Post by shamrockmuscles on Feb 24, 2016 21:33:32 GMT -6
Not that this portion of the messageboard gets alot of posts but I thought it was interesting to think about what has happened since Matt Bollant left Green Bay for Illinois and Kevin Borseth returned. I know at the time there was a thought that the program might take a step back because of the success that the women had during Bollant's last two years- the 65-4 run and the sweet sixteen run. When KB went to Michigan- he inherited an absolutely awful team and program. In five years he took it to an NCAA tournament and had an overall record of 87-73- and the success that he built there put Michigan in a place where it continues to have decent success today. True- 87-73 isn't lighting the world on fire- but it's still pretty respectable.
I always believed that much of the success that Bollant had was due to having Divilbiss on his staff, the addition of the Kress Center & having three of the top 7 or 8 players in program history- Kayla Tetschlag, Julie Wojta and Celeste Hoewisch- (none of which he recruited) and all of that lead to his getting the job at Illinois.
Now look where Green Bay & Illinois are at. GB is on the cusp of winning the conference championship for the 18th straight season. There are current & future stars on the team- and there are plenty of great players in the pipeline who have committed to the program going forward. Now look down to Illinois. The Divilbiss situation notwithstanding- the program at Illinois has fallen apart. Bollant inherited a team that had a top 10 national recruiting class that former coach Jolette Law had brought in. Bollant's overall record at Illinois is 52-70 with a big ten record of 19-48. If you take out the first year where he had decent success (19-14 overall & a 9-7 big ten mark)- he is 33-56 and just 10-41 in Big Ten play.
I know IL has a mess in their athletic department and just hired a new AD. I would be very surprised if there isn't at least two Big Ten coaching roles open for women's basketball after this season. Illinois and (if anyone actually cares in Madison)- Wisconsin.
I always believed that much of the success that Bollant had was due to having Divilbiss on his staff, the addition of the Kress Center & having three of the top 7 or 8 players in program history- Kayla Tetschlag, Julie Wojta and Celeste Hoewisch- (none of which he recruited) and all of that lead to his getting the job at Illinois.
Now look where Green Bay & Illinois are at. GB is on the cusp of winning the conference championship for the 18th straight season. There are current & future stars on the team- and there are plenty of great players in the pipeline who have committed to the program going forward. Now look down to Illinois. The Divilbiss situation notwithstanding- the program at Illinois has fallen apart. Bollant inherited a team that had a top 10 national recruiting class that former coach Jolette Law had brought in. Bollant's overall record at Illinois is 52-70 with a big ten record of 19-48. If you take out the first year where he had decent success (19-14 overall & a 9-7 big ten mark)- he is 33-56 and just 10-41 in Big Ten play.
I know IL has a mess in their athletic department and just hired a new AD. I would be very surprised if there isn't at least two Big Ten coaching roles open for women's basketball after this season. Illinois and (if anyone actually cares in Madison)- Wisconsin.