Dear Coach Flo (merged threads)

[all4AU 379]

My guess is that the bottom 3 in the SEC will be LSU, AU, and Vandy, in some order. 

[PUB78 1,354]

She is like Gus, a vastly over paid and underachieving coach. Never had a winning record in the SEC Schedule except for one year. So, when is the switch or light going to come on for her? Never! She is not capable of being a top tier coach in this conference.

[blakem 296]

Flo gotta go!

[steeleagle 2,945]

On 1/2/2021 at 7:54 PM, PUB78 said:

She is like Gus, a vastly over paid and underachieving coach. Never had a winning record in the SEC Schedule except for one year. So, when is the switch or light going to come on for her? Never! She is not capable of being a top tier coach in this conference.

I'm sorry that Unique Thompson had to play 4 years surrounded by less talented SEC players, and a coach who doesn't know how to produce an offense that can be consistent. 

[AU9377 4,912]

On 12/14/2020 at 8:16 PM, blakem said:

I’m also curious to see, who would y’all suggest come to Auburn if Flo got canned?

The list is long, very long, of well qualified coaches that would walk to auburn barefoot on hot asphalt sprinkled with glass shards for the opportunity.

A few names:

1. Karl Smesko - head coach at Florida Gulf Coast University

2. Kelly Bond-White, Texas A&M associate head coach

3. Tina Langley, head coach Rice University, former assistant HC at Maryland, Alabama native.

     https://riceowls.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster/coaches/tina-langley/516

4.  Jody Adams Birch- former head coach Murray State & Wichita State- tough coach that got her first real coaching job working under Joe Ciampi at Auburn as a graduate assistant and after one year a full time assistant coach.  She played for Pat Summit, winning a national title, the SEC tournament once and regular season title twice.

     https://goracers.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster/coaches/jody-adams/334

5. Holly Warlick - former head coach at Tennessee - It was an impossible task to replace the greatest in the game, Pat Summit.  In her 7 seasons as HC, Holly made the NCAA tournament every season.  She won the SEC regular season twice and the tournament once.  In those 7 seasons, she won 27, 29, 30, 22, 20, 25, and 19 games respectively. She knows the sport and knows the SEC.  She fits in well at Auburn.

[AU9377 4,912]

8 minutes ago, AU9377 said:

The list is long, very long, of well qualified coaches that would walk to auburn barefoot on hot asphalt sprinkled with glass shards for the opportunity.

A few names:

1. Karl Smesko - head coach at Florida Gulf Coast University

2. Kelly Bond-White, Texas A&M associate head coach

3. Tina Langley, head coach Rice University, former assistant HC at Maryland, Alabama native.

     https://riceowls.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster/coaches/tina-langley/516

4.  Jody Adams - head coach Murray State - tough coach that got her first real coaching job working under Joe Ciampi at Auburn as a graduate assistant and after one year a full time assistant coach.  She played for Pat Summit, winning a national title, the SEC tournament once and regular season title twice.

     https://goracers.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster/coaches/jody-adams/334

5. Holly Warlick - former head coach at Tennessee - It was an impossible task to replace the greatest in the game, Pat Summit.  In her 7 seasons as HC, Holly made the NCAA tournament every season.  She won the SEC regular season twice and the tournament once.  In those 7 seasons, she won 27, 29, 30, 22, 20, 25, and 19 games respectively. She knows the sport and knows the SEC.  She fits in well at Auburn.

These are, in my opinion, some obvious candidates.  There are many others. By not mentioning someone, I am in no way suggesting they should not be considered.  The point is that, if we intend to salvage the program, a change must be made ASAP.  We just fired a football coach that had actually won championships at Auburn at a cost of over $27 million, when assistant buyouts are included.  We can certainly afford to rescue this program from our slide into irrelevance.

[blakem 296]

34 minutes ago, AU9377 said:

These are, in my opinion, some obvious candidates.  There are many others. By not mentioning someone, I am in no way suggesting they should not be considered.  The point is that, if we intend to salvage the program, a change must be made ASAP.  We just fired a football coach that had actually won championships at Auburn at a cost of over $27 million, when assistant buyouts are included.  We can certainly afford to rescue this program from our slide into irrelevance.

Do you think we could go to a high tier program and outbid them for a coach? i.e. possibly Maryland or Kentucky

[ellitor 33,062]

24 minutes ago, blakem said:

Do you think we could go to a high tier program and outbid them for a coach? i.e. possibly Maryland or Kentucky

Not Green's style fiscally. He'll likely choose the best cost efficient candidate he can.

[blakem 296]

5 minutes ago, ellitor said:

Not Green's style fiscally. He'll likely choose the best cost efficient candidate he can.

Yeah he doesn’t seem to be too flashy with his hires. I guess it depends on how much the big guys like wbb.

[AU9377 4,912]

2 hours ago, blakem said:

Yeah he doesn’t seem to be too flashy with his hires. I guess it depends on how much the big guys like wbb.

I really don't know many that would be willing to leave a program that they already have established in that top tier. Brenda Frese at Maryland already makes  $1.3 million a year, so I doubt that she would be willing to listen.  When Miss State was looking for a coach last year, they flirted with Louisville's Jeff Walz, but in the end he wasn't interested in leaving a job that already pays him $1.5 million/yr.  They eventually hired Nikki McCray-Penson, Old Dominion coach, who also coached under Dawn Staley and played for Pat Summit at Tennessee. That was a perfect program to walk into and be set up for success, having been to two recent Final Fours.

There are coaches like Duke's former coach, Joanne P. McCallie, who resigned this past off season, that may be interested.  She and Duke grew tired of each other, but she had a lot of success for years. She was a Ciampi assistant at the beginning of her career.

Just typing this reminds me that Vic Schaefer, State's former coach that left to take the Texas job, was hired the same year that we hired coach Flo.  TWF walked into a much better roster at Auburn than the one Schaefer inherited at State.  The Auburn program also has a history that State doesn't have.  When Schaefer left State, the two programs had not only gone in different directions, but they are no longer comparable in any way.

[AU9377 4,912]

On 1/2/2021 at 8:54 PM, PUB78 said:

She is like Gus, a vastly over paid and underachieving coach. Never had a winning record in the SEC Schedule except for one year. So, when is the switch or light going to come on for her? Never! She is not capable of being a top tier coach in this conference.

I gotta pump the brakes there... she isn't like Gus.  She isn't even near the quality head coach that Nell Fortner was.  For the faults Gus had, he at least turned around the program from a winless SEC season in 2012 and produced an SEC Championship and national title game appearance in 2013.  He never had a losing season and he never lost his players.  He won more games against bama and Saban than any other coach in the country.  TWF has done the losing, but not the winning.

[PUB78 1,354]

57 minutes ago, AU9377 said:

I gotta pump the brakes there... she isn't like Gus.  She isn't even near the quality head coach that Nell Fortner was.  For the faults Gus had, he at least turned around the program from a winless SEC season in 2012 and produced an SEC Championship and national title game appearance in 2013.  He never had a losing season and he never lost his players.  He won more games against bama and Saban than any other coach in the country.  TWF has done the losing, but not the winning.

Fair enough comparison. Yes, she hasn’t reached the level of Neil and Joe Ciammpi. As far as your comments on Gus, you are also right. However, he vastly underachieved his last 7 years at AU with all the talent , resources and support he had at his disposal. Good man , strong Christian, ran a clean program, but at his best, was an average coach in the SEC.

[Mikey 16,545]

4 hours ago, PUB78 said:

but at his best, was an average coach in the SEC.

Average coach for the SEC is something Coach Flo is not. She'd have to look way, way up to see average.

[steeleagle 2,945]

9 hours ago, Mikey said:

Average coach for the SEC is something Coach Flo is not. She'd have to look way, way up to see average.

I guess we can tell that Women's BB is not a critical program to keep successful. Greene for some reason (probably the buyout of Flo), is more important than rebuilding the basketball program. 

And i don't want to here that the team is struggling bc it doesn't have Unique recently. This team has been below average all 4 years she was here. I feel bad for her. I almost had wished she had transferred to play in a better womens BB program.

 

[blakem 296]

4 hours ago, steeleagle said:

I guess we can tell that Women's BB is not a critical program to keep successful. Greene for some reason (probably the buyout of Flo), is more important than rebuilding the basketball program. 

And i don't want to here that the team is struggling bc it doesn't have Unique recently. This team has been below average all 4 years she was here. I feel bad for her. I almost had wished she had transferred to play in a better womens BB program.

 

I said the same thing! Unique should’ve left a long time ago. She could’ve gone anywhere in the SEC or even maybe in the country and start. 

[AUBwins 10,064]

So Auburn loses to an Ole miss team with only 8 players and hasn't won in their last 25 SEC games.  Pathetic. 

[AU9377 4,912]

A quote from Flo's introductory presser in 2012:

.....[When I walked through the locker room last night the girls gave me the grand tour and I thought ‘Oh my God this is unbelievable.' I'm thinking to myself ‘I just walked into a gold mine']

She walked into a gold mine and it appears she will be leaving the program looking more like a rock quarry.

[AUBwins 10,064]

Just really depressing to see how low it’s gotten. I never cared for the hire to begin with but I liked Nell. We need a coach that’s more creative offensively. It’s a shame Flo actually brought in some elite talent but She ran them all off the following year. 

[AU9377 4,912]

On 1/8/2021 at 11:03 PM, AUBwins said:

Just really depressing to see how low it’s gotten. I never cared for the hire to begin with but I liked Nell. We need a coach that’s more creative offensively. It’s a shame Flo actually brought in some elite talent but She ran them all off the following year. 

Nell is a fantastic person and a really good coach.  She left a lot of talent for Flo to work with.  The problem was and is the style of play that Flo insists on coaching.  She can win like that in a less talented conference, but not in the SEC.

[AUBwins 10,064]

5 hours ago, AU9377 said:

Nell is a fantastic person and a really good coach.  She left a lot of talent for Flo to work with.  The problem was and is the style of play that Flo insists on coaching.  She can win like that in a less talented conference, but not in the SEC.

Agreed, and she's stubborn with it.  Definitely need something new here. 

[PUB78 1,354]

Ladies lost to UF by 14 on the road today and now are 0-4 in the SEC. I believe Flo’s days are numbered.

[NoALtiger 3,849]

I mean clearly this isn’t going to get any better. If this was a higher profile sport she’d be gone long ago. She’s been a failure quite frankly. 

[autigeremt 6,562]

It's past time to cut bait and move on. The program is in bad shape. 

[Mikey 16,545]

2 hours ago, PUB78 said:

Ladies lost to UF by 14 on the road today and now are 0-4 in the SEC. I believe Flo’s days are numbered.

UF had been 0-5 in SEC play. Now they are 1-5, thanks to AU. The end has to be coming, and soon.

[steeleagle 2,945]

Greene/LEath gave her an extension in 2018 even though she had not shown an ability to put her teams in a position to win championships and she had just coached them to a 14-15 record.

Greene said she had built a foundation and she would be finally given the resources to succeed. 

Since that extension she is in 3 seasons:

38-35 overall

SEC 13-23

She has finished 6th, 12th, and currently last

And she has coached here now 9 years...with not even a sniff of an attempt at any type of championship

And now will she get a pass bc it is a Covid year that has impacted her players, causing some game cancellations?