don't forget about GW! (or anywhere there's a new AD in town with legitimate and reasonable expectations for success)
How could you say Chin at Pitt is in any worse shape than Vogel at GW? Of course resources and expectations should be higher perhaps at Pitt in the Big East but you could argue both should be doing much better. GW has a much newer AD than Pitt and you'd think the new facilities at Pitt might give her some breathing room...no? Just curious your logic on that one.
Ronnie Woodard retires at Vanderbilt, Derek Greene promoted to interim head coach. Not exactly the best timing with preseason starting next week.
Wow, I know a couple of freshman headed that way. Luckily I am pretty certain they chose Vandy for the school, but this must be a huge shock this close to pre-season starting. Not fair at all. Again, wow!
I'm curious as to whether something happened to lead to the retirement right b/f the season (eg health scare). Or whether this late news was engineered to ensure Greene got a leg up at getting the head gig by virtue of having the season to "prove himself."
The same thing happened at UMass a couple of years ago and the thought was it was an attempt to give the assistant coach a leg up. It didn't work as a new coach was hired the following year.
The assistant coach has to perform well in order to get a leg up. In the UMASS case, they had a terrible year after Rudy left and the assistant didn't get the gig (Rudy didnt leave her much talent to work with).
It's not an identical situation since this resignation was very late, but Steve Fennah left Oregon State in mid-March 2008 and his assistant, Linus Rhode, was named head coach a month later (not as "interim" head coach, but simply as head coach). It's generally agreed that Rhode has done a fantastic job and, from here, he seems very secure in his position.
I don't think the UMass resignation was quite so late as the one that started this discussion though. Seems to me it was in the very late spring - like May - not July.
My understanding is - and this is not first hand but I did hear it from more than one parent - that potential recruits were told she had no authority to discuss possible scholarhips etc. That certainly makes it hard to recruit.
Greene has not had a head gig since his days at Carson-Newman....he's been slashed from a couple of assistant positions in the last few years (Ole Miss and Belmont). Sure he knows the SEC, but..... Your thoughts!
I don't know much about Greene but pretty much anyone would do better than Ronnie. Recruits could barely find her if they were interested in Vandy, she was pretty invisible at the tournaments. There are some good players there but they were lost in SEC play and if I recall, couldn't even beat a Sunbelt team. On the MAAC site, someone posted about not supporting Women's D1 soccer. Here's your example.
Read through this below and tell me if you think it's full of hot air...he mentioned nothing about the high level of academics as truly the prestige behind Vandy. So, he's been preparing since the begining of the summer...hmmm, so no surprises then! Coaches will evaluate talent pool during preseason...hmmm, should that have not been already done! Certainly in the interview, he says all the right PC things including a glimpse of what he'll be saying when he interviews for the job at the end of the season. He knows the league well....hmmm, we'll see! http://vucommodores.cstv.com/sports/w-soccer/spec-rel/080211aac.html
That comment is laughable. Vanderbilt staff, including Ronnie, were in attendance at every important recruiting tournament.
After the fiasco that happened two years midseason, I'd assume his seat is always warm until the W's pile up a little more than .600 clip he's been coaching at.
Yeah, not getting past the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament with Alex Morgan (and Megan Jesolva for that matter) on the team doesn't exactly inspire great confidence.
I was being a bit tongue-in-cheek. While I've really tried to curtail my coaching criticisms (to be a happier person and because coaches have enough crap to deal with and their record eventually is more telling than my innocuous critiques) I'm more annoyed with the Cal administration. My lack of faith in them makes me think not only is his seat not warm, it's not even noticed. He was hired after winning 8, count them 8 games in two seasons at Texas tech. Is that the resume of a Cal hire? Then all the shenanigans while at Cal. I just don't think the admin cares at all. What to this point has shown it? I mean who OK'd the Patrick Baker hire? Is no one in the administration wing paying attention?
Wasn't there some speculation on here when the nonsense a few years ago went down that McGuire was buddy-buddy with the AD, keeping him off the hot seat?
Think back to the Oklahoma situation last year....coach on hot seat, let's go of staff then hires her former head coach as an assitant.....remember, Patrick Baker is on the sidelines at Cal as an assistant! McGuire is a smooth talker and self proclaimed "best recruiter" in the nation. Imagine if egos actually won matches....you know how many rings I'd have by now....lol!