2021 Coaching Carousel

Makes sense.

 

It's probably the most economically feasible path too. In hindsight, Miss State probably wishes they would have promoted Coach Harris to HC. It would have been a much smoother transition for the players and the program. If they anticipate naming a coach as soon as Monday, Sytia and/or Bill may be the targets.

 

Definitely what the fans were saying at the end of the season. They mad.

 

Yep. I think all that stuff I posted that was shared with me from the Baylor site is all smoke and mirrors. In other words, we have all these candidates for the position (without saying who contacted who about the job) to try and make the position look so appealing. All the while I believe their intentions are to save money and higher from the current bench, but want to APPEAR willing to pay top dollar. Someone already posted over on their message board that they'd been turned down by a few.

 

Welp.

 

Good hire by OU. It shows they're aware they need someone who can recruit Texas.

 

Maybe some of the dominoes will fall our way if Baylor doesn't keep Messer or Brock. I have to trust that Vic has a plan. I would assume that CDC is supporting Vic with the financial resources to hire an A-list staff.

 

So strange that recently-hired head coaches at Washington, Auburn, and Oklahoma have hired their complete coaching staffs, but Vic hasn't announced the hiring of Johnnie's replacement. This is peak transfer season, and not making a hire soon could (if it hasn't already) affect prospective incoming transfers, especially post players.

 

Vic takes the long view,I think. This opinion considers his history and his many comments in interviews. He values continuity and close relationships with and among his staff. He won’t, for example, be hiring a coach to help land single recruit, regardless of who she is.

 

I remember some AD (Dodds?) stating that he always had a list of like 3-5 coaches for every sport from across the country who were on his short list in case a vacancy at Texas would ever open up.

Not being prepared with a general idea of replacement coaching prospects really puts you behind in the search process.

As I stated, i don't know the reason for the delay; but, he's known even before the public announcement that Johnnie was leaving for Auburn. So, we're at about 30 days with no hire.

 

I'm getting a bit restless myself... but Vic's a smart guy who is very detail oriented. Given that, and the fact that Johnnie had been ready to go out on her own for some time, I'd be very surprised if he didn't have a little "matrix" of if/then. Something tells me he's sitting back allowing something to transpire.

 

Never heard of her but I trust Vic. I assume she is replacing Elena since she is the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. I expect Johnnie's replacement to be announced soon

 

Interesting. Yep, gonna have to trust Vic on this one...

 

Vic speaks highly of her. She's from Kiowa, OK... same as Reba.

 

Yup... Reba's niece.

Reba McEntire - Wikipedia

 

In the press release, said she worked with guards when she was at Arizona. Elena worked with the wings.

 

We have offers out to the following players in the class of 2022. It's possible that Coach McEntire has built relationships with Bransford, McDaniel, and Oldacre since Dayton, Ohio is in the same geographic area of those recruits' hometowns. McEntire's recruiting connections to that part of the country could be a real plus.

"KK Bransford 5’10” G, Ohio (ESPN Rank #27)
· Darianna Littlepage-Buggs 6’0 W, Oklahoma (ESPN Rank #35)
· Jordana Codio, 6'1” G, Florida (ESPN Rank #48)
· Kiersten Johnson, 6’3” F, Texas (ESPN Rank #40)
· Ta’Niya Latson, 5’8” G, Georgia (ESPN Rank #39)
· Brianna McDaniel 5’11’ G, Illinois (ESPN Rank #30)
· Amina Muhammad 6’3” F, Texas (ESPN Rank #49)
· Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda 6’2” W, South Dakota (ESPN Rank #24)
· Kyla Oldacre 6’6” C, Ohio (ESPN Rank #17)

 

Hypothetically speaking if Elena is in fact gone, McEntire could be her replacement and not Harris? This is all speculation since there has been no official word of Elena’s departure. I fee we’re still missing a coach for our post players/bigs. Someone enlighten me please

 

I would definitely say she takes over for Elena.

 

She seems to be really well known in coaching circles. Coaches at both the college and high school levels from West Virginia to California have been tweeting congratulations to her. This isn’t a coach...

 

That's great, a little like Reba, a little like Calamity Jane. That could work out well.

 

Coach McEntires twitter bio says "University of Texas Women's basketball - Assistant coach/recruiting coordinator". I think it's safe to say she is replacing coach Lovato. Unless Elena was promoted to Associate head coach I think her time at Texas is done. It's very unlikely considering she removed everything Texas from her bio. I wish her nothing but success in her next venture

 

Guess this means Baylor will retaliate and hire someone related to Chip and Joanna now

 

wonder if Vic has approached Nneka about the Associate Coach position. She went to UNLV last year as an assistant from, I think, UCSB. She only has a few years of coaching experience but is a Texas ex, known in coaching circles for her ability to develop posts/bigs, on the same list of 50 Impactful Assistant Coaches along with Coach McEntire (Siver Wave Media - Womens Basketball). Also wonder if Stacy Stephens would be a fit? I know she has been a HC at some small schools here in Texas. I’m guessing Vic is looking for someone with more experience than either of these ladies.

 

I’ve been hoping for Nneka! We need a Longhorn on this staff.

 

Just in case anyone is wondering (like I have been) what some of the "recruiting coordinator" responsibilities are... Not sure how accurate this is as it applies to UT, but it probably gives us a general idea. Anyone who knows more about this please educate us:

"The majority of the job requires the coordinator to work closely with the compliance office for specifics of NCAA recruiting rules (or other rules, e.g., NJCAA rules). Additionally, the coordinator is responsible for assessing the athletes' academic status in conjunction with the university's entrance requirements."

*Taken from a Google search result

 

I honestly don't know what to think about Vic's first replacement hire. While it sure seemed a few days ago that Coach Lovato was leaving Texas, that news (to Vic) probably came later than Johnnie's departure news. For all we know, maybe he's known of Lovato's impending departure for as long as he's known about Johnnie's. Maybe him trying to bring in two new coaches has been more difficult than bringing in just one based on trying to form a cohesive coaching staff.

As for Calamity, I'm definitely underwhelmed; a lot of that is due to not knowing much about her coaching experience and skill set. What I do read just doesn't seem to check any of the boxes for what I thought would have been some necessary criteria:

- experience coaching in P5 conferences: Not really. Of her 15 years of coaching, the majority were at Fresno, UC Santa Barbara, Boise State, Hawaii, and Dayton. 4 seasons at P5 Arizona, but not since 2017. Going from the PAC 12 to the Atlantic 10 conference is like Jamie Carey going from Texas to North Texas; in other words, she took a huge step down.

- connections with Texas high school and club coaches: No

- familiarity coaching in/against the Big 12: No

- success with the new era of the transfer portal: No

In all honestly, OU getting Amy Wright from A&M is a much better (based on the above criteria that I'd prefer) hire than Vic getting Calamity from Dayton, in my opinion.

Coach Vic stated that during his search, Calamity's name kept coming up. If that were the case, why hadn't she been hired by anyone else after 5 seasons at Dayton? He stated that he's known her a long time; but, i don't see any connections as far as being in the same coaching circles.

Well, guess we'll see how it all turns out.

In Elena, we lost someone with a lot of connections in the JUCO ranks, as well as in Texas and the southeast. It is strange that nothing has been announced of her departure; and, none of the Texas players have tweeted at her wishing her well.-

 

I agree and thus far I have been very underwhelmed with everything besides the Matharu get. I trust Vic 100% and his abilities but at this point I'm done with my awful detective work and just going to let things play out. Whatever happens will happen and I'll wait for the announcement rather than assume or guess what I think will happen. When November comes, whoever is on the roster and staff is who I'll be rooting for

 

I'm especially perplexed over the Lovato thing.

 

Yup, doesn't follow:

1. Coach X leaving for Job Y
2. Coach X leaving to pursue other business opportunities

We typically see.