Expectations in professional sports are rising. Teams are demanding success. It’s not enough to make the playoffs for a season to be termed a success. People expect lengthy postseason runs and championships.
You’ve seen it in the NBA, where coaches’ stays are short and owners seek the quick fix. Now, this phenomenon is finding its way into the college game.
Washington fired women’s basketball coach June Daugherty two weeks ago and continue to search for a successor. What had Daugherty done to earn her pink slip? She won games. She took Washington to two consecutive NCAA Tournaments. She graduated her student-athletes.
Apparently, it wasn’t enough for Washington athletic director Todd Turner, who cited declining attendance at games, a lack of sustained postseason success, the loss of top in-state high-school recruits to other universities and an unsatisfactory return on university investment in the women’s program, according to a Seattle Times story.
Each of Washington’s two recent NCAA berths ended in first-round losses.
“More than surprise, it saddened and stunned me a little bit,” Oregon coach Bev Smith said. “(Daugherty’s) got a great program. She’s a very good coach, a very classy program, (she) wins games, graduates players (and) does things in the community.
“The pressure’s on for everyone. I guess we have to redefine what success is at the Division I level in the Pac-10 and I guess Washington is trying to do that, that they need more than just an NCAA Tournament berth. It will be interesting to see how that goes and obviously no one puts pressure on themselves to do more than coaches themselves. It’s a very interesting, if not precedent setting situation.”
The move is too quick for a coach who has done so much for Washington women’s basketball. Daugherty held Washington basketball to high standard since Chris Gobrecht left for Florida State. Even Gobrecht, who created much of the buzz around the program, disagreed with Daugherty’s dismissal.
Turner’s lofty aspirations leaves many quality coaches falling short, and if those standards applied here at Oregon, Smith would be without a job. Many of the same listed in Daugherty’s dismissal have also been lofted at Smith by critics of the Oregon alumna.
In six years in Eugene, Smith has one NCAA Tournament appearance, three seasons with records above .500 and in 2006 several talented Oregon high school products left the state for other Pacific-10 Conference schools. Lauren Grief (California), J.J. Hones (Stanford) and Aarika Hughes (USC) all made an impact as freshmen.
Turner should have used patience, and Oregon athletic director Pat Kilkenny might be wise to use the same.
Daugherty enticed a six-player recruiting class, consisting of three in-state players and two players from California. They also landed Jessica McCormack, an international post presence and a member of the New Zealand National team, who chose Washington over Oregon and Duke. National recruiting Web sites have ranked the class between Nos. 8 and No. 12 nationally.
Daugherty likely landed these players with the program’s promise and the belief she’d be there to coach them. Now, the recruits are in wait-and-see mode, and this could potentially alienate the three in-state players.
Smith brings a five-member freshmen class ranked No. 31 by recruiting organization Blue Star Basketball for 2007. It features Seattle native Nia Jackson, ranked No. 79 of the nation’s top 100 prospects by Blue Star, Nicole Canepa, a 6-foot-5-inch post from San Francisco, and 5-foot-11-inch wing Tatianna Thomas, a high school teammate of Oregon’s Taylor Lilley at Hart High in California.
Beyond Smith, there’s the often unseen impact of Smith’s arguably most well-rounded coaching staff of Phil Brown, Willette White and Selena Ho.
Brown had a 20 plus year stay at the Australian Institute of Sport and helped mold Oregon’s Eleanor Haring, Gabrielle Richards, Sally Crowe, Renae Fegent, Natasha Ruckwardt and many, many more. White’s a known name in the Pac-10, who’s used her recruiting acumen to get people talking about Oregon women’s basketball in the states of Washington and Southern California. Ho’s offered her college point guard experience to help tutor promising Oregon point guard Tamika Nurse.
Remove the head coach and the often unrecognized assistants go along with them.
Many more factors go into coaching changes. Financial concerns with women’s college coaches making six figures when attendance is declining will always catch the attention of cost-conscious athletic departments. How coach’s develop and relate to their players also factors in.
Making a coaching change is a difficult decision. Sometimes, it works out best with a fresh voice. Turner is within his right as athletic director to change coaches. In Daugherty’s case, who already has coached Washington for 11 years, Turner would have been better served to see how Daugherty could have done with an experienced group of returning players and this highly touted recruiting class.
Hopefully for Smith, she’ll have the opportunity to see what she can do with her ranked recruiting class and show signs of returning this program to the perennial NCAA Tournament participant it was years ago under former coach Jody Runge.
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