On Saturday, after the UW women's team lost in the first round against Iowa State, I suggested that Todd Turner has probably had someone in mind to replace June all year long. He certainly didn't waste anytime moving in that direction by dismissing her once the plane hit the tarmac in Seattle. Obviously he wants to get moving on hiring a replacement during the tournament.
Washington ended its season with a loss to Iowa State on Saturday in the first round of the NCAA tournament. It marked the sixth time the Huskies had gone to the tournament in Daugherty's 11 seasons.
Daugherty, whose record at UW was 191-139, never got the city or the campus excited about women's basketball in the way her predecessor, Chris Gobrecht did. Washington athletic director Todd Turner has said he believes the program can be one of the nation's elite. Todd was AD at UNC, U-Conn, and Vanderbilt who all have elite women's programs.
June won't have any problem getting another job, she is a good coach, and is well respected across the country. Coaches with her pedigree and record are hard to find.
Daugherty was never able to own the region recruiting wise, and was never able to develop a national championship contender which is what it would take to draw fans to fill the seats. That of course goes back to Gorbrecht who alienated the local recruiting base in her final years at UW. Daugherty was never able to get that perception turned around despite being here 11 years.
Todd Turner expressed his feelings in his blog....that must have been an icy plane ride.
Saturday was a very tough day for me. A disappointing loss to Iowa State in the first round of the Women's NCAA Tournament in Minneapolis ended the season for the Huskies. The ride home on the charter aircraft was difficult as I pondered the future of our program. Once again we had a decent season, but not one to match the experience of our team. Yes, our program has succeeded off the court, just as you would expect of every program at Washington. But, total success at this level includes competitive excellence, particularly if all of the building blocks are in place.
Husky Crew
How many of you have ever been to a Crew Race? I used to watch a lot as a kid because the price was right, and the races are pretty exciting. If you haven't been you should check it out.
The legendary Husky Crew team is once again gearing up another run for national titles starting this weekend with the Class Day Regatta on the Montlake Cut. The Huskies race against themselves for class bragging rights, and seats on the Varsity shell.
The Windemere Cup in May is an international affair. The Huskies usually invite an international team or two, and another college to make it a four boat race down the cut, and in between the boats that are lined up for the parade. The Cup is one of the biggest days of the year in College Crew.
California is the dual meet of the year, and these longtime rivals square off in the Montlake Cut this year. The rivals usually row against each other at least three times per year.
The old Western Sprints which were always held in the Bay Area are now also sponsored by Windemere, and have moved out by Sacramento.
The Huskies usually participate in the San Diego Crew Classic on March 31st, but I don't see that scheduled for some reason this year.
Spring Crew Schedule 2007
Saturday March 24
Class Day10:00 AM
Montlake, Seattle
Saturday April 7
WSU
9:00 AM
Snake River
Sat/Sunday
April 14, 15
Windermere Classic
All Day
Redwood Shores, CA
Saturday April 21
OSU
9:00 AM
Montlake, Seattle
Saturday April 28
California
9:00 AM
Montlake, Seattle
Saturday
May 5
Opening Day/ Windermere Cup
10:00 AM
Montlake, Seattle
Sunday
May 13
PAC-10 Championship
Rancho Cordova, CA
Fri - Sun
May 25-27
NCAA's
Oak Ridge, TN
Thurs - Sat
May 31, Jun 1, 2
IRA's
Camden, NJ
Spring Sports
Washington (1-10) won the doubles point and two singles matches, but Washington State (11-6) rallied to win 4-3 in a non-conference women's tennis match in Pullman.
Sophomore pitcher Danielle Lawrie drove in five runs and picked up the save in Saturday's 9-0, six-inning victory over Pacific as the 12th-ranked Washington softball team (19-7) advances to Sunday's consolation semifinal at the Judi Garman Classic. The Huskies will face Texas tomorrow at 10:30 a.m.
Sophomore starting pitcher Jorden Merry ran his consecutive scoreless innings streak to 22 and two-thirds innings before allowing a run, but still hung on for the victory as the Washington (9-8) baseball team posted its seventh straight win, beating Cal State Northridge, 2-1, Saturday at Husky Ballpark.
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12 comments:
HIE, well Todd certainly didn't dally in his decision making. I think he wanted to see what the UW would do in the tourney, and getting bounced early in a rout didn't help. I think if the women would have gotten to sweet 16, the staff would have been given more tenure. As it is, the swiftness of the dismissal, leads me to believe he does already have someone in mind. TT talks about a TW type search, which further makes me wonder if there is already not a choice. Kudos to JD for her 11 years of graduating good student athletes, her kids seemed to genuinely like her, but the reasons I mentioned earlier led greatly to her demise. That said, the new coach needs to reestablish and connect with the network JD had in place with local coaches, and mend those fences where it had broken down (metro seattle). Critical to success would be a local hire assistant coach connection, a Rhonda Smith/Joyce Walker type. I agree with you, JD will get a new job soon. I doubt Pokey Chapman is in the running at UW. Hire still needs to be squeeky clean.
They have to do a search and follow the guidelines whenever they hire a coach even though Turner probably has his target already chosen.
June will have a new job at a BCS school within in a few weeks, so she will land on her feet, which is great, she deserves it.
I don't follow it closely enough to understand the problems they have with local recruits, but June never was able to repair it, and she had plenty of time to turn around the perception that started late during the reign of Gobrecht.
Pokey Chapman....I don't think has much of a future anymore coaching college teams...she crossed that line, and voided a lot of trust.
Who is Pokey Chapman and what did she do?
ESPN reported it was inappropriate sexual relationship with one of her former players (a female).
I don't know if that disqualifies her, or not in Seattle.
She resigned recently as head coach at LSU. She is a great young coach, but she would be a controversial hire.
If Pokey was in the military, she would be dismissed or court martialed depending on who was the boss. You cannot cross that line especially when you are the supervisor/leader/boss and in the direct line of command. If someone else hires her, it would further validate what I believe is too much emphasis on winning, even the wrong way.
Thanks for the explanations, and I can't see her being hired by anyone without several years of clean coaching somewhere else behind her. She'll probably move to the WNBA if she's that good.
I recognize the name of Rhonda Smith, if it's the same one that played at UW awhile ago, but any names for the head position? I don't follow the game closely enough to know who's good/available. I also appreciate JD's keeping the program respectable and solid. Too bad the team couldn't create a couple of breakout seasons and get the buzz going again.
Rhonda Smith is indeed an ex UW basketball player. Not sure what type of impact hiring her as an assistant would have.
I do know someone local who does have a great pedigree.
Joyce Walker was a basketball star at Garfield High School in Seattle in the late 1970s. As a senior in 1980, she averaged over 35 points per game, and set still-extant Washington State tournament records of 40 points, 17 field goals (twice), and 33 field goal attempts in a single game en route to a state championship, netting the still-extant single tournament records of 96 field goals attempted, 49 field goals made, 114 points scored, and 38 average points per game as well. When combined with her performance in the 1977 tournament she set the still-extant record career tournament average of 26.8 points per game.
Her dominance landed her a place in the National High School Hall of Fame and the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association Hall of Fame. She is considered by many to be the best female basketball player ever from Washington.
In the early 1980s, Walker played at Louisiana State University on coach Sue Gunter's first Lady Tigers team, averaging nearly 25 points a game and leading the team in scoring and steals all four years on the way to still-extant LSU career records of 2906 points, 1259 field goals, and 2238 attempts. A two-time All-American, she is in the Louisiana State Hall of Fame.
She is now the girls basketball coach at Garfield, which under her direction won the state championship in 2005.
Joyce used to play against guys like Clint Richardson, Keith Harrell, etc... and hold her own. In fact most local coaches felt she could have played on a mens team.
She was one of the first women Harlem Globetrotters.
Nice article in Seattle Times today on speculation for HC position. Lots of names tossed , one not mentioned is Sue Semrau, HC at Florida St, Shorecrest HS grad. Plenty of candidates for that all important local connection asst coach, I do like Joyce Walker. Also in the area are Sheila Lambert (asst coach at Sealth HS, new regime) Originally a UW commit, went JC and stayed in Texas at Baylor. Takiah Jackson, UCLA/ Franklin HS who ended up career ending knee injuries, and of course Rhonda Smith. I do like joyce, though not sure if she would give up Principal and HC at Garfield HS for asst coach at UW where we paid Daugherty $300K a year.
She was asked by UW womens coach June Daugherty to be an assistant for the Lady Huskies, but, despite her many years of prowess as a star player, Joyce realized that she had a lot to learn yet about coaching and Garfield was the best fit for her at the time.
She has been coaching HS basketball for seven years so a step up to the college ranks would be a logical move for her at this point if invited.
I took a look at the Garfield staff, and don't see her listed as principal, or even a member ot the administration, I am not sure if she teaches either.
I stand corrected, I thought she was principal. Do you think she would accept and help the program this time around?
Nice post, its a Super cool blog that you have here, keep up the good work, will be back.
Warm Regards
The Snake River
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