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Linda Lappe has resigned as WBB Head Coach
- Thread starter Jens1893
- Start date
Exactly. There's a big range between "good recruit" and "all-time great". With KL, the Buffs got themselves an all-conference level player. You need to keep those types of players in the program and happy with the direction of things. You build around those types of players.
Buffballer
Well-Known Member
Just a glimpse into the reality distortion that RWAG AKA CoHoopzfan calls home. So not looking forward to tomorrow's 2:00am manifesto.
Both Delle Donne and Griner are once in a lifetime players for a program. CU has never had a player of that caliber and has to improve a lot before a player of that caliber will even look at us.
Just stop knocking Kennedy. She is a good point guard who was thrown in to the fire early and often. She did well on a team that wasn't very good. Surround her with the kind of players a ranked team has and she would look much better.
Hey, I like Kennedy a lot. I was pointing out that RWAG was making a straw man (or straw woman) argument.
No idea. I assume it is someone coaching in the tourney considering what RG said about timing.
I'm not sure that would rule out UTEP's Keitha Adams, though, since she's likely to go deep in the WNIT. C-USA regular season champs, 26-4 record, #37 RPI. Pretty big snub there.
MarkW
Well-Known Member
Good.
Maybe on her. And UTEP did get hosed a bit on not getting to the NCAA tourney. A #37 rpi is on the bubble.
I didn't think you were knocking Kennedy. I figured it was RWAG and I put RWAG on ignore for my own sanity.
Much prefer Keitha Adams over Brian Johnston.
I didn't think you were knocking Kennedy. I figured it was RWAG and I put RWAG on ignore for my own sanity.
Hey Buffgal. Life is good. I think that the CU BrainTrust will hire a pretty good coach. Nothing against Ceal, but I hope that RG doesn't leave it up to her. And he won't.
There's no reason that the CU WBB program can't be at least .500 or above, then improve from there.
Hopefully she can get another job and limit the buyout Colorado owes to her.
Yep. I doubt she gets a DI head coaching job though
Whoever gave her that contract should be fired. There was never a reason to do that. Looking at you Ceal.
Believe it's also offset if she gets an assistant job with a D1 school or WNBA as well.
Around the time she got the extension, weren't they roughly undefeated and #11 in the country? Times change fast...
In 2013, she got the extension thru 2018 and they were publicly on a plan to extend one year at a time, each year. The Buffs were coming off a season where they went 25-7 last season and returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in a decade but also lost their first-round game to Kansas. Ceal finalized the deal (after Bohn left). - According to a Ringo article in 07/13.
I see no reason that CU would have had her locked in for 5 years of guaranteed money, that early in her tenure. She wasn't that big of a threat to leave! Ceal got way ahead of herself and that turned out to be the pinnacle, with someone else's roster. It got worse from there.
I am hoping also that RG does not leave the hire up to Ceal. From the very first article, I think he made it clear he was making this hire.
Definitely .500 or above and then improve yearly. There will be down years, but even Stanford and Tennessee got to go dancing in down years.
First step is to get the WBB program to where Tad has MBB. The path to a level above that is more attainable and realistic at CU on the women's side, so it won't take a once-a-generation type coach to get it there.
MarkW
Well-Known Member
Agree with all of the above. There is no reason that in the future - five season or so down the road - that women's basketball at CU can't be a power house. That's what the AD should be thinking about as he goes through the process of hiring the next coach. It won't happen over night. We'll have to be patient, especially the first two seasons or so. Anything less than getting to the elite level of women's basketball is selling the program short on its potential.
RalphieWasAGurl
Member
No, when Ceal gave Linda Lappe the last extension through 2019 the Buffs lost 12 of their last 18 under Linda. Ceal gave her an extension anyway. RG is communicating that 2019 extension will cost the Athletic Department $243,000 alone. A quarter million dollars would make a HUGE difference in a half a dozen different CU women's programs, but Ceal has always had a reputation on campus as being off the reservation, creating a lot of static trying to fight gender inequality through women's basketball. I completely support that. However, I don't think the way you accomplish that is to give more money to an incompetent coach that she has conflicts of interest with, having had Lappe play for her, and having hired her.
I think the time for CU to progress as an AD without Ceal has been coming for a long time.
RalphieWasAGurl
Member
Ceal decided to give Linda the 2019 extension essentially because she was frustrated with how much money Boyle was getting on his extension. Ceal is passionate about Title IX, and wanting equitable pay for both Women's and Men's basketball coaches. I have no problem with that. I'm no Boyle fan, and never have been, but Tad has EARNED what he has made from CU. Tad took a program with no tradition, no legacy, and built it up from the ground up in one of the most competitive basketball conferences in the country. That just doesn't happen. I have no faith that Tad can take the next step and get CU competitive, playing as a Pac-12 perennial contender. I think the best season CU has ever had under Tad has been finishing 3rd. I don't expect that will ever change. However, getting to the NCAA tournament is better than how he found the program.
With Linda, Ceal wanted Linda to get the money if Tad was getting the money. It had nothing to do with the fact of whether each was competent in their role in the first place. That's where I think Ceal did a grave disservice to the University and the AD. She let her own sexual politics agenda interfere with her duties within the AD. For the record I completely support having a FEMALE women's basketball coach at CU that makes even MORE than what Tad makes. CU women's basketball has a tradition, it has a legacy, and there is no inherent reason that the Buffs shouldn't be the premier program in the Pac-12. However, giving good money to a bad coach, who wasn't even marginally qualified to be a Div-I coach, let alone in the Pac-12, was just bad business.
There is just no reason to keep Boyle or Lappe extended with a full five years remaining on their contracts. If a coach doesn't meet expectations, even for a single year, you don't need to renew their contract. They have FOUR more years to prove that they are the right person to lead the program, and the AD can renew them in any or all of the remaining four years, including extending beyond just a single year.
It was inappropriate of Ceal to extend Linda in 2014 just because Tad was getting extended. Ceal couldn't look beyond that a man in the men's game was getting extended and wanted to extend Linda for reciprocity. Boyle had earned his extension, and certainly has earned his salary, thought I think he's overpaid for having never finished better than 3rd in the conference. CU needs a AD that brings in a premier men's and women's HC candidate, and pays them accordingly. I have no problem paying on an equal basis to the profitable Men's game, even though the Women's game isn't a revenue sport. Fair is fair. However, no women's basketball coach ever asked for a handout she didn't earn. I totally support having the women's coach making more than the men's if they position the program to a higher national position of prominence. I don't care that the women's game isn't profitable. The rich history of CU women's basketball is the legacy of this university. This women's program should be shining light of this AD. Shame on Ceal for giving Linda a handout. Anyone who thinks Linda was ever going to leave CU didn't know her. CU truly was her dream job, it was never about having a competitive contract in the national market. Ceal did Linda a grave disservice to hire Linda, when she did. Linda needed to develop her acumen as a coach, and her leadership style, and after years as a coach and in the gym leading teams, then Linda would have been perfect to lead CU. This was a train wreck the day the initial hire was announced. KMM had accumulated enough talent that her players eventually elevated CU to the 11th ranking, just on the outside of being a top-10 program, and a threat for the Sweet-Sixteen.
However, Linda was a Bohn hire. Just as CU under Embree had the worst offensive/defensive coordination in the BCS, so too did the CU Women's basketball team have some of the worst offensive schemes. Linda got buy with smoke/mirrors and incredible individual effort from players, not process and not coaching players up. Chucky was a sight to behold and a real talent. However, as Buffs fans we never truly got to see the heights that Chucky, Reese, Roberson, Swan, or the Wilsons were capable of. Back then the Buffs were winning in spite of Linda, not because of her. Anyone who knew any of the players on the team, and listened to what they were saying knew that. Players know talent when they see it, practice against it, and play with it. Its the coach's role to get that talent onto the floor and into situations that give them an opportunity to succeed. More often than not, under Lappe, that just didn't happen.
Winning basketball at CU is not going to look the exact same way that losing did. The next coach will not come in and let a three star PG recruit that was mediocre at best creating for her own team, and whose offensive efficiency numbers were just poor, continue to shoot the team out of games, and keep the team from getting into good looks. Changes are coming. The next head coach won't be so easily fooled by counting metrics, she will bring a sense of proper analytics and the numbers do not lie.
Anyone who thinks any one player is bigger than the program, is a relative.
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RalphieWasAGurl
Member
Absolutely. With any halfway competent coach, CU could have won a lot more games even with the lack of Pac-12 talent on this roster. Linda never had a feel for minutes or substations. Div-I and the Pac-12 were just way too big for her. You don't learn to play tennis in the Wimbledon finals playing against Serena.
RalphieWasAGurl
Member
Actually, if RG hires the right coach, it will happen overnight. A good coach immediately gives the program credibility. Look at how both Oregon and Oregon State turned around with new coach hires. Stanford isn't unbeatable. They have academic and admissions issues that make it difficult for them to recruit some players that Baylor, Notre Dame, and UCONN get. CU can be a top-5 program within three years in the Pac-12 within three years, with the right hire. Someone that truly understands basketball and knows how to build a program.
The consultant group tells you CU is not hiring an Assistant from any program. CU is hiring an coach in the NCAA tournament right now, that is a Head Coach already. Realistically, there are less than twenty names on the list. VanDerveer, Auriemma, McGraw aren't going anywhere. Kelly Graves and Scott Rueck aren't leaving the amazing programs they've built to come and work under Ceal's dysfunction. As you work through the list, it gets narrower and narrower. A Pac-12 job at CU is a premier head coaching gig.
I want a female candidate, but I couldn't be more impressed with the list of Assistant Coaches that learned their craft from Jim Foster: Geno Auriemma, Muffet McGraw, Deb Patterson.
Tad came from Northern Colorado. There is a head coach at Northern CO right now, that has Deb Patterson on her staff, that probably is one of the most knowledgeable basketball minds in the country. For the record Kamie Etheridge took a limited talent squad last year and knocked off CSU in Fort Collins in the WNIT. That same CSU team that has won three straight MW conference regular season titles, only lost a single game this year, and are going to the NCAA dance. Kamie then guided her NoCo team to a WNIT upset over South Dakota, on her home floor in Greeley. That was a great game. It came down to the very end, and a call. Little ol' Northern Colorado went on to play UCLA in the WNIT. Kamie couldn't pull a rabbit out of the hat there, UCLA should have been in the tournament, and won the WNIT after beating NoCO.
What Kamie did this season playing with no size, moving to a Golden State Warriors style of play, was one of the most impressive jobs of coaching I've ever seen. What defines a great coach isn't so much how she can coach when her team is better, but when it isn't. What Kamie did to Utah State this season, who has two bigs better than anything on the Buffs roster (not saying much) was nothing short of amazing.
Believe it or not my top two candidates are Ryun Williams at CU or Kamie Etheridge at Northern. Both would be significant upgrades over Linda, and both know how to build winning programs. Just look at what Deb and Kamie accomplished at Kansas State. CU is a much easier recruiting draw than KState, being in Boulder and in the Pac-12. I don't think it will be Kamie though, because they didn't make the tournament.
Good times are coming Buffs fans!
Buffballer
Well-Known Member
RWAG AKA CoHoopzfan, Wow, your hate for KL is palpable. In spite of PAC 12 coaches, PAC 12 media and countless achievements, i.e. First freshmen with two assist/point double/doubles, highest assist total in 15 years, 3rd most assists for a freshman in history, lead the team is assists, steals ans ATO ratio. You still attack her and label her as a non PAC 12 talent. One has to wonder what your true motivation is. As Brian Howell tweeted you "you sound like an angry relative of a player she is playing in front of". Do us all a favor and go back to your Twitter rants and 8 followers
RalphieWAG, that is some impressive typing. I have no idea what it contains because, well, that is just a ridiculous number of words on a board like this. Are you Mountain's sister? Lastly, holy **** that is a lot to typing when most are asleep or in the case of many on this board, to **** faced to put that many letters together.
Title IX is what it is. CU has to run an AD that complies with it, not further it.
The only considerations should have been:
1. Should Lappe be extended and if so, what is the market? I.E. we extend to keep her from leaving. We pay the minimum to accomplish that. The only consideration each year is THE MARKET.
Her Title IX agenda should not enter into this decision. Ceal's job is not to set the market, it's to protect CUs interests.
The time has come to move on Ceal. Rick is doing nothing to protect her.
The only considerations should have been:
1. Should Lappe be extended and if so, what is the market? I.E. we extend to keep her from leaving. We pay the minimum to accomplish that. The only consideration each year is THE MARKET.
Her Title IX agenda should not enter into this decision. Ceal's job is not to set the market, it's to protect CUs interests.
The time has come to move on Ceal. Rick is doing nothing to protect her.