Nice Rizzotti article

[Vancat]

outline.com is available for purchase - Sedo.com

outline.com

 

[UcMiami]

Nice article - no issue with her being fired. It is a good sign that schools even in the mid majors are willing to hold coaches accountable in WCBB.
Recruiting at Hartford or GW is a crap shoot - one really good player can turn around a career for 4 years and she went into a program that had just had a WNBA first round draft pick/starter graduate so expectations were probably a little over the top.

 

[eebmg]

I just cant wrap my head around the painful results that a WBB icon like Jen could not recruit slightly above the level of her competition and/or get them playing at a level slightly above their talent.

 

[freshler40]

I just cant wrap my head around the painful results that a WBB icon like Jen could not recruit slightly above the level of her competition and/or get them playing at a level slightly above their talent.

Perhaps the talent pool in not that deep yet but clearly is growing as Division 1 shows. It's also hard to win in the top division with 1 or 2 terrific players, you need depth. and that creates a recruiting problem for lower division teams.

 

[UcMiami]

I just cant wrap my head around the painful results that a WBB icon like Jen could not recruit slightly above the level of her competition and/or get them playing at a level slightly above their talent.

Look around at all the disappointments of great players and great assistant coaches when they get HC jobs - some of that is the support they get from school/AD, but it is also a very different job. You are a salesman selling primarily yourself to the recruits you decide are right for your program, and you are a CEO hiring and managing a large staff, and then you are a coach designing an approach to the game, laying out the process to achieve that goal, and delegating the responsibilities to implement that plan.

As a player you showed up when and where you were told, worked through practice, played in games, and designed a workout and nutrition plan that suited you and made sure you followed it (in college they did that for you, as a pro you do it yourself.)

As an assistant/associate coach you implement the plan your HC devises, you make suggestions during games, and you sell your HC to the recruits that your HC decides are right.

Jen did really well at Hartford for quite a while - her record as a HC is solid .579 - nothing to jump and down about, but not bad. Her record in her American East and A10 is .631 so well above 'average.' Her record in the A10 isn't as good .551 but still above average.

Problem is she replaced Tsipis who had just gone 46-16 in the A10. Of course he went 7-7 before he got transfer Jonquel Jones and then left for Wisconsin where he has gone 14-74 without her and gotten fired. Before him the previous coach had gone 19-37. So GW without JJ isn't exactly lighting up the A10.

 

[CTBballfan243]

I just cant wrap my head around the painful results that a WBB icon like Jen could not recruit slightly above the level of her competition and/or get them playing at a level slightly above their talent.

Jen Rizzotti was(is) a UConn icon, not a WBB icon. Just because you were a good player doesn't necessarily make you a good coach.

 

[Jim]

Jen Rizzotti was(is) a UConn icon, not a WBB icon. Just because you were a good player doesn't necessarily make you a good coach.

You don't get to be a bench coach on the US Women's National Team going to the Olympics if you are not a good coach.

 

[HuskylnSC]

I just cant wrap my head around the painful results that a WBB icon like Jen could not recruit slightly above the level of her competition and/or get them playing at a level slightly above their talent.

mention Jen to any 18 year old player and they will respond with, "Who?"

 

[eebmg]

mention Jen to any 18 year old player and they will respond with, "Who?"

Parents?

 

[Woof 101]

mention Jen to any 18 year old player and they will respond with, "Who?"

No attack @HuskyInSC but I think their high school, AAU coach and parents would cover Jens bio.
Not sure but was trying to raise a family and having your husband as assistant coach a mistake? Somebody has to bring up the children and somebody has to be constantly attending high school or AAU games. Recruiting is the highest percentage of the win loss ratio.
I thought at the time she made a mistake leaving a mid major for another mid major. She took the money over the love she had at Hartford. Still waiting for an opportunity to get my SI with her on the cover autographed.

 

[CTBballfan243]

You don't get to be a bench coach on the US Women's National Team going to the Olympics if you are not a good coach.

What’s her record as head coach?

 

[DefenseBB]

You don't get to be a bench coach on the US Women's National Team going to the Olympics if you are not a good coach.

Surely you're kidding right? With Geno as her former coach and the former head coach of the National team with heavy sway over the committee plus all the UConn players who are part of the National team, the waterboy for UConn would get a strong look...

Her last 3 years at Hartford, she was 40-54 overall and 24-24 in league play, never finishing higher than 5th. I think her time at Hartford would also eventually have worn thin with those results. How she even got the GW job going 11-19 that last year at Hartford is a minor miracle.

Maybe she is or could be a top notch D1 assistant or maybe she needs to move down to D2 or D3 as a top coach. I am not sold her being a Good D1 HC.

 

[cbraarj]

You don't get to be a bench coach on the US Women's National Team going to the Olympics if you are not a good coach.

Just like the players are loyal to the program. It's the same with the Coaches too. Jens UConn connection got her involved with the USA Program.

 

[CTrefugee]

You don't get to be a bench coach on the US Women's National Team going to the Olympics if you are not a good coach.

You do if Geno recommends you. Also, a bench coach working with guards is a far cry from head coach.

 

[Jim]

Surely you're kidding right? With Geno as her former coach and the former head coach of the National team with heavy sway over the committee plus all the UConn players who are part of the National team, the waterboy for UConn would get a strong look...

So Dawn picked her as a bench coach to make Geno happy? Now you have got to be the one doing the kidding.

I said that Jen is a good coach. I didn't say she was a good head coach. There is a lot that goes into being a good head coach, particularly on the recruiting end. I think Jen is a lousy recruiter. There is a wealth of talent in the DC area and she didn't pull in the talent needed to have a successful program. Being part of USA Basketball didn't bring in the goods to GW. That said, her U-18 and U-19 teams won gold medals in international competition. Only her association with Geno and UCONN is the only reason the teams brought gold home? I don't think so.

 

[UcMiami]

Just a couple of sections of Jen's USA basketball bio:

Rizzotti began coaching with USA Basketball as an assistant for the 2006 USA U18 National Team that claimed gold and as a head coach led the 2010 USA U18 National Team and 2011 USA U19 World Cup Team to gold medals. As an athlete, Rizzotti was a member of the 1996 USA R. William Jones Cup that earned the gold medal with a 9-0 slate.

A member of seven previous USA Basketball coaching staffs and the 2011 USA Basketball National Coach of the Year, former George Washington University head coach Jennifer Rizzotti was named on June 20, 2019, as an assistant coach for the 2019-20 USA Basketball Women's National Team through the 2020 Olympic Games.

Rizzotti served as an assistant coach to the 2018 USA World Cup Team that captured gold in Tenerife, Spain, and qualified the USA for the 2020 Olympics, and in 2019 was on the sideline as an assistant for the 2019 USA AmeriCup Team that captured the gold medal with a 6-0 mark in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She returned to the USA National Team sideline for one more exhibition game in 2020, a win against her alma mater.

The Geno connection doesn't hurt, but Jen has been a devoted participant in USA basketball coaching since 2006 long before Geno had any significant influence. And USA is loyal but doesn't turn their teams over to just anyone. Not sure why there seem to be some posters trying to trash her. And Dawn isn't someone to have an assistant forced down her throat.

 

[cferraro04]

I hear that there is an coaching opening at UConn