AP News: Tennessee hoping Harper can return Lady Vols to prominence

#4
#4
One thing I believe we can all know with certainty: If Kellie and her staff are eventually judged to have come up short of expectations, it WON’T be because they were outworked by any other staff.

It having been necessary for her to live her entire adult life outside of the state she dearly loves, where all her kinfolk are, and where the basketball program she helped build into a powerhouse is, I guaranTEE you that Kellie J. Harper has a particularly sharp focus on working as hard as is humanly possible to never have to leave home again.

This should bring much comfort and confidence to everyone who loves the Lady Vols basketball program. NOONE will outwork her. And if she doesn’t know how to do something, she’ll find out how.

This first year may be a bumpy ride at times, but man oh MAN! The future us bright!
 
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#5
#5
Was Landers one of the people talking about what a "great coach" Holly was for the last few seasons? Because he's not mincing any words here. He's basically saying the program is a dumpster fire, and he's not entirely wrong.

I think Kellie will be a much, much stronger leader than Holly, and hope that she gets the results/recruits sooner rather than later.
 
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#6
#6
What we as a fan base have to be careful of is expecting too much too fast. It is not going to happen this year, but I do expect to see better and more disciplined play than in last few years. I have high hopes for our Lady Vols in the future, but I also expect our fan base to be calling for her head a few games into the season which is typical although disappointing.
 
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#7
#7
Amb3096 said:
Was Landers one of the people talking about what a "great coach" Holly was for the last few seasons? Because he's not mincing any words here. He's basically saying the program is a dumpster fire, and he's not entirely wrong.

I think Kellie will be a much, much stronger leader than Holly, and hope that she gets the results/recruits sooner rather than later.
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Yes, early on in Holly’s tenure Landers commented on what a great coach she was, and said it again even after the signs were clear that she’d lost control of the players. But then after it came out that she would be replaced he stopped tip-toeing around the truth, and that’s when those quotes were made.
 
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#9
#9
This was said about last year’s team:

“They have not appeared to me like they were motivated, disciplined or well organized,” SEC Network analyst and former Georgia coach Andy Landers said.

That is over. We are under new management. 🙂

Nice to know Pat considered Kellie (called KJ by the team), a smart and determined leader:

“In her memoir “Sum It Up,” Summitt called Harper a “brilliant, tough-jawed” player and wrote that “our team followed Kellie’s lead in everything.”

Also in article:

“One notable change already is evident. Each player used to have her own banner around Tennessee’s Pratt Pavilion practice court. Those were replaced by eight national championship banners.”

“We definitely wanted to change a little bit of the vibe in the locker room, office area and here in Pratt — less of the individuals and more of our past successes,” Harper said.

Really like everything our new Coach is doing.
 
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#11
#11
This was a hope and a prayer hire. It didn’t have to be. The odds are against it working out. I hope it does.
 
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#12
#12
orangefloyd said:
This was a hope and a prayer hire. It didn’t have to be. The odds are against it working out. I hope it does.
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I agree i like Kellie and i hope it works out, But at the end of the day when you start hand picking or not wanting to hire outside the program that could start to hurt recruiting.
 
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#15
#15
orangefloyd said:
This was a hope and a prayer hire. It didn’t have to be. The odds are against it working out. I hope it does.
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djtee said:
I agree i like Kellie and i hope it works out, But at the end of the day when you start hand picking or not wanting to hire outside the program that could start to hurt recruiting.
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It astounds me that more Lady Vol fans weren't infuriated by the entire process, which was clearly a joke. You hire the best coach you can, period. But gosh, we sure like Kellie. We sure liked Holly too.

When you shop at the bargain bin for a coach, don't be surprised by bargain bin results...
 
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#16
#16
Darth_Vol said:
It astounds me that more Lady Vol fans weren't infuriated by the entire process, which was clearly a joke. You hire the best coach you can, period. But gosh, we sure like Kellie. We sure liked Holly too.

When you shop at the bargain bin for a coach, don't be surprised by bargain bin results...
Click to expand...

Exactly! Fulmer called the Lady Vols an elite program but he didn’t mean it because he made no effort to hire an elite coach. It was a slap in the face. He devalued the program.
 
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#17
#17
movinonup said:
What we as a fan base have to be careful of is expecting too much too fast. It is not going to happen this year, but I do expect to see better and more disciplined play than in last few years. I have high hopes for our Lady Vols in the future, but I also expect our fan base to be calling for her head a few games into the season which is typical although disappointing.
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It's unfortunate but Tennessee fans are impatient, both football and basketball for
instant wins. The coaches are only human
and these programs aren't going to be turned
around overnight. Just my humble opinion
 
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#19
#19
One thing I see already is she is going to have to ignore the class the players are in and let the best players have the maximum amount of minutes that they can get. I think Horston, Key, Brown, Green, Davis, and Burrell should be pushing 30 a game and the rest going to KK, McCoy and whomever. I know the split in the last game with ETSU was because of some foul trouble still going forward got to let the best we have be on the court as much as possible.
 
#20
#20
Volfan2012 said:
One thing I see already is she is going to have to ignore the class the players are in and let the best players have the maximum amount of minutes that they can get. I think Horston, Key, Brown, Green, Davis, and Burrell should be pushing 30 a game and the rest going to KK, McCoy and whomever. I know the split in the last game with ETSU was because of some foul trouble still going forward got to let the best we have be on the court as much as possible.
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I see it this way, if KK and Key get into foul trouble like last night there is no post game. Remember we will play teams with a lot of height and if the two are in foul trouble we are toast. Harris 6-4 is the only other true post player we have. So to me i think Kellie needs to find some minutes for Harris.
 
#21
#21
Got to limit Sweet Lou's minutes out of rehab necessity. Good thing she's being very efficient with her PT.
 
#22
#22
Chippo said:
It's unfortunate but Tennessee fans are impatient, both football and basketball for
instant wins. The coaches are only human
and these programs aren't going to be turned
around overnight. Just my humble opinion
Click to expand...

So true. It's maddening that there are so many people expecting the program to be completely turned around this soon.

Back in August, a fellow poster (Jim) was kind enough to answer my plea for someone to work out the total number of hours (from then) that the players would be allowed by the NCAA to do "athletically-related work" before the date of tge Notre Dame game. The total was 136 hours, including the 10 hours of extra activity they were allowed before the trip to Europe. The measly 136 hours was all they’ll have had to do EVERYTHING — weight training, film watching, conditioning and, of course, on-court practice — between August and next week.

People, this is NOT enough time to do a 180-degree turn with a program. It's just not. We really have to be patient and hold off judgement for a good while longer.

*edited for clarity on the period of time I was talking about
 
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#23
#23
lvocd said:
So true. It's maddening that there are so many people expecting the program to be completely turned around this soon.

A fellow poster (Jim) was kind enough to answer my plea for someone to work out the total number of hours that the players would be allowed by the NCAA to do "athletically-related work" before the Notre Dame game. The total was 136 hours, including the 10 hours of extra activity they were allowed before the trip to Europe. The measly 136 hours includes all the weight training, film watching, conditioning and, of course, on-court practice.

People, this is NOT enough time to do a 180-degree turn with a program. It's just not. We really have to be patient and hold off judgement for a good while longer.
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For me its not a time-frame as much as it is seeing timely improvement
And not just from the players
KJ and staff has to improve tactically game to game too

KJ held timeouts for the "endgame" instead of using them to stop runs"in-game"
She waited on TV timeouts
We just had 7 seasons of that
Timeouts can be used as tactics and weapons, not just as an emergency game protector

Also, No adjustments were made at halftime...the team was identical to the first half play
No "stopper" was put on their scorer
They scored with guards, yet we never pressed the BH'ers
?
 
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#24
#24
lvocd said:
So true. It's maddening that there are so many people expecting the program to be completely turned around this soon.

A fellow poster (Jim) was kind enough to answer my plea for someone to work out the total number of hours that the players would be allowed by the NCAA to do "athletically-related work" before the Notre Dame game. The total was 136 hours, including the 10 hours of extra activity they were allowed before the trip to Europe. The measly 136 hours includes all the weight training, film watching, conditioning and, of course, on-court practice.

People, this is NOT enough time to do a 180-degree turn with a program. It's just not. We really have to be patient and hold off judgement for a good while longer.
Click to expand...
Thank you very much lvocd for the update,
I didn't realize all the aspects that go into
the program. I'm sure KJH is doing the best
she can for all the naysayers
 
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