It's difficult to read this article and share anyone's enthusiasm that Coach P is still Duke's coach.
Last edited by Mike Corey; 05-28-2016 at 11:57 PM.
I know less than many I'm sure but I imagine this was a big part of why no changes or statements were made...
"Probably working to McCallie’s benefit, all practices were open and taped. A Duke administrator assigned to her program is routinely present at team functions."
I'm guessing they reviewed they evidence and couldn't find anything. Now I'm not saying it's not there, but probably put administration in a much more precarious position.
We have also lost some mighty good people along with our elite program. http://www.swishappeal.com/2016/5/28...heek-assistant
I would love to see Coach Cheek back on Duke's bench as HC after McCallie's eventual departure. She would be a great selection that the fan base could get behind, and a good start to a much needed healing process. Hopefully, she will still be available at the end of P's contract. In the mean time, she will continue to get valuable experience as an assistant.
Q "Why do you like Duke, you didn't even go there." A "Because my art school didn't have a basketball team."
Vociferous and persuasive arguments from the Duke Athletic Department? Lindy Brown is SID for women's basketball; Mike Cragg (who used to be SID) is Deputy Director of Athletics for Operations; and Kevin White is the AD (who would normally speak only to the paper's senior editors).
Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013
The Chronicle has published a Q&A with Coach P. Here are some excerpts:
Crisis has a way of clarifying, but I was really disenchanted with former players trying to interrupt what the current players are doing. I think that’s a really bad thing. I don’t think anybody should try to play AD and play a role of that nature. With that said, 20 wins wasn’t 27—I know we had averaged 27, I know we’d done some great things.
But to me, based on the schedule and the fact that 72 games were missed—72 games were missed due to injury—and almost never having the same lineup, from my seat, it was obviously a rebuilding type of year based on what had happened to catapult us into an exciting, incredible year this year.
I wasn’t comfortable with it in the sense that I liked it, but I was very proud of the team. I never shared that sort of pathetic—the attack mode of people thinking they know better and things of that nature. I never understood or appreciated that at all.I just think that Azurá made that decision to go to Connecticut. She told us, she told her teammates that 'I want a guaranteed national championship.' That became something more important than a Duke education. It was really sad.Angela never did—we thought she might—she never did buy in academically. She never did the work academically, and I think she would have done better basketball-wise if she hadn’t torn up that ankle in the N.C. State game, because that cost her in a lot of ways.
Obviously a terrific player, no doubt, but wrong fit, and me and my staff were completely responsible for that, and I think she set a tone of—although she was a talented player—she set a tone of not doing the team things. The best example I can give you is until the day she left here, she could never do a drill right and get into the end of the line without running through the drill—a simple concept like that, she never got it.
That's an odd interview...is Coach P preaching some revisionist history? I don't understand her comments about transfers, both coming and going.
As players transferring out has been a frequent topic of discussion on this board, I find this statement really strange. It needs the Snopes microscope. I'm pretty sure there have been more than 2..so what she is saying is that there were only 2 of value, the others were bench warming peons in her opinion.JPM: If you’re looking at us, we’re one of the lowest transfer rates of any program out there. I wrote them all down. We’ve got two players in nine years that have transferred and played at Duke. I’m not talking about somebody who sat on the bench. Alexis Jones, who is very good, got injured and went home. We miss her greatly, always will, always have, just like Azurá. That’s a pretty astounding thing.
But the interview goes on to talk about Wagner transfer Sofia Roma. Doomed to be another bench warming peon?JPM: People then say, ‘Why do you take a transfer, Joanne?’ I’m still going to tell you that transfer is a bad word, but here’s where the difference was. And I think there is a difference. Lexie called me, and I told her I don’t like taking transfers. Have you seen me take any transfers? This is one in 10 years. She’s an anomaly.
Q "Why do you like Duke, you didn't even go there." A "Because my art school didn't have a basketball team."
What was that first rule of holes again?
“Those two kids, they’re champions,” Krzyzewski said of his senior leaders. “They’re trying to teach the other kids how to become that, and it’s a long road to become that.”
I don't believe I have ever said anything negative towards McCallie, so I can not be accused of being out to get her, etc. But I was very surprised by this article. I would expect someone in her situation to at least attempt to show some remorse, admit to mistakes being made, and indicate some self-reflection has taken place. Instead it seems she has chosen to double down on the traits that got her in this position in the first place. She did herself no favors with this interview and I would be livid if I were Dr. White. She managed to get shots in at her critics, former Duke players, all transfers in general other than the 1 special case of her transfer in, Maryland basketball, Geno, etc. etc.
Of course she did take full responsibility for bringing in a player who, according to her, didn't buy in academically and set a tone of not being a team player. She even gave specific examples to trash the player. That took a lot of courage on her part to admit her mistake and say she was very disappointed in herself.
And on the bright side, the investigation did allow McCallie to more clearly define who is for her and who is against her and even actually helped recruiting by allowing Duke to cull away recruits who weren't prepared to come in and join Team McCallie.
I believe that Duke is in a very fortunate position that women's players often choose to come to Duke because of academics, and despite the coach/basketball program. But there becomes a point where some may decide the trade off is no longer worth it. And McCallie has made it clear she has no intention of changing anything.
Thanks for sharing that Q and A Corey. All I can say is wow. The next couple of years of Duke Women's BB are going to be ugly.
"This is the best of all possible worlds."
Dr. Pangloss - Candide