
There is no way any black head coaches would have been able to survive 11 straight losing seasons. Almost all black head coaches will only get the length of their original contract to produce a winner. In 2003 a wave a black head coaches were fired, didn't get an extension etc. Traci Waites, a former player at Long Beach St. was one of those coaches. Waites went 53-85 (.384) overall record and 20-62 (.244) Big East mark during her five seasons. Ok it was the Big East, one of the best conferences. But anybody can see that type of record isn't good enough.
This is Faith's record in her first five seasons.
2001-02 11-17 7-9
2000-01 12-17 5-9
1999-00 9-19 5-10
98-99 8-18 2-13
97-98 6-20 3-12
Totals 46-91 22-53.
Just looking at the numbers, Waites had a better overall record and only won two less games in conference. Of course comparing the Big East, with UConn, Miami, Notre Dame, Rutgers to the BW is like comparing Phillips BBQ to a national chain that cooks their ribs in an oven and drowns it in BBQ sauce. So Waites record is much more impressive, considering the level of competition she played, compared to the Hostess schedule Faith always plays.
So tell me why Faith got six more years at CP but Waites was let go by Pitt? No, it has nothing to do with Faith being white and Waites being black, right?
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