Welcome Assistants!! (OFFICIALLY)

[glv98]

A Rennia Davis Caitlin Clark like 3 against Alabama in Thompson Boiling who was taking us to the woodshed three years prior to Kellie arriving and Tennessee getting that win showed we were moving back in the right direction

I remember that shot very well! It was when Jordy was in her head slapping phase and she practically knocked poor Rennia out in the celebration.

 

[VolBall09]

And for the record I’d be fine if Kellie Harper was never mentioned here again. She was rarely if ever mentioned on VolNation before she was head coach, it’s OK for it to return to that.

Her legacy as a player and LVFL is intact and always will be. She should be celebrated for that. Her time as head coach wasn’t great and should just be forgotten about.

 

[volfan102455]

Just asking: do you think they'll ever be a time that a mere mention of something Kellie Harper did right doesn't send you into a tailspin of disgust over her very existence? What in the world does saying her teams did better against Alabama than Holly's have to do with the overall record, MTSU, and record against ranked teams? Doesn't that reaction seem a little strong?

For some on here no - they need to rewrite history and make it seem like lasts years team missed the NCAA and had the worst record in the NCAA so they can say this is a rebuilding year - which it should not be.

 

[VolFuture]

What's relatively short? In The Last 5 years neither Mississippi State nor Alabama have finished higher than Tennessee in the league and neither of them have consistently made the NCAA tournament. So that tells me that it's a step down from the coaches we've had in place about the same length of time. We're supposed to be upgrading not downgrading. I can hope that this staff works well together and it's a positive net upgrade, that's the hope. but the new SEC assistant coaches haven't proven any better results or even comparable results than the assistants we have had the Last 5 years in recruiting, retaining players or on court coaching or Tennessee would have finished below at least on of the teams in the SEC at least one of the seasons.

This doesn’t warrant a response but…

U can look at what their contribution was and how well they did their job.

Both of the men have rapidly upped the ranks and led both Bama and MsSt to great success and recruiting efforts.

Essence Cody, Barker, McQueen even you don’t think much of bamas players their team was cohesive and recruited well. He coached Cody to an All SEC freshman season.

Mississippi State was in contention of “winning the portal” last year with AM

They also were pretty good defensively

There’s so much more I’d have to dive into metrics but to say we finished better thus our coaches better is a terrible take…

 

[glv98]

For some on here no - they need to rewrite history and make it seem like lasts years team missed the NCAA and had the worst record in the NCAA so they can say this is a rebuilding year - which it should not be.

And then complain that others are so negative. People in glass houses . . .

 

[VolBall09]

For some on here no - they need to rewrite history and make it seem like lasts years team missed the NCAA and had the worst record in the NCAA so they can say this is a rebuilding year - which it should not be.

Uh, it is a rebuilding year. It was going to be for Harper as well. Which is why she was fired, because she could not recruit and was going to have to add 5-6 transfers every year in perpetuity for us to continue to be mediocre.

And she was probably still gonna schedule like she’s Tara Vanderveer even though she beat 2 ranked opponents in two whole seasons.

 

[Dak1219]

I remember that shot very well! It was when Jordy was in her head slapping phase and she practically knocked poor Rennia out in the celebration.

Bout knocked her out

 

[glv98]

This doesn’t warrant a response but…

U can look at what their contribution was and how well they did their job.

Both of the men have rapidly upped the ranks and led both Bama and MsSt to great success and recruiting efforts.

Essence Cody, Barker, McQueen even you don’t think much of bamas players their team was cohesive and recruited well. He coached Cody to an All SEC freshman season.

Mississippi State was in contention of “winning the portal” last year with AM

They also were pretty good defensively

There’s so much more I’d have to dive into metrics but to say we finished better thus our coaches better is a terrible take…

. IMO it's pretty clear Alabama is on the rise. Miss St was, but had a bad collapse at season's end. Both have been making moves this offseason and IMO it's safe to say unless we get some pretty hefty portal upgrades, both will be challenges for us to beat next year.

Have to disagree w Dak on the two assistants, I'm just glad we got two with SEC and D1 experience. CKC's acknowledgement that's needed along with those established coaches buyin to her in itself is huge to me. Not sure what other SEC assistants she was realistically going to snag.

 

[VolBall09]

Some of our posters will be surprised how much better players on our current roster look with a different coach.

Bet on it.

 

[River67]

Sh*t! No wonder players are staying. Source for this info please?

It’s hearsay, but that’s what Maria heard

 

[glv98]

Bout knocked her out

There was someone, believe it might have been Rae, who got a little heated at a hard head slap on etime. Kellie had to kind of step in between and calm things down. Don't think there was danger of actual fighting, but the smack was harder than Jordy meant and Rae was not a fan. After than the slapping sort of went away and Jordy started carrying that yellow sign around. JH was a character.

 

[madtownvol]

Alabama had the same record at Tennessee in the SEC. The teams split during the regular season.

And????

 

[Dak1219]

This doesn’t warrant a response but…

U can look at what their contribution was and how well they did their job.

Both of the men have rapidly upped the ranks and led both Bama and MsSt to great success and recruiting efforts.

Essence Cody, Barker, McQueen even you don’t think much of bamas players their team was cohesive and recruited well. He coached Cody to an All SEC freshman season.

Mississippi State was in contention of “winning the portal” last year with AM

They also were pretty good defensively

There’s so much more I’d have to dive into metrics but to say we finished better thus our coaches better is a terrible take…

I'm not saying that the coaches are worse, we don't know yet. But there are no metrics to say they are better and considering the teams they work for finished below Tennessee consistently and has not consistently made the NCAA tournament during their time at their former programs has to speak to something. However, Tennessee has also consistently been a winner in the portal and then it boils right down to wins and losses and NCAA tournaments and obviously we know which teams were placing where in the SEC, how they were doing in the SEC tournament and which teams were making the NCAA tournament.

 

[Dak1219]

There was someone, believe it might have been Rae, who got a little heated at a hard head slap on etime. Kellie had to kind of step in between and calm things down. Don't think there was danger of actual fighting, but the smack was harder than Jordy meant and Rae was not a fan. After than the slapping sort of went away and Jordy started carrying that yellow sign around. JH was a character.

Was it Rae or Kasi? I know Mali mentioned she told Jordan she needed to knock that off that someone was gonna get hurt...

 

[DeerPark12]

SOUNDS like an excuse. Maybe it’s the delivery.

Who’s making excuses for a coach that got fired? She’s gone.

People want to know where it went wrong. That’s one of the places it went wrong. You analyze where it went wrong to avoid the same things happening again.

We’re talking about new assistants. The point of my comment is very simply that the wrong assistant coaching hire, particularly as a recruiting coordinator, can dig you a hole that you can’t get out of. That’s why these hires of proven recruiters were important.

 

[VolFuture]

I'm not saying that the coaches are worse, we don't know yet. But there are no metrics to say they are better and considering the teams they work for finished below Tennessee consistently and has not consistently made the NCAA tournament during their time at their former programs has to speak to something. However, Tennessee has also consistently been a winner in the portal and then it boils right down to wins and losses and NCAA tournaments and obviously we know which teams were placing where in the SEC, how they were doing in the SEC tournament and which teams were making the NCAA tournament.

There actually are coaching metrics

U can def tell impact to a team. Also are the girls over performing or underperforming with them..

 

[VolFuture]

Some of our posters will be surprised how much better players on our current roster look with a different coach.

Bet on it.

I agree.

 

[Dak1219]

. IMO it's pretty clear Alabama is on the rise. Miss St was, but had a bad collapse at season's end. Both have been making moves this offseason and IMO it's safe to say unless we get some pretty hefty portal upgrades, both will be challenges for us to beat next year.

Have to disagree w Dak on the two assistants, I'm just glad we got two with SEC and D1 experience. CKC's acknowledgement that's needed along with those established coaches buyin to her in itself is huge to me. Not sure what other SEC assistants she was realistically going to snag.

Now if she's got one more assistant position open, a former D1 coach such as Gal Goestenkors or some other semi-retired long-time D-1 coach wouldn't be a bad idea for advising on this staff. Cannot understate the need for experience in this league.

 

[glv98]

Some of our posters will be surprised how much better players on our current roster look with a different coach.

Bet on it.

Many of us have said folks would be surprised how much better coaches look with better players. I think both things can be true.

 

[glv98]

No if she's got one more assistant position open, a former D1 coach such as a Gal Goestenkors or some other semi retired long time D-1 coach would't be a bad idea for advising on this staff. Cannot understate the need for experience in this league.

Wouldn't mind an old hand like GG at all. Agree, the more experienced strategic thinking the better. But does the fifth position have to be a grad assistant?

 

[Dak1219]

Wouldn't mind an old hand like GG at all. Agree, the more experienced strategic thinking the better. But does the fifth position have to be a grad assistant?

Nope. The NCAA removed it to my understanding. They cannot recruit or go on the road to recruit or something to that nature

 

[glv98]

Nope. The NCAA removed it to my understanding. They cannot recruit or go on the road to recruit or something to that nature

I believe I read only two are allowed to do on the road recruiting? Not sure if that includes the head coach.

 

[DeerPark12]

There were several coaches hired around the same time as Kellie that had no issue.

Niele Ivey, Courtney Banghart, Kara Lawson, Shae Ralph. All were hired just before or after the start of the pandemic. They all recruited fine except for Harper.

Banghart has actually recruited exceptionally well she just can’t coach and never has a decent big which makes no sense to me.

Go back and read what I wrote. Relationships. Niele Ivey was already on staff at Notre Dame and had relationships with the players she was recruiting there. Courtney Banghart didn’t sniff a decent class at UNC until her third year and has only finished better than 6th in the ACC in the final standings once. She’d be fired for what she’s done if she was at Tennessee, just like Kellie was. Kara hired Beth Cunningham from Notre Dame to help her through her first couple of seasons and ended up signing a couple of players that had been headed to South Bend. She also brought in Winston Gandy from Rice, who became such a star on the recruiting trail that Dawn Staley doubled his salary to bring him to SC.

Again, hiring assistant coaches is the responsibility of a good head coach. When the assistants fail, the head coach also fails. Harper hired a lead recruiter that turned out to be a below average recruiter. She fixed that glitch, but the hole was deep and Covid made it deeper. It DOES NOT excuse her ceiling being to make the Sweet 16. But it’s part of the story of how they got there.

 

[Dak1219]

Excuses, definitely a Kellie Klown.

Remember when ND won a natty with 5 players after losing 3 starters to ACLs? That’s what good coaching and good recruiting looks like.

We were down one quality player and couldn’t put together a good enough game plan to beat Middle. Disgusting. Made me want to literally puke watching that game.

Yes 5 WNBA draft picks that no one thought was possible came out of those 5 from that Notre Dame Team. 1st time is was ever done. Sheppard, a transfer was given an exception to play for that team supposedly due to their low numbers and she sealed the deal for them and made that championship possible.

 

[VolBall09]

And she’s even wearing orange!