Melanie Balcomb

[cinskyline]

I know this was talked about a little bit before, but there is interesting stuff going on in Commodore country these days. VandyMania (their Scout site) lately has been going back and forth over Balcomb. Seems that there's a growing number of people that aren't happy with her, and some have even called for her firing. :eek: What's even more interesting is that many are not happy that X seems to be rolling right along with 2 WNBA picks while they are struggling. I believe that some of the negativity is also a carry-over from last year's XU-Vandy game in the NCAA Tournament.

Vandy is un-ranked and on the bubble at 14-7 with a RPI of 40. However, they are just 2-7 on the road, with losses to Bowling Green and Denver.

I'm kind of split with this one, because I do believe that MB is a good coach who makes the most out of what she has. On the other hand, I think she is a little bit overrated, and her recruiting is sometimes questionable at best. I also believe that the Vandy program has lost a bit of it's national reputation since she became coach, despite a couple of Sweet 16's. I will also say that I like the way that McGuff handles his players as compared to the way MB did when she was here.

[XU-PA]

I watched a game the other day, in a loss to KY vandy did not look good, but I noticed that Coach Balcomb seemed to be a kinder and gentler version than what I recall. Might haven been just that game, or maybe a this year trend. They do seem to have fallen on hard times.

As I recall here she had a pretty hard edge on the court, my daughter went to one of her summer camps and enjoyed it, she was very approachable and good with the kids. Would have been interesting to see more of her behind the scenes to see what she did to make XU tick.

Overall I thing it would be a shame if Vandy let her go. SHe's a good x's and o's coach, and has shown over the years that she can put a winner on the court even dealing with Vandy's academic standards which are tougher than most (if not all) of the SEC schools. One rough year is not enough to make a change when the overall results have been so good for so long.

I got to see some of Coach McGuff behind the scenes, and he is a hard driver when it comes to practice, not the scream at the top of your lungs and berate players type, but just pushing hard and asking extra from his players on the practice floor.

[cinskyline]

I think that there is zero chance that Vandy fires her. I believe that it's possible that she could go somewhere else though. Maybe to a school with fewer academic restrictions that would make for easier recruiting?

MB struck me as being a difficult coach to play for when she was here -- some players respond well to her style, but for those that can't it's a nightmare. Not sure if that's changed since she's been at Vandy.