Interesting article!
http://newsok.com/article/5589177/w...ds-from-2002-still-resonate-with-sherri-coale
A few points:
1. “You think this is how it's supposed to be all the time now,” Coale remembers Auriemma telling her fresh off of his third national championship and second undefeated season. “Like you're going to think this is what you should do every year, play in the national championship game.
“It's not how it works. If you can live through the years that it doesn't work, then you really know you're onto something.”
His words were probably meant to encourage a coach of a program that was dug up out of the mud and revived to achieve a trip to the NC game with the expectation that SC would continue to CONSISTENTLY grow the program; doing the things that are necessary to experience success consistently. That does not mean a trip to the Final Four every year, but neither does it mean the decline that OU has delivered. With strategic planning (staff development/improvement, recruiting, player development, etc.) there is no reason OU WBB should not have continued to finish 1 or 2 in the conference and compete for the tournament championship more often than not. And consistent NCAA Sweet 16 and above appearances.
2. While OU hasn't had UConn-like success, the program has still been to 19 consecutive NCAA Tournaments, good for the fifth-longest active streak in the nation. The Sooners also haven't finished lower than fifth in the conference since the 2005-06 season.
"Fifth in the conference" is not success. The program experienced consistent OVERALL (development, recruiting, etc) growth until about 2007. Yes, OU was still winning but not preparing to win for the long term. It finally caught up with them and became more evident each year; a slow decline is what happens. You start having more transfers because players came based on the history, but found out it's not working for them. History was not enough to sustain current. Again, the lack of effective recruiting. Great players need help regardless of how great they are! They also need to improve their skill set.
3. She certainly doesn't believe that she's lost “it.” “I wouldn't be doing this job if I didn't feel that,” Coale said. “I'd walk away in a heartbeat if I didn't feel that.”
IMHO...she's not facing reality AND/OR she's smart enough to keep her job as long as she can by trying to appear to keep hope alive. Only God knows what goes on behind the scenes in her meetings with the AD to be able to continue to run the program with the obvious decline. The measurable data doesn't lie: number of transfers (and how many have been talked in to staying?), lack of consistent strategic, successful recruiting, poor player and team skill development, lack of current trend marketing strategies (camp, social media), decline in national and conference ranking.
Basically, it's a wrap for experiencing the success of the past as long as they keep doing what they've been doing. Mulkey is right to a certain extent regarding coming back once you've lost it. HOWEVER, I do believe it's possible to "come back" but it would require a MAJOR overhaul that is strategic and it will take time.
http://newsok.com/article/5589177/w...ds-from-2002-still-resonate-with-sherri-coale
A few points:
1. “You think this is how it's supposed to be all the time now,” Coale remembers Auriemma telling her fresh off of his third national championship and second undefeated season. “Like you're going to think this is what you should do every year, play in the national championship game.
“It's not how it works. If you can live through the years that it doesn't work, then you really know you're onto something.”
His words were probably meant to encourage a coach of a program that was dug up out of the mud and revived to achieve a trip to the NC game with the expectation that SC would continue to CONSISTENTLY grow the program; doing the things that are necessary to experience success consistently. That does not mean a trip to the Final Four every year, but neither does it mean the decline that OU has delivered. With strategic planning (staff development/improvement, recruiting, player development, etc.) there is no reason OU WBB should not have continued to finish 1 or 2 in the conference and compete for the tournament championship more often than not. And consistent NCAA Sweet 16 and above appearances.
2. While OU hasn't had UConn-like success, the program has still been to 19 consecutive NCAA Tournaments, good for the fifth-longest active streak in the nation. The Sooners also haven't finished lower than fifth in the conference since the 2005-06 season.
"Fifth in the conference" is not success. The program experienced consistent OVERALL (development, recruiting, etc) growth until about 2007. Yes, OU was still winning but not preparing to win for the long term. It finally caught up with them and became more evident each year; a slow decline is what happens. You start having more transfers because players came based on the history, but found out it's not working for them. History was not enough to sustain current. Again, the lack of effective recruiting. Great players need help regardless of how great they are! They also need to improve their skill set.
3. She certainly doesn't believe that she's lost “it.” “I wouldn't be doing this job if I didn't feel that,” Coale said. “I'd walk away in a heartbeat if I didn't feel that.”
IMHO...she's not facing reality AND/OR she's smart enough to keep her job as long as she can by trying to appear to keep hope alive. Only God knows what goes on behind the scenes in her meetings with the AD to be able to continue to run the program with the obvious decline. The measurable data doesn't lie: number of transfers (and how many have been talked in to staying?), lack of consistent strategic, successful recruiting, poor player and team skill development, lack of current trend marketing strategies (camp, social media), decline in national and conference ranking.
Basically, it's a wrap for experiencing the success of the past as long as they keep doing what they've been doing. Mulkey is right to a certain extent regarding coming back once you've lost it. HOWEVER, I do believe it's possible to "come back" but it would require a MAJOR overhaul that is strategic and it will take time.
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