Hot Stove 2010-11: Women's Basketball Edition

[Jacks#1Fan]

Re: Hot Stove 2010-11: Women's Basketball Edition

AJ would take the Minnesota job in a heartbeat if it were offered to him. If you dont think that is so, IMHO you have a very low basketball IQ.

And I'm with you on that 1B, but also agree with Zoo that it is highly unlikely he would be selected. It may be, as reported, that there are more men coaches than women, but IMO the pressure is on at the big school's to recruit females for women's BB, especially when they already have a female coach.

[boxerboy]

Re: Hot Stove 2010-11: Women's Basketball Edition

AJ would take the Minnesota job in a heartbeat if it were offered to him. If you dont think that is so, IMHO you have a very low basketball IQ.

You are absolutely right. The U. of Minnesota job would be a huge get for A.J. I hope he never leaves but to think that the Gophs will ONLY hire a woman if there is a great and qualified male candidate not only is wrong but quite possibly illegal.

[Jacks#1Fan]

Re: Hot Stove 2010-11: Women's Basketball Edition

You are absolutely right. The U. of Minnesota job would be a huge get for A.J. I hope he never leaves but to think that the Gophs will ONLY hire a woman if there is a great and qualified male candidate not only is wrong but quite possibly illegal.

So we can assume there were no great and qualified male candidates when Pam Bortnam was hired? Call it illegal, call it immoral, but just try proving it, and don't think it doesn't happen.

[CatchEmAll]

Re: Hot Stove 2010-11: Women's Basketball Edition

My two cents after only reading a few of the posts:
1. IMO - I think AJ would think twice about taking the U of M job. Money is NOT everything. He's already proven he can recruit to and take a team from Brookings SD to the Big Dance. He's a few seconds away from a Sweet 16 and a few years from actually getting there and not being a Cinderella. Don't you think that factored into him NOT leaving once before.
2. Inner City Minneapolis and St. Paul are NOT hot beds of WBB talent. Save for a couple of exceptions. Outer ring metro has much better players, and even out state MN has much better players.
3. Cc to Zooropa. New Prague is NOT part of the TC metro. That would be like saying Brookings is a suburb of Sioux Falls.

[JACKGUYII]

Re: Hot Stove 2010-11: Women's Basketball Edition

Not exactly. Pretty sure they want to win with a woman head coach, based on the 30+ year history of the program.

I'm not saying they won't consider hiring AJ, but I'm pretty sure the odds are stacked against him, and I don't know that he'd want to coach there anyway. Sure he'd have the same recruiting area, but I don't think he'd be allowed to recruit the same kids, I don't think he'd have the kind of support he gets from the AD here, and whatever can be said about the money has to be balanced against what he would have to do to earn it.

AJ doesn't recruit the TC metro, and I think that's as much a matter of choice as it is a question of being able to land players that are in the Gophers' backyard.

If he's coaching at the U of M, and Wisconsin & Iowa start getting the best players in the cities, he's under far more pressure to respond to that than he is for, say, letting Ostarello end up at Purdue. Even if those players aren't a good fit for his system.

Even assuming Minnesota were interested (which is, I think, highly doubtful), you're looking at trading in a tremendous amount of freedom and support for a higher paycheck and a bit more notice.

Consider also that the Gophs will remember that AJ backed out of the UW-GB deal after accepting it.

Man you lost me on this post. More inaccuracies than a first grade math test.

[Kemo]

Re: Hot Stove 2010-11: Women's Basketball Edition

So we can assume there were no great and qualified male candidates when Pam Bortnam was hired? Call it illegal, call it immoral, but just try proving it, and don't think it doesn't happen.

This is exactly correct, and there are fair number of people within the circles of women's athletics who find it blasphemous that there are more men coaching women than women coaching women. If you don't think there are hires based on gender in college athletics, you are sadly mistaken (this goes for both men and women).

In terms of the University of Minnesota hiring only women for their women's basketball coaching vacancies, I can't say for sure or not that this trend will continue to hold true. If you are not aware, there were seperate men's and a women's athletic department at the U of M until they were merged under the guidance of Maturi around the turn of the century, so this might have something to do with the past hiring of only women coaches for their women's basketball team.

[Chains]

Re: Hot Stove 2010-11: Women's Basketball Edition

My two cents after only reading a few of the posts:
1. IMO - I think AJ would think twice about taking the U of M job. Money is NOT everything. He's already proven he can recruit to and take a team from Brookings SD to the Big Dance. He's a few seconds away from a Sweet 16 and a few years from actually getting there and not being a Cinderella. Don't you think that factored into him NOT leaving once before.
2. Inner City Minneapolis and St. Paul are NOT hot beds of WBB talent. Save for a couple of exceptions. Outer ring metro has much better players, and even out state MN has much better players.
3. Cc to Zooropa. New Prague is NOT part of the TC metro. That would be like saying Brookings is a suburb of Sioux Falls.

You bet AJ would think twice about taking the Gophers job. Once about how long a contract he would ask for and his second thought would be what sub he would buy his new home in. $120 vs $500 thou - not much thought would needed to go into that. Big 10 vs Summit, again not a tough choice.

As far as men and women coaching women.....are we saying that if your a male coach no sense coaching women because advancement to big schools is out? Nonesense my freinds. Does male / female come into the decisson process? You bet it does, but so does winning.

GBGBGJ

[SUPERBUNNY]

Re: Hot Stove 2010-11: Women's Basketball Edition

You bet AJ would think twice about taking the Gophers job. Once about how long a contract he would ask for and his second thought would be what sub he would buy his new home in. $120 vs $500 thou - not much thought would needed to go into that. Big 10 vs Summit, again not a tough choice.

As far as men and women coaching women.....are we saying that if your a male coach no sense coaching women because advancement to big schools is out? Nonesense my freinds. Does male / female come into the decisson process? You bet it does, but so does winning.

GBGBGJ

It is a pretty big factor. There is huge pressure from the NCAA for gender equity in coaching. Does it rule him out? Of course not but if he is up against a female for a position his resume will need to be more impressive for him to get the job.

AJ is our coach today, tomorrow, and into the future. At some point he will get the call to move up into a "major" position if his teams continue to succeed. SDSU is a winner either way in my opinion.

SUPERBUNNY

[CatchEmAll]

Re: Hot Stove 2010-11: Women's Basketball Edition

Cc again to zooropa - was not singling you out on the New Prague comment, just a statement in regard to your statement.

Little fish (AJ), big ocean (U of M and the Big Ten). Fans may see the glamour in a position like that and the pay check, etc. But the reality is no one knows what would happen if the opportunity presented itself.

SDSU is VERY fortunate that Dr. Oien made the hire of AJ when he did and with the results we've seen. SDSU's women are on target to play in more NCAA tournaments than most Big Ten schools from 2009-2014, win more conference titles in the same time frame, and play some of the top competition in DI.

Recruits will gravitate to Brookings because of AJ and the success when recruited. And not all recruits are right for the program.

Go Jacks.

[bigticket1]

Re: Hot Stove 2010-11: Women's Basketball Edition

This is exactly correct, and there are fair number of people within the circles of women's athletics who find it blasphemous that there are more men coaching women than women coaching women. If you don't think there are hires based on gender in college athletics, you are sadly mistaken (this goes for both men and women).

In terms of the University of Minnesota hiring only women for their women's basketball coaching vacancies, I can't say for sure or not that this trend will continue to hold true. If you are not aware, there were seperate men's and a women's athletic department at the U of M until they were merged under the guidance of Maturi around the turn of the century, so this might have something to do with the past hiring of only women coaches for their women's basketball team.

You are correct about the separate women's department until recently - and the head of that department who hired all those coaches was Chris Voelz,who was an admitted feminist who cost the University many dollars for facilities beyond what Title IX required. Also,the highest profile Gopher women's coach is volleyball coach Mike Hebert who they wooed away from Illinois.

[jackdaniel]

Re: Hot Stove 2010-11: Women's Basketball Edition

The bigger the program, the more pressure applied to win ,some people like it, some don't like it as much, depends on the person.I go to the Minn forum as well as Purdues, and they,re alway's comments about buying out contracts & getting a new coach if he/she doesn't win as much as certain people expect.Goes with the job.As a coach, you may not read this stuff, but you know of the 'grumblings " none the less.

[SDHoops]

Re: Hot Stove 2010-11: Women's Basketball Edition

My two cents after only reading a few of the posts:
1. IMO - I think AJ would think twice about taking the U of M job. Money is NOT everything. He's already proven he can recruit to and take a team from Brookings SD to the Big Dance. He's a few seconds away from a Sweet 16 and a few years from actually getting there and not being a Cinderella. Don't you think that factored into him NOT leaving once before.
2. Inner City Minneapolis and St. Paul are NOT hot beds of WBB talent. Save for a couple of exceptions. Outer ring metro has much better players, and even out state MN has much better players.
3. Cc to Zooropa. New Prague is NOT part of the TC metro. That would be like saying Brookings is a suburb of Sioux Falls.

Oh really?

-Angel Robinson, St. Paul Central grad., finished her season as a three-year starter for Marquette University

-Taylor Hill, Minneapolis South grad., finished her freshman season as a starter for Ohio State University

-Kiara Buford, St. Paul Central grad., finished her sophomore season as the leading scorer and all-conference honorable mention for the University of Minnesota and was all-Big Ten Freshman last year.

-Ashley Ellis-Milan, St. Paul Central grad., finished her career at University of Minnesota as a four-year starter and second leading scorer this season.

-Ephesia Holmes, Minneapolis South grad., part-time starter the past two seasons for the University at Buffalo (I thought it was of Buffalo, but they put the emphasis on the "at" Buffalo)

Looks like those "few" exceptions make an immediate impact at the highest level. It's funny that Tyisha Smith and Ameshia Kearney have been starting since their freshman year and were on a nationally ranked team, yet remain the only two uncommited as ranked players in Minnesota. I really wish schools like SDSU would get out of the Midwest mentality and start recruiting a diverse group of players. That is my opinion. Before you crucify me, look at the post that got me fired up in the first place. I'm not criticizing! Just saying..

[CatchEmAll]

Re: Hot Stove 2010-11: Women's Basketball Edition

Oh really?

-Angel Robinson, St. Paul Central grad., finished her season as a three-year starter for Marquette University

-Taylor Hill, Minneapolis South grad., finished her freshman season as a starter for Ohio State University

-Kiara Buford, St. Paul Central grad., finished her sophomore season as the leading scorer and all-conference honorable mention for the University of Minnesota and was all-Big Ten Freshman last year.

-Ashley Ellis-Milan, St. Paul Central grad., finished her career at University of Minnesota as a four-year starter and second leading scorer this season.

-Ephesia Holmes, Minneapolis South grad., part-time starter the past two seasons for the University at Buffalo (I thought it was of Buffalo, but they put the emphasis on the "at" Buffalo)

Looks like those "few" exceptions make an immediate impact at the highest level. It's funny that Tyisha Smith and Ameshia Kearney have been starting since their freshman year and were on a nationally ranked team, yet remain the only two uncommited as ranked players in Minnesota. I really wish schools like SDSU would get out of the Midwest mentality and start recruiting a diverse group of players. That is my opinion. Before you crucify me, look at the post that got me fired up in the first place. I'm not criticizing! Just saying..

I respect your opinion and thank you for finding those exceptions I mentioned. What about the rest of the Twin Cities and outstate as far as DI players? I don't have the time or patience (or desire) to look up that information, but I would guess it's a pretty good list as well. (Not trying to refute your point or defend mine, just curiosity more than anything)

In terms of diversity, I think we all wish SDSU would be more diverse as a whole student body. I would venture to guess one "issue" with recruiting is the lack of diversity. Players tend to feel comfortable when they see themselves in a program and the players you mentioned and others like them cannot "see" themselves in SDSU's program. I'm sure AJ and the staff make every effort to recruit the best players, but again, not all players fit for one reason or another.

[bigticket1]

Re: Hot Stove 2010-11: Women's Basketball Edition

Oh really?

-Angel Robinson, St. Paul Central grad., finished her season as a three-year starter for Marquette University

-Taylor Hill, Minneapolis South grad., finished her freshman season as a starter for Ohio State University

-Kiara Buford, St. Paul Central grad., finished her sophomore season as the leading scorer and all-conference honorable mention for the University of Minnesota and was all-Big Ten Freshman last year.

-Ashley Ellis-Milan, St. Paul Central grad., finished her career at University of Minnesota as a four-year starter and second leading scorer this season.

-Ephesia Holmes, Minneapolis South grad., part-time starter the past two seasons for the University at Buffalo (I thought it was of Buffalo, but they put the emphasis on the "at" Buffalo)

Looks like those "few" exceptions make an immediate impact at the highest level. It's funny that Tyisha Smith and Ameshia Kearney have been starting since their freshman year and were on a nationally ranked team, yet remain the only two uncommited as ranked players in Minnesota. I really wish schools like SDSU would get out of the Midwest mentality and start recruiting a diverse group of players. That is my opinion. Before you crucify me, look at the post that got me fired up in the first place. I'm not criticizing! Just saying..

Do not mean to crucify,but do you have access to the list of players that the SDSU coaching staff considers as potential recruits at the beginning of the recruiting season ?

[1stRowFANatic]

Re: Hot Stove 2010-11: Women's Basketball Edition

Charlie Creme posts his top 64 for next year. ORU barely makes it in, SDSU doesn't. Motivation.