BC hired Joanna Bernabei-McNamee as the new Women's Basketball Coach. Bernabei-McNamee comes to BC after successful runs at Albany and University of Pikeville. Prior to being a head coach, Bernabei-McNamee served as an assistant at Maryland and West Virginia. I don't know enough about Women's Basketball to know if Bernabei-McNamee will be a success at BC. What I do find interesting and relevant to the bigger picture is what her hire tells us about Martin Jarmond's process.
1. No ties to BC. Women's Basketball is a relatively low stakes hire for Jarmond. The program has not been good for a long time. While location and conference affiliation means we should be better, very few BC people are breathing down Jarmond's neck to make BC Women's Basketball elite. He could have hired someone with ties to the program (a former assistant, a former player, etc.) and kept those who do care happy. Now that model didn't work with Erik Johnson, but it still would have been low risk. Instead, he hired a true outsider.
2. No ties to Jarmond. Many ADs gravitate towards coaches they know and have worked with before. Unless we hear otherwise in the press conference, there is no prior connection between Bernabei-McNamee and our current AD. He didn't even take the easy route of hiring a respected Big Ten assistant.
3. Track record of success as a Head Coach. Bernabei-McNamee has won in both her prior stops. Now there are always coaches who reach the Peter Principle once they make the leap to a more competitive conference, but a history of winning is not a bad thing. It is something she can sell to recruits and indicates she can handle the ups and downs of a season.
4. He didn't just pluck an assistant from an ACC or Women's Basketball power. It would have been easy to pick a UConn assistant or Notre Dame assistant and hope he/she rebuild's BC in a winning image of those schools. But there is plenty of risk in that approach. Often the key ingredient is the head coach and the assistant doesn't have the tools to do it on his/her own.
I like what I read and see about Bernabei-McNamee. I think her success in Albany and history recruiting major conferences is a good sign. I also like that Jarmond didn't limit himself to the typical criteria often involved in a college search.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
14 comments:
Reasonable hire all things considered. Huge step up for her. Hope she has great success and can recruit. Has her work cut out for her in first couple years.
Same area same success story as the Great Cathy Inglese who came from U.Vermont.
Similar success would totally resurrect the dormant women's bb program.
GO BC
Would have liked to see Sara Behn come back but I can see why Jarmond went with her after watching mod's video. This appears to be a high energy and enthusiastic choice with tons of upside. Worth the risk on women's basketball. I doubt he will ultimately do that on the money sports, but interesting to see the key attributes he values -- I like it.
"word Is" What does that mean? Who's word? Names? Sources?
"Word is" from "Unknown" has a lot of credibility. I like the hire. Can't hurt the program.
I live in the Albany area and have kept an eye on the U Albany athletic program. Their womens basketball team has been very good for a number of years. Their administration chose coach Mac carefully after the prior coach left the program. The conference is not a strong one but the players appear to be well coached and she has done a very good job recruiting. The entrance requirements at Albany are no where near thosse at BC, but I have always contended that the academic offerings for women at BC should be a magnet for high quality players in all womens sports. Our Soccer, Field Hockey, and Lacrosse programs are extremely competitive every year and this year softball is also doing well I hope this is a good hire, only time will tell. Cathy Iglese got a raw deal and we have not as yet recovered, karma is a bitch.
He likes last names that rhyme. That is what it tell me.
seems like another point you mention at the end probably should be on the list of learnings: proven success as a recruiter.
There are very few extraordinary women basketball players. Recruiting is everything. The star for ND (the French School of commenter fame) who won both games in the Final Four is from Nigeria. That is why UConn is always dominant and upset in a monstrous effort by ND. They stockpile great women athletes. The star of UConn is from St. Louis Incarnate Word (Collier). Basically, she received a number of "inducements" to attend and play for Incarnate Word who are into recruiting for state championships. Maybe, the FBI should look into UConn.----How much can an elite woman basketball star make? I would say not very much. Cheryl Miller (sister of Reggie) and Ann Meyer (sister of David) both of UCLA and Laker fame received 10 day contracts from the Lakers. They had no upper body strength and the image of Kareem turned their 6 foot 4 to mush. In comparison to male athletes of the background of a non college player in LBJ is beyond belief.---Coaches are using the equality issue just like in tennis to maximize their salaries. If you would use capitalist principles, there is no way that this woman would receive a lot more than her 225k previous salary.---I saw when Dr. Mark Emmert handed the champion trophy to Jalen Brunson and the Villanova Wildcats. Let's just say that he is a little guy with no physical experience with a fancy hair style with "duck wings". It is now easy to understand the way that he runs the NCAA as an avenue of political expediency. The university presidents should reassert control. There is no doubt that the NBA has been channeling money with the shoe companies into the NCAA for quite a while. Emmert has been looking the other way.---Now, you know why BC is such a gimmick. They try to do things the right way. BC is just the poster child trotted forth in order to hide all the warts of the rest of the NCAA and that includes the French School which has been bending the rules as well.---
I hope she and her family can afford to live within 25 miles of the campus.🙂
As one who lives exactly 25 miles from campus, I get you, John.
In contrast,you can get a mansion near the UGA campus for probably 1/3 the price they want near BC.
Post a Comment