Responding to FunDamentals re: Women's Program
Jan 27, 2014 0:15:34 GMT -6
phoslammajamma likes this
Post by shamrockmuscles on Jan 27, 2014 0:15:34 GMT -6
Just wanted to take a moment to respond to FunDamentals comment in the prior post about the women's program where the statement was "What concerned me about bringing back Borseth was the slow drain of talent due to his lackluster recruiting (he would always find a way to get 1-2 great players surrounded by a lot of mediocre players)". As far as lackluster recruiting- let me make sure everyone is aware that the programs success after Kevin left for Michigan can be directly placed on the talents of three players- Kayla Tetschlag, Celeste Hoewisch and Julie Wojta. None of these players were recruited by Matt Bollant. They were all recruits signed by Kevin who either stayed on or kept their commitment after he left.
As far as lackluster recruiting- let's also not forget that during Kevin's first run at Green Bay- there were two things that were sorely lacking. One- was a facility to sell to the recruits. The Phoenix Sports Center might have been a place where it was difficult to play as a visiting team but can anyone honestly say that a crowd of 1850 in an old high school gym would entice recruits to come here? No it wouldn't. Kevin made the most of every single resource he had and made the most out of the players that came here to play for him. Now we have the Kress Center which is the finest women's basketball facility in the Horizon League hands down. A decent sized crowd in this beautiful facility makes it that much more enticing for high schoolers to want to come here and be a part of the tradition. The other thing that Kevin lacked before in his prior stint- was having a recruiting coordinator so dedicated and passionate as Sarah Bronk. Sarah has helped "seal the deal" on so many recruits over the time that she has been here and that has been an asset bigger than anyone could ever realize. This is not meant as a knock on any of the previous assistant coaches- it's just a fact that Sarah fills that role better anyone ever has.
With the women's team not dominating as it has in the past- there is something else that needs to be considered here. Yes- we had a great run in conference play in the five years that Bollant was the head coach. But none of that success would have been possible without the foundation that Kevin helped build up and the recruits that Bollant utilized during his run. Some folks might want to say that Bollant's early success at Illinois (compared to some of KB's successes at Michigan) proves who is the better coach but what is also forgotten is that when KB went to Michigan- he inherited a truly bad team with average talent that he turned around into a winning program. Bollant took over an Illinois team that yes- had a bad record- but who had the foundation in place with monster recruiting classes brought in by their former coach- Jolette Law. She was and still is one of the nation's best recruiters- her problem was that she just couldn't coach them well enough.
People can say what they want- but anyone is remotely close to the women's program knows just how happy the team is that KB is back. GB might have gone 65-4 in the last two years of Bollant being here but those results hid alot of ugliness beneath the surface. Players now enjoy going to practice- they are not thrown under the bus either in the media or behind closed doors- they are "coached" rather than be screamed at by an associate head coach (Mike Divillbiss) who treated players so poorly that at least one player's Dad stopped coming to the games because of the treatment his daughter received- more than one player was ready to quit because of the verbal beat downs they received. Being called a medicore basketball player by a coach can wear down a person's psyche and this team had plenty of that going before Bollant and Divillbiss left. Divillbiss would have done to the women's team but Heidemann did to the men's team a few years ago.
Bottom line- people can question why the women's team is not dominating right now like they have been- but remember- we are the league's youngest team by far- and when most of the league loses their talent over the next two years- we will have nearly everyone still here along with some of the outstanding recruits that signed to join onto our tradition rich team.
Go Phoenix!!!
As far as lackluster recruiting- let's also not forget that during Kevin's first run at Green Bay- there were two things that were sorely lacking. One- was a facility to sell to the recruits. The Phoenix Sports Center might have been a place where it was difficult to play as a visiting team but can anyone honestly say that a crowd of 1850 in an old high school gym would entice recruits to come here? No it wouldn't. Kevin made the most of every single resource he had and made the most out of the players that came here to play for him. Now we have the Kress Center which is the finest women's basketball facility in the Horizon League hands down. A decent sized crowd in this beautiful facility makes it that much more enticing for high schoolers to want to come here and be a part of the tradition. The other thing that Kevin lacked before in his prior stint- was having a recruiting coordinator so dedicated and passionate as Sarah Bronk. Sarah has helped "seal the deal" on so many recruits over the time that she has been here and that has been an asset bigger than anyone could ever realize. This is not meant as a knock on any of the previous assistant coaches- it's just a fact that Sarah fills that role better anyone ever has.
With the women's team not dominating as it has in the past- there is something else that needs to be considered here. Yes- we had a great run in conference play in the five years that Bollant was the head coach. But none of that success would have been possible without the foundation that Kevin helped build up and the recruits that Bollant utilized during his run. Some folks might want to say that Bollant's early success at Illinois (compared to some of KB's successes at Michigan) proves who is the better coach but what is also forgotten is that when KB went to Michigan- he inherited a truly bad team with average talent that he turned around into a winning program. Bollant took over an Illinois team that yes- had a bad record- but who had the foundation in place with monster recruiting classes brought in by their former coach- Jolette Law. She was and still is one of the nation's best recruiters- her problem was that she just couldn't coach them well enough.
People can say what they want- but anyone is remotely close to the women's program knows just how happy the team is that KB is back. GB might have gone 65-4 in the last two years of Bollant being here but those results hid alot of ugliness beneath the surface. Players now enjoy going to practice- they are not thrown under the bus either in the media or behind closed doors- they are "coached" rather than be screamed at by an associate head coach (Mike Divillbiss) who treated players so poorly that at least one player's Dad stopped coming to the games because of the treatment his daughter received- more than one player was ready to quit because of the verbal beat downs they received. Being called a medicore basketball player by a coach can wear down a person's psyche and this team had plenty of that going before Bollant and Divillbiss left. Divillbiss would have done to the women's team but Heidemann did to the men's team a few years ago.
Bottom line- people can question why the women's team is not dominating right now like they have been- but remember- we are the league's youngest team by far- and when most of the league loses their talent over the next two years- we will have nearly everyone still here along with some of the outstanding recruits that signed to join onto our tradition rich team.
Go Phoenix!!!