Coach Kellie Harper fired

[ttharp]

You gotta wonder

I’m sure they’d hate to see her go, but they’d probably be the biggest fans of the hire, imo. Candace and Nikki won the last two Nattys together. They want to see this program succeed.

 

[Lucy]

Funny I asked the CKJH supporters such as yourself multiple times after you brought goalposts up for CKJH if she stayed and none of the CKJH supporters would name the Goalposts for next 3 years.

I believe it is because you had little faith she could hit them.

it seems anyone who don’t agree with you about CKJH you call names like “grave dancers” and Negavols among others. Why can’t we discuss the program on a discussion board.

I think it appears obvious only LVFL will do for you is the real problem, Not sure you will be happy if they succeed with non LVFL coach.

FYI I was not adamant she needed to go but thought there should be obvious progress seen every year.

You know I thought a lot about that question and failed to get back to you. My apologies.
First a little clean up - if you don’t think I (and others) have been called a sunshine pumper or a snowflake etc., etc. then you are not paying attention. That little thing goes both ways.
I am a loyal person and all Vol and will support our team and coach whoever that is. There is one caveat to that and it has nothing to do with being a Vol. I will not support a coach that allows classless behavior. I expect our student athletes and coaches to be good representatives of our university.
I will be happy if they succeed with a non-Vol because that means our student athletes are experiencing that joy. Some of the folks on here who hated Kellie acted like the entire point of the team was to make them happy and a loss was a personal affront. Those folks need to grow up. The sun does not revolve around them.
I will also be happy for Kellie and all our LV coaches when they have successes. I would love to see Kellie take her new team to a ff and win a championship and would not blame her if at that point she told the UT administration to go kick rocks. She is far too classy to do that by the way.
Now, goalposts. The one absolute for me is missing the NCAA tournament. This is an every year line.
The whole recruiting/NIL thing is where I really spent some time thinking. What are the goalposts for a coach that does not have the NIL bucks to compete in the recruiting game? How do you measure NIL versus the benefit of a storied program? Are we still a storied program to a 17 year old? If Kellie had the NIL backing that apparently exists at LSU, SC, UConn then I would be expecting top ten recruiting classes supplemented with a good portal pickup yearly.
If, however the NIL money is not there that really changes the recruiting expectations. None other than Nick Saban said all that recruits are interested in is money and that was one reason he was retiring. If you can’t recruit kids on the basis of a prestigious athletic program like Bama football ( that hurts my very soul to type that) without NIL then a program with out that will struggle.
One of the big reasons I wanted Kellie to have at least one more year was to see what her recruiting looked like with better NIL support. The recent court decision gave me hope that additional $ were forthcoming and I think she was owed the opportunity to have a chance to recruit with that support.
On court performance, obviously recruiting is a huge part of this, some think the biggest. I thought Kellie was a good not great in game coach. I also thought she had improved those skill sets while at UT. All teams have injuries but in my obviously biased eyes we seemed to lose our key players at very critical times. Year before last Rae who was due a monster season, last year Jordy and TK, this year Rikea and TK during a very tough OOC schedule that was designed to get us a very high seed for tournament time.
I will always believe if Rickea had been healthy all year we would have won 4 to 6 more games been a 3 or 4 seed, played at home for the first two rounds of the tournament and made the EE at a minimum. If that happened we would not be having this conversation.
Despite a slow start I do think Kellie had the team playing really well at the end of the year. Much better ball movement, turnovers down, Spear really contributing on a more consistent basis, Puckett shining, JP getting folks in the right places, subs contributing, Rickea doing Rickea things. All that said, given the current dominance of SC and to a lesser extent LSU, which is somewhat like watching a drunk fly a kite on a cliff, I would still expect us, barring crazy injuries, to be in the top three of the SEC every year. Nationally we need to always be ranked top 15 and I think most years make the sweet sixteen or better. We do need to remember that Pat did not make the sweet sixteen every year and when she was coaching there were not as many strong programs or life changing money being thrown at 17 year olds.
Well that does it for me. I hope that although you may not agree with my answers you will at least believe I gave a thoughtful and considered answer. Having said all that, you have no right to ever question my loyalty to my alma mater and my fellow alums.

 

[And1]

As for Hammon, as I posted before, I believe she was born in Tennessee. I also believe she would be a splash hire, if White could pull it off. I think this would make sense on many fronts and if White were to pull in a hire of this caliber it accelerates the timeline for LV‘s phoenix back.

Becky Hammon was born in South Dakota.

 

[LadyVol1908]

Coaches are still being paid by Tennessee to show up. They recruit/day to day for Tennessee not Kellie.

So why didnt we continue to host the recruits that were scheduled for Monday? Were they strictly coming for Kellie?

 

[utvolpj]

We do need to remember that Pat did not make the sweet sixteen every year and when she was coaching there were not as many strong programs or life changing money being thrown at 17 year olds.

Pretty sure Pat missed the s16 once in the history of the tournament and it was at the end. Kellie missed it twice and Holly 3 times

 

[VolBall09]

So why didnt we continue to host the recruits that were scheduled for Monday? Were they strictly coming for Kellie?

I think it would have just made things weird. Not the right vibe to have recruits on campus.

After she was terminated, which was basically first thing that morning, there is almost a guarantee he then had to meet with the team, then Joy and Sam along with the rest of the Lady Vol staff. So everyone who would normally be involved in recruiting was likely in and out of meetings all day Monday trying to determine their own fate.

 

[glv98]

So why didnt we continue to host the recruits that were scheduled for Monday? Were they strictly coming for Kellie?

I'm going to think the general atmosphere around the LV offices was probably not conducive to good recruiting vibes. Also hard to recruit when you don't know who the coach is going to be.

 

[LadyVol1908]

I think it would have just made things weird. Not the right vibe to have recruits on campus.

After she was terminated, which was basically first thing that morning there is almost a guarantee he then had to meet with the team, then Joy and Same. So everyone who would normally be involved in recruiting was likely in and out of meetings all day Monday trying to determine their own fate.

That makes sense!

 

[Rooster1]

I was told that she was gone after this season back in January by someone I trust on LV matters, barring an absolute miracle run in the tournament. If she was blindsided and that's not just a narrative they wanted to run, she had her head deeply in the sand. The loss to MTSU was a back breaker that was going to be hard to recover from and in the end, she didn't.

In addition to NIL issues, parents also had feedback that a lot of her focus was just on Pat and Tennessee basketball history, during visits, which isn't as impactful to people who aren't pre-built Lady Vol fans and people who are in high school currently.

Again, none of us know if there were truly NIL issues at UT, one of the most storied programs ever and with one of the largest fan bases nationally and locally. Sure, we read posts from people that say UT was behind in NIL factors when recruiting was not going well. But nobody has ever been able to post any known facts on that subject and tbh, the success of the LV's in the portal was a huge indicator there was financial support coming in, you cannot sign and resign those types (JS/DW) without some financial resources in the NIL dept.. You can attack me here, it's fair game, but I believe the issue was not money, I think the previous staff could not close on HS athletes for various reasons. They did well in the portal where $ is needed to land those types, so support was there. That same support was likely there for HS recruits as well but the deal was hardly ever closed. That had to be a huge factor in AD White's decision process, a coach simply has to show the ability to bring in 4 year players from HS that are highly rated to compete at the top level.

If you wish to counter with the argument that LSU did well from the portal, remember they also have done well from the HS ranks under their current staff, with Williams and Johnson as key contributors to mention just a few. We will never know why CKH was not successful in the HS ranks, but from all apparent aspects, there was always enough money there from one of the top fan bases in WBB to buy what they needed in the portal. And contrary to what a few others have said that the money support was only there for apparent ready made talent like RJ and JS, I ask why it was not there for top flight HS talent also if indeed that premise was true, which I don't believe.

 

[Majors]

So why didnt we continue to host the recruits that were scheduled for Monday? Were they strictly coming for Kellie?

I’m sure all recruiting visits are on hold for hosting. The staff is still employed by Tennessee to show up.

 

[Majors]

I am a loyal person and all Vol and will support our team and coach whoever that is

Except for football, baseball, basketball and other female sports. Your disdain for other programs and sports/coaches has been acknowledged here. On this you are not is a “loyal person and all Vol”

Lady Vol Basketball, sure. Just say that next time. Lastly, not Danny Whites fault for doing this job.

 

[Rooster1]

Becky Hammon was born in South Dakota.

you are right, I got mixed up, the Colo coach was born in Jackson Tenn.

 

[Rooster1]

Hammon was born and raised in Rapid City, SD.

She was a phenom at Colorado State when I was a kid growing up in Colorado. The Becky madness was crazy, people were driving hours to watch her play.

Yeah, as I replied to another, it was the Colo coach who was born in Tenn., pardon my mistake. I think AD White goes much bigger than the Colo coach whose overall record is actually less than or equal to the former coach's record.

 

[Amb3096]

She ain't fired and her assistant coach status depends on the preferences of the yet to be named coach.

Apparently Sam's not the only Assistant Coach who wasn't fired...

 

[Amb3096]

So why didnt we continue to host the recruits that were scheduled for Monday? Were they strictly coming for Kellie?

I think that would be impossible to do. They're all lame ducks. No recruit would stay past introductions.

 

[glv98]

I think that would be impossible to do. They're all lame ducks. No recruit would stay past introductions.

If they only found out Monday and Whitehorn was sched for Monday, I'm surprised they were able to catch her in time. Wonder where she came from? That would have been some sh*t to walk in a recruiting visit on! Only better recruiting visit would be when Pat went into labor in MM's living room.

 

[Rooster1]

I think that would be impossible to do. They're all lame ducks. No recruit would stay past introductions.

That girl from Tenn, who declared to Clemson, Berry. She is still in play, 5 star.

 

[Amb3096]

That girl from Tenn, who declared to Clemson, Berry. She is still in play, 5 star.

I meant the assistant coaches were lame ducks. What would be the point of hosting a recruit when it's likely none of them will be there next week?

And that's without even factoring in what others have said about what a sh!tshow the environment must have been with Kellie getting fired moments before a recruit shows up.

 

[glv98]

Again, none of us know if there were truly NIL issues at UT, one of the most storied programs ever and with one of the largest fan bases nationally and locally. Sure, we read posts from people that say UT was behind in NIL factors when recruiting was not going well. But nobody has ever been able to post any known facts on that subject and tbh, the success of the LV's in the portal was a huge indicator there was financial support coming in, you cannot sign and resign those types (JS/DW) without some financial resources in the NIL dept.. You can attack me here, it's fair game, but I believe the issue was not money, I think the previous staff could not close on HS athletes for various reasons. They did well in the portal where $ is needed to land those types, so support was there. That same support was likely there for HS recruits as well but the deal was hardly ever closed. That had to be a huge factor in AD White's decision process, a coach simply has to show the ability to bring in 4 year players from HS that are highly rated to compete at the top level.

If you wish to counter with the argument that LSU did well from the portal, remember they also have done well from the HS ranks under their current staff, with Williams and Johnson as key contributors to mention just a few. We will never know why CKH was not successful in the HS ranks, but from all apparent aspects, there was always enough money there from one of the top fan bases in WBB to buy what they needed in the portal. And contrary to what a few others have said that the money support was only there for apparent ready made talent like RJ and JS, I ask why it was not there for top flight HS talent also if indeed that premise was true, which I don't believe.

I thought this got solved hours ago. Knoxville reporters say Kellie didn't get NIL $ because donors didn't think she could get the job done. Understandable. I always wondered why rich guys wouldn't pony up bc the LVs are so beloved around here. Now that she's gone and better coach is promised, moneybags are willing to flow.

I can't understand why it's so important to you guys to think KJH had the $ all the time and for some strange, career suicidal reason wouldn't use it. Probably I'm missing something but that doesn't make sense to me.

 

[Volfan2012]

I thought this got solved hours ago. Knoxville reporters say Kellie didn't get NIL $ because donors didn't think she could get the job done. Understandable. I always wondered why rich guys wouldn't pony up bc the LVs are so beloved around here. Now that she's gone and better coach is promised, moneybags are willing to flow.

I can't understand why it's so important to you guys to think KJH had the $ all the time and for some strange, career suicidal reason wouldn't use it. Probably I'm missing something but that doesn't make sense to me.

I suspect the reason she didn't have it was her recruiting before NIL was even a factor. We'll find out soon cause lot of talk about NIL backing for the new coach and a lot of it.

 

[CoryDallasLV]

What’s crazy is, I don’t doubt he has insider info. It’s not the kind of “insider” info most of us would think it is, but based on who I think that poster is, I wouldn’t doubt they know who’s being considered. Butttt it’s just a guess!

I don’t think he does for even a minute.

 

[Rooster1]

I thought this got solved hours ago. Knoxville reporters say Kellie didn't get NIL $ because donors didn't think she could get the job done. Understandable. I always wondered why rich guys wouldn't pony up bc the LVs are so beloved around here. Now that she's gone and better coach is promised, moneybags are willing to flow.

I can't understand why it's so important to you guys to think KJH had the $ all the time and for some strange, career suicidal reason wouldn't use it. Probably I'm missing something but that doesn't make sense to me.

Never said or implied she would not use it if indeed it was available, of course she would, her career was at stake. I said we will never know the reason why she was so unsuccessful at HS recruiting giving the knowledge that she apparently had enough financial backing to be a big splash in the portal with high dollar players.

 

[glv98]

I suspect the reason she didn't have it was her recruiting before NIL was even a factor. We'll find out soon cause lot of talk about NIL backing for the new coach and a lot of it.

Definitely I would think lack of recruiting and lack of winning were factors in slow NIL flow.

What I can't understand is the theory that she always had the money, just refused to use it. I mean, why in the world? That seems like a really out there attempt to villianize KJH to me.

 

[Volfan2012]

When Kellie was hired it was fairly evident it was going to be her of Kara Lawson a week before it actually happened. Not going to get that with DW we will know the day it is announced. No one is saying anything about who is being interviewed or who is on the list. Just a bunch of made up list of coaches that might have their name on there. I figure it is a short list three or four coaches and still believe we'll have our answer by Friday. I figure decision day tomorrow and announcement Friday.

 

[Cb153181]

When Kellie was hired it was fairly evident it was going to be her of Kara Lawson a week before it actually happened. Not going to get that with DW we will know the day it is announced. No one is saying anything about who is being interviewed or who is on the list. Just a bunch of made up list of coaches that might have their name on there. I figure it is a short list three or four coaches and still believe we'll have our answer by Friday. I figure decision day tomorrow and announcement Friday.

That would mean none of the coaches in the final four are being considered?