2022-2023 Zips Women's Basketball

[mes102]

 

[Hilltopper]

Just now, mes102 said:

My thoughts too. Still doesn't fit the other hires under Guthrie so it makes me curious what made him stand out from those with HC experience. 

He is great recruiter. Lots of ties in Ohio/Midwest already established. 

[mes102]

 

[LoyalZIP]

Guthrie loves him some Syracuse. Gensler has that going for him as well, which almost certainly played a role. 

[mes102]

 

1:35:18 into video for Gensler's interview. 

[blueandgold]

I'm excited to see what players he can bring in with his excellent recruiting past and ties to Ohio and surrounding areas for recruiting.

[Let'sGoZips94]

GREAT hire on paper.

[mes102]

I'm mad at myself for picking the wrong Illinois assistant as a candidate 😂

 

Get used to the term "EGB" going forward. 

 

 

 

Edited March 29, 2023 by mes102

[Z.I.P.]

4 hours ago, Hilltopper said:

Don't believe the rumor mills.

Did we get turned down by a higher profile candidate?

[mes102]

1 hour ago, Z.I.P. said:

Did we get turned down by a higher profile candidate?

I'm not sure (and we won't know), but if I had to guess, Gensler was probably above Schaben. Gensler hiring made more sense. 

 

Schaben rumor might have been more about what's going on at Iowa State right now than it was being seriously considered for the Akron opening. 

Edited March 29, 2023 by mes102

[ewbrooman1]

3 hours ago, mes102 said:

My thoughts too. Still doesn't fit the other hires under Guthrie so it makes me curious what made him stand out from those with HC experience. 

I guess we'll find out at the press conference whenever that is?

[LoyalZIP]

Lots of folks b-wording online about diversity and replacing a woman with a man and Jackson got screwed and 

 

BLAH BLAH BLAH 

 

Today was the first real action toward turning the page and getting back to the winning culture that Kest was able to build for a handful of years. I don’t want any more “atta boy” and “atta girl.” I want to go back to beating Kent once or twice a year—at least. I want to regularly advance in the tournament. I want to play for championships. So little of the discourse is about that. It’s all about feelings and politics and all that nonsense. The nonsense that losers and complainers like to get caught up in. I much prefer discourse about winning, recruiting, play style, etc. For those fans “leaving” that are telling the program to “enjoy not having fans,” well, we have the worst attendance in the league so nothing is changing. Instead of being divisive and whiny, let’s show some TEAMISM and be #1Akron. Go Zips!!!!

[kreed5120]

Just now, LoyalZIP said:

Lots of folks b-wording online about diversity and replacing a woman with a man and Jackson got screwed and 

 

BLAH BLAH BLAH 

 

Today was the first real action toward turning the page and getting back to the winning culture that Kest was able to build for a handful of years. I don’t want any more “atta boy” and “atta girl.” I want to go back to beating Kent once or twice a year—at least. I want to regularly advance in the tournament. I want to play for championships. So little of the discourse is about that. It’s all about feelings and politics and all that nonsense. The nonsense that losers and complainers like to get caught up in. I much prefer discourse about winning, recruiting, play style, etc. For those fans “leaving” that are telling the program to “enjoy not having fans,” well, we have the worst attendance in the league so nothing is changing. Instead of being divisive and whiny, let’s show some TEAMISM and be #1Akron. Go Zips!!!!

I've never understood those type of people's logic. True equality is the best person gets the job regardless of race, gender, religion, etc. If you're refusing to hire someone because they're a man even though they're the best candidate, that's reverse discrimination.

Edited March 30, 2023 by kreed5120

[RooFan]

4 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

I've never understood those type of people's logic. True equality is the best person gets the job regardless of race, gender, religion, etc. If you're refusing to hire someone because they're a man even though they're the best candidate, that's reverse discrimination.

So straight up... for those who don't agree with you this is a great way to end all enthusiasm for participating in your discussion thread.

[LoyalZIP]

1 minute ago, kreed5120 said:

I've never understood those type of people's logic. True equality is the best person gets the job regardless of race, gender, religion, etc. If you're refusing to hire someone because they're a man even though they're the best candidate, that's reverse discrimination.

I certainly understand the people who think a woman or minority should have gotten this job, or been considered or targeted or whatever. Hell, I may even agree with that. But the number of “fans” who are not even going to support this new head coach is just staggering to me. People are acting like we dumped Pat Summitt out on the side of the road and kicked dirt in her face only to replace her with Tom Ianartho.
 

Jackson was hired by Larry Williams, who played with her father in law with the Browns. Larry didn’t put much into hiring that position and just let it be what it be. Now we have an AD who takes initiative to make a change to a program that is very obviously not going anywhere. Again, replacing female coaches with male coaches will always raise questions and look bad, but at the end of the day, this is a meritocracy. I could sit here and complain that the softball coach he hired is a man, but for the first time in recent memory, softball is over .500 at the end of March! Over the past decade with ADs who didn’t care, they were dozens of games under .500 to this point. Volleyball, he replaced a male coach who lost a lot and he’s trying to get better. Track, unfortunately we lost Mitchell and he hired a woman to head that program. It really grinds my gears to read some of the stuff I’m reading. 
 

I even saw one post talking about how Guthrie is like all other ADs—doesn’t care about women’s sports. Then why the hell would he put himself through the process of hiring new coaches instead of hanging onto mediocrity? That makes no sense. If the best chance to win is with a new voice, let’s hear it! 
 

This move is a far bigger risk for Guthrie as an AD trying to build up his resume than just extending Jackson and riding with the status quo. This is the initiative many people would kill for from their AD. 

[Zippy87]

18 minutes ago, LoyalZIP said:

I certainly understand the people who think a woman or minority should have gotten this job, or been considered or targeted or whatever. Hell, I may even agree with that. But the number of “fans” who are not even going to support this new head coach is just staggering to me. People are acting like we dumped Pat Summitt out on the side of the road and kicked dirt in her face only to replace her with Tom Ianartho.
 

Jackson was hired by Larry Williams, who played with her father in law with the Browns. Larry didn’t put much into hiring that position and just let it be what it be. Now we have an AD who takes initiative to make a change to a program that is very obviously not going anywhere. Again, replacing female coaches with male coaches will always raise questions and look bad, but at the end of the day, this is a meritocracy. I could sit here and complain that the softball coach he hired is a man, but for the first time in recent memory, softball is over .500 at the end of March! Over the past decade with ADs who didn’t care, they were dozens of games under .500 to this point. Volleyball, he replaced a male coach who lost a lot and he’s trying to get better. Track, unfortunately we lost Mitchell and he hired a woman to head that program. It really grinds my gears to read some of the stuff I’m reading. 
 

I even saw one post talking about how Guthrie is like all other ADs—doesn’t care about women’s sports. Then why the hell would he put himself through the process of hiring new coaches instead of hanging onto mediocrity? That makes no sense. If the best chance to win is with a new voice, let’s hear it! 
 

This move is a far bigger risk for Guthrie as an AD trying to build up his resume than just extending Jackson and riding with the status quo. This is the initiative many people would kill for from their AD. 

 

I don't know that it's riskier than status quo for him. 

Edited March 30, 2023 by Zippy87

[LoyalZIP]

1 minute ago, Zippy87 said:

 

I don't know that it's riskier than status quo for him. 

Larry Williams fired Terry Bowden (which was the correct move) and replaced him with Tom Arth (the wrong move). If he had kept Bowden and they had gone 4-8/5-7 for 5 more years, you could argue that Williams would still be here, or even ridden the Groce wave to a better job. Had he hired a great coach after Bowden, he would have ridden that wave to a better AD job. What actually happened, is he was not renewed (fired) and spun it as not being comfortable with the current state of college athletics. In reality, he just showed that he is not capable of being a D1 football AD. He’s now the AD at San Francisco. 
 

Charles could’ve kept Jackson and gone anywhere between 7-11 and 11-7 in the MAC every year for a decade. The easiest and safest thing would have been to extend her after the 21-22 season and ride out that contract and wash your hands of any nefariousness that he’s being accused of. We’ve now seen a significant turnover in the roster of coaches at Akron, the next step is to see how well they do and what standard they are held to. 

[Captain Kangaroo]

"A guy raised his hand and asked if I had any advice when it came to coaching women. I gave him a death-ray stare and said, 'Don't worry about coaching women, just go home and coach basketball'."

 

-Pat Summit

[Captain Kangaroo]

9 hours ago, RooFan said:

So straight up... for those who don't agree with you this is a great way to end all enthusiasm for participating in your discussion thread.

It isn't a discussion thread if someone espouses only their point of view, and won't listen to an alternate thought or perspective.

[clarkwgriswold]

10 hours ago, RooFan said:

So straight up... for those who don't agree with you this is a great way to end all enthusiasm for participating in your discussion thread.

This is a forum- a place to exchange thoughts, ideas and views.  If one is going to lose their enthusiasm because someone disagrees with them they're pretty damn weak minded.

[kreed5120]

30 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said:

This is a forum- a place to exchange thoughts, ideas and views.  If one is going to lose their enthusiasm because someone disagrees with them they're pretty damn weak minded.

It's why I didn't even bother responding to that poster. I post often enough that anyone who posts here should know I'm open to discussion. I might not agree with someone else's opinion, but I have no problem hearing them out.

[zippy-claws]

I always respect the regular posters opinions on coaches, and just want your opinion as to this - is there  a point, whether it’s service, program wins, where an assistant is a good choice for HC?  This isn’t coming out right, but after x years at a big school program who had a winning culture coach Y is ready, in your opinions?

[Captain Kangaroo]

Just now, zippy-claws said:

I always respect the regular posters opinions on coaches, and just want your opinion as to this - is there  a point, whether it’s service, program wins, where an assistant is a good choice for HC?  This isn’t coming out right, but after x years at a big school program who had a winning culture coach Y is ready, in your opinions?

That's the value of a great AD. The AD's that select a coach because he was from Notre Dame (Ianello & Faust)...the son/daughter of a famous coach (Will/Bo Ryan, Bill/Lisa Fitch)...a "NE Ohio" Girl/Guy...those AD's are a dime a dozen. They have no better acumen for selecting a coach that the everyday yutsz that calls sports talk shows all day long. 

 

How does Toledo reload year-in-year-out...coach-in-coach-out? Not just in football, but most other sports too. It's because they have high standards and great leadership. At best, that's been hit and miss at UA for the 38 years I've been in Summit County.

 

Professionally - I've sat in on so many group interviews where the job candidate was poorly prepared, or lacked the acumen to do the job for which they were interviewing, and many other interviewers loved the candidate. Because they dressed well...spoke well...were from the same region or college...they never dug deeper than that. And the bums often get the job. AD's are no different. 

 

To me the jury's still out on Guthrie. We'll see how this hire goes. If he's a great AD, he asked the right questions in the interviews, called the guy's references and asked them the right questions, and went with a gut feeling based upon those discussions and what he knows are key elements to being a successful head coach at Akron...where your budget isn't big...you have scant NIL potential...and where your fan base is paltry.

 

It seems really simple, but that's pretty much it. You need to be able to identify coaching diamonds in the rough at Akron. Jay Wright or Dawn Staley aren't knocking the door down to coach here. But "The Next Jay Wright or Dawn Staley" is out there and needs his/her break. A great AD will identify them. Then it's lather-rinse-and-repeat when they ultimately get hired away. If your mid-major athletic dept has high standards and great leadership, that's how it goes.

[LoyalZIP]

9 minutes ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

That's the value of a great AD. The AD's that select a coach because he was from Notre Dame (Ianello & Faust)...the son/daughter of a famous coach (Will/Bo Ryan, Bill/Lisa Fitch)...a "NE Ohio" Girl/Guy...those AD's are a dime a dozen. They have no better acumen for selecting a coach that the everyday yutsz that calls sports talk shows all day long. 

 

How does Toledo reload year-in-year-out...coach-in-coach-out? Not just in football, but most other sports too. It's because they have high standards and great leadership. At best, that's been hit and miss at UA for the 38 years I've been in Summit County.

 

Professionally - I've sat in on so many group interviews where the job candidate was poorly prepared, or lacked the acumen to do the job for which they were interviewing, and many other interviewers loved the candidate. Because they dressed well...spoke well...were from the same region or college...they never dug deeper than that. And the bums often get the job. AD's are no different. 

 

To me the jury's still out on Guthrie. We'll see how this hire goes. If he's a great AD, he asked the right questions in the interviews, called the guy's references and asked them the right questions, and went with a gut feeling based upon those discussions and what he knows are key elements to being a successful head coach at Akron...where your budget isn't big...you have scant NIL potential...and where your fan base is paltry.

 

It seems really simple, but that's pretty much it. You need to be able to identify coaching diamonds in the rough at Akron. Jay Wright or Dawn Staley aren't knocking the door down to coach here. But "The Next Jay Wright or Dawn Staley" is out there and needs his/her break. A great AD will identify them. Then it's lather-rinse-and-repeat when they ultimately get hired away. If your mid-major athletic dept has high standards and great leadership, that's how it goes.

 

 

This is the way^^^ @zippy-claws

 

As someone whose full-time job is not running the University of Akron's Division 1 athletic department, I place a lot of value on previous HC experience when my favorite teams are hiring for a few reasons. The biggest one, is they generally know what it is like to be successful and to be unsuccessful as a head coach, and how to respond when they are in the big chair, as opposed to being next to the big chair. They are familiar with actually having the pressure and responsibility that comes with being the CEO of the program, as opposed to being next or third in line. To me, that is something that has a lot of value. I don't know how many there have been or what the numbers are--but I can think of plenty of coaches (even just at Akron alone) who are successful assistants and get their first crack at an HC job, only to fail (sometimes miserably) and then go many years before ever taking a HC job again, if they ever do. 

 

So, like our Fearless Leader @Captain Kangaroo said, as long as the candidate is vetted properly like we all hope Guthrie has done with all programs, this hire is fine by me. I suppose it is a good thing that we didn't just get a "name" and we've gotten someone who has been around different parts of the country in a few different programs. 

[clarkwgriswold]

52 minutes ago, zippy-claws said:

I always respect the regular posters opinions on coaches, and just want your opinion as to this - is there  a point, whether it’s service, program wins, where an assistant is a good choice for HC?  This isn’t coming out right, but after x years at a big school program who had a winning culture coach Y is ready, in your opinions?

I think it is as individual as the candidates themselves.  Tom Arth looked the part, had a nice resume, had been a success at a lower level and had an NFL background and was a disaster.  Ianello had a great pedigree and was an abysmal failure.   Some guys are great coordinators or assistants, many with many years at top notch programs, but don't have the mix of attributes to make them a great head coach and oftentimes their capacity as a head coach can't be determined until their fanny is in the hot seat.   There's no magic formula.