Coaching at alma mater | The Boneyard

Coaching at alma mater

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With more ex-players seeing a future in coaching, we have been getting more players going back to their Alma maters.

The success rate seems low (looking at P5/4):

  • Lindsay Whalen Minnesota — Fired 5 years
  • Sharon Versyp Purdue — Ok, 16 years
  • Katie Geralds Purdue — too early
  • Angie Lee Iowa — Fired/stepped down after 5 years

  • Niele Ivey ND — Promising so far
  • Felicia Legette-Jack Syracuse — Promising
  • Brooke Wycoff FSU — Ok so far
  • Jen Hoover Wake Forest — Fired 10 years

  • Holly Warlick Tenn — Fired 7 years
  • Kelly Harper Tenn — Fired 5 years
  • Pokey Chatman LSU — 4 years (resigned bc of improper behavior)
  • Katie Abrahamson-H Georgia — early

  • Adia Barnes Arizona — NC runnerup
  • Kate Paye Stanford — New


I’m sure I’m missing some — help me out please! Big4 conferences only please.

But so far looks like only Versyp has made it past 10 years, and Barnes is the only one to make a final 4.
 
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With more ex-players seeing a future in coaching, we have been getting more players going back to their Alma maters.

The success rate seems low (looking at P5/4):

  • Lindsay Whalen Minnesota — Fired 5 years
  • Sharon Versyp Purdue — Ok, 16 years
  • Katie Geralds Purdue — too early
  • Angie Lee Iowa — Fired/stepped down after 5 years

  • Niele Ivey ND — Promising so far
  • Felicia Legette-Jack Syracuse — Promising
  • Brooke Wycoff FSU — Ok so far
  • Jen Hoover Wake Forest — Fired 10 years

  • Holly Warlick Tenn — Fired 7 years
  • Kelly Harper Tenn — Fired 5 years
  • Pokey Chatman LSU — 4 years (resigned bc of improper behavior)
  • Katie Abrahamson-H Georgia — early

  • Adia Barnes Arizona — NC runnerup
  • Kate Paye Stanford — New


I’m sure I’m missing some — help me out please! Big4 conferences only please.

But so far looks like only Versyp has made it past 10 years, and Barnes is the only one to make a final 4.
Not surprising at all ..how long does the average P5 coach keep their job?
 
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Not surprising at all ..how long does the average P5 coach keep their job?
Dunno. But 5/8 here didn’t make it past 5 years, which means they were a clear failure. A 62% failure rate seems pretty high. It suggests that going for the legacy candidate could be worse than going with a ‘stranger.’
 

bballnut90

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Carolyn Kieger coached at her alma mater, Marquette before switching to Penn State
 
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Dunno. But 5/8 here didn’t make it past 5 years, which means they were a clear failure. A 62% failure rate seems pretty high. It suggests that going for the legacy candidate could be worse than going with a ‘stranger.’
Do we know the baseline? What is the average coach tenure?
 

KnightBridgeAZ

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Do we know the baseline? What is the average coach tenure?
It varies. This is one of the cases where a true baseline would be difficult, as you have very long term coaches and relatively short term. 5 years and less for the failures is probably typical.

That said - Harper and the longer lasting Warlick were not unsuccessful, at all. They were not as successful as the fanbase wanted. I put them in the following the legend category.

Similarly, you simply can't include Pokey Chatman. She was enormously successful. Rutgers beat LSU in the Final Four the year she was fired at the end of the regular season / SEC tournament, whenever, exactly.

I think the only downside of having an alumna for head coach may be a tendency to keep them on longer than you would someone else - a la Jen Hoover, perhaps.
 

WBBTakeover

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Itoro Coleman (played at Clemson as Itoro Umoh) coached at Clemson from 2010 to 2013 (fired).
 

BRS24

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If success is measured as replicating and/or improving on a prior star coach, I'd say that's impossible. I also wonder if ADs are a bit blinded by the loyalty of wanting a former player to succeed, that they don't realize there are other candidates out there, with a better track record.
 

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