[81alum]

Re: Goat status

And while Tara is a legendary coach, she is not Geno or Pat. She is not the Goat of WBB as someone said above that cannot be critiqued on some of her choices this year. She may be the Goat of West coast basketball. But the titles that Geno or Pat have won, no living Division 1 Coach will ever surpass. And Geno is on her heels on all-time winnings. But that doesn’t diminish Tara’s place in history. Being at least Top 3-5 in WBB is still a legendary career. Who wouldn’t want to retire Top 5 in their career? I would.

These debates can never be resolved.  Not that they are not fun, but defining the "Greatest" of anything means agreeing on criteria that people probably won't agree on.

For example, not mentioned in this discussion are Tara's severe recruiting limitations compared with Pat or Geno, who could recruit absolutely anyone without regard to academics.  There was a Stanford team, about 10 years ago, where people on this board looked up the publicly stated high school GPAs of each of the women on the team: every single scholarship player had a 4.0 or better in high school.  That may or may not always be the case, but it gives us a flavor of the kind of recruiting Tara has to do and that Geno and Pat did not have to do.

So, is "greatest" defined by national championships?  By wins?  By getting more out of the talent you have than the other coaches?  (I remember Geno stating after we beat UConn in the 2008 semifinals: "Tara has always been a great coach, she just hasn't always had great players.")  Quite simply, Tara is the GOAT by certain measures and not by others.  My guess is that if we put Tara at UConn she would do better than if we put Geno at Stanford.  She has shown through Ohio State and the Olympics that she can coach just fine with no recruiting limits.  Geno hasn't shown he could be successful with severe academic limitations on recruiting.  Does that matter?  It does to me, but it might not to you.  She is the Greatest of MY All Time but not the Greatest of YOUR All Time, and that is perfectly fine.  We should have a couple of beers and gently rib each other down at the bar with Baez.

[81alum]

Re: Goat status

And while Tara is a legendary coach, she is not Geno or Pat. She is not the Goat of WBB as someone said above that cannot be critiqued on some of her choices this year. She may be the Goat of West coast basketball. But the titles that Geno or Pat have won, no living Division 1 Coach will ever surpass. And Geno is on her heels on all-time winnings. But that doesn’t diminish Tara’s place in history. Being at least Top 3-5 in WBB is still a legendary career. Who wouldn’t want to retire Top 5 in their career? I would.

These debates can never be resolved.  Not that they are not fun, but defining the "Greatest" of anything means agreeing on criteria that people probably won't agree on.

For example, not mentioned in this discussion are Tara's severe recruiting limitations compared with Pat or Geno, who could recruit absolutely anyone without regard to academics.  There was a Stanford team, about 10 years ago, where people on this board looked up the publicly stated high school GPAs of each of the women on the team: every single scholarship player had a 4.0 or better in high school.  That may or may not always be the case, but it gives us a flavor of the kind of recruiting Tara has to do and that Geno and Pat did not have to do.

So, is "greatest" defined by national championships?  By wins?  By getting more out of the talent you have than the other coaches?  (I remember Geno stating after we beat UConn in the 2008 semifinals: "Tara has always been a great coach, she just hasn't always had great players.")  Quite simply, Tara is the GOAT by certain measures and not by others.  My guess is that if we put Tara at UConn she would do better than if we put Geno at Stanford.  She has shown through Ohio State and the Olympics that she can coach just fine with no recruiting limits.  Geno hasn't shown he could be successful with severe academic limitations on recruiting.  Does that matter?  It does to me, but it might not to you.  She is the Greatest of MY All Time but not the Greatest of YOUR All Time, and that is perfectly fine.  We should have a couple of beers and gently rib each other down at the bar with Baez.