Wow, Muffet's board is as disappointed in Ivey as TOB is

If she doesn't produce this year, she's in the deepest doo doo. The problem is/will be recruiting. Because the stakes are now so high, athletes have become such sophisticated consumers. She'll be outrecruited in her own conference by at least Louisville, Duke, and NC.

True. But Ivey was their chief recruiter for all but an 8 month absence. However, Muffet, as the former head coach, must bare the bulk of the responsibility for what has happened to the program. She anointed her successor.
Fwiw, I do think ND will be much improved this year. There's simply too much talent on the team for them not to be. Unless, of course, Ivey was thrust into a position that's further above her head than what was apparent last year.
Some people make great recruiters and some people make great assistant coaches. Neither accomplishment guarantees success as a head coach.

Chased kids off ... would be more accurate.  She got away with it because of her reputation as a top coach at a perennial winner.  But then when she had some injuries and a surprise or two, the wheels came flying off, complete with tears and health implications for Muffet. 

Ivey had benefitted from, and developed under McGraw's style.  So it seemed like that must be the best way.  It is a trap educators (everyone, I guess) should actively avoid.  Excel as a student and find success and accolades in that system, then become educators in the same or very similar institutions, perpetuating the good, but also inadvertently, the detrimental parts of ... "that's the way it has always been done."  Potentially leading some brilliant students with certain challenges to academic mediocrity.

Anyway, Ivey doesn't have the Cred to treat players like that.  Some obviously balked while there, others bailed.  Let's see where this goes.  I think the future is either gravely dim or great.  I don't think there is any middle ground

Muffet won the NC with 4 seniors and Young. She assumed Young was going to stay and provide a core for her new players. (She was shocked when Jackie announced.) Sam came in with great fanfare: if she had lived up to expectations, she and Young would have been a solid start to at least a competitive team. But Young left and Sam had a challenging first year (injured, I think).

Muffet is far from my favorite person. But she is deservedly a Hall of Fame coach. She had a bad stretch, some perhaps by her own failures, some perhaps by chance. Dee is probably the single greatest WCBB player of all time and carried her team to NC's. No one wants to remember the UConn team the year after she graduated....Recruitment goes in cycles, even at UConn.

Ivey has talent to work with this year, but could have a lot more, had she played it differently last year.

That's a pretty devastating analysis, David. I need to walk back my earlier comment! 

Word on McGraw's (Bench) Mausoleum a few years ago was that Assistant Coach Niele Ivey was a big part of their recruiting successes, and she did the lion's share of the coaching! Assistant Coach Beth Cunningham's contributions were either understated, or completely unstated!? Ivey left for a job in the NBA, Mcgraw lost her top 5 players to the WNBA and the chickens came home to roost!!

Even a great coach would have had a down season with the players ND had on their roster, but McGraw went into full meltdown mode and made it worse! She is a very good coach and she built the ND WCBB Program, but she panicked when they needed her the most! She's human and I don't really like her, but I respect her accomplishments! There were also some unfortunate in juries during McGraw's final fateful season, but you have to play the cards you're dealt! What her team needed at that time was a good coach with a calm demeanor who leads by example! Cunningham mostly gave them that, but McGraw just plain panicked and her players saw that!!

McGraw couldn't wait to hit the outbound coach's portal and she pushed Ivey as the heir apparent; tossing Cunningham to the unemployed ranks, although Ivey actually jettisoned her! New Duke Coach Kara Lawson hired Cunningham in a New York minute and she knew what she was doing!! I'm hoping that Duke kicks some ND butt this WCBB season!

After forcing Cunningham out, Coach Ivey brought in Coquese Washington who was let go by Penn State 2 months prior? Coquese is well-educated, but she's a mediocre coach IMO? It's rarely a good idea to hire your friends and let go more capable people, but Ivey did exactly that?

onwardstate.com/2019/03/08/coquese-washington-to-leave-post-as-lady-lions-head-coach/

und.com/coach/coquese-washington-2/

One other hypocriictal McGraw story is how she didn't mind Jackie Young leaving early, but she disowned Jewel Loyd for her Mortal Sin of departing early??? Loyd has won 2 WNBA Titles since she left ND and she's still neglected by the whiner McGraw? Seems extraordinarily petty, but that's McGraw? 

Keep up the good work Coach Ivey!!!!!

Will they forever call that board McGraw's Bench? Might be time for a name change. No more Lady Bears. Why not change ND's WBB board's name to something more current and fitting?


Faded Domers?
Losing Leprechauns?
Poison Ivey?

Niele's anthem................

Yuck.

Modesty is #3 of Hildegard's virtues. Maybe Niele needs to sit in on a seminar....

To the best of my knowledge, far more coaches than you or I know do a wide range of embarrassing things in the world of recruiting.  Some years ago I read articles, the compliance person at Rutgers told stories (about 12 years ago), etc.  This self promotional tweet fits right in with the general tenor.