USC picks Staley as new women's coach

[ChattyKat]

Oh what could/should have been. This is what can happen when your AD conducts a national coaching search and is willing to put money into your program.
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Dawn Staley will be introduced as South Carolina's women's basketball coach on Saturday, pending approval of the University of South Carolina board of trustees earlier that day, sources confirmed early Wednesday.
Staley visited the USC campus last week and USC athletics director Eric Hyman spent most of Saturday with his prospective coach in Philadelphia. The two reached a contract agreement late Tuesday.
Staley, currently the head coach at Temple, will earn a base salary of $250,000 with the total package reaching $650,000, according to the source. She earned $500,000 this past season at Temple.

http://www.thestate.com/sports/story/398001.html

[Wildcat Larry]

This isn't meant as an argumentative statement, but great players don't always make great coaches. It could work out well, but the name will only go so far.

On the surface, it looks like a great hire, though.

[BigBlue75]

Oh what could/should have been. This is what can happen when your AD conducts a national coaching search and is willing to put money into your program.
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Dawn Staley will be introduced as South Carolina's women's basketball coach on Saturday, pending approval of the University of South Carolina board of trustees earlier that day, sources confirmed early Wednesday.


Not trying to be argumentative here, but your statement presumes that our AD did NOT conduct a national search and ISN'T willing to invest money into the women's program.
Do you have some inside knowledge that can prove beyond doubt that all of that didn't/won't happen?

[ChattyKat]

Not trying to be argumentative here, but your statement presumes that our AD did NOT conduct a national search and ISN'T willing to invest money into the women's program.
Do you have some inside knowledge that can prove beyond doubt that all of that didn't/won't happen?

There are some things I won't post about the subject but my understanding is that Mitchell was contacted and offered the job the day after DeMoss resigned. Think anyone else was contacted? And yes, there were proven coaches interested in the job. Mitchell's salary is $250K and considering his lack of experience that's probably a valid salary. By comparison, look at the time, effort and money that was expended on the men's coaching search. No, I'm not saying the women's search and salary should be the same as the men's. I think that the women's program deserved comparable time and effort in their coaching search.

Below is an article from USA Today on women's coaching salaries:

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/womensbasketball/2007-03-07-womens-coaches-salaries_N.htm

This quote hits the nail on the head:

"If I'm paying a coach $30,000, expectations aren't going to be as high as they are if I'm paying $600,000," says Kansas athletics director Lew Perkins, who is paying Bonnie Henrickson nearly $750,000 this season. "It's what the institution wants out of the program."

[BigBlue75]

There are some things I won't post about the subject but my understanding is that Mitchell was contacted and offered the job the day after DeMoss resigned. Think anyone else was contacted? And yes, there were proven coaches interested in the job. Mitchell's salary is $250K and considering his lack of experience that's probably a valid salary. By comparison, look at the time, effort and money that was expended on the men's coaching search. No, I'm not saying the women's search and salary should be the same as the men's. I think that the women's program deserved comparable time and effort in their coaching search.


Okay, fair enough. I respect your position on it. I've read enough of your posts to know that you're not given to posting a lot of rumor an speculation. Personally, I don't feel comfortable (and frankly, have a hard time putting any credence) with the notion that our AD "jumped" at the first candidate available, but we all have to make up our own mind on that. The jury is still out on whether or not Coach Mitchell will ultimately prove to be a good or bad hire. I've just never been one to try and figure out what's going on within the UK athletic department. I just stick to being a fan and not worrying myself over things I have no control over.

Heck, there were several people out in Wildcat Nation who thought Mickey DeMoss should never have been hired in the first place. :shrug1:

[ChattyKat]

Okay, fair enough. I respect your position on it. I've read enough of your posts to know that you're not given to posting a lot of rumor an speculation. Personally, I don't feel comfortable (and frankly, have a hard time putting any credence) with the notion that our AD "jumped" at the first candidate available, but we all have to make up our own mind on that. The jury is still out on whether or not Coach Mitchell will ultimately prove to be a good or bad hire. I've just never been one to try and figure out what's going on within the UK athletic department. I just stick to being a fan and not worrying myself over things I have no control over.

Heck, there were several people out in Wildcat Nation who thought Mickey DeMoss should never have been hired in the first place. :shrug1:

Again, there is more to the story but it doesn't have a place on a message board.

I'm there to support the players and hope that Mitchell can eventually turn out to be a good coach. With the progress we had made, the program deserved more. IHMO, what we got a coach that is obviously learning on the job. 80 miles to the west, first year coach Jeff Walz at UL had done a tremendous job both in coaching and recruiting. He was an assistant and recruiter for the Maryland program(when they were National Champions). My frustration comes from following our program and others since the 70's and knowing there's no reason we can't have a great women's basketball program here at UK. Heck, if our AD in the 70's would have been willing to give an extra $100 per month, we would have had Pat Head(Summitt) as our coach.:icon_rolleyes:

Time will tell.

[poodoo]

Heck, if our AD in the 70's would have been willing to give an extra $100 per month, we would have had Pat Head(Summitt) as our coach.:icon_rolleyes:



That STILL hurts. :icon_sad: Yet, as I've previously posted here, I had been most impressed when Mitch Barnhart gave up his own nice office to Coach DeMoss, taking the small unimpressive office as his own, which certainly showed a difference in regard to respect and support for women's basketball. If Mitch Barnhart had only been the athletic director in the 70's, I strongly suspect Pat Summitt would have been OUR coach at UK. I know he loves and supports women's basketball, as he does all the other sports, traveling to some of their games. I just don't think women's basketball got such in the past, and I appreciate the improvement.

Further, I've always suspected the players' wanting Coach Mitchell to be their coach (which I had read in an article), as they were really hurting from Coach DeMoss' sudden departure and Coach had formed bonds with the players as a UK assistant, had quite a bit to do with the decision. Who knows, though! :shrug1: For me, though, the past is past, and I'm just looking toward the future of UK women's basketball and hoping Coach Mitchell ends up being a fine hire. Also, as one who prefers to emphasize positives, I LOVE the hire of Kyra Elzy as an assistant. Good luck to our Lady Cats next season! :)