Womhoops Guru

Mel Greenberg covered college and professional women’s basketball for the Philadelphia Inquirer, where he worked for 40 plus years. Greenberg pioneered national coverage of the game, including the original Top 25 women's college poll. His knowledge has earned him nicknames such as "The Guru" and "The Godfather," as well as induction into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007.

Tuesday, May 01, 2012

Guru's College Report: Coaching Carousel Breakdown All Ways

(Guru's note: Updated Thursday, June 14, to reflect the hire of Felisha Legette-Jack at Buffalo after ousted at Indiana and previous reported hire of Bradley's Paula Buscher at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, which means 73 D-1 positions changing hands while rookie count holds at 40 and vacancies drop to five.

The Guru has deleted other information in the precede in this note to avoid crowding at the top of the blog. All the info is on the charts and story lead-in adjusted to the update.)


By Mel Greenberg

Continuing updating the carousel, as mentioned, former Indiana coach Felisha Legette-Jack hired at Buffalo and Paula Buscher switching schools means 73 D-1 jobs changed hands since the end of the season, counting five vacancies still out there with Buffalo and SIU-Edwardsville filled and Bradley becoming vacant.

There are now 40 rookie coaches in Division I with the recent hires of Kevin Cook, promoted at Winthrop, Amy (Gusso) Williams at South Dakota and Tamika L. Louis at Delaware State.

Williams played at Nebraska. Cook, a longtime friend of the Guru, has been an assistant at the former four-time WNBA champion Houston Comets, an aide at Kansas and a head coach at Division III Gallaudet in Washington as part of his career before joining Winthrop, assisting new VCU coach Marlene Stollings last season.

Previously, the Wake Forest hire of Jen Hoover means all 13 BCS opening have been filled baring another opening.

Fred Applin from 1995-97 was head women's coach at Hampton, depriving him of rookie status, though he is more known for a longtime stint at Texas under Hall of Famer Jody Conradt and also on the staffs at Wake Forest and most recently East Carolina.

Likewise, Sandra Rushing, recently hired at Central Arkansas from Delta State has a previous history at D-1 UTEP.

VCU with its new coach Marlene Stollings is heading to a new conference in 2012-13 in the Atlantic 10, which recently announced hire of former longtime Old Dominion legendary coach Wendy Larry as associate commissioner over women's basketball.

Re-shuffling the Division I breakout from the WBCA and Guru compiliations, as of Thursday, June 14, here first are the rookie Division I coaches, who become eligible for the WBCA Maggie Dixon award. Most recent hires after original compilation are below after the alphabetical list gets out of synch.

1. Bowling Green -- Jennifer Roos -- promoted from associate head coach
2. Bucknell -- Aaron Roussell -- was DIII head coach at Chicago
3. College of Charleston -- Natasha Adair -- was on staff at Wake Forest
4. Drake -- Jennie Baranczyk -- was an assistant at Colorado
5. Eastern Michigan -- Tori Verdi -- was an assistant at Kansas, Nebraska, Columbia and on staff of WNBA Conn. Sun.
6. Georgia Southern -- Chris Vozab -- was an assistant at Dayton, also on staffs of Winthrop and Canisiius
7. Georgetown -- Keith Brown -- promoted from assistant.
8. George Washington -- Jonathan Tsipis -- was associate head coach at Notre Dame
9. Kennesaw State -- Nitra Perry -- was associate head coach at Toledo
10. Kent State -- Danielle O'Banion -- was associate head coach at Memphis
11. Mississippi State -- Vic Schaefer -- was associate head coach at Texas A&M
12. North Carolina Central -- Vanessa Taylor -- was head coach at Division II Johnson C. Smith
13. Northwestern State -- Brooke & Scott Stoehr -- Brooke was assistant at Texas Tech; Scott most recently H.S.
14. Oral Roberts -- Misti Cussen -- promoted from top assistant
15. St. Francis, Pa -- Joe Haigh -- promoted from top assistant
16. Siena -- Ali Jaques -- was associate head coach at Northwestern
17. St. John's -- Joe Tartamella -- was associate head coach
18. Troy -- Chanda Rigby -- was head coach at Pensacola State College -- under the NJCAA
19. Denver -- Kerry Cremeans -- was associate head coach at Auburn was also at Florida and Purdue
20. Hawaii -- Laura Beeman -- was an associate head coach at Southern Cal
21. Louisiana-Lafayette -- Gary Brodhead -- was associate head coach at McNeese State
22. UMKC -- Marsha Frese -- was associate head coach at Northern Illinois and served elsewhere. Md's B. Frese a sister
23. North Dakota -- Travis Brewster -- promoted from associate head coach
24. U. of Tennessee -- Holly Warlick -- promoted from associate head coach
25. Valparaiso -- Tracey Dorow -- was head coach at DII Ferris State
26. Wagner -- Lisa Cermignano -- was assistant at Illinois, was also at Vanderbilt and George Washington
27. Western Kentucky -- Michelle Clark-Heard -- was an assistant at Louisville
28. Western Michigan -- Shane Clipfell -- was associate head coach at Michigan State
29. Wisconsin-Milwaukee -- Kyle Rechliz -- was assistant head coach at Wisconsin.
30. UNC Wilmington -- Adell Harris -- was head coach at Division II Tusculum.
31. Florida Atlantic -- Kellie Lewis-Jay -- was an assistant at Nebraska.
32. North Carolina A&T -- Tarrell Robinson -- was associate head coach at VCU.
33. North Carolina Asheville -- Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick -- was assistant coach at Florida.
34. Lipscomb -- Greg Brown -- Was associate head coach at Central Florida.
35. High Point -- DeUnna Hendrix -- Promoted from assistant coach.
36. UC Irvine -- Doug Oliver -- Promoted from assistant coach.
37. Eastern Illinois -- Lee Buchanan -- Promoted from associate head coach.
38. Delaware State -- Tamika L. Louis -- Had been assistant coach at George Washington prior to change of head coach over the Colonials.
39. South Dakota -- Amy (Gusso) Williams -- Had been head coach of NAIA Rogers State.
40. Winthrop -- Kevin Cook -- Promoted from assistant.

List could still grow depending on hires at remaining vacancies.

Boxscore on rookies -- 24 female 15 male 1 married couple; 7 in-house promotions; 4 DII HC; 1 DIII HC; 1 NJCAA HC; 1 NAIA HC.

BCS Hires
1. Auburn -- Terri Williams-Flournoy -- was head coach at BCS Georgetown
2. Boston College -- Erik Johnson -- was head coach at MM Denver
3. Georgetown -- Keith Brown -- promoted from BCS staff.
4. Indiana -- Curt Miller -- was head coach at MM Bowling Green
5. Mississippi State -- Vic Schaefer -- was associate head coach at BCS Texas A&M
6. Providence -- Susan Robinson Fruchtl -- was head coach at MM St. Francis, Pa.
7. St. John's -- Joe Tartamella -- promoted from associate head coach at BCS St. John's
8. U of Illinois -- Matt Bollant -- was head coach at MM Wis.-Green Bay
9. U of Michigan -- Kim Barnes Arico -- was head coach at BCS St. John's
10. U of Mississippi -- Adrian Wiggins -- was head coach at MM Fresno State
11. U of Tennessee -- Holly Warlick -- promoted from associate head coach at BCS Tenn.
12. Texas -- Karen Aston -- was head coach at MM North Texas
13. Wake Forest -- Jen Hoover -- was head coach at MM High Point.

Boxscore -- 6 female, 7 males; 2 head coach bcs; 7 head coach MMs; 3 inhouse promos; 1 assoc hc bcs.

Other DI Hires
1. Ball State -- Brady Sallee -- Was head coach at MM Eastern Illinois.
2. Fresno State -- Raegan Pebley -- Was head coach at MM Utah State
3. Charleston Southern -- Fred Applin -- Was asst at MM East Carolina; Also on staffs at Wake, Texas; HC MM Hampton.
4. Grambling -- Patricia Bibbs -- Was head coach at MM North Carolina A&T
5. Loyola Marymount -- Charity Elliott -- Was at D-II San Diego but also coached at D-1 Portland State.
6. St. Louis -- Lisa Stone -- A past head coach at BCS Wisconsin
7. Tennessee State -- Larry Inman -- A past head coach at MM Middle Tennessee
8. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi -- Royce Chadwick -- Was recently long-term head coach at MM Marshall, and also was HC at Stephen F. Austin
9. Texas Southern -- Cynthia Cooper-Dyke -- Was head coach at MM UNC Wilmington
10. North Texas -- Mike Petersen -- Was head coach at BCS Wake Forest
11. Wis.-Green Bay -- Kenneth Borseth -- Was head coach at BCS Michigan; a past hc at MM Wis.-Green Bay
12. Utah State -- Jerry Finkbeiner -- Was head coach at MM Oral Roberts
13. Arkansas Pine Bluff -- Nate Kilbert -- Was head coach at MM Mississippi Valley State
14. Colorado State -- Ryun Williams -- Was head coach at MM South Dakota
15. Marshall -- Matt Daniel -- Was head coach at MM Central Arkansas
16. Central Arkansas -- Sandra Rushing -- Was head coach at D-II Delta State and had coached at D-I UTEP.
17. VCU -- Marlene Stollings -- Was head coach at MM Winthrop.
18. S. Illinois-Edwardsville -- Paula Buscher -- Was head coach at MM Bradley.
19. Buffalo -- Felisha Legette-Jack -- Had been head coach at BCS Indiana and previously MM Hofstra.

Boxscore -- 9 female, 10 males; 4 BCS Head coach, 13 MM Head coach; 1 D-II Head coach, 1 Asst.

Vacancies (as of June 14, 2012)
1. Bradley
2. Mississippi Valley State
3. New Jersey Institute Tech
4. Northern Arizona
5. Tennessee Tech

Boxscore -- 5 MMs. 0 BCS

That's the updating for now.

-- Mel