To repeat my statement on the recruiting thread, CDC needs to act! Give Aston a credible multi-year contract or announce Aston’s departure. A credible multi-year contract is necessary for recruiting. Texas can afford it even if it means a buyout down the road. The recruiting world is not stopping as we see from all the transfer announcements and the recent 2021 commitment on the recruiting thread. Edit to add: If Aston is leaving, the program needs a coach ASAP. Preliminary work can be done using the telephone and video conferencing.
I agree. Which is why I emailed him on Friday; no reply yet. For those who want to send him an email: ad@athletics.utexas.edu But, common sense indicates a new hire would not be made quickly, especially with what is going on in the world right now.
The state of unknown is not helping our program... not for Aston if she's staying, and not for a replacement if that's the direction it's going.
Common sense tells me there are actions that can be taken now. It may take longer to finalize a new hire due to restrictions on in-person meetings and travel, but a lot can be done. In addition, just knowing whether or not Aston is returning could be helpful in recruiting. Recruits who like Texas but not the coaching staff may wait to see what happens. Recruits who do like the coaching staff can move forward with Texas with more confidence.
Conversely, not being able to name a replacement in a reasonable amount of time could lead to players like Celeste and Charli submitting their names in the transfer portal even if simply to gauge interest from other programs as CDC drags his feet.
Actually I wondered the same thing... If perhaps something is already being worked out one way or another. Perhaps that may even be known amongst those involved (even current players) but all are being silent until it's time to be made public. We'll see... hopefully sooner than later.
Other schools are firing coaches and conducting hiring processes. Three D-I WBB programs have announced new hires already since the end of the season. It was reported that Villanova completed its interviews yesterday. Several firing announcements have been made in just the past couple days. If coronavirus becomes a pretext for failing to replace KA, that will just be so extremely lame. If he’s not going to replace her, then, as others have noted, he must extend her contract to allow her to recruit (or at least attempt to recruit). Failing to do either — fire her or extend her — is unconscionable at this point. I’m not diminishing the gravity of the COVID-19 situation. But the world of WBB transactions continues to spin. Transfers are pouring into the portal. Texas Tech already got a great pickup in Colorado transfer Emma Clarke. Either get with it or get left behind.
Anyone else email CDC besides me? I still haven't received a reply. In the past, Chris Plonsky always replied back to me (even when I stated I wasn't expecting/needing a reply). Folks, unless CDC hears from us (even if just 5-10 fans), this might continue to drag out. Complaining about his lack of action on anonymous message board does nothing; at least emailing him indicates we tried.
I emailed him last week. I didn't say anything about expecting or not expecting a reply (nor have I received one). I really have no idea whether my email might make a difference, or whether he'll ever see it or even be made aware of it, but I figured it couldn't hurt. Never in my life had I written such a letter before. Not my usual thing to do.
He seems to reply very consistently to those who tweet him, but that opens up replies from everyone, not just CDC, as it is completely public. I don't tweet, and is definitely not the approach I would take; his reply would probably much more politically correct on twitter anyway.
I am very disappointed that CDC reaffirmed Shaka's contract and has said nothing about Aston. Treat men and women's athletics the same way. Do not view one as requiring more of your time or immediate attention. He gets paid a lot of money to make decisions and leaving this open is not productive in any way. Either we should be in a coaching search or we should be supporting our current coach.
For cryin' out loud, what the hell is he waiting on? Is CDC moonlighting as the manager of a respirator factory? Is he Dr. Anthony Fauci's secret consultant? Is he writing Governor Abbott's daily speeches? (I hope not.) Seriously, after the initial flurry of "everyone go home, classes are online, recruiting activities suspended," what else could be keeping him from the core activity of his very highly paid job?
Nothing has changed. He either hasn't been able to agree to terms with a significantly better coach or he is bringing her back. Either way, he has until 31 August to resolve the issue.
NCAA just extended the off campus recruiting period until May 31st. Agree with you kurupt. KA will be back. Now let’s just get it done so we can assure the girls KA is after that she will be here.
Right... if she's coming back then just say so already. She's got some recruiting to do, and hopefully she can grab one of those top post players from the juco ranks. We're thin with experience in the paint. At the end of the day, whether we like whatever decision is made or not, we still want the program to succeed.
Lots of ways to look at this (and I definitely have no clue how CDC is approaching this): - you don't wait until the last day of the contract to "decide" what to do; that would be awful planning, and could result in you having no head coach in place when the Fall semester starts, and student-athletes begin classes and off-season conditioning and informal practices - vetting potential coaching candidates while you haven not publicly parted ways with your existing head coach is something I'm sure happens, and it's practical; do your due diligence discreetly behind the scenes; but, formally seeking permission from other ADs to speak with and/or interview their head coaches for your not-yet vacant head coaching job is very risky; it could get leaked out in social media, and becomes a cluster in so many ways. I recall Auburn boosters did something like this back in the day when they reached out to either the Louisville or Ole Miss football head coaches to gauge interest, but had not fired their existing head coach
I’ve always felt that if there was any sense that Coach Aston wasn’t going to be the coach we would’ve already seen a lot more movement in terms of transfers from some of the current players on the roster and some of the in coming recruits asking to be released from their LOI to look at all their options, they usually know these things before most. And imo the later and later a “public” decision isn’t announced it pretty much says the that she’s returning but I could be wrong.
Auburn had Tommy Tuberville as HC, and he was doing a really good job, but their one BMD who ran the athletic department, wanted to make a splash, so he and the AD flew to Loserville and hired Bobby Petrino. News leaked out while Tuberville was still HC. After cutting the deal and heading back, as word spread, Petrino changed his mind. This was the same alum that threw his daughter under the bus to fire Buster Brown.
Finally the dark clouds that covered the Texas WBB program has moved on. Mediocrity is truly not tolerated at Texas. Thank you CDC. No thanks to KA and her amateur coaching staff.
LolNot bitter at all. What i wanted for Texas WBB came true and with our new coach we’re headed HIGHER.