WBB Head Coach Search

[langdonfan]

Apparently, Joanne Boyle has turned down Florida's offer and is only considering Duke and Cal.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...PGH9P3SS51.DTL

[chrishoke]

Excellent news. Come on down Joanne.

[Susan]

That's great news. Nice to see that schools like Florida don't get EVERYONE they want! I'm getting more and more excited about the idea of Boyle coaching at Duke.

[duke98]

That's great news. Nice to see that schools like Florida don't get EVERYONE they want! I'm getting more and more excited about the idea of Boyle coaching at Duke.

Me too. I'm still a little concerned that Duke only seems to be looking at two of its own -- Boyle and Katie Meier -- and not interviewing top-notch coaches like Andy Landers, Carolyn Peck, etc. I just think it looks a little bush league, and reflects a belief that we don't consider ourselves one of the elite women's basketball programs in the nation (without G), which we are.

It's going to be hard for this program to move forward without G. I think everyone has to be very conscious that the people who remain, and the people who've come through the program already, make Duke basketball what it is. Duke basketball is not Coach G, and vice versa -- she had the chance to make it that way, and sadly she turned it down.

But from everything I read about Boyle as a head coach, she's done wonderful things with the teams she's coached (Richmond, Cal). I remember her medical problems when she was an assistant at Duke and how strong she was at pulling through them, and how much everyone in the program rallied around her. Those are both really positive signs, in my eyes. Combined with her evident success as a head coach, I think Boyle would be a great choice for the program. (I just wish the search was a little broader and higher-reaching...)

[langdonfan]

I have to agree with you, duke98. The more I read about Joanne's accomplishments as a coach, the more excited I am becoming about her possibly taking over the program. I am, however, surprised that this doesn't seem to be a wide open nationwide search. On the day Coach G left, one reporter in the Durham area (Mark Armstrong, WTVD 11) qouted sources close to the program saying they hoped the search would "begin and end with Boyle." All indications so far seem to point to that being true.

Coach G turned Duke into one of the elite programs in women's college basketball. Why not go after someone like Landers, Peck, or Curt Miller at Bowling Green or Joe McKeown at George Washington? Seems far too limited to me. I am sure we will end up with an excellent coach in the end. I just hope Joanne is not the only excellent coach that Alleva considered...

[burnspbesq]

Me too. I'm still a little concerned that Duke only seems to be looking at two of its own -- Boyle and Katie Meier -- and not interviewing top-notch coaches like Andy Landers, Carolyn Peck, etc. I just think it looks a little bush league, and reflects a belief that we don't consider ourselves one of the elite women's basketball programs in the nation (without G), which we are.

I continue to be somewhat mystified by the high regard in which Carolyn Peck is held by many people. She won a NC at Purdue with players she inherited, and won it primarily because an arguably superior Duke team didn't rise to the occasion in the championship game. She didn't win in the WNBA, and she didn't win at Florida.

As for Andy Landers, let's just say that he passed his sell-by date about 15 years ago. He is a solid coach, but the idea of hiring someone who seemingly can't do any better than third in the SEC any more doesn't exactly send me into transports of joy.

[bludev03]

Wow! If Florida offered Geno 1.5-2 mil, how much did they offer Boyle?? Of course, Duke is going to lowball, so Boyle must LOVE duke to accept 400k, vs. 1.5-2 mil (if they offer her the same as they offered Geno)

[Susan]

Here's another Boyle article from today stating that she has not made a decision yet.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/sports/ci_5607489

Please come back to Duke, Joanne!

[dukelifer]

Wow! If Florida offered Geno 1.5-2 mil, how much did they offer Boyle?? Of course, Duke is going to lowball, so Boyle must LOVE duke to accept 400k, vs. 1.5-2 mil (if they offer her the same as they offered Geno)

Hmm Geno has 5 NC- Boyle has a few years of head coaching experience. I do not think you offer the two the same money.

[ikiru36]

Wow! If Florida offered Geno 1.5-2 mil, how much did they offer Boyle?? Of course, Duke is going to lowball, so Boyle must LOVE duke to accept 400k, vs. 1.5-2 mil (if they offer her the same as they offered Geno)

Nothing against Boyle, but why would you think she would be offered even half of what a school would offer Gino?

I'm a bit baffled by people considering $400k/year some kind of low-ball. At least by what I've read, that's more than Hatchell and Frese make and (a few famous outliers aside) would place a Women's Basketball coach near the top of her profession as regards base compensation. I genuinely hope that whomever we hire, that s/he is well and justly compensated, but I've seen little evidence that Duke isn't willing to pay a reasonable salary (comparing primarily with other top ACC Women's coaches).

[Kewlswim]

Hi,

We have had a bad year. I won't go into the number of ways. I will stick to WBB. The longer it took Coach G to say what she was going to do, the more I thought she would be a Dukie. I was wrong. The longer it is taking Coach Boyle to decide the more I think she will be a Dukie again. Get my point? Maybe I should just start thinking she is not coming for sure and then I won't get disappointed?

GO DUKE!

[Indoor66]

Why would we offer Boyle $400k - the same that Gail made after her run of ACC championships and NCAA success? Don't you have to earn it to get it? Is the whole world run like the NBA - on potential rather than performance? Doesn't make sense to me.

I am not opposed to Boyle or any other coach. I just favor a little sanity in the process.

[Duvall]

Why would we offer Boyle $400k - the same that Gail made after her run of ACC championships and NCAA success? Don't you have to earn it to get it? Is the whole world run like the NBA - on potential rather than performance?

The coaching job market works like every other job market - you're worth what others are willing to pay you. If Florida and Cal are willing to pay Boyle $400K, then that's the going rate.

[bludev03]

Hmm Geno has 5 NC- Boyle has a few years of head coaching experience. I do not think you offer the two the same money.

Texas is paying G 1 mil a year, w/ bonus incentives up to 1.3 mil. Geno is making 988k. Geno has 5 NC, a perfect 5-0 in NC games, and has coached 6 NPOY.

G has 0 NC and is 0-2 in NC games.

Obviously, salary offers aren't based on meritocracy, so Florida may have offered her the same or close to the amount they offered Geno...

[Duvall]

Texas is paying G 1 mil a year, w/ bonus incentives up to 1.3 mil. Geno is making 988k.

I would expect that to change in the not-too-distant future.

[duke98]

Wow! If Florida offered Geno 1.5-2 mil, how much did they offer Boyle?? Of course, Duke is going to lowball, so Boyle must LOVE duke to accept 400k, vs. 1.5-2 mil (if they offer her the same as they offered Geno)

I hadn't heard that Florida offered Geno (regardless of the ridiculous sum), but this underscores my point. If a school like Florida has the stones to offer its head coaching job to Geno Auriemma, why don't we?? Don't get me wrong -- I'd sooner see Ivory Latta coaching this team than that "other" Coach G(eno). But we are a national powerhouse in women's basketball, and this is a job that many coaches would kill to be offered. I think we need to act like it. Sometimes a little swagger can do a program good.

[FireOgilvie]

Sometimes a little swagger can do a program good.

Exactly. Look at Arkansas men's basketball... oh wait.



But seriously... I think you have a good point. You don't hire the big coach if you don't go after the big coach.

[shadycharacter]

I tend to disagree that Duke should first look toward a more proven women's BB coach. Suppose, we did, and Geno, for instance, came. Obviously he's set for life at Uconn if he wants to stay. So if he left there for Duke, why wouldn't he in turn get the wander lust again and leave Duke in a few years when, say, Pat Summit retires? Or for some other top job closer to where his roots are. See Bob Huggins.

I think Joanne Boyle would be a great catch, and is the, or one or the, ideal names with which to start. She played here, coached here. I hate to sound like a tarheel, but she's family. And I believe that if you can get the combination of a reasonably young head coach, who has already shown she can be very successful--and in addition there is the high likelihood that like Coach K, she will view returning to Duke as coming home and will want to stay until the end of her coaching career--then I think she's a five star choice.

I think that if we want her, and from everything I've heard, I do, then seems to me we should make this clear to her, and pursue her from the start.

[throatybeard]

Y'all, I'm going to rename this thread "WBB Head Coach Search" and redirect new threads on individual developments in that search into it.

[Susan]

Since we've gotten into a discussion about compensation for women's basketball coaches, you may find this article of some interest.

Women's coaches set for trip to bank