All Kinds of interesting stuff in today's Athletic
Apr 25, 2024 10:14:55 GMT -5
magic, swash, and 2 more like this
Post by bulkey on Apr 25, 2024 10:14:55 GMT -5
Chantell Jennings is a terrific WCBB reporter and today was a mailbag discussion. I can't keep track of whether it's paywalled (think it is), so trying to be judicious.
Discussion of when Geno retires. She doesn't think he will until at least another national championship. When he does:
In addition to Ralph, Jamelle Elliott is still on staff and should be given a look. Outside of the current staff, I’d imagine Carla Berube — UConn grad and current Princeton coach — would be high on the list. An outside-of-the-box look (depending on when Auriemma retires)? Carly Thibault-Dudonis. She’s down the road at Fairfield and building a program there. She’s outside of the UConn lineage, but that might be attractive.
Discussion of the teams that made the FF this year. She predicts South Carolina and UConn will return.
UConn: Heck, the Huskies didn’t even need seven players to get to the Final Four this season. If they can stay healthy, they seem like a smart Final Four pick. But a transfer portal post pickup would be helpful.
Most interesting were:
1. Tenn's new coach.
In talking with folks around the industry, I found many were surprised that Tennessee pulled the plug on Kellie Harper after this past season. There’s a feeling that firing sent the message that Tennessee believes a coach needs to reach the Final Four in five years … or they’re fired. And that’s not the most attractive job offer (especially with a salary under $800,000 a year), considering the parity we’re seeing in the game right now.
2. Will WCBB adopt one-and-done:
With the recent growth of the college game and a future pipeline of stars like JuJu Watkins, Maddie Booker, Hannah Hidalgo, et al., there would definitely be an argument for getting those players into the league as quickly as possible. The WNBA will be expanding to 13 teams at the start of the 2025 season, and it hopes to reach 16 teams in the near future. Given this amount of change, it’s hard to know what its priorities will be heading into negotiations. But after this season, when we see how much the league might grow, we’ll have a better idea.
Discussion of when Geno retires. She doesn't think he will until at least another national championship. When he does:
In addition to Ralph, Jamelle Elliott is still on staff and should be given a look. Outside of the current staff, I’d imagine Carla Berube — UConn grad and current Princeton coach — would be high on the list. An outside-of-the-box look (depending on when Auriemma retires)? Carly Thibault-Dudonis. She’s down the road at Fairfield and building a program there. She’s outside of the UConn lineage, but that might be attractive.
Discussion of the teams that made the FF this year. She predicts South Carolina and UConn will return.
UConn: Heck, the Huskies didn’t even need seven players to get to the Final Four this season. If they can stay healthy, they seem like a smart Final Four pick. But a transfer portal post pickup would be helpful.
Most interesting were:
1. Tenn's new coach.
In talking with folks around the industry, I found many were surprised that Tennessee pulled the plug on Kellie Harper after this past season. There’s a feeling that firing sent the message that Tennessee believes a coach needs to reach the Final Four in five years … or they’re fired. And that’s not the most attractive job offer (especially with a salary under $800,000 a year), considering the parity we’re seeing in the game right now.
2. Will WCBB adopt one-and-done:
With the recent growth of the college game and a future pipeline of stars like JuJu Watkins, Maddie Booker, Hannah Hidalgo, et al., there would definitely be an argument for getting those players into the league as quickly as possible. The WNBA will be expanding to 13 teams at the start of the 2025 season, and it hopes to reach 16 teams in the near future. Given this amount of change, it’s hard to know what its priorities will be heading into negotiations. But after this season, when we see how much the league might grow, we’ll have a better idea.
