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Post by bayballer on Apr 9, 2024 15:36:25 GMT -6
There’s a press conference on 4/10 at 9 AM to discuss the future of the women’s basketball program. With the AD and chancellor scheduled to speak, it’s obviously pretty important and you’d have to think it’s Borseth retirement related. My initial question is whether he’s retiring tomorrow or if the next season will be his last. I honestly would hope he gets a retirement tour and finishes next season, simply because it gives the school more time to find his replacement. With Vogel leaving at the end of this past season, there isn’t an obvious coach on staff I feel should get the job, and GB is honestly one of the best mid major jobs in the country, so they’d probably be able to land a very good coach to take over the team.
If he is officially done tomorrow, the one obvious name I could see them looking at is Bollant. He didn’t have success at the high major level, but his teams consistently improved at Eastern Illinois, with them finishing second in the OVC this past season. And he had more success at GB than even Borseth ever had.
And if tomorrow’s press conference is unrelated to Borseth retiring, well, then I just wasted my time writing this. Either way, women’s college basketball is hotter than it’s ever been, so I’m looking forward to seeing what comes from this press conference.
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Post by fansincebuss on Apr 9, 2024 19:57:36 GMT -6
If Borseth is about to retire John Barnes is a likely candidate along with Bollant and who knows who else may come out of the blue.
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Post by bayballer on Apr 10, 2024 9:26:07 GMT -6
I became fully invested in Phoenix athletics in 2012 when I started school at GB, so KB is the only coach I’ve ever seen on the sidelines and it’s hard for me to even picture anyone else running this team. What he’s done at GB is truly incredible, helping make the women’s team just as (in some seasons, even more) popular than the men’s team is something hardly any women’s college coaches can say they’ve done.
I already had an immense amount of respect for the success he had as a coach, and I gained even more respect after hearing why he chose to retire. Completely selfless decision to put the school/team first and retiring to give them the best chance for success moving forward. Wish he would’ve gotten the chance to get one final standing ovation at the Kress though.
It’s nice he’s sticking around and helping in the process of finding the next coach, hopefully this help keeps players from transferring. As I said in my last post, GB is an elite mid major job, so I would imagine they’ll have a very strong list of coaching candidates looking to take over the team. You could make the argument that GB is the best womens job in the state, at least in regards to chances for success and community engagement. Based on how well Moon’s hiring of Wicks has played out, I have a ton of optimism for this search. One thing I think is clear with Moon, is that he’s not just going to make the easy/obvious hire. The two coaching names that interest me are Bollant (as I mentioned above, for obvious reasons) and Kayla Karius (formerly Kayla Tetschlag). Karius was a former Phoenix player, then going on to be the associate head coach of Wisconsin, now the head coach of South Dakota. She seems to have had decent success at SD, showing improvement there and making the womens NIT this season. But my interest in these options is based off their connection to GB and on court coaching success, and as we learned with the Wicks hire, the search team is probably looking for a lot more than that. GB is in a great position to raise NIL money with how much the community supports the women’s program, and I’m sure the school will be looking for someone who they think can maximize that. While I’ll definitely miss KB as the coach of the women’s team, it does appear like his decision is what’s best for the future success of the program and I’m excited to see how this coaching search plays out.
Thanks Coach Borseth for turning the GB women’s team into the powerhouse it is today!
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Post by fansincebuss on Apr 10, 2024 17:45:01 GMT -6
The coaching search will certainly be interesting. There are all sorts of examples of former GB women's players and former coaches that have done well. Hannah Quilling Iverson is another example of a former player with coaching success having won the league championship at UW Stout this past year.
Would a high school coach with tremendous success be out of the question? Sara Rhode?
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Post by gbbrl97 on Apr 10, 2024 20:46:08 GMT -6
I would at least make a call to Matt Bollant. GB had some of their best seasons overall and in the NCAAs under him. Recruiting also was elevated under Bollant. He expanded the recruiting base more versus Borseth who primarily kept to WI, MN, and the Chicago area. If Bollant is interested in coming back he will have to answer some questions about his tenure at Illinois and the behavior of his “Bad Cop” assistant coach Mike Divilbiss. Although he was cleared of any verbal abuse and any racial allegations, did that kind of culture exist while he and Bollant were at GB.
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Post by fansincebuss on Apr 22, 2024 22:52:40 GMT -6
I am very happy with this hire. She is very well connected to the program and has paid her dues.
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Post by bayballer on Apr 23, 2024 8:55:19 GMT -6
It’s pretty hard not to like this hire. A former lady Phoenix who’s had success coaching at the mid major level is about as perfect a fit as you’ll find. With Bollant being the only other name I was interested in, I think she’s clearly the better option of the two. Having played under Bollant, she’s obviously knows first hand what it takes to win at GB, and being so young into her coaching career, I have no doubt her motivation to succeed will be next level. Plus she comes without any of the negative baggage Bollant has.
One area she should have an advantage over Borseth is when it comes to recruiting. Even Borseth mentioned his age making it tough to recruit lately, but he also didn’t seem to branch out of Wisconsin and Minnesota when I came to finding players. While he still did a fine job recruiting those states, but if Karius can use her connections expand the recruiting base to the Dakotas, Iowa, and Illinois, this team can get back to the success that brought them Horizon Leagues titles every single season.
If there’s one downside to Karius getting the job, it’s that if she makes a few tournaments pretty quickly, I don’t see her being here very long. She’s clearly one of the better young coaches in the women’s game, so I think it won’t take long for a power 5 school to hire her if she continues her success at Green Bay. But let’s be clear, that’s obviously no reason not to hire her, that just comes with the territory of being a mid major.
She’s fully set up for success with the team she’s inheriting, and I don’t see any key pieces leaving. It’ll also be interesting to see if any players follow her from USD. USD’s third leading scorer last season is from Green Bay and went to Preble HS, so that could be a name to watch. Regardless, I’m very excited to see her take over the team, she’s definitely a shot in the arm that I think this program needed after they’ve taken a step back in terms of success recently.
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