Women's BB Problems

[Proud Tiger 4,261]

it's bad enough that our men's BB team is so bad but now the women's team is as well. There is a good chance they won't even get to play in the post season regional (or whatver it is) being hosted by Auburn. I'm hearing there is some disension between players and maybe some other problems.

I really like Coach Fortner and hope she can turn this around. But there are already rumblings among some fans that a change is needed.

[RunInRed 18,206]

Are you saying you want to replace Fortner?

[Mikey 16,781]

Are you saying you want to replace Fortner?

I do, but I've been saying that ever since the great assembly of players she had went two and done in the Big Dance their senior years and didn't even get in the thing their junior years. There's a thread here that I started on that about two years ago. I'll search it up in a few minutes.

There were three big mistakes made in the interim between David Housel and Jay Jacobs as Athletic directors. Baseball's Slater and Men's BB's Lebo are gone. When Fortner leaves the corrections will all be made.

My biggest fear is that there aren't enough Auburn fans that care about women's basketball to force a change and as long as the team rocks along winning about half of their games and finishing somewhere around 7-9 in the SEC nobody will raise the necessary stink.

Just as the Powers ignored Shug's wishes when he retired and hired Doug Barfield, Joe Champi's advice was ignored when Fortner was hired. Sometimes it pays to listen.

[Mikey 16,781]

Here's the thread I started in March of 2009. The title is "30-4 and disappointing". There are only about 12 responses, it's fun to read now, two years later.

[WarTiger 4,014]

Jordan Greenleaf was also dismissed from the team yesterday or today. That doesn't help any, but I still think Fortner is a top notch basketball coach.

[RunInRed 18,206]

Well, it just appears (to the casual observer), Fortner has done a good job. Then again, I don't really follow the Womens BBall team (nor have much expectations)...

[Proud Tiger 4,261]

Are you saying you want to replace Fortner?

No I didn't say that. I said I like her but I hear rumblings and you see some in the responses here. I say I like her......I mean as a person. But I do think the team and her recruiting must show some improvement soon or it may be time for a change after this season.

[Mikey 16,781]

Lost another one tonight, 55-52 to LSU. This is Fortner's 8th year and her teams have never played up to their potential. Twice she's had the personnel to make it to the final four and never made it past the second round. It's not like she's just getting started. By year 8 a coach's program should be at a peak. What I'm afraid of is that this IS her peak.

[autigeremt 7,159]

I love Coach Fortner and I have no problem giving her a little more time. Just my personal opinion.....she's an AUsome representative of Auburn and she has earned some respect for it. If she has a dismal 2011-2012, then even I would start to look at other coaches. She has some young talent to work with and I'd like to see her be given one more season to work through it.

[WarTiger 4,014]

She was hired in April 2004, so this is her 7th year.

[Mikey 16,781]

She was hired in April 2004, so this is her 7th year.

Oh, my mistake. Seven years isn't enough time to see what's (NOT) happening?

Without the fluky recruiting luck of getting Bonner, who everybody else thought was too skinny and Boddie, who had to work in summers and didn't get noticed because she didn't play AAU summer ball, Fortner would very likely never have had a season when her team had a winning SEC record.

I'll claim seniority here as I started watching AU women's basketball before Coach Champi came to Auburn. I've seen at least several games every year since way back when. If not senior, I've at least been watching the team a helluva long time!

We can win here and win big with the right coach. The recruiting has not been up to SEC standards. I can't name a single player recruited by Fortner that had a legitimate offer to Tennessee, Georgia or LSU and those are the teams you have to compete with to win the conference. Alli Smalley had walk on offers to UGA and UT. JUCO player Trevesha Jackson was rumored to have an offer from UT but that was not really confirmed. That's about it on recruiting big-time players.

Give her another year or two if you want to, I saw enough after 2008-9 to know that whatever "it" is, "it" ain't gonna' happen with Fortner at the controls.

[AURainman 6]

Aren't we like 9-5 since the winter break?

Sure we lost the last 3, but we aren't total crap either. We'll probably win a few more and make this an ok season.

[Proud Tiger 4,261]

There is apparently some substance to the buzz that there are some problems within the team.

Senior forward Jordan Greenleaf has been disnissed from the team. She has started every game this year and was averaging 9.1 points per game. Doesn't sound good.

[Mikey 16,781]

Aren't we like 9-5 since the winter break?

Sure we lost the last 3, but we aren't total crap either. We'll probably win a few more and make this an ok season.

Therein lies the problem, as I see it. The team is now 13-11, 6-5 in the SEC. If the majority of Auburn people are satisfied with that and call it an "ok season" nothing will change. There aren't enough of us that follow the team closely and care to matter, I suppose. It wasn't so long ago that we were one of the heavy hitters in the SEC and nationally. That's gone now.

How many years would Auburn put up with a football coach with a similar record? When Fortner was hired, I thought it was a good move. Time has proved that it was not. The only question is if winning half the games is all it takes to be the head coach at Auburn for as long as one wants the job.

[DCWarEagle 0]

I don't follow women's basketball that closely, but I do know that we have a stable program, a coach who always represents us well and has a very good record at Auburn (133-84, I believe), we won an SEC championship two years ago and even this year our record is over .500 in both the conference and overall.

So unless something major bad happens, I'd say be happy we have a good program and let her do her thing.

[Ryan Sanders 123]

How many schools are throwing down National Championships in Football, Basketball(M&W), and Baseball? I don't know of many.. I think the people at Auburn know what is best - they see what goes on behind the scenes.

[Mikey 16,781]

I don't follow women's basketball that closely, but I do know that we have a stable program, a coach who always represents us well and has a very good record at Auburn (133-84, I believe), we won an SEC championship two years ago and even this year our record is over .500 in both the conference and overall.

So unless something major bad happens, I'd say be happy we have a good program and let her do her thing.

Lets take the fluky 30-4 record out for a minute. (humor me) That leaves a 5 & 1/2 year record of 103-80 which includes one trip to the second round of the NCAA tournament. If the majority of Auburn folks now think that constitutes a good program and are satisfied with it, then that's where it will stagnate.

Were this football, baseball or men's basketball there would be a cry for heads to roll. Since there are few of us that really care, we're stuck. My best hope is that ESPN will offer Fortner a nice contract to return to announcing and JJ will go work his magic on finding a coach that is capable of having a program at Auburn that once again competes for championships.

[Proud Tiger 4,261]

I don't follow women's basketball that closely, but I do know that we have a stable program, a coach who always represents us well and has a very good record at Auburn (133-84, I believe), we won an SEC championship two years ago and even this year our record is over .500 in both the conference and overall.

So unless something major bad happens, I'd say be happy we have a good program and let her do her thing.

Lets take the fluky 30-4 record out for a minute. (humor me) That leaves a 5 & 1/2 year record of 103-80 which includes one trip to the second round of the NCAA tournament. If the majority of Auburn folks now think that constitutes a good program and are satisfied with it, then that's where it will stagnate.

Were this football, baseball or men's basketball there would be a cry for heads to roll. Since there are few of us that really care, we're stuck. My best hope is that ESPN will offer Fortner a nice contract to return to announcing and JJ will go work his magic on finding a coach that is capable of having a program at Auburn that once again competes for championships.

Coach Fortner had great credentials when she was hired. Somtimes that works and sometimes it doesn't and vice versa. We need to hire a replacement who has lost 13 in a row

[Mikey 16,781]

Lost to UAT at our place tonight. Blew an 11 point second half lead to lose 59-51. Shot 7-18 on foul shots. Went 8 minutes in the second half without a basket from the floor. We had freshmen bombing away from wherever they got the ball (including three air-balls) while one of Auburn's all time great scorers stood yelling for the ball and not getting any passes. Alli Smalley finally grabbed a rebound and in frustration drove the length of the floor and made a layup to break the drought. It was the only shot Smalley got in the final ten minutes of the game.

In the meantime, a freshman that was playing in her first college game ever missed three. I suppose the question of why you'd have a freshman burn a redshirt year at this time in the season is beside the point now. Why you'd break her in against your rival while trailing in the game is something else that doesn't matter now.

Anybody that saw tonight's game and doesn't think there is a problem with this coaching staff is simply blind, or doesn't care.

[autigeremt 7,159]

I'm not blind, I do care, and yes....I am starting to see a problem. Good enough for ya? I think this team has digressed and a closer look needs to be taken.

[AUslug 1]

Fortner has a problem if they are losing to Bama and Miss State, two of the worst teams in the league. If Alli Smalley isn't getting the ball then some players are being selfish.

[Mikey 16,781]

Lost to USCe today, 65-49. I watched it on one of the Fox Sports Alt TV channels, and it was. not. pretty.

[DCWarEagle 0]

I don't follow women's basketball that closely, but I do know that we have a stable program, a coach who always represents us well and has a very good record at Auburn (133-84, I believe), we won an SEC championship two years ago and even this year our record is over .500 in both the conference and overall.

So unless something major bad happens, I'd say be happy we have a good program and let her do her thing.

Lets take the fluky 30-4 record out for a minute. (humor me) That leaves a 5 & 1/2 year record of 103-80 which includes one trip to the second round of the NCAA tournament. If the majority of Auburn folks now think that constitutes a good program and are satisfied with it, then that's where it will stagnate.

Were this football, baseball or men's basketball there would be a cry for heads to roll. Since there are few of us that really care, we're stuck. My best hope is that ESPN will offer Fortner a nice contract to return to announcing and JJ will go work his magic on finding a coach that is capable of having a program at Auburn that once again competes for championships.

I hear what you are saying, and the month of February has certainly been rough for the women's team. That being said, I don't think it is fair to take out Fortner's best season when looking at her career. Take out Chizik's "fluky" 14-0 season and you have a guy with three years as a head coach, a 13-24 record and one win in a bowl game.

[Mikey 16,781]

We don't yet know if Chizik's 14-0 season was fluky or not. More time is needed. 14-0 won't be the norm, but I'm guessing somewhere on the sunny side of 10 wins a year will be normal.

Nell Fortner is in her 7th year as the Auburn head coach. No year other than 30-4 has been anything like what a 10-win football season would be. I think it's safe to say in her case 30-4 won't happen again.

Anyone else listen to Auburn beat Georgia in Athens last night? Georgia is a good team. In the second half, Alli Smalley took control and scored 22 points. 16 were in the second half, including the last five points of the game. Against a very weak UAT team the previous game, they didn't get the ball to Smalley for shots. (See my post-UAT game comments above)

If the key to winning this year is get the ball to the only senior, Smalley, late in the game, where was the coach against UAT the previous game when they didn't pass the ball to her? Where was the coaching when about the same thing happened against previously winless MSU a week earlier?

I just don't think Nell Fortner can win at Auburn. There are 64 (65?) teams taken into the NCAA tournament every year. For Auburn to be an infrequent participant there is ridiculous.

[Mikey 16,781]

The problems continue: First, in the final regular season game, 29 turnovers vs. Kentucky. Turnovers are supposed to decrease as the season goes along. 29 would be bad on opening day, 29 in the season's final game is beyond terrible.

Tonight we lose to Mississippi State, one of the SEC's weakest teams, in the opening round of the SEC tournament. Nell's team finishes 15-15 overall, 8-9 in the SEC. Anybody that watched tonight's game has to know that the coaching is not good. Not good?, it's awful!

The game was a mess from the get-go. Somehow we got ahead 41-30 with 10 minutes left. Lost 49-47, thus closing out the final ten minutes on the wrong end of a 19-6 run.

I like Nell. She has a good personality and runs a clean program. The problem is, she's not getting the job done as Auburn's coach and I see no reason to think the future will change anything.

Two first round NCAA games will be played in the new Auburn Arena. It's a shame Auburn won't be participating. How hard should it be for a major university with major resources to finish in the top 64 nationally?

If nothing changes, I expect Barbee's team to win more games next year than Nell's team and the men will finish somewhere around 4-12 this year. You can see reason for optimism in the men's program. There is no reason to think the women's team will get any better as long as Nell Fortner is the coach.