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Post by knightsbridgeaz on Apr 9, 2024 21:56:09 GMT -5
Sorry for where I found it out, TOB, but article was linked.
Totally unexpected, rumor (strong) was she was going one more year.
Kate Paye negotiating to take over (as expected).
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Post by mdoggie on Apr 9, 2024 22:12:47 GMT -5
Hope she enjoys her retirement. She helped to grow the women’s game.
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Post by semper on Apr 10, 2024 1:36:56 GMT -5
End of an era. She has been a quiet force for sure.
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Post by bulkey on Apr 10, 2024 4:06:56 GMT -5
This was rumored of course for the past 2 years, since she expressed contempt for NIL and the portal. In itself, there's nothing at all wrong with that (maybe, to the contrary!), but it showed a certain fragility to adjusting to the new reality. Knightsbridgeaz seems to have a better sense of it.
No longer as much fun celebrating when Geno overtakes her next year. It'll happen well before Christmas now.
A very worthy adversary. I am still traumatized by the loss at Stanford.
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Post by UConnChapette on Apr 10, 2024 5:34:50 GMT -5
The breakup of the Pac12 was likely “the straw”. Add that into the mix with her dislike of NIL and the portal, the handwriting was on the wall.
Wishing her well in her retirement. A long and successful career. Coaching some of the best in the game. She has had a very good career. Time for some well deserved rest.
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Post by spider on Apr 10, 2024 7:02:14 GMT -5
Win #4 sets the record next year for Geno. Super that Paige will be part of it.
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Post by mdoggie on Apr 10, 2024 7:48:21 GMT -5
Win #4 sets the record next year for Geno. Super that Paige will be part of it. Hey, FYI this thread is about Tara. |
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Post by bulkey on Apr 10, 2024 7:57:23 GMT -5
Win #4 sets the record next year for Geno. Super that Paige will be part of it. That will be awesome. Thinking UConn will make it special. I was at Mohegan Sun for his 1000th and they gave fans some cool swag. The rumors of Tara’s retirement have been ripe for a year as the 3 freshmen portalled. Yet Geno kept saying he’d never get the career record. Strange. |
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Post by vtcwbuff on Apr 10, 2024 8:11:04 GMT -5
Long time fans will remember that there was no love lost between VanDerveer and Auriemma early in his career. Rumor was that he did something that ticked her off and she retaliated by not playing Lobo in the Olympic games. They eventually got over it and Stanford v UConn games were always something I looked forward to. Even though sometimes the games were painful to watch.
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Post by grrrrr on Apr 10, 2024 8:15:08 GMT -5
This was rumored of course for the past 2 years, since she expressed contempt for NIL and the portal. In itself, there's nothing at all wrong with that (maybe, to the contrary!), but it showed a certain fragility to adjusting to the new reality. Knightsbridgeaz seems to have a better sense of it. No longer as much fun celebrating when Geno overtakes her next year. It'll happen well before Christmas now. A very worthy adversary. I am still traumatized by the loss at Stanford. Winning is great but the losses haunt us. |
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Post by bulkey on Apr 10, 2024 9:03:20 GMT -5
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Post by UConnChapette on Apr 10, 2024 9:05:27 GMT -5
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Post by phil on Apr 10, 2024 9:40:07 GMT -5
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Post by phil on Apr 10, 2024 9:43:29 GMT -5
Yet Geno kept saying he’d never get the career record. Strange. I remember reading that and being surprised, but I went back and reread it and I got a different impression. My second impression was not that he didn't expect to achieve it but it wasn't high on his priority of goals. I think you wanted to downplay media discussion of the accomplishment if it happened while they were both active. I could be wrong. |
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Post by phil on Apr 10, 2024 9:46:11 GMT -5
The breakup of the Pac12 was likely “the straw”. Add that into the mix with her dislike of NIL and the portal, the handwriting was on the wall. Wishing her well in her retirement. A long and successful career. Coaching some of the best in the game. She has had a very good career. Time for some well deserved rest. My spouse can confirm that I speculated this as well. Next year with Stanford in the ACC, that will mean incredible travel for conference games. On the one hand, Tara went through this already during the pandemic year where they weren't permitted back on campus and spent a long time on the road, but I won't be surprised if that was hell and she said she's not doing that again. |
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Post by phil on Apr 10, 2024 9:51:06 GMT -5
At the risk of tooting my own horn, a few years ago I decided to get more active in Wikipedia and noticed that the article on Tara was very limited so took on the task of improving it. As is true of almost any article in Wikipedia, the content is a collaborative result of multiple individuals, but the stats suggest I'm responsible for about 78% of the content. Tara Vanderveer.I'm sure many of the facts will be well known to most of you, but how many know, without looking, where she got her first name or what musical instrument she plays. |
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Post by mulliganspa on Apr 10, 2024 9:52:53 GMT -5
Geno will add this one to his many accomplishments but not too excited about records related to coaches staying around till your old enough to play in the super-seniors Pickleball league. What he accomplished this year with all the injuries impresses me a lot more. Plus he has been in 2 conferences these past many years where UCONN’s second string would win the title every year. Better things about Geno than total wins. There better be.
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Post by bulkey on Apr 10, 2024 9:57:32 GMT -5
At the risk of tooting my own horn, a few years ago I decided to get more active in Wikipedia and noticed that the article on Tara was very limited so took on the task of improving it. As is true of almost any article in Wikipedia, the content is a collaborative result of multiple individuals, but the stats suggest I'm responsible for about 78% of the content. Tara Vanderveer.I'm sure many of the facts will be well known to most of you, but how many know, without looking, where she got her first name or what musical instrument she plays. Really excellent, Phil. And I bet it was heavily cribbed the past couple of days! |
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Post by pinotbear on Apr 10, 2024 12:42:16 GMT -5
This was rumored of course for the past 2 years, since she expressed contempt for NIL and the portal. In itself, there's nothing at all wrong with that (maybe, to the contrary!), but it showed a certain fragility to adjusting to the new reality. Knightsbridgeaz seems to have a better sense of it. No longer as much fun celebrating when Geno overtakes her next year. It'll happen well before Christmas now. A very worthy adversary. I am still traumatized by the loss at Stanford. Winning is great but the losses haunt us. I've long believed that, sadly, pain lasts much, much longer than pleasure - in the sense that embarrassment, disappointment, failure, grief, resentment, the whole cornucopia of negative/painful emotions leave scars that linger for a very long time. Joy is fleeting, sorrow is not. Unfortunately, that can mean that negative reinforcement can work: that old adages such as "play with fire, you'll get burned", and "friends come and go, but enemies accumulate", have a basis. |
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Post by samanthabrown3 on Apr 10, 2024 14:07:41 GMT -5
At the risk of tooting my own horn, a few years ago I decided to get more active in Wikipedia and noticed that the article on Tara was very limited so took on the task of improving it. As is true of almost any article in Wikipedia, the content is a collaborative result of multiple individuals, but the stats suggest I'm responsible for about 78% of the content. Tara Vanderveer.I'm sure many of the facts will be well known to most of you, but how many know, without looking, where she got her first name or what musical instrument she plays. Well done, Phil! I knew about the first name, but not about the instrument. |
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Post by knightsbridgeaz on Apr 10, 2024 14:58:06 GMT -5
At the risk of tooting my own horn, a few years ago I decided to get more active in Wikipedia and noticed that the article on Tara was very limited so took on the task of improving it. As is true of almost any article in Wikipedia, the content is a collaborative result of multiple individuals, but the stats suggest I'm responsible for about 78% of the content. Tara Vanderveer.I'm sure many of the facts will be well known to most of you, but how many know, without looking, where she got her first name or what musical instrument she plays. Well done, Phil! I knew about the first name, but not about the instrument. Exact opposite. I knew about the instrument, it was featured on TV a number of times. But had no idea where her name (specifically) came from, although I know the reference, of course. Also did not know Idaho was DII when she was there. Yes, all wins, DI through DIII are counted for NCAA coaches. |
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Post by bulkey on Apr 10, 2024 15:20:27 GMT -5
This is cool.
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Post by huskyharper on Apr 10, 2024 21:45:38 GMT -5
I still think of her as "terror" Vanderveer, for how she treated our Rebecca. It wasn't Rebecca's fault the committee put her on the team. Vanderveer's treatment of her was an example of classless nastiness.
She should have been grateful that Rebecca brought so many new eyes to the sport, instead of treating her like shite.
Never liked her after that, she showed her colors as a narcissistic witch with a b. For the coach of the national team to be so petty is really low.
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Post by phil on Apr 11, 2024 10:24:36 GMT -5
I have a somewhat different take while fully understanding your take.
I'm basing this on something I read several years ago so I apologize in advance if my recollection is imperfect.
Tara was asked to be the national team coach to prepare the team for the Olympics. I think she wrestled with this decision. I've seen reported elsewhere that the requirement was that Tara temporarily give up her position as head coach. My recollection is that it wasn't a straight out absolute requirement of USA basketball but the results of a negotiation into which she had input. I thought she felt that she could not do the position justice unless she sat out the year as head coach. I wouldn't mind getting clarification on exactly how the negotiations took place but that's not central to my point.
My point is that once Tara decided to take on the honor she took it very very seriously. She also decided to concentrate on basketball not on media relations. She put up with media relations requirements but somewhat reluctantly. Whether we like it or not, putting the best team on the floor is only part of the responsibility. Hyping the game was an important goal for USA basketball and not Tara's main emphasis. Given the timing of the recent undefeated season by UConn and the incredible press that ensued, USA basketball wanted to take advantage of the media hype and wanted to push Rebecca Lobo as the face of basketball. That clashed with Tara's goals. She put up with it, but felt it was unfair that the bulk of the media attention was on Rebecca when she felt there were more accomplished members of the team.
Whatever we might personally think about Rebecca Lobo, I think we can all appreciate that the media tends to glom onto some anointed player who might be tremendously gifted, but perhaps deserves to be the focus of X percent of the coverage as opposed to 5x. If you can't give up your personal view of Lobo's place in history, just think about how the media glommed onto Sabrina Ionescu, Angel Reese, and Caitlin Clark. Please don't misunderstand, I'm not arguing that any of these players are not tremendously gifted athletes, but if an outsider not familiar with women's basketball were to look at the media coverage in the respective periods, they might come away with the impression that there is one shining star deserving most of the attention along with a handful of lesser athletes barely deserving mention. I think Tara was not comfortable with that media attention directed to Rebecca and possibly overreacted in terms of the playing time assigned to her.
Couple that with the possibility that Tara had a similar feeling about Geno, thinking that perhaps he was getting too much media attention relative to many highly qualified coaches who were barely mentioned. My understanding is that Tara came to appreciate that Geno does know a lot about basketball and modified her view of him, but that took a few years.
I'm not arguing that I fully support how Tara handled the situation but if you can take off blue tinted glasses for a minute I think you can see how it came about.
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Post by huskyharper on Apr 11, 2024 12:54:51 GMT -5
Hey Phil. I do wear blue tinted specs. Freely admit that. And I agree that Rebecca really was only on the team for PR. She was also a great player, and a classy person, especially for one so young.
Tara was fully formed adult who acted like a spoiled brat in that situation. To put a younger person who is in your care thru the hell she put Rebecca thru is unconscionable. Rebecca was treated so badly, there were reports of her calling Geno, sobbing. No matter what she did, it was wrong as far as VanDerveer was concerned. Thanks to her belittling Rebecca, from what I recall, the rest of the team basically shunned her.
How mature is that???
It took Years for Tara to admit and acknowledge Geno as a good coach. Thankfully others acknowledge his greatness, for example Dawn Staley.
Petty and narcissistic. VanDerveer will never admit that she handled the situation badly. What hammers it home to me is how gracious Rebecca is on air regarding VanDerveer.
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