Women's Coaching Hot Board

AZCatGirl · Post by **AZCatGirl** » Fri Apr 04, 2025 11:14 pm

Might be a short thread?

pc in NM · Post by **pc in NM** » Sat Apr 05, 2025 7:14 am

Curious to see Desireé's chops with her first BIG hire!!

FWIW, she'll now be, without a doubt, the best-dressed babe in the Athletic Department!!

pc in NM · Post by **pc in NM** » Sat Apr 05, 2025 7:17 am

AZCatGirl wrote: Fri Apr 04, 2025 11:14 pm Might be a short thread?

FYI, she was an assistant @ Stanford when they beat the 'Cats for NC in 2020

azcat49 · Post by **azcat49** » Sat Apr 05, 2025 8:26 am

They won the mountain west this year and got to their conference tournament final. She only makes 245k so we could double her salary and still save a cool million. Get it done DRF

TheCatInTheHat · Post by **TheCatInTheHat** » Sat Apr 05, 2025 9:43 am

Assuming she wouldn't take our job, and then bail for her alma mater Stanford (which wouldn't necessarily think she'd be some automatic panacea for their post-VanDerveer life), I guess she'd be the obvious choice. Fairly near and similar climate to Vegas, but the big step up in income and Big XII competition. She's got some decent lower division (academic grade year) players who might follow her to Tucson, which could help mitigate our player exodus problem. That's usually not unexpected, and particularly in the current Wild West climate of the NCAA.

pc in NM · Post by **pc in NM** » Sat Apr 05, 2025 9:48 am

TheCatInTheHat wrote: Sat Apr 05, 2025 9:43 am Assuming she wouldn't take our job, and then bail for her alma mater Stanford (which wouldn't necessarily think she'd be some automatic panacea for their post-VanDerveer life), I guess she'd be the obvious choice. Fairly near and similar climate to Vegas, but the big step up in income and Big XII competition. She's got some decent lower division (academic grade year) players who might follow her to Tucson, which could help mitigate our player exodus problem. That's usually not unexpected, and particularly in the current Wild West climate of the NCAA.

Las Vegas has produced some good women bb'ers - many went to Stanford, but we got Aari..

Irish27 · Post by **Irish27** » Sat Apr 05, 2025 11:22 am

Postmaster · Post by **Postmaster** » Sat Apr 05, 2025 11:27 am

Irish27 wrote: Sat Apr 05, 2025 11:22 am

Usually posts like that don't age well. But I bet she already got a raise from UNLV.

AZCatGirl · Post by **AZCatGirl** » Sat Apr 05, 2025 11:32 am

Scheer says Jason Terry has interest in the job. Clearly a home run hire but who knows if it can actually get done.

Irish27 · Post by **Irish27** » Sat Apr 05, 2025 12:18 pm

I was looking at some smaller school coaches and Aaron Johnston at South Dakota State has been very successful.

Also, did you know the women's basketball program has never had a male head coach? Maybe it's time for a change.

wyo-cat · Post by **wyo-cat** » Sat Apr 05, 2025 12:19 pm

Postmaster wrote: Sat Apr 05, 2025 11:27 am
Irish27 wrote: Sat Apr 05, 2025 11:22 am

Usually posts like that don't age well. But I bet she already got a raise from UNLV.

A MOU at minimum.

Irish27 · Post by **Irish27** » Sat Apr 05, 2025 12:24 pm

Maybe we can go back to Gonzaga and hire their head coach, Lisa Fortier. Tommy worked out.

azcat49 · Post by **azcat49** » Sat Apr 05, 2025 12:46 pm

Well something is wrong if her agent was contacted and she had no interest. Much bigger budget, better Womens basketball fan base, could easily double her salary. Big XII isn’t exactly the most difficult women’s conference. I guess she could have her eye on Stanford

ChooChooCat · Post by **ChooChooCat** » Sat Apr 05, 2025 1:21 pm

azcat49 wrote: Sat Apr 05, 2025 12:46 pm Well something is wrong if her agent was contacted and she had no interest. Much bigger budget, better Womens basketball fan base, could easily double her salary. Big XII isn’t exactly the most difficult women’s conference. I guess she could have her eye on Stanford

She wanted around the money we paid Adia to leave Vegas. We are not going to be paying that any more, so it is what is.

TheCatInTheHat · Post by **TheCatInTheHat** » Sat Apr 05, 2025 2:38 pm

AZCatGirl wrote: Sat Apr 05, 2025 11:32 am Scheer says Jason Terry has interest in the job. Clearly a home run hire but who knows if it can actually get done.

That would be a very interesting out-of-the-box approach that would make a splash. Maybe a little like Michael Cooper at USC, only at JT's alma mater. A lot of it is about recruiting, and The Jet certainly has the personality and celebrity status to potentially pull that off, and he's already been a HC in the G League, and assistant with the Jazz. The negatives would be presumably not having recruiting contacts in the women's game, but neither did Candrea coming over from JC baseball. And not sure if he'd consider this a stepping-stone to a WNBA head job. But if he did well enough here even for just three or four years to be considered, there'd be something to be said for it. I'm kind of guessing that DRF might go more the traditional route and hope to get someone who can build and hold down a solid, if unspectacular, trouble-free program for about the next ten years so she can focus on other areas.

azcat49 · Post by **azcat49** » Sat Apr 05, 2025 2:44 pm

Thx Choo. Should have given her 500k a year snd a 760k bonus if she gets to the national championship game in her first contract.

Seems still that the had to have reservations about the job because now she is still in Vegas making only 250k and waiting for the Stanford gig to open.

Have to wonder if DRF is prioritizing the program or will she go cheap and get whoever she can at a bargain basement salary

Chicat · Post by **Chicat** » Sat Apr 05, 2025 4:41 pm

TheCatInTheHat wrote: Sat Apr 05, 2025 2:38 pmA lot of it is about recruiting, and The Jet certainly has the personality and celebrity status to potentially pull that off, and he's already been a HC in the G League, and assistant with the Jazz. The negatives would be presumably not having recruiting contacts in the women's game, but neither did Candrea coming over from JC baseball.

Not sure if anyone remembers but he ran the Lady Jets AAU team for like a decade and he’s got 5 daughters who have played at various levels. I actually think recruiting would be a strong suit.

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Mon Apr 07, 2025 12:50 pm

azcat49 · Post by **azcat49** » Mon Apr 07, 2025 2:03 pm

Can anyone put a finger on why coaches don’t look at this job as a good one. Great fan support, if you win we are will to put you in the top 10 of coaches paid, a conference that is very winnable. What am I missing?

pc in NM · Post by **pc in NM** » Mon Apr 07, 2025 2:45 pm

azcat49 wrote: Mon Apr 07, 2025 2:03 pm Can anyone put a finger on why coaches don’t look at this job as a good one. Great fan support, if you win we are will to put you in the top 10 of coaches paid, a conference that is very winnable. What am I missing?

Could there be an "Adia Curse" like the"Tomey Curse"???

Chicat · Post by **Chicat** » Mon Apr 07, 2025 2:47 pm

azcat49 wrote: Mon Apr 07, 2025 2:03 pm Can anyone put a finger on why coaches don’t look at this job as a good one. Great fan support, if you win we are will to put you in the top 10 of coaches paid, a conference that is very winnable. What am I missing?

It’s a complete rebuild, which may not be what many coaches are looking to get into. No matter what, our record the next year or two could be ugly, which hampers future opportunities.

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Mon Apr 07, 2025 2:56 pm

Chicat wrote: Mon Apr 07, 2025 2:47 pm
azcat49 wrote: Mon Apr 07, 2025 2:03 pm Can anyone put a finger on why coaches don’t look at this job as a good one. Great fan support, if you win we are will to put you in the top 10 of coaches paid, a conference that is very winnable. What am I missing?
It’s a complete rebuild, which may not be what many coaches are looking to get into. No matter what, our record the next year or two could be ugly, which hampers future opportunities.

I'm begginning to think that that's going to be the new normal throughout the sport.

azcat49 · Post by **azcat49** » Mon Apr 07, 2025 3:11 pm

Chicat wrote: Mon Apr 07, 2025 2:47 pm
azcat49 wrote: Mon Apr 07, 2025 2:03 pm Can anyone put a finger on why coaches don’t look at this job as a good one. Great fan support, if you win we are will to put you in the top 10 of coaches paid, a conference that is very winnable. What am I missing?
It’s a complete rebuild, which may not be what many coaches are looking to get into. No matter what, our record the next year or two could be ugly, which hampers future opportunities.

Yea I can see that but man we have lots of positives and in this age of the transfer portal it doesn’t seem to hard to get 8 good players quick. We were just in a natty game a few years ago.

AZCatGirl · Post by **AZCatGirl** » Mon Apr 07, 2025 5:09 pm

The lack of money we have to put into women's basketball at the moment isn't helpful either.

TheCatInTheHat · Post by **TheCatInTheHat** » Mon Apr 07, 2025 6:29 pm

FWIW, Jason Scheer goes fishing with the following laundry list of possibilities:

Oregon St HC Scott Rueck (I'd doubt it; He's a PNW guy who's been there a long time.)
Portland HC Mike Meek
UC Irvine HC Tamara Inoue
Utah Jazz AC Jason Terry
UConn AC Morgan Valley (She was an AC here. Not sure how much she absorbed from Auriemma and how much is just talent.)
Texas AC Elena Lovato
TCU AC Xavier Lopez
Oregon AC Jode Berry
Baylor AC Tari Cummings-Baker

pc in NM · Post by **pc in NM** » Tue Apr 08, 2025 9:37 am

The tea leaves don't bode well for women's sports, in general, and basketball, in particular

https://tucson.com/sports/column/articl ... 4ba87.html

Investment a must to keep Arizona women's basketball competitive | PJ Brown

Two steps forward, 10 giant steps back.

This is what’s happening to women’s basketball across the country — and at Arizona.

Sure, the powers that be — TV execs, athletic directors and the NCAA administration — would like you to focus on the two steps forward. They aren’t talking about how women’s basketball (really every college women’s sport) is being pushed back to levels not seen since the 1980s.

After all, the steps forward are supposed to be about finally getting equity. Let’s throw those units at them — starting this spring, women’s basketball gets paid just like men’s basketball does for playing and winning in the NCAA Tournament — and they won’t notice what’s going on over here.

Despite women’s basketball breaking all records for viewership (18.7 million) in last spring’s NCAA title game, they won’t be receiving the same percentage as the men to start. The women will get $15 million in 2025 (this number goes up 2.9% each year). Meanwhile, the men got $171 million in 2024.

Teeny baby steps.

The viewership numbers have been going up for years. The audience was always there for women’s basketball, and it definitely helps that the title game was finally broadcast on ABC in 2022.

As Kevin Costner’s character said in “Field of Dreams,” “build it and they will come.” In this case, show it on national TV, and they will watch. Let’s go a little further, show it during prime time and even more people will watch.

As former Notre Dame coach and now TV analyst Muffett McGraw said, “We’re in a great place right now, and we’re only going to get stronger, so we need to put the money into it.”

McGraw said that even though women’s basketball was building towards this, those in charge at the networks, as well as NCAA administration, were “almost unprepared” for this growth.

And that leads us to one of the things that those in power don’t want you to see: no separate media deal for women’s basketball.

That’s right, women’s basketball, along with other college sports (think softball and volleyball), are thrown into the men’s basketball deal with ESPN for the championships. That is, ESPN is getting these games free. In addition, companies can only sponsor the men’s tournament and not, say, only the Women’s Final Four.

There’s a ton of money being left on the table.

“We still have a lot of limitations on the ability of the corporate champions program to be able to pursue our worth …,” said UCLA coach Cori Close, a former president of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association.

“Women’s basketball is on the rise, not just because it’s the right thing to do but because it’s a really good business investment. I think that we really need to see that response from our administrators.”

This is the next layer. From the top, it’s the NCAA administrators and the TV execs not investing in women’s basketball. At the university level, administrations need to get on board, too.

With the new House settlement looming on the horizon, it looks more like women’s basketball programs not tied to Top 25 football teams will not be shown the money. In some cases these programs will be getting the same as they are now or possibly even less.

While everyone is excited that the athletes will be getting paid, as they should be, this settlement could end up hurting women’s sports and especially women’s basketball.

Over the last two years, we’ve started seeing how a lack of investment — whether it’s directly from universities or through a collective/donors — has impacted women’s basketball.

Pay-for-play era

For Arizona in this new pay-for-play era, the biggest area hit is recruiting. With little money to pay players, Arizona isn’t competing for the elite players anymore. While they get close, when it comes down to signing on the dotted line, these young women are taking the money.

Yes, there are always a few players who put development and everything else they gain from being coached by Adia Barnes above money. Think Jada Williams, who has gotten name, image and likeness (NIL) deals on her own since high school. However, most players are taking the money.

This is why Barnes hasn’t locked in the elite transfers – some won’t even talk to a coach unless they can show upfront that they have money.

Barnes has been in the mix for five-star high school recruits during the last two recruiting cycles and has come up empty. At times, Barnes has even tipped her hand that an announcement from an athlete was coming soon, then nothing. These recruits soon sign elsewhere and you can bet another program swooped in with the money.

Times have changed. Just two years ago, Barnes pulled in one of the highest-rated recruiting classes with Williams, Breya Cunningham and Montaya Dew (Skylar Jones was added in the spring). The world has shifted with money ruling the day in women’s basketball.

Going forward it will be even harder for Barnes and others to keep competing. While it starts with paying players to come in and paying them to stay, it’s also about the things that have always kept certain programs one step in front of others.

It’s the charter flights or even new innovations in such things as recovery that go directly to the well-being of the athlete, the locker rooms, the basketball offices and even the food.

Arizona cut back on charters this year — it had flown this way for every game since the pandemic — most likely to balance the extra costs for food and hotel rooms when traveling due to inflation and to help with the financial issues within the UA Athletic Department.

Heck, the Wildcats have redesigned their offices — on paper — but it’s never come to fruition. The last time these offices were updated was when Joan Bonvicini was the Wildcats’ coach — at least 21 years ago. All of these things add up when others have all the upgrades and your program doesn’t.

USC, Washington, Iowa and UC San Diego have hired GMs to help women’s basketball implement and manage NIL programs. Many, like UA women’s basketball, don’t have this role. UC San Diego is not even in a Power 4 conference, and it is stepping up.

It’s been well-documented in stories like in the Washington Post, that the majority of schools don’t have a collective solely for women’s basketball. Coaches have to fundraise, with some being more successful than others in this area.

Still, ESPN analyst Steffi Sorensen was surprised that Arizona didn’t have a women’s basketball-only collective. She said with Barnes’ “history there, her legacy, the excitement around what she’s done for the program … I can only imagine somebody like her after the run that they had, and trying to build off that success and then not have any investment would be wildly frustrating.

“When you sign up to be a coach, I’m not sure, in their mind, it’s like they’re trying to win games, they’re trying to win national championships, they’re trying to win league conferences,” Sorensen said. “Now, it’s a race to who can raise the most money, ‘what way I can get the most talent, because I’ve got to have this much money to bring in this top tier talent.’ It’s just changed.”
...................................................................................................................

It’s anyone’s guess what the future looks like for Arizona women’s basketball.

Will they be able to keep up with the changing times with investments from the athletic department and others? Or will they quietly slip to the back of the bus not competing with the Top 25 programs — or even lesser teams?

In case you are wondering what this would look like, slipping backward, that is, see the Niya Butts coaching era (2008-16). That’s when maybe 100 fans attended games — and that’s being generous.

Meanwhile, Barnes has built the program back up and now is averaging 7,300 fans per game the last three years — good enough to make the Top 10 in the national list of highest attendance in women’s basketball for three consecutive seasons.

When Barnes was hired in 2016, nearly everyone she knew told her not to take the Arizona job, warning that the administration wouldn’t give resources to help not only build but sustain success.

She accepted the job anyway because it was the opportunity to do something special at her alma mater.

Barnes did just that, from winning the WNIT at McKale Center when everyone had written them off (with more fans attending each game right up to the sellout of 14,644 attending the title game) to just 3½ years ago taking her Wildcats to within one basket of winning the national championship (more than 4 million viewers watched that game).
Arizona loses to Grand Canyon University, women’s basketball | Dec. 5, 2024

With everything moving at such a fast pace, we’ll know soon whether Arizona is taking the two steps forward or the 10 giant steps backward.

dirtbags · Post by **dirtbags** » Tue Apr 08, 2025 10:56 am

azcat49 wrote: Mon Apr 07, 2025 3:11 pm
Chicat wrote: Mon Apr 07, 2025 2:47 pm
azcat49 wrote: Mon Apr 07, 2025 2:03 pm Can anyone put a finger on why coaches don’t look at this job as a good one. Great fan support, if you win we are will to put you in the top 10 of coaches paid, a conference that is very winnable. What am I missing?
It’s a complete rebuild, which may not be what many coaches are looking to get into. No matter what, our record the next year or two could be ugly, which hampers future opportunities.
Yea I can see that but man we have lots of positives and in this age of the transfer portal it doesn’t seem to hard to get 8 good players quick. We were just in a natty game a few years ago.

idk, i think it's a tougher sell bc arizona isn't really a prestige program in wbb yet? the rebuild and our finances (and wbb's finances) don't help. '21 was great, but outside of that season we only made the NCAA tournament 11 times in program history and advanced past the first weekend once (sweet 16 in 1998). we're 50-243 all-time vs. ranked opponents and just 14 of those wins were over top 10 teams. conversely, arizona has only cracked the top 10 three times ever, and has produced exactly one first team AA. not to shit all over the program or anything - tbf, a lot of the losses on our record was because pac wbb was brutal and we competed and recruited against teams like stanford, sc, ucla, and oregon every year. our best days are still ahead of us though, so it'll take some work to make the arizona wbb job a destination for high-level coaches. but it would be an amazing opportunity for an ambitious coach to be "the start of something" (and not just a part of something) and really shape the program in their mold - not to get all cuonzo martin or anything

pc in NM · Post by **pc in NM** » Tue Apr 08, 2025 11:42 am

dirtbags wrote: Tue Apr 08, 2025 10:56 am
azcat49 wrote: Mon Apr 07, 2025 3:11 pm
Chicat wrote: Mon Apr 07, 2025 2:47 pm
azcat49 wrote: Mon Apr 07, 2025 2:03 pm Can anyone put a finger on why coaches don’t look at this job as a good one. Great fan support, if you win we are will to put you in the top 10 of coaches paid, a conference that is very winnable. What am I missing?
It’s a complete rebuild, which may not be what many coaches are looking to get into. No matter what, our record the next year or two could be ugly, which hampers future opportunities.
Yea I can see that but man we have lots of positives and in this age of the transfer portal it doesn’t seem to hard to get 8 good players quick. We were just in a natty game a few years ago.
idk, i think it's a tougher sell bc arizona isn't really a prestige program in wbb yet? the rebuild and our finances (and wbb's finances) don't help. '21 was great, but outside of that season we only made the NCAA tournament 11 times in program history and advanced past the first weekend once (sweet 16 in 1998). we're 50-243 all-time vs. ranked opponents and just 14 of those wins were over top 10 teams. conversely, arizona has only cracked the top 10 three times ever, and has produced exactly one first team AA. not to shit all over the program or anything - tbf, a lot of the losses on our record was because pac wbb was brutal and we competed and recruited against teams like stanford, sc, ucla, and oregon every year. our best days are still ahead of us though, so it'll take some work to make the arizona wbb job a destination for high-level coaches. but it would be an amazing opportunity for an ambitious coach to be "the start of something" (and not just a part of something) and really shape the program in their mold - not to get all cuonzo martin or anything

"Something" has already "started"!

Arizona women's basketball has top 10 attendance NATIONALLY.

Arizona women's basketball won the 2020 WNIT, with the championship game in front of a sold out McKale Center

Arizona women's basketball has won 20+ games in 5 of last 6 years

Arizona women's basketball made the NCAA Tournament 4 of past 5 years (No tourney in 2021).

Just two years ago, Arizona women's basketball had one of the top-rated recruiting classes (Jada Williams, Breya Cunningham and Montaya Dew & Skylar Jones)

Chicat · Post by **Chicat** » Tue Apr 08, 2025 12:08 pm

You’re living in the past.

The next coach has to worry about the present and the future.

pc in NM · Post by **pc in NM** » Tue Apr 08, 2025 12:46 pm

Chicat wrote: Tue Apr 08, 2025 12:08 pm You’re living in the past.

The next coach has to worry about the present and the future.

I'm focused on the present.

As, I assume, is the AD.

Chicat · Post by **Chicat** » Tue Apr 08, 2025 12:48 pm

pc in NM wrote: Tue Apr 08, 2025 12:46 pm
Chicat wrote: Tue Apr 08, 2025 12:08 pm You’re living in the past.

The next coach has to worry about the present and the future.
I'm focused on the present.

As, I assume, is the AD.

Oh, I didn’t realize that the 2020 WNIT was the present. My bad.

dirtbags · Post by **dirtbags** » Tue Apr 08, 2025 5:53 pm

pc in NM wrote: Tue Apr 08, 2025 11:42 am "Something" has already "started"!

Arizona women's basketball has top 10 attendance NATIONALLY.

Arizona women's basketball won the 2020 WNIT, with the championship game in front of a sold out McKale Center

Arizona women's basketball has won 20+ games in 5 of last 6 years

Arizona women's basketball made the NCAA Tournament 4 of past 5 years (No tourney in 2021).

Just two years ago, Arizona women's basketball had one of the top-rated recruiting classes (Jada Williams, Breya Cunningham and Montaya Dew & Skylar Jones)

where are you getting your numbers from? recency bias is a thing, and attendance at mckale has only cracked the top 10 twice ever, in '22 and '23. looking at the last 15 years, arizona wasn't in the top 50 in attendance until aari transferred (ranked #31 in '19) and we've had lower home numbers than d2 schools like washburn, ft. hayes state, and emporia state

also, not to belabor this bc it doesn't feel great, but the WNIT is not the dance and our wbb team has never won the pac-12/10 tournament. before the aari era, we finished two thirds of our seasons below .500, and going .206 in ~300 games vs. top 25 opponents isn't super great. i do think it's impressive / fortunate that adia had a taste of success and built some excitement for ua wbb during her stint, given the dearth of institutional support relative to mbb and football; i just don't agree that we're some sort of established wbb powerhouse, even after that awesome tourney run like five seasons ago. we're a wbb powerhut at best, but scrappy and disruptive is cool too.

i totally agree with your point in another thread that the money grab has fucked d1 sports. it's turning 95% of college sports fans, even the ones who follow olympic & non-revenue sports, into casuals. sucks.

Postmaster · Post by **Postmaster** » Tue Apr 08, 2025 7:31 pm

I heard that they are looking for someone with a Masters Degree. At least that's what the job posting said.

AZCatGirl · Post by **AZCatGirl** » Tue Apr 08, 2025 7:37 pm

Sounds like this might be over pretty soon.

84Cat · Post by **84Cat** » Tue Apr 08, 2025 9:41 pm

Irish27 · Post by **Irish27** » Tue Apr 08, 2025 10:39 pm

AZCatGirl · Post by **AZCatGirl** » Tue Apr 08, 2025 11:17 pm

Scheer has an additional name to share.

4/9 Update: There is a very good chance this coaching search ends on Wednesday. The candidates we can confirm are still in the running are George Mason head coach Vanessa Blair-Lewis, Buffalo head coach Becky Burke, and Missouri State head coach Beth Cunningham.

pc in NM · Post by **pc in NM** » Wed Apr 09, 2025 7:49 am

dirtbags wrote: Tue Apr 08, 2025 5:53 pm
pc in NM wrote: Tue Apr 08, 2025 11:42 am "Something" has already "started"!

Arizona women's basketball has top 10 attendance NATIONALLY.

Arizona women's basketball won the 2020 WNIT, with the championship game in front of a sold out McKale Center

Arizona women's basketball has won 20+ games in 5 of last 6 years

Arizona women's basketball made the NCAA Tournament 4 of past 5 years (No tourney in 2021).

Just two years ago, Arizona women's basketball had one of the top-rated recruiting classes (Jada Williams, Breya Cunningham and Montaya Dew & Skylar Jones)
where are you getting your numbers from? recency bias is a thing, and attendance at mckale has only cracked the top 10 twice ever, in '22 and '23. looking at the last 15 years, arizona wasn't in the top 50 in attendance until aari transferred (ranked #31 in '19) and we've had lower home numbers than d2 schools like washburn, ft. hayes state, and emporia state

also, not to belabor this bc it doesn't feel great, but the WNIT is not the dance and our wbb team has never won the pac-12/10 tournament. before the aari era, we finished two thirds of our seasons below .500, and going .206 in ~300 games vs. top 25 opponents isn't super great. i do think it's impressive / fortunate that adia had a taste of success and built some excitement for ua wbb during her stint, given the dearth of institutional support relative to mbb and football; i just don't agree that we're some sort of established wbb powerhouse, even after that awesome tourney run like five seasons ago. we're a wbb powerhut at best, but scrappy and disruptive is cool too.

i totally agree with your point in another thread that the money grab has fucked d1 sports. it's turning 95% of college sports fans, even the ones who follow olympic & non-revenue sports, into casuals. sucks.

I was only responding to your statement ("an amazing opportunity for an ambitious coach to be "the start of something" (and not just a part of something)", by demonstrating that "something" was already started. That list of facts was only shared to show that more was accomplished under Adia that by ANY prior coach.

But we agree that the state of the program today is horrible - I agree that Adia owns some of that, but there's a lot of contributing issues.

84Cat · Post by **84Cat** » Wed Apr 09, 2025 2:32 pm

Not coming to AZ

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Wed Apr 09, 2025 2:35 pm

If I had to guess it's Burke.

Irish27 · Post by **Irish27** » Wed Apr 09, 2025 3:12 pm

azgreg wrote: Wed Apr 09, 2025 2:35 pm If I had to guess it's Burke.

If it's Burke, I would not mind that. She has won everywhere she has gone and she is young. It will be interesting to see if she can recruit.

Fishclamps · Post by **Fishclamps** » Wed Apr 09, 2025 4:14 pm

Guess what? It's Burke

Chicat · Post by **Chicat** » Wed Apr 09, 2025 4:18 pm

I remember her engagement TikTok from a few years ago. Cute couple!

Fishclamps · Post by **Fishclamps** » Wed Apr 09, 2025 4:24 pm

Gonna have to change that subheader under this board now

Alieberman · Post by **Alieberman** » Wed Apr 09, 2025 4:33 pm

Congrats Coach Burke!

Post by **UAdevil** » Wed Apr 09, 2025 4:40 pm

Fishclamps wrote: Wed Apr 09, 2025 4:24 pm Gonna have to change that subheader under this board now

Done.

pc in NM · Post by **pc in NM** » Wed Apr 09, 2025 5:21 pm

Is WBB's CBB a better hire than FB's CBB?

TheCatInTheHat · Post by **TheCatInTheHat** » Wed Apr 09, 2025 7:17 pm

I'm okay with it. 30-7 (against MAC-level competition), with a WNIT title, which are decent bona fides. She had a senior-dominated team, so I wouldn't expect much in Buffalo transfers (other than a decent shooting guard with two years left, if she comes.) The cupboard is basically bare now, so unless she can somehow kick ass in the portal without much money to dangle, it's pretty much a case of building a new program from the ground up, which will likely take some time. Best wishes to her, and I assume she'll enjoy Tucson over Buffalo (for sure in the winter.)

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