Sherri and her staff

[oketex]

First of all I'm a very big Sherri C fan, I like that fact that a high school coach, expecting her first child came to my university to save a program that was about to be buried six feet under. She could have just gone through the motions of coaching and everything would have been ok for a few years but this young lady from Norman made OU one of the very good women's basketball programs in the country with hard work and dedication.

With that being said, last night was the first time I have ever turn a game off, the performance of this team was so bad I couldn't handle it any more and decided to finish watching what was going on at want to be u in
stoolwater.

Here is my observations from last night: It's time for Sherri to get rid of some of her friends who are going through the motions of coaching and go out and get good young coaches who want to do something.

This team appears not to like each other - there is something going on with this team, most of Sherri's teams have been "family" type teams, hugging, slapping 5 and just being around each other and very supportive but this team doesn't seem to have that "family" attitude.

Watching her coaches - they have the deer in the head lights look, they are lost and don't know what to do and that could be due to the attitude of this team.

I'm not so sure that some of the ladies on this team shouldn't move on and let Sherri just start from the bottom next year and build.

Give me your thoughts - I love to watch OU's women's teams and have always supported them but this team is hard to watch.

:sherri175_jpg_xs::OU-logo:

 

[Mark]

Most people on this board agreed that the coaching staff need changing up. But at the same time most agree that Sherri won't change nothing.

 

[oketex]

None of us thought Bob would change his staff either but look at the results after he did

 

[soonerstar]

Coale hired all the assistants. She had a chance to hire someone with new ideas a couple years ago and brought DeCosta back. She had been a disaster as a head coach. All Coale has is old college roommates, people who have been her assistant in high school, etc. I do not think she wants anyone with different coaching theories, philosophies, etc. from hers. Does she let the assistants express themselves much in practices? If someone is sent packing, let Coale be the first one out the door. Do not use ths assistants as an excuse for her poor coaching. I know many will not agree, but this is how I feel.

 

[Sooner Cal]

TCU wanted to win more than we did. Their intensity was a notch above ours.

I still think we have the following problems:
1. We play to many combinations of players. In part due to fouls and in part because no one seems to step up.
2. The basketball IQ is really low. Stupid passes, driving with no alternative if the Lane closes. Silly reach in fouls, especially in the backcourt. Ball watching instead of moving.
3. No senior leadership. In fact, it got worse as the season progressed.

The freshman are a real disappointment too.

I don't think we'll miss any senior except Vegas.

I'd tell the others that unless they watch film (especially Sharane and Edwards), get faster and stronger, and develop better shooting ability, they won't play much next year. Set the expectation and hold the players accountable.

Another year like this would hurt attendance and recruiting. Time to get it in gear.

 

[Mark]

Coale hired all the assistants. She had a chance to hire someone with new ideas a couple years ago and brought DeCosta back. She had been a disaster as a head coach. All Coale has is old college roommates, people who have been her assistant in high school, etc. I do not think she wants anyone with different coaching theories, philosophies, etc. from hers. Does she let the assistants express themselves much in practices? If someone is sent packing, let Coale be the first one out the door. Do not use ths assistants as an excuse for her poor coaching. I know many will not agree, but this is how I feel.

Thrailkill should be first to go IMO

 

[sybarite]

Coale hired all the assistants. She had a chance to hire someone with new ideas a couple years ago and brought DeCosta back. She had been a disaster as a head coach. All Coale has is old college roommates, people who have been her assistant in high school, etc. I do not think she wants anyone with different coaching theories, philosophies, etc. from hers. Does she let the assistants express themselves much in practices? If someone is sent packing, let Coale be the first one out the door. Do not use ths assistants as an excuse for her poor coaching. I know many will not agree, but this is how I feel.

One more post like this, and you'll be on Ignore. Nonsensical flames contribute nothing.

 

[garyeb2]

One more post like this, and you'll be on Ignore. Nonsensical flames contribute nothing.

I didn't know residents of institutions had internet access.

 

[SoonerinNC]

Several things are obvious.

We have no consistency in performance. We get tough wins over Texas and Kansas and get blown out by TCU and Kansas State. This applies to individuals as well.

At this point we have no freshman or sophomore that is making a significant impact.

A lot more empty seats at home games.

On the other hand how many of us know how Sherri is using her assistants and how well they are carrying out their assignments?

How would any of you like in your current positions wherever they are to have someone come in who only knows that your organization is performing at an average level and decree that you should go regardless of how well you are personally performing. That is what many of you are advocating. How fair would you consider that to be. I think you would consider it heartless if it happened to you.

And performance as an assistant and performance as a head coach is like apples and oranges. For those of you old enough to remember; Gomer Jones was an exceptional assistant coach and a lousy head coach. Can you really condemn DeCoster on the basis of her results as a head coach.

If you can tell me specifically how each assistant is failing then I may support your position.

 

[DarthSooner]

TCU wanted to win more than we did. Their intensity was a notch above ours.

I still think we have the following problems:
1. We play to many combinations of players. In part due to fouls and in part because no one seems to step up.
2. The basketball IQ is really low. Stupid passes, driving with no alternative if the Lane closes. Silly reach in fouls, especially in the backcourt. Ball watching instead of moving.
3. No senior leadership. In fact, it got worse as the season progressed.

The freshman are a real disappointment too.

I don't think we'll miss any senior except Vegas.

I'd tell the others that unless they watch film (especially Sharane and Edwards), get faster and stronger, and develop better shooting ability, they won't play much next year. Set the expectation and hold the players accountable.

Another year like this would hurt attendance and recruiting. Time to get it in gear.

I agree with a few of your points. Yes it seemed we wanted to be 10 deep early on and that has effected play of who's playing now. The basketball IQ is deplorable. We have about 3 people that have a moderate to high IQ the rest need a ton of education. Most of the issues I have are with the lack of development of upperclassmen, however the continued berating of the seniors and their leadership is rediculous. We will miss Vegas scoring and Morgans court vision and steadiness. You won't have that in any freshmen. If changes aren't made next year might be worse than this one.

 

[mikeareese]

I always thought religion was a bond of the team when Whitney was here. I don't know if thats the case now. I saw a article on the mens board. John Ontjes would be a great candidate for assistant coach. I don't know how much a JUCO coach makes compared to a assistant at OU.

 

[SoonerNorm]

I always thought religion was a bond of the team when Whitney was here. I don't know if thats the case now. I saw a article on the mens board. John Ontjes would be a great candidate for assistant coach. I don't know how much a JUCO coach makes compared to a assistant at OU.

He has done a great job at Hutchinson Jr. College. I don't know how much he makes either but I doubt if he makes as much as Jan Ross who makes $196,400.

 

[gwydion]

He has done a great job at Hutchinson Jr. College. I don't know how much he makes either but I doubt if he makes as much as Jan Ross who makes $196,400.

I doubt at a Juco he makes a quarter of that. I think he would be a great addition.
One more year like this and I would expect Joe C. to sit Sherri down and tell her she needs to make improvements or someone else will do it. It wouldn't be the first time an OU coach has been given that speech. She's the head coach, she makes 7 figures and she created the expectations. If she can no longer live up to what she created then it's time for change.

 

[SoonerNorm]

There are a number of reasons many on this board would like to see some assistants replaced. However, I doubt those thoughts have even crossed Sherri's mind. First, she is incredibly loyal to her assistants who are also her very close personal friends. I just do not see her firing one. She would probably take an arrow first. Secondly, I suspect Sherri does not associate any problems the team is experiencing with any fault of herself or her assistants. That argument, if true, makes no sense. Players should be fundamentally strong to play at a high D-1 level consistently. Our players are not fundamentally strong as many have discussed. Assistants do the majority of recruiting and this group is falling behind other programs like South Carolina, North Carolina, UCLA, Ohio St., Texas, etc. Thirdly, I think Sherri looks at this year as a very strange year that will not likely be repeated again. On that point, she may be right, only time will tell. But, if we cannot recruit more elite players and develop them, we are not likely to sniff the top 10 anytime soon.

While I am in the camp that John Ontjes would be a great candidate for an assistant coach, I would say the chances of that happening are less than 2%.

 

[JGSpider]

Just curious, what do you mean Norm when you say the players are not fundementally strong?

 

[Romulus]

Sherri has to notice that the talent level on her teams is dropping drastically every year.
I heard a name on the radio yesterday in Crystal Robinson who once was a head coach at Murray State and is now an asst under Jerry Fienkbeiner out in Utah St. I'd love to get an asst like that who is an instate legend, can relate to players and has coaching experience outside of Sherri's inner circle. I have no idea about her AAU connections but she played in the WNBA for a long time and that would be a big sell for a girl I'd think.

 

[SoonerNorm]

Just curious, what do you mean Norm when you say the players are not fundementally strong?

There have been several things mentioned on this board in the past few months. Here are just a few of them:

Too much dribbling, by the guards and the bigs.

Too many ill-advised passes that have a low chance of success.

Too many silly fouls.

Often we fail to assume good rebounding positions and fail to rebound with authority.

My pet peeve, rebounding flat-footed. Players like Nina Davis will make you pay.

Help defense is weak.

Failure to change a shot to make sure it doesn't get blocked. Example, in the paint, it is often better to shoot a step-back jump shot (or a fade-away) when you have a defender in your face.

Failure to use a pump fake.

 

[mikeareese]

Not having camps anymore has to have hurt recruiting. OU use to have talented young players attend camp. That has to be on Joe C. Its sad when you see these players camping at Baylor, A&M, Texas, and other schools. It puts OU behind in the scouting and bond that is made by learning and talking with the coach.

 

[SoonerNorm]

Not having camps anymore has to have hurt recruiting. OU use to have talented young players attend camp. That has to be on Joe C. Its sad when you see these players camping at Baylor, A&M, Texas, and other schools. It puts OU behind in the scouting and bond that is made by learning and talking with the coach.

I think that hurts as well. That would give Sherri and our staff a few days to develop relationships with the campers (particularly the great ones) which could give us an advantage that is now lost. If people thought Kim had a significant advantage by sitting in the same section as players at basketball games, think how much time our staff could spend with those recruits at camps.

 

[Romulus]

What happened to the camps?