Women's Basketball - How serious are we?

[AU9377 4,979]

I'm not writing this as some sort of back door criticism of Johnnie Harris.  I want us to succeed and be a top tier program in the SEC.  Very few even remember when Auburn was consistently a top program competing nationally.  But for some terrific success early in Nell Fortner's tenure, the program has been stagnant year after year.  Going to a game on a Sunday afternoon is something that is affordable and enjoyable for an entire family. 

 Kentucky, and more surprisingly Tennessee, both decided to hire new coaches.  Tennessee's decision was shocking, considering that they have been to the Sweet 16 in back to back years prior to 2024 and Kelli Harper signed a new contract a year ago.  Kentucky wasted no time spending that SEC money and hired Kenny Brooks away from Virginia Tech. Rumors are that Tennessee is making a run at several coaches that make $1.5 million or more at their current school. 

I can't help but to think about how much better our program would have been today had Kelli Harper been hired when we hired Terri Williams-Flournoy instead. The article below lists the best coaches in the SEC.  Is our current staff capable of competing at that level?  How long should we take to make that decision?

https://www.tennessean.com/story/sports/college/2024/03/29/sec-womens-basketball-coaches-ranking-dawn-staley-kim-mulkey-kenny-brooks-vic-schaefer/73093562007/

[TigerOne 1,148]

You mean on the level we saw last night? That’s always the goal but a key player or two definitely make a huge difference. Same as the mens game as we saw against Yale.

Right now Auburn is sucking in all the major sports except Mens bball (but very disappointing in the end).

women softball playing well.

[TD1 229]

I recall seeing Mike G, from the War Rapport, say something along the lines of getting CJH the support/resources that she needs to be successful. I don't know if he was alluding to financial resources, facility upgrades, or whatever. 

I do hope that she can really pull in some playmakers from the portal. If not, I don't see us making any improvements next year. 

[TD1 229]

57 minutes ago, TigerOne said:

women softball playing well.

You think so?

[TigerOne 1,148]

3 hours ago, TD1 said:

I recall seeing Mike G, from the War Rapport, say something along the lines of getting CJH the support/resources that she needs to be successful. I don't know if he was alluding to financial resources, facility upgrades, or whatever. 

I do hope that she can really pull in some playmakers from the portal. If not, I don't see us making any improvements next year. 

Seems Bruce said something about another court so both men and women can practice the same time or the women have their own facility.

[TigerOne 1,148]

3 hours ago, TD1 said:

You think so?

Ok other than sec champions in basketball and Equestrian, Auburn Athletics isn’t very good.

[AU9377 4,979]

5 hours ago, TigerOne said:

You mean on the level we saw last night? That’s always the goal but a key player or two definitely make a huge difference. Same as the mens game as we saw against Yale.

Right now Auburn is sucking in all the major sports except Mens bball (but very disappointing in the end).

women softball playing well.

I don't mean on the level of the Elite 8.  Being a top tier SEC program would be a massive improvement.  That is only going to get harder by the addition of Texas and Oklahoma.

[TigerOne 1,148]

1 hour ago, AU9377 said:

I don't mean on the level of the Elite 8.  Being a top tier SEC program would be a massive improvement.  That is only going to get harder by the addition of Texas and Oklahoma.

As is every other sport. Auburn will be even more mediocre at best. Good thing we have had years of preparation. Mens basketball is probably the only sport Auburn will have success.

oh but go ahead and send your fans held hostage check (nil for the tax accountants)

Edited April 3 by TigerOne

[Bigtrain333 98]

17 hours ago, TD1 said:

I recall seeing Mike G, from the War Rapport, say something along the lines of getting CJH the support/resources that she needs to be successful. I don't know if he was alluding to financial resources, facility upgrades, or whatever. 

I o hope that she can really pull in some playmakers from the portal. If not, I don't see us making any improvements next year. 

NIL. we don't have enough for men's basketball much less women's

 

[AU9377 4,979]

I expected these comments.  The thing is, we can still compete effectively with a small NIL budget in this sport.  Other schools with far less resources, facilities and recruiting footprints do.  How CJH navigates the transfer portal this off season will be critical for our immediate future.

NIL, without some regulation will ruing college sports.  Period.  That said, collectives are making their presence known in women's basketball.  For example, Texas Tech's collective guarantees every scholarship player $25,000 a year. 

Edited April 3 by AU9377

[tigeraddikt 1,615]

To answer the OP’s question: not that serious. There’s other stuff I could say, but I won’t because it is just an opinion that would ruffle a lot of feathers, and I’m not about that. CJH did improve the team last year, but I do believe that next season is a make or break year for her. With Texas and OU entering the league, there’s no time for flailing about in any major sports now. Case in point: Tennessee firing Harper.

[keeperoftheplains 133]

I watched Vicki Orr play in high school then I watched her at AU.  Back then you could get in free to the women's game and sit pretty much wherever you wanted in Beard-Eaves.

Edited April 3 by keeperoftheplains

[AU9377 4,979]

4 hours ago, tigeraddikt said:

To answer the OP’s question: not that serious. There’s other stuff I could say, but I won’t because it is just an opinion that would ruffle a lot of feathers, and I’m not about that. CJH did improve the team last year, but I do believe that next season is a make or break year for her. With Texas and OU entering the league, there’s no time for flailing about in any major sports now. Case in point: Tennessee firing Harper.

What concerns me is that Harper is light years ahead of where we are in terms of building a consistent program.

[tigeraddikt 1,615]

On 4/3/2024 at 5:55 PM, AU9377 said:

What concerns me is that Harper is light years ahead of where we are in terms of building a consistent program.

True, but you have to kinda look at it like this: Pat Head Summitt essentially pioneered excellence/championship-level major women’s basketball. Pre-WNBA, NCAA D1 basketball was about the highest level of competitive women’s basketball there was, outside some niche, separate semi-pro leagues sprinkled throughout. So, Tenn. feels like they owe it to the legacy of Summitt to be a leader in the game. And they were supplanted by Auriemma and UCONN during the transition away from Summitt, and UCONN has been supplanted by Dawn Staley. I wouldn’t be surprised if Tenn. threw unholy amounts of $$$ at Staley to come to Tennessee. Not saying it will do anything more than get her a fat raise at USCe, but I’d be surprised if they didn’t try to hire her away. All that said, Ciampi had AU playing championship ball in the late 80s and Nell Fortner had that one superb year with Bonner. That’s it. Everything else for AU women’s basketball has been somewhere between embarrassing to slightly above average, with ho-hum/mediocre being the mean. Unfortunately, though both SEC teams, AU and Tenn. are on different planets as far as expectations surrounding the women’s basketball programs.

[AU9377 4,979]

59 minutes ago, tigeraddikt said:

True, but you have to kinda look at it like this: Pat Head Summitt essentially pioneered excellence/championship-level major women’s basketball. Pre-WNBA, NCAA D1 basketball was about the highest level of competitive women’s basketball there was, outside some niche, separate semi-pro leagues sprinkled throughout. So, Tenn. feels like they owe it to the legacy of Summitt to be a leader in the game. And they were supplanted by Auriemma and UCONN during the transition away from Summitt, and UCONN has been supplanted by Dawn Staley. I wouldn’t be surprised if Tenn. threw unholy amounts of $$$ at Staley to come to Tennessee. Not saying it will do anything more than get her a fat raise at USCe, but I’d be surprised if they didn’t try to hire her away. All that said, Ciampi had AU playing championship ball in the late 80s and Nell Fortner had that one superb year with Bonner. That’s it. Everything else for AU women’s basketball has been somewhere between embarrassing to slightly above average, with ho-hum/mediocre being the mean. Unfortunately, though both SEC teams, AU and Tenn. are on different planets as far as expectations surrounding the women’s basketball programs.

All that is true. That doesn't mean that we should not expect to be a top tier SEC program.  The program took a noticeable dip when we hired Terri Williams Fluornoy.  She was never capable of coaching a team at this level.  She could be successful at a mid major somewhere.  At least with Nell, we recruited the type of players that were needed to compete in the SEC.  We have had even less success historically in softball, but we are at least attempting a course correction. 

As for Tennessee, I expect them to throw money at Jeff Walz at Louisville and the USC coach.  It is possible that they go after Kara Lawson, but if that was the route, I would think that the announcement would have either already been made or will be made Sunday.  Lawson would be looked at as a roll of the dice by some, given that her resume is no better than Harper's, who they just paid to not coach.

As for Auburn, next year has to be a make or break year for Johnnie.  I realize that there are obstacles, but no job paying that kind of money is easy.  There are also built in advantages at Auburn that have to be taken advantage of at some point.  I have supported every coach, but the truth is that TWF should have only been at Auburn for one contract.  Had we hired Kellie Harper when she(TWF) was hired, we would have been in a much better place today.  Those were the two finalists at the time.  When Johnnie was hired, it was between her and Sam Purcell.  Sam is doing a great job at Ms State.  Next year will go a long way in determining whether or not Johnnie is doing the same at Auburn.

Edited April 6 by AU9377

[TD1 229]

4 minutes ago, AU9377 said:

 There are also built in advantages at Auburn that have to be taken advantage of at some point. 

just curious, what are these advantages?

[AU9377 4,979]

2 minutes ago, TD1 said:

just curious, what are these advantages?

Recruiting our geographical region.  There is a ton of talent in the tri state area of Alabama, Georgia and Florida.  Facilities. We also provide a coach with the resources needed to hire top level assistants. Financial resources are not a problem.

[autigeremt 6,652]

On 4/2/2024 at 2:50 PM, TigerOne said:

You mean on the level we saw last night? That’s always the goal but a key player or two definitely make a huge difference. Same as the mens game as we saw against Yale.

Right now Auburn is sucking in all the major sports except Mens bball (but very disappointing in the end).

women softball playing well.

Women’s Softball? 

Have you even paid attention to the progress of the Women’s team? We are getting better under Harris. 

[AU9377 4,979]

12 hours ago, autigeremt said:

Women’s Softball? 

Have you even paid attention to the progress of the Women’s team? We are getting better under Harris. 

I've had season tickets for 20 years.  Yes, I have paid attention to the progress.  Are you confident that the progress will continue thru next year and beyond?  I hope it does.   I have certainly not called for the hiring of a new coach.  I have said that I believe next year is critical moving forward, and it is.  In 2015/2016, we reached the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament.  Some got very excited and Terri Williams got a brand new contract.  We quickly started sinking. In 2018/2019 we won 22 games and lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.  Alas...a brand new shiny contract followed.  We then sat and watched the program nose dive.

Here we are today, fresh off a loss in the First 4 of the NCAA Tournament, the play in game.  If we don't keep improving, we will be no better in 2 years than we were 5 years ago.  That is a fact.  I would love to see Johnnie succeed and re-establish the program.  Time will tell.  I am encouraged that John Cohen is also waiting to make contract decisions until we know more.

[autigeremt 6,652]

Don’t know what else to say. We’re improving from the total dumps and people are blind by that fact. 

[TigerOne 1,148]

6 minutes ago, autigeremt said:

Don’t know what else to say. We’re improving from the total dumps and people are blind by that fact. 

Well sometimes you can only go up.

[autigeremt 6,652]

11 minutes ago, TigerOne said:

Well sometimes you can only go up.

When you start from where this program was I’d hope do. But damn…..are we acting like we were once S. Carolina? 

[AU9377 4,979]

11 minutes ago, autigeremt said:

When you start from where this program was I’d hope do. But damn…..are we acting like we were once S. Carolina? 

 

13 minutes ago, autigeremt said:

When you start from where this program was I’d hope do. But damn…..are we acting like we were once S. Carolina? 

Nobody is acting like that.  Not wanting this cycle to continue is not some unreasonable expectation.

[TexasTiger 12,964]

18 minutes ago, autigeremt said:

When you start from where this program was I’d hope do. But damn…..are we acting like we were once S. Carolina? 

We were once the 3 time runner up.

[Tigger1985 809]

Yes we were at the top. We and Tenn were the top two teams