Sparty coach to Duke?

Mike Rosenberg wrote this after she weighed the Florida job.. still holds true, I think.

Coach P ducks that question to the end

March 21, 2007

BY MICHAEL ROSENBERG

FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

EAST LANSING -- She coached to the end. Joanne P. McCallie called time-out in the final minute, apparently to set up two six-point plays, because that is what Michigan State needed. This is what great coaches do. They coach to the end -- of games, of seasons, and of careers at a school.

Does McCallie expect to be back at MSU?

"I'm not going to answer these questions in this forum," McCallie said. That answer really ticked me off, and here is why: I had, "I'm focused on Michigan State right now" in the Coach P Evasive Answer Pool. Now I'm out five bucks.

I suspect that for McCallie, the ideal forum will be a news conference in Gainesville. Or Baton Rouge. Or maybe Austin. If she stays at Michigan State, it will be because she didn't get the offer she wanted.

McCallie has had quite a month. She led the Spartans to their fifth straight NCAA tournament, and she wasn't even the Newsmaker of the Month in her own family.

The coach's husband, MSU associate economics professor John D. McCallie, was arrested for allegedly biting a police officer's finger at a Florida airport. No biggie -- that kind of thing can happen to anybody who has a cop's finger in his mouth. But then some astute people said, "Hey, Florida -- isn't that where the University of Florida is located?"

Indeed it is. And Florida is looking for a new coach. And that immediately triggered speculation that McCallie was interviewing for the Gators' opening.

Of course, the McCallies took the same vacation last year, sans cop-biting accusations. That's why Prof. McCallie tried to quell all speculation in his first day back on the job, telling his students, "We've got a bunch of schools looking at us," according to the State News.

Oops.

Then he mentioned Louisiana State.

Double oops.

I'm no expert on women's basketball, but I think this is a bad time for the professor to ask for tenure.

The McCallies' wandering eyes make perfect sense for a few reasons:

Florida, LSU and Texas are considered higher-profile jobs; McCallie has SEC experience, having been an assistant at Auburn; and my understanding is that in some parts of Louisiana, it is perfectly legal to bite another person, as long as you prove you were drunk. There is no shame in McCallie leaving, just as there will be no shame if Tubby Smith and Kentucky really do part ways and the Wildcats call Tom Izzo.

Whoa. I scared you for a minute, didn't I? I'm sorry. But I'm not kidding. If Smith leaves or is fired, Kentucky is not going to replace him with somebody who rode a hot team to a tournament run, and Kentucky will not lean toward somebody who walked on to the team in 1982. That is not how Kentucky operates. Kentucky will look for a big name who can win national championships ... and that might mean Izzo. I don't know if Izzo would go to Lexington -- he is synonymous with Michigan State -- but if you are a college basketball coach and Kentucky calls, you listen. Just something to consider.

Now, back to McCallie. If she leaves, which seems likely, her time in East Lansing was an unqualified success. The MSU program is in far better shape than it was when she arrived.

The only shame is in how it is happening. It is one of the sloppier exits this side of Larry Brown. This was the first-ever women's NCAA tournament regional in Michigan. The people at Michigan State put a lot of work into hosting this, and they deserved better in the past month.

I suppose MSU's administrators can call McCallie to make peace. You know, as long as she gives them her new number.

Contact MICHAEL ROSENBERG at 313-222-6052 or rosenberg@freepress.com.
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What are the big women's jobs still open?

I think Kentucky, Illinois, Penn State, Washington State and Michigan State are now open. Is this it?

 

At least hubby McCallie will keep Mike Nifong busy for the remaining few days he holds public office.

 

Kentucky, Illinois and PSU are the plums of this bunch. The right coach at any of those places could build a powerhouse.

 

Great move by Duke. Joe Alleva might have saved his own a_s with this hire ...

 

God help the person who takes the Wazzu job. There's not enough beer in Whitman County to keep your sanity in the cluster-you-know-what. Sherri Murrell worked hard but couldn't win anything.

There is a ton of basketball talent in the Puget Sound area. None of it ever makes it over to Pullman, though.

 

Well this is certainly somewhat of a surprise.

Fired UW coach Daugherty to take over at WSU
By JIM MOORE
P-I REPORTER

Fired by Washington, hired by Washington State -- the P-I has learned that June Daugherty is about to be named the Cougars' next women's basketball coach.

A news conference is scheduled Friday afternoon in Pullman to announce Daugherty's hiring in a move that is sure to create a lot more interest in women's hoops in the state of Washington after a longtime Dawg becomes a first-time Coug.

WSU athletic director Jim Sterk and Daugherty could not be reached, but sources said the hiring is imminent. Last-minute details are being worked out in what is expected to be a seven-year contract.

Daugherty, 50, will replace Sherri Murrell, who resigned April 5 after compiling a 27-114 record in her five years as coach.

It's been a crazy scenario. Daugherty was fired by Washington athletic director Todd Turner on March 18, one day after the Huskies lost their first-round game in the NCAA Tournament to Iowa State.

It was the sixth time in 11 years that Daugherty had led Washington to the NCAA Tournament. At Montlake, she was 191-139 overall and 113-85 in the Pac-10. Murrell was 8-82 in conference play.

Former Duke assistant Tia Jackson, 34, replaced Daugherty on April 6 amid fanfare featuring the Huskies pep band and cheerleaders. Turner said he wanted to bring a "buzz" back to the program and, for one day anyway, got it.

But he indirectly generated a bigger buzz with the news of Daugherty's hiring in Pullman, which is sure to create excitement when the teams play each other, especially when the former Husky brings her Cougs to Hec Ed for the first time.

Turner intimated that Daugherty didn't win enough, her team wasn't exciting, fans didn't come out enough, and she didn't recruit inner-city kids. But her teams won and players graduated.

She will have a rugged job in front of her -- the Cougars have perennially finished last in the Pac-10. But Dick and Tony Bennett arrived to similar circumstances and turned the men's program around.

Attendance declines were mentioned at Washington, but they're nothing compared to those at Washington State -- the Cougars averaged 512 fans at nine Pac-10 home games.

It's hard to say what will become of Daugherty's recruiting class at Washington, ranked 12th in the country by hoopgurlz.com. When players sign letters of intent, they sign to play for the school, not the coach. It's up to the AD to release the players if they want to leave.

It's unclear whether Turner would release the players if they wanted to join Daugherty in Pullman or go elsewhere.

Daugherty will be joined at WSU by her lead assistant, husband Mike, but it was uncertain Wednesday whether her other assistants, Janet Soderberg and Kellie Lewis-Jay, would be headed for the Palouse as well.

On the day her contract was terminated by Washington, Daugherty said: "It has been a privilege to be a Husky."

She moves on in an ironic way, replacing purple and gold with crimson and gray.

 

That is an odd hire.

 

Does anyone have any idea what in the world is going on with women's basketball coaches in the Big Ten?

Penn State, Illinois and Michigan State are looking for coaches and none seem to have very many A-list types in mind . Michigan had to settle for their second or third choice. Purdue lost their highly successful coach a few years ago, Indiana can't keep coaches around -- about the only place that seems stable and legitimately interested in being good is Ohio State.

I just can't figure this out -- are these schools just not committed to women's basketball or what? Are they not willing to pay money? You'd think Penn State would have tons of top coaches jumping at the chance but so far they were rejected by Vanderbilit's coach, they seem to have been rejected by Chris Dailey from UConn and they are actually talking about UConn's third assistant as being in the mix.

There is something wrong -- the other leagues all seem to have a few big name coaches and programs -- why is the Big Ten all of the sudden falling so far behind?

 

Here's a thought. Compared to the ACC and the SEC (and possibly the better Big East teams), the Big Ten is simply outclassed. If anything, the Big Ten has become a springboard for coaches to better jobs instead of a destination job.

 

Michigan doesn't settle for it;s second or third choice. They never pay enough money to attract their No.1 choice. And even if they do (See: Roberts comma Trish), they generally suck.

 

What makes you think Michigan had to settle for its second or third choice? Who was their first choice? All the names I heard of being in the running would have jumped at the chance to take the Michigan job.