Bluedawg
12-25-2007, 10:36 AM
Why did she leave? Well...in her own words (http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/story/847178.html):
Goestenkors, who views her coaching move as a necessary transition, remembers the day she informed Duke players that she would be leaving, calling it "the hardest thing I've ever done."
In a gathering at Emily Waner's house, she spoke to players about stepping outside their comfort zone, taking risks, dreaming big -- all points she had made to them many times before.
Goestenkors told them if she wasn't willing to adhere to the same advice, she would be a hypocrite.
Fighting back tears, she asked Emily Waner, who transferred from Colorado after her freshman season, why she had given up her starting position there to become a reserve at Duke.
"She said, 'I needed more, I needed another opportunity to try something different, to really challenge myself,' " Goestenkors recalled. "I said, 'Exactly. That's how I'm feeling. I need to try something different to challenge myself.' "
Although she's looking to the future, Goestenkors has found it difficult to forget a question Abby Waner asked her the day she informed the Duke team of her departure: If we would have won the national championship, would you have stayed?
"No," Goestenkors told Waner. "If we would have won that national championship, it would have made it easier to leave ... because I would have felt like I finished what I started."
I hope we can stop blaming Joe...according to G:
But was there anything that could have kept her at Duke?
"I don't think so," Goestenkors said. "I think it was just time."
Could Duke have offered more money?
"Duke did everything," she said. "It wasn't about money. ... As far as contract, as far as money, I couldn't have asked for more. I wouldn't have asked for more. ... They were very gracious with their offer."
And finally:
"I was happy at Duke," Goestenkors said. "... You get to the point in your life and you decide: Is this where I'm going to be for the rest of my life? That would have been fine and good. Or do I want another adventure?"
I wish Coach G well and I'd still like to see her honored in some way at Duke, but I hope Coach P wins her first National Championship first.
Goestenkors, who views her coaching move as a necessary transition, remembers the day she informed Duke players that she would be leaving, calling it "the hardest thing I've ever done."
In a gathering at Emily Waner's house, she spoke to players about stepping outside their comfort zone, taking risks, dreaming big -- all points she had made to them many times before.
Goestenkors told them if she wasn't willing to adhere to the same advice, she would be a hypocrite.
Fighting back tears, she asked Emily Waner, who transferred from Colorado after her freshman season, why she had given up her starting position there to become a reserve at Duke.
"She said, 'I needed more, I needed another opportunity to try something different, to really challenge myself,' " Goestenkors recalled. "I said, 'Exactly. That's how I'm feeling. I need to try something different to challenge myself.' "
Although she's looking to the future, Goestenkors has found it difficult to forget a question Abby Waner asked her the day she informed the Duke team of her departure: If we would have won the national championship, would you have stayed?
"No," Goestenkors told Waner. "If we would have won that national championship, it would have made it easier to leave ... because I would have felt like I finished what I started."
I hope we can stop blaming Joe...according to G:
But was there anything that could have kept her at Duke?
"I don't think so," Goestenkors said. "I think it was just time."
Could Duke have offered more money?
"Duke did everything," she said. "It wasn't about money. ... As far as contract, as far as money, I couldn't have asked for more. I wouldn't have asked for more. ... They were very gracious with their offer."
And finally:
"I was happy at Duke," Goestenkors said. "... You get to the point in your life and you decide: Is this where I'm going to be for the rest of my life? That would have been fine and good. Or do I want another adventure?"
I wish Coach G well and I'd still like to see her honored in some way at Duke, but I hope Coach P wins her first National Championship first.