Head coach candidates

[cinskyline]

So lets talk about who could potentially be a candidate for the the head coaching job:

Some have already been mentioned:

-- Mike Neighbors
-- Amy Waugh
-- Mike Bradbury
-- Tricia Cullop -- head coach at Toledo-- former Balcomb assistant

I'll throw out another name that's been flying around other boards:

Niele Ivey -- Notre Dame assistant, and former Xavier admin assistant for 3 years

[Titanxman04]

What about the coach at BGSU? They've been running the MAC with several successful teams over the past few years.

[XU05and07]

goxavier.com states that a nationwide search will begin immediately. Even though it said that when we hired Chris Mack for the men's team, I think that the new coach will come from outside with strong recommendations to keep many of the asst. coaches in place

[X-band '01]

How soon Kevin McGuff begins hiring assistants will also be a factor - I'd expect most of his staff to have West Coast connections but it wouldn't surprise me to see at least one of his assistants at Xavier to follow him at Seattle.

[XU-PA]

How soon Kevin McGuff begins hiring assistants will also be a factor - I'd expect most of his staff to have West Coast connections but it wouldn't surprise me to see at least one of his assistants at Xavier to follow him at Seattle.

I read somewhere that Coach McGuff was holding off on drawing his XU staff to UW till the hiring process is done at XU.
Decent move, very decent.

Skyline, I had forgotten all about Ivey and her connection here till last night. Think she's ready for that kind of jump?

[Bigbluebrotha]

I read somewhere that Coach McGuff was holding off on drawing his XU staff to UW till the hiring process is done at XU.
Decent move, very decent.

Skyline, I had forgotten all about Ivey and her connection here till last night. Think she's ready for that kind of jump?

There was a feature in the NCAA final pregame all about how Ivey was a mentor to Skylar Diggins, so I think Ivey would at least wait until Diggins has graduated to consider leaving. She seemed likeable in the feature.

BG guy and Cullop could get a shot, but I think Neighbors, Waugh or Morrow would get the first looks to advance the futures of the ladies they recruited. If X is going with one of those, it'd be cool to announce that at the ladies banquet April 20. No better "All is Well" signal than that.

If you remember when Sean Miller exited for Arizona, he was there for a couple weeks by himself until the XU situation shifted out.

The great news is there seems to be strong interest and speculation. To me that means this job is a destination for many in the coaching ranks.

In Bobinski We Trust.

[cinskyline]

In the paper, Bobinski said he was going to take his time to make a decision on who the next coach should be, and was in no hurry. This tells me that he will interview outside candidates, and that he is not sold on the current assistants being able to do the job. I would love to know what MB's reaction was to the disappointing ending to the season. Maybe he wants to go in another direction now? Maybe he saw some things he didn't like this year?

Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but I found that comment interesting.

[XURunner85]

I saw today that Cullop signed an extension to her contract at Toledo, so I am sure she is out of the running for the X job. I too would like to see the job filled soon. Heck if we just would here some noise about who has interviewed who has been back twice...are any of the current assistants out of the running but maybe planning on staying on....I mean, it just sucks not knowing anything going on with the search...I do trust Bobinski and that he will get us a good coach from either within or out.

[SixFig]

I saw today that Cullop signed an extension to her contract at Toledo, so I am sure she is out of the running for the X job. I too would like to see the job filled soon. Heck if we just would here some noise about who has interviewed who has been back twice...are any of the current assistants out of the running but maybe planning on staying on....I mean, it just sucks not knowing anything going on with the search...I do trust Bobinski and that he will get us a good coach from either within or out.

Keep in mind the coaching search for Mack was as quiet as can be. There was some rumor of Darrin Horn, but that was about it.

Bobo likes to keep things, as the kids say, on the down low.

[Muskie]

Keep in mind the coaching search for Mack was as quiet as can be. There was some rumor of Darrin Horn, but that was about it.

Bobo likes to keep things, as the kids say, on the down low.

Remember when Horn came to campus? People were going ballistic.

[blobfan]

Keep in mind the coaching search for Mack was as quiet as can be. There was some rumor of Darrin Horn, but that was about it.

Bobo likes to keep things, as the kids say, on the down low.

That's my take on the situation. Aside from the 3 assistants that I think the Enquirer mentioned as candidates, we likely won't hear details until it's done. I think they would like to get someone in place before the banquet but aren't going to push it.

[XU-PA]

It will certainly be quite a bit different from the last search.
It's been a long time, but as I recall the time between Balcomb's exit and McGuff's hire was very very short. Of course the time frame was much different, with Balcomb leaving in late may/early Jun to head to Vandy.

The prime recuriting time/AAU season is open us is it not? It's a shame that the current "contact " window will close before a coach is selected.

[Bigbluebrotha]

It doesn't seem there is much buzz around the job at all, which I hope is due to Bobinski's stealth mode preference rather than a dismissal of the internal candidates and a lack of interest on by outside parties.

I'm somewhat glad it's not Cullop. While she's clearly been successful, I'm not sure she was the right fit here.

Wisconsin was filled by Bobbie Kelsey from Stanford, former Richmond coach Joanne Boyle has taken the Virginia job for $700,000 a year for five years (wonder if McGuff was considered there) and we have crickets on Victory Parkway.

Credit Bobinski for keeping his business outside the media realm, but it'd be nice to know if somebody is at least interested. One would think that one of the in-house candidates would've been named by now.

Does anyone have a preference? Neighbors, Waugh, Morrow, Bradbury, someone we haven't mentioned?

You know, Special Jennings and April Phillips coached youth basketball together, maybe they could be co head coaches!

[cinskyline]

It doesn't seem there is much buzz around the job at all, which I hope is due to Bobinski's stealth mode preference rather than a dismissal of the internal candidates and a lack of interest on by outside parties.

I'm somewhat glad it's not Cullop. While she's clearly been successful, I'm not sure she was the right fit here.

Wisconsin was filled by Bobbie Kelsey from Stanford, former Richmond coach Joanne Boyle has taken the Virginia job for $700,000 a year for five years (wonder if McGuff was considered there) and we have crickets on Victory Parkway.

Credit Bobinski for keeping his business outside the media realm, but it'd be nice to know if somebody is at least interested. One would think that one of the in-house candidates would've been named by now.

Does anyone have a preference? Neighbors, Waugh, Morrow, Bradbury, someone we haven't mentioned?

You know, Special Jennings and April Phillips coached youth basketball together, maybe they could be co head coaches!

I agree with you on Cullop. Her overall resume is questionable. Yes, Toledo did make a run to the WNIT title this year, but all 6 of their games were played at home, and against only so-so competition. She has not been to the NCAA's in any of her 10 years of coaching.

Mike Bradbury -- I'm not sure what to think here. This hire would not exactly "wow" me. That's pretty much all I can say.

I think the longer this process goes on, the less likely the new coach will be one of the current assistants.

It wouldn't shock me if Bobinski wants to clean house and go in a completely different direction. I still find his comments in the paper interesting, and wonder if he is leaning this way.

[XU-PA]

I think this being out of the media eye, and off the sport pages, is as much due to an extreme lack of interest by the local media as it is anything else.
I can't imagine even one reporter at a Cincinnati TV station or the Enquirer being interested in even making a phone call to Bobo or asking around among our assistants.
The little bit of media coverage the ladies received over the past few weeks will fade again into oblivion. I expect nothing but basic coverage of the news conference announcing the next coach when it happens.
Good example is the coverage, or lack of coverage, of Harris and Phillips being drafted in the top 10. If that was just one player for UC or XU men's program it would have warranted team coverage

[Bigbluebrotha]

Found this quote by Mike Bobinski in an article about Shaka Smart. It relates to coaches at alleged mid majors moving to larger schools:

"The world is what it is," said Xavier athletics director Mike Bobinski, who has seen Matta and Sean Miller come, prosper and go. Before them, the Musketeers sent Bob Staak to Wake Forest, Pete Gillen to Providence and Skip Prosser to Wake.

"I guess I would be more frustrated if we had a (lousy) program and nobody wanted our coach," Bobinski said. "If one of the byproducts of having a lot of success and having talented people working at our place is that once in awhile we lose them then I'll take that."

That's an interesting "control what you can control" approach.

Also read separately that there is no state income tax in Washington, that probably helped McGuff's decision even more.

As for the lack of buzz around the women's job, as PA writes, people just aren't that interested.

[cinskyline]

It's now been 2 weeks since McGuff left. The silence is deafening. I have heard literally nothing.

At this point, I seriously doubt that one of the assistants is getting the job. We'd better prepare ourselves for a new coach and a lot of transfers.

[X-band '01]

Bobinski did say that he wasn't going to comment publicly on the search; if we barely get articles on the team during the season we sure as hell aren't going to get much when baseball season is underway and the NFL draft is coming up for the Bengals.

[HomerCecil]

From Twitter:

wbballhoopscoop Atticus Finch
Xavier -- strong DMs coming in that Mike Neighbors is the frontrunner foe this job. Stay tuned. Should hear more today.


He/she has been wrong several times on other jobs, so take it with a grain of salt. But at least it's SOMETHING.

[blobfan]

It would be nice if they made an announcement this week, since the banquet is tomorrow. I suppose it's possible they settled on who some time ago but have been hashing out the contract and don't want to announce until it's signed.

[STL_XUfan]

I am ok with waiting until after the banquet. The banquet should be about the players and coaches that were here this year. Send out our seniors with the spotlight on them, not on a new coach.

[eastcoast]

it is my opinion that waiting longer only creates more problems. last weekend was a big tournament/viewing weekend for recruits and we didn't have a head coach. the assistants probably went but at this point they don't know where they will be. not sure that sends the right message to potential players.

[SixFig]

Breaking News:

Chris Mack's Pinky Finger has been announced as the new Head Coach for Xavier Women's Basketball. According to XU Athletic Director Mike Bobinski "Chris has more coaching talent in his pinky than every other coach combined" Reached for comment, the Pinky Finger said "I appreciate the opportunity Coach Mack has given, cutting me off and letting me fulfill my dream as a head coach". Said Mack "sure it hurt to have my pinky cut off, but it was time, and my pinky is ready to dominate the A-10 like I have."

[Pluto]

Per FB:
Xavier University will hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. today to introduce the new women's basketball head coach. The press conference will be available via a live stream at GoXavier.com.

[XU-PA]

Stays in house

[Masterofreality]

Stays in house

And the new coach is..........

.......a female.

Nice.

[XU-PA]

It's waugh.
Congratulations Amy!

One of the greatest things about Amy is how she could relate to other players when she was playing the game. If you were to go through a list of you girls playing the game who are now anywhere from 18 to 25 years old you will find a huge number who were influenced by her. Not just the flocks who hung around after the games to get her autograph, but the many who learned the game from her in the Xavier camps back in her playing days, She certainly has a way with people.