Post by bulkey on Mar 21, 2024 9:23:59 GMT -5
The Athletic polled 35 coaches anonymously on various aspects of the game. I have no idea if the Atlantic is by subscription only (I get it as email as part of a subscription to the NY Times), so I'm drastically reducing the report to its highlights. Written mainly by Chantel Jennings with help from Nicole Auerbach
1. Would you classify the transfer portal as providing “more good” or “more bad” in women’s college basketball?
More good: 31%
More bad: 69%
“I just always thought it was wrong that players were put in situations where they were being penalized if they wanted to go to a different place they thought better suited them,” the coach said.
Almost half of the coaches who came down on the side of “more bad” said the portal gives players an easy way out of adversity.
“If something isn’t going their way or it’s not going as well as they planned, I think it’s easy for them to jump ship instead of right the ship,” said one coach. Added another: “Kids don’t have to fight through hard.”
One coach said the biggest negative was that fans were losing out on becoming followers of a particular player for four years at one program — something that is unique to women’s college basketball, where the vast majority of players don’t head to the pros early.
2. Have the recent changes in college sports shortened how long you think you’ll stay in coaching?
Shortened: 54%
Not changed: 46%
Shortened
“Between the lack of security and having to now re-recruit your own kids at a higher level, with NIL, the time it takes to recruit the transfer portal — it already was an all-consuming job but it’s now unsustainable under the current landscape,” one coach said. Added another: “I didn’t get into this to be a CEO. It has just changed so much in the last four years. It’s a completely different job.”
Said yet another: “Anyone who gets into coaching right now is out of their mind.”
Not changed
Another coach said stepping away early from the profession simply wasn’t an option on account of their young age and being a primary earner in their family.“I think it just depends on where you are in your career. The coaches that are young and providing for their families, we just have to adjust,” the coach explained. “Do I like NIL? Sure. Do I like trying to figure out how to raise money for a collective to figure out how to get around things? No. I hate that. But I’m in a position that I don’t know if I have a choice.”
3. If you had a magic wand, what one change would you make to move the game forward?
Lower the rim
The wish? “Like, if it’s about entertainment, make it entertaining. … This is unpopular: lower the rim by a foot. Go to a kid’s thing, like a halftime show. And they roll out the little rims, and people get to do a dunk contest. How f—ing excited does everybody get? They get pumped up.”
“Better boundaries around NIL. Have Name, Image and Likeness without pay for play.”
Officiating and rule changes
Change the rules to reward offensive play: “They’ve changed the rules in football for quarterbacks. They’ve changed the rules for baseball with the pitch clock to make it more fun for fans, and I think the game is evolving in that way. And I think when we continue to reward just the physicality and the scores of 45-50, we’re not able to really build the game the way that I think that we can.”
Six fouls: “I think that people want to see the best players on the floor. I think that they don’t wanna be talking about the officiating, and I think that that would help the officials as well. I think that if our best players are on the floor at crunch time and fouls aren’t as impactful, then I think it would help the game.”
Add 24-second shot clock: “Internationally, they play at 24. Obviously in the pro leagues they play at 24. I think it’d be good to be consistent and I think it would end up with a better product.”
Re-align realignment “Somehow separate women’s basketball from football. Just have different sports separated, and do things that make sense for those sports. We’re at the mercy of football and football money. Just be more independent.”
1. Would you classify the transfer portal as providing “more good” or “more bad” in women’s college basketball?
More good: 31%
More bad: 69%
“I just always thought it was wrong that players were put in situations where they were being penalized if they wanted to go to a different place they thought better suited them,” the coach said.
Almost half of the coaches who came down on the side of “more bad” said the portal gives players an easy way out of adversity.
“If something isn’t going their way or it’s not going as well as they planned, I think it’s easy for them to jump ship instead of right the ship,” said one coach. Added another: “Kids don’t have to fight through hard.”
One coach said the biggest negative was that fans were losing out on becoming followers of a particular player for four years at one program — something that is unique to women’s college basketball, where the vast majority of players don’t head to the pros early.
2. Have the recent changes in college sports shortened how long you think you’ll stay in coaching?
Shortened: 54%
Not changed: 46%
Shortened
“Between the lack of security and having to now re-recruit your own kids at a higher level, with NIL, the time it takes to recruit the transfer portal — it already was an all-consuming job but it’s now unsustainable under the current landscape,” one coach said. Added another: “I didn’t get into this to be a CEO. It has just changed so much in the last four years. It’s a completely different job.”
Said yet another: “Anyone who gets into coaching right now is out of their mind.”
Not changed
Another coach said stepping away early from the profession simply wasn’t an option on account of their young age and being a primary earner in their family.“I think it just depends on where you are in your career. The coaches that are young and providing for their families, we just have to adjust,” the coach explained. “Do I like NIL? Sure. Do I like trying to figure out how to raise money for a collective to figure out how to get around things? No. I hate that. But I’m in a position that I don’t know if I have a choice.”
3. If you had a magic wand, what one change would you make to move the game forward?
Lower the rim
The wish? “Like, if it’s about entertainment, make it entertaining. … This is unpopular: lower the rim by a foot. Go to a kid’s thing, like a halftime show. And they roll out the little rims, and people get to do a dunk contest. How f—ing excited does everybody get? They get pumped up.”
“Better boundaries around NIL. Have Name, Image and Likeness without pay for play.”
Officiating and rule changes
Change the rules to reward offensive play: “They’ve changed the rules in football for quarterbacks. They’ve changed the rules for baseball with the pitch clock to make it more fun for fans, and I think the game is evolving in that way. And I think when we continue to reward just the physicality and the scores of 45-50, we’re not able to really build the game the way that I think that we can.”
Six fouls: “I think that people want to see the best players on the floor. I think that they don’t wanna be talking about the officiating, and I think that that would help the officials as well. I think that if our best players are on the floor at crunch time and fouls aren’t as impactful, then I think it would help the game.”
Add 24-second shot clock: “Internationally, they play at 24. Obviously in the pro leagues they play at 24. I think it’d be good to be consistent and I think it would end up with a better product.”
Re-align realignment “Somehow separate women’s basketball from football. Just have different sports separated, and do things that make sense for those sports. We’re at the mercy of football and football money. Just be more independent.”
