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Indoor66
05-10-2007, 08:05 AM
SCN: You led Duke to multiple Final Four appearances, league championships, and an impressive overall record during your tenure. On the recruiting trail, you were responsible for several top recruiting classes. With so much success at a school that's committed to basketball, what was it that brought you to Texas?

Goestenkors: It was the opportunity for a new challenge. I love Duke. I always will love Duke. I had some great experiences there but I was at a time in my life where I knew that I was either going to stay at Duke for the rest of my career and be very comfortable and happy or I was going to take a chance and accept a new challenge to really go outside my comfort zone. I think anytime you do that, you grow tremendously. I think I was looking for a new opportunity to grow and learn and push myself.

IMO, the above quote addresses many of the issues raised on this board as to what Duke could have done to "keep" Gail at Duke. If you have never faced a decision like she described - having to chose between a challenge and taking a chance for personal growth or staying put and remaining in a comfort zone - then you may never understand her choice.

I have never grown in my comfort zone. Challenges are what growth is. IMO each of us has to see that issue as it fits one's own life and IMO I have to respect anyone's decision on the issue. Gail saw her growth coming from moving to a challenge. Others might have seen their growth in staying at Duke. Neither position is "correct" or "better." Each is appropriate as it is defined by the individual situation, desires, wishes and perceptions.

Thanks for the memories, Gail. Live large at Texas.

Hail to Coach P.

Kfanarmy
05-10-2007, 11:23 AM
Duke Women's basketball is the only women's team of any kind that I routinely watch. While she was on the job she was amazing. Still I think she left the job while the team was prepping for the NCAA tournament. With all that she did, talking to another university about a new job while her players were singularly focused on winning the NCAA tournament likely cheated them from having their coach's maximum attention on how to beat the teams they faced. I have to wonder, and I would think some of the players do, whether or not she would have designed another play, thought about a more successful offensive set, etc, etc, etc. to enable them to win a championship. I simply don't agree with that. A coach on a team that knows they aren't going to a tournament, I don't have a problem with talking to a new team about a new job...a coach job hunting while her team is competing for a championship just isn't doing the right thing. She can never truly say the team is more important than any one individual.

GrayHare
05-10-2007, 01:24 PM
...a coach job hunting while her team is competing for a championship just isn't doing the right thing.

Texas expressed interest in Gail during the tournament, but as far as I know she didn't have any substantive discussions with either Duke or Texas until after the tournament. I don't believe she was job hunting -- Texas came to her, not the other way around.

I do believe that Gail did all she could for Duke in the tournament. Aside from her long-standing devotion to the school and the players and her desire to see them succeed, she's a consummate professional, and she's thoroughly capable of keeping her focus on the game and the tournament. Besides, even if she had been looking beyond Duke at the time, winning a national championship would have only enhanced her professional standing at either Duke or Texas.

killerleft
05-10-2007, 03:03 PM
That the Texas job possibility leaked to the public was very likely not Gail's fault (although I have no idea). Very bad timing, though, and it may HAVE had an effect on the players.

I agree wholeheartedly that she gave Duke ALL of her attention, and would have loved to have left having given us a national championship as a parting present.

Kfanarmy
05-10-2007, 04:13 PM
she gave Duke ALL of her attention
she's thoroughly capable of keeping her focus on the game
I sincerely admire the loyalty and benevolence/graciousness of those statements. I simply don't believe 1. It is possible and 2. that anyone considering a drastic career change doesn't give some of their focus to it when not directly acting on the work at hand.
I had incredible respect for Coach Goestenkors prior to this event. If I hadn't known that she accepted this contact in advance of her playing in the sweet 16, that respect would not have been effected by the move. That she accepted the contact tells you that neither of the two statements are true...if she was fully concentrating on the team she was coaching, she simply wouldn't have spoken to anyone about anything basketball-related except her team, and their next opponent until after the tournament was over. in the end, she is diminished by the, small as it may be, loss of loyalty to her team at a critical moment in their lives. My opinion, my take. You are welcome to yours, and again I believe you are better people for your altruism, but what you suggest I don't believe is possible.

homebre
05-10-2007, 08:06 PM
Am I undeerstanding you correctly that you know that Coach G accepted the Texas contract before the sweet 16? Where is that info from?
Thanks,
Andy from Hillsborough

killerleft
05-10-2007, 11:43 PM
Don't we all have to, at times, be able to block out things in order to keep focused on the job at hand?

Why wouldn't Coach G be able to do this? She's obviously one of the best coaches in the business.

She knew the job would be there after the tournament. I feel she was as focused as always. Maybe more so, if she felt that she was leaving Duke.

As I stated before, the players may well have been affected. They were in the dark, as we were, and they had much more at stake.

cspan37421
05-11-2007, 09:26 AM
I don't know whether she had talks before Duke's run ended or not. I do know I'm grateful for her dedication and skill the last X yrs putting Duke Women's BB on the map. She didn't win a title, but look how far she brought the program. We're vastly better off because she said yes all those years ago. Let's hope Coach P (J.P.M.) can lead the team to taking that last step.

Good luck to G except when she plays Duke.