Didn't know where to put this, quite, but we may have another problem in the upcoming season. Karen Barefoot, late of ODU, has just taken the job at UNCW that was vacated when Adell Harris was fired. Barefoot is a pretty decent coach, but she may have trouble for a few years yanking the Seahawks out of the basement of the CAA.

I don't understand why in heck she would take this job, unless UNCW offered her a whole lot of sweeteners. ODU is a much better recruiting base than UNCW, just for starters. And she just had a decent season there with a star player who ended up going decently in the WNBA draft. i don't get it.

(05-01-2017 12:28 PM)orange-to-purple Wrote:  Didn't know where to put this, quite, but we may have another problem in the upcoming season. Karen Barefoot, late of ODU, has just taken the job at UNCW that was vacated when Adell Harris was fired. Barefoot is a pretty decent coach, but she may have trouble for a few years yanking the Seahawks out of the basement of the CAA.

I don't understand why in heck she would take this job, unless UNCW offered her a whole lot of sweeteners. ODU is a much better recruiting base than UNCW, just for starters. And she just had a decent season there with a star player who ended up going decently in the WNBA draft. i don't get it.

Speculation was that Barefoot was not going to be renewed at ODU.

(05-01-2017 12:35 PM)JMU2004 Wrote:  Speculation was that Barefoot was not going to be renewed at ODU.

That's not speculation, that's the truth. She was headed into a lame duck season without Jennie Simms. She was not getting more than 1 more season here.

Now, our roster looks pretty rough with 3 players transferring and a few impact seniors graduating. We may be in store for our worst season ever. And this is absolutely brutal timing. But this is best for all involved.

(05-04-2017 04:49 AM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(05-01-2017 12:35 PM)JMU2004 Wrote:  Speculation was that Barefoot was not going to be renewed at ODU.

That's not speculation, that's the truth. She was headed into a lame duck season without Jennie Simms. She was not getting more than 1 more season here.

Now, our roster looks pretty rough with 3 players transferring and a few impact seniors graduating. We may be in store for our worst season ever. And this is absolutely brutal timing. But this is best for all involved.

Is the Nancy Leiberman buzz legit?

(05-04-2017 05:28 AM)NJDuke97 Wrote:  

(05-04-2017 04:49 AM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(05-01-2017 12:35 PM)JMU2004 Wrote:  Speculation was that Barefoot was not going to be renewed at ODU.

That's not speculation, that's the truth. She was headed into a lame duck season without Jennie Simms. She was not getting more than 1 more season here.

Now, our roster looks pretty rough with 3 players transferring and a few impact seniors graduating. We may be in store for our worst season ever. And this is absolutely brutal timing. But this is best for all involved.

Is the Nancy Leiberman buzz legit?

Possibly. She was going to be offered the job when Barefoot was hired but hadn't finished her bachelors at that point, making her ineligible. She has since completed her degree. But she's an assistant with the disaster that is the Sacramento Kings, so she would have to take a pay cut. Personally, I think the name to look out for is Nikki McCray-Penson.

(05-04-2017 06:45 AM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(05-04-2017 05:28 AM)NJDuke97 Wrote:  

(05-04-2017 04:49 AM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(05-01-2017 12:35 PM)JMU2004 Wrote:  Speculation was that Barefoot was not going to be renewed at ODU.

That's not speculation, that's the truth. She was headed into a lame duck season without Jennie Simms. She was not getting more than 1 more season here.

Now, our roster looks pretty rough with 3 players transferring and a few impact seniors graduating. We may be in store for our worst season ever. And this is absolutely brutal timing. But this is best for all involved.

Is the Nancy Leiberman buzz legit?

Possibly. She was going to be offered the job when Barefoot was hired but hadn't finished her bachelors at that point, making her ineligible. She has since completed her degree. But she's an assistant with the disaster that is the Sacramento Kings, so she would have to take a pay cut. Personally, I think the name to look out for is Nikki McCray-Penson.

Nikki could be taking a pay cut too. I'm sure SC pays well, even its assistants. IMO, the worst thing that happened to ODU in the WBB sense was the switch to C-USA. That may have been good for other teams, but did the women no favors at all.

However, if ODU got Nikki, they'd be getting a jewel. She's off Pat's coaching tree and most likely coaches just like Pat Summitt, plus has a few seasons with Dawn Staley to round that out. Good luck.

(05-04-2017 10:03 AM)orange-to-purple Wrote:  

(05-04-2017 06:45 AM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(05-04-2017 05:28 AM)NJDuke97 Wrote:  

(05-04-2017 04:49 AM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(05-01-2017 12:35 PM)JMU2004 Wrote:  Speculation was that Barefoot was not going to be renewed at ODU.

That's not speculation, that's the truth. She was headed into a lame duck season without Jennie Simms. She was not getting more than 1 more season here.

Now, our roster looks pretty rough with 3 players transferring and a few impact seniors graduating. We may be in store for our worst season ever. And this is absolutely brutal timing. But this is best for all involved.

Is the Nancy Leiberman buzz legit?

Possibly. She was going to be offered the job when Barefoot was hired but hadn't finished her bachelors at that point, making her ineligible. She has since completed her degree. But she's an assistant with the disaster that is the Sacramento Kings, so she would have to take a pay cut. Personally, I think the name to look out for is Nikki McCray-Penson.

Nikki could be taking a pay cut too. I'm sure SC pays well, even its assistants. IMO, the worst thing that happened to ODU in the WBB sense was the switch to C-USA. That may have been good for other teams, but did the women no favors at all.

However, if ODU got Nikki, they'd be getting a jewel. She's off Pat's coaching tree and most likely coaches just like Pat Summitt, plus has a few seasons with Dawn Staley to round that out. Good luck.

Explain your conclusion please. Are you saying CUSA WBB is so far below the CAA that a good coach simply will not take the job?

Just based on RPI alone the CAA is a better Women's league than CUSA

http://rpiratings.com/womensrpi.php

(05-04-2017 11:23 AM)RootinFerDukes Wrote:  Just based on RPI alone the CAA is a better Women's league than CUSA

http://rpiratings.com/womensrpi.php

If you call five positions out of 32 a possible a deal breaker for a coach, wow. Both in the top half and any one season one of the five from 9 - 14 could jump ahead of all the others. If you'd have shown me CAA as #9 and CUSA #25, then I'd believe a coach might hesitate.

(05-04-2017 11:32 AM)BleedingPurple Wrote:  

(05-04-2017 11:23 AM)RootinFerDukes Wrote:  Just based on RPI alone the CAA is a better Women's league than CUSA

http://rpiratings.com/womensrpi.php

If you call five positions out of 32 a possible a deal breaker for a coach, wow. Both in the top half and any one season one of the five from 9 - 14 could jump ahead of all the others. If you'd have shown me CAA as #9 and CUSA #25, then I'd believe a coach might hesitate.

Don't disagree with you at all...

(05-04-2017 11:53 AM)RootinFerDukes Wrote:  

(05-04-2017 11:32 AM)BleedingPurple Wrote:  

(05-04-2017 11:23 AM)RootinFerDukes Wrote:  Just based on RPI alone the CAA is a better Women's league than CUSA

http://rpiratings.com/womensrpi.php

If you call five positions out of 32 a possible a deal breaker for a coach, wow. Both in the top half and any one season one of the five from 9 - 14 could jump ahead of all the others. If you'd have shown me CAA as #9 and CUSA #25, then I'd believe a coach might hesitate.

Don't disagree with you at all...

(05-04-2017 04:49 AM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(05-01-2017 12:35 PM)JMU2004 Wrote:  Speculation was that Barefoot was not going to be renewed at ODU.

That's not speculation, that's the truth. She was headed into a lame duck season without Jennie Simms. She was not getting more than 1 more season here.

Now, our roster looks pretty rough with 3 players transferring and a few impact seniors graduating. We may be in store for our worst season ever. And this is absolutely brutal timing. But this is best for all involved.

ODU is in worse shape than you can imagine. Not only losing your impact seniors and the three transfers, but two high-impact commits have decommitted... Musharapha Alhassan and Dazia Powell. Don't know where Alhassan will land, her options are still open and she's a big tall girl who can fit in lots of places, but Powell has already committed to UNC.

Welcome to the bottom 25% of C-USA, Old Dominion. Your next coach has more work to do than can be accomplished at this point in the year, IMNSHO.

Couldn't be happier for ODU's current WBB situation. Man, those fans used to act like they were UConn or something...

(05-06-2017 12:07 PM)HyperDuke Wrote:  Couldn't be happier for ODU's current WBB situation. Man, those fans used to act like they were UConn or something...

At one time they *were* UConn, and UConn was nobody. Everything that rises will fall eventually.

(05-07-2017 03:44 PM)orange-to-purple Wrote:  

(05-06-2017 12:07 PM)HyperDuke Wrote:  Couldn't be happier for ODU's current WBB situation. Man, those fans used to act like they were UConn or something...

At one time they *were* UConn, and UConn was nobody. Everything that rises will fall eventually.

They were UConn, except without all of the championship titles.

They were uconn in relation to the caa. They did win one title in 1985.

My point is that at one time, ODU was a force to be reckoned with. Remember that before the NCAA decided that WBB was worthy of a tournament, there was another tournament, the AIAW, which ODU won twice, in 1981 and 1982, once defeating La Tech and the other time beating Tennessee. Tennessee was a program on the rise then, but UConn hadn't even been heard of. Know your history.

I'm very VERY familiar with the ODU WBB program. I just never had much respect for their fans who were obvious front-runners. As soon as the program was de-emphasized (my opinion on what happened), the fans stopped attending.

(05-08-2017 12:28 PM)HyperDuke Wrote:  I'm very VERY familiar with the ODU WBB program. I just never had much respect for their fans who were obvious front-runners. As soon as the program was de-emphasized (my opinion on what happened), the fans stopped attending.

Sounds like the MBB program at JMU. I guess the idea of reversing the trend is to build a facility. Totally different than before, the Convo was built simply because we had to. This new arena is to bring us into the 21st century, certainly not because we are busting at the seams like before.

(05-08-2017 07:52 PM)BleedingPurple Wrote:  

(05-08-2017 12:28 PM)HyperDuke Wrote:  I'm very VERY familiar with the ODU WBB program. I just never had much respect for their fans who were obvious front-runners. As soon as the program was de-emphasized (my opinion on what happened), the fans stopped attending.

Sounds like the MBB program at JMU. I guess the idea of reversing the trend is to build a facility. Totally different than before, the Convo was built simply because we had to. This new arena is to bring us into the 21st century, certainly not because we are busting at the seams like before.

I have to disagree. While the men's basketball program has been garbage for a long time, there was a time when our fans still came to support the team. I think it has slowly become "enough is enough" and the fans just are tired of it. There were moments in the Dillard era where the Convo was completely packed with fans. There were plenty of years we had a lousy team and our fans still packed the Convo.
As for ODU, I think the fan departure was far faster than what happened to our MBB team. They had a legendary coach and their fans were used to a winning product. As soon as that was in question, their fans started leaving.
I do think they de-emphasized ODU WBB (which sucks for them), but I'm not entirely sure that's what happened for JMU MBB. IMO, it comes down to their inability to hire a MBB coach. When this awful hiring trend started, I don't think the problem was money, because at the time our admin and AD were still saying we were a basketball school. ODU's de-emphasis was calculated, and JMU's was due to futility.