WBB news - Printable Version

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RE: WBB news - midnight21 - 04-09-2026

It appears Chloe has her degree, or will have it before she leaves: https://x.com/TaliaGoodmanWBB/status/2042348640396628326

The good news is that not much of an investigation is needed to fire the coaching staff if they cannot retain a single player on the roster...

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RE: WBB news - SearchingForTheTruth - 04-09-2026

So as far as I can ascertain from this thread these are the facts:

There are 7 players in the portal. 3 are grad transfers. 

There are no public direct allegations by anyone against the Stanford Women’s Basketball program. 

Therefore we should fire our head coach. 

Am I missing something?

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RE: WBB news - M T - 04-09-2026

Per the NCAA WBB statistics site, there were 359 Division I teams.
According to this site, there are 1385 players in the portal.

That's an average of 3.86 players per team (and remember, those that have used up their eligibility don't enter the portal).

I saw one team with 13 players in the portal.  
Stanford isn't Joe Btfspik.  This storm is raining everywhere.


I don't know about everyone else, but when I chose a college, I checked into things before deciding.  Anyone committing in the first few days has probably been catching offers for some time.

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RE: WBB news - SearchingForTheTruth - 04-09-2026

She is a grad transfer. Per Talia Goodman: 

https://www.instagram.com/p/DW7OhzAEdP4/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

(04-09-2026, 03:21 PM)BillBradley Wrote:  Question: Is a player like Chloe (who hasn't yet graduated) really leaving her degree on the table?  If she has a handful of classes left, can she get re-admitted to finish at a later time?

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RE: WBB news - Jskass - 04-09-2026

please do not tell me the unbelievable time lapse is due to someone not wanting to buy out the remainder of the contract?

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RE: WBB news - jonnyss - 04-09-2026

(04-09-2026, 03:33 PM)Jskass Wrote:  please do not tell me the unbelievable time lapse is due to someone not wanting to buy out the remainder of the contract?

that's my guess. they need to preserve funds to pay for more assistant athletic directors.

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RE: WBB news - liveoak - 04-09-2026

(04-09-2026, 03:31 PM)AlwaysRight Wrote:  So as far as I can ascertain from this thread these are the facts:

There are 7 players in the portal. 3 are grad transfers. 

There are no public direct allegations by anyone against the Stanford Women’s Basketball program. 

Therefore we should fire our head coach. 

Am I missing something?

Any allegations are private and should be handled privately, not in the public. I do not expect them to be publicly aired.

Also, when four of the five starters decide to enter the transfer portal (including your best freshman who was a top 10 recruit last year) - that should make someone in the Athletic Department wonder about what is going on with the team.  It's not a good sign that players keep entering the portal after it opened

I watched all of the home games with the exception of the first one. I didn't necessarily think at the time Kate should be fired, but I did think she needed a dedicated assistant to improve the offense...which needs help. Wondering if you saw the same thing...

If there are allegations against the coaches, the Athletic Department in my opinion should investigate them and take swift action if necessary.

And I send my best wishes to the players for the future...

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RE: WBB news - crackpot - 04-09-2026

(04-09-2026, 03:31 PM)AlwaysRight Wrote:  So as far as I can ascertain from this thread these are the facts:

There are 7 players in the portal. 3 are grad transfers. 

There are no public direct allegations by anyone against the Stanford Women’s Basketball program. 

Therefore we should fire our head coach. 

Am I missing something?

I can't imagine that there will be any public direct allegations by any of the current or portal players. I'm willing to be nice bike (IYKNK) that part of signing a contract to receive $$$ for the year includes a non-disparagement clause (though that can be tricky in California).

It has surprised me that Stanford requires you to sign very detailed agreements to do almost anything, so I'd be shocked if the players' contracts didn't require them (as much as CA law allows) to not speak ill of the coaching staff.

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RE: WBB news - 2006alum - 04-09-2026

(04-09-2026, 03:31 PM)AlwaysRight Wrote:  So as far as I can ascertain from this thread these are the facts:

There are 7 players in the portal. 3 are grad transfers. 

There are no public direct allegations by anyone against the Stanford Women’s Basketball program. 

Therefore we should fire our head coach. 

Am I missing something?

Yes, that at least one player went to HR mid-season. She's now at TCU, and her departure message made it clear how sad she was that "changes in the program" made it untenable for her to stay.

It's the pointed statements in MAS and Harper's statements. It's that even Courtney Ogden's statement had very couched thanks to the coaching staff who "challenged her on so many levels and helped me learn more about myself that will stay with me."

I get that there's no public smoking gun but the entire building is on fire and the players are fleeing for the exits and cheering each other on to do so.

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RE: WBB news - Nurdyguy - 04-09-2026

(04-09-2026, 03:31 PM)AlwaysRight Wrote:  So as far as I can ascertain from this thread these are the facts:

There are 7 players in the portal. 3 are grad transfers. 

There are no public direct allegations by anyone against the Stanford Women’s Basketball program. 

Therefore we should fire our head coach. 

Am I missing something?

I think you summarized it well. I don't buy the toxic coaching allegations. The true root cause of the problem is Stanford administrators who stubbornly continue to impose hostile restrictions on incoming transfers. If this team reloaded with strong upperclassmen after key portal losses during the past few years, they could have been more competitive, and we wouldn't have these portal losses. Instead, rigid administrators have forced coaches to smile through the pain while struggling under the pre-portal model of only building from high school recruits. We know that most of these Stanford administrators weren't smart enough to actually attend Stanford, but now that we have an alum as president, I hope he can recognize and fix these archaic practices, or fire those who refuse to change. We can still require good grades and class attendance, but we must level the playing field for incoming transfers in all other areas. Maybe our coaches aren't coaching gods, but even the second coming of John Wooden and Knute Rockne would refuse to coach Stanford revenue sports while we continue to shoot ourselves in the foot with ill-advised restrictions on incoming transfers that render us immediately uncompetitive. I'm not jumping on the toxic coaching bandwagon. Instead, I think it's toxic administrators who are killing us, and that's where I'd be issuing pink slips.

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RE: WBB news - Jskass - 04-09-2026

aren't key measures of a coaches' success their win-loss, win-loss vs. expectations, ability to keep players?

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RE: WBB news - martyup - 04-09-2026

(04-09-2026, 04:46 PM)Jskass Wrote:  aren't key measures of a coaches' success their win-loss, win-loss vs. expectations, ability to keep players?

Exactly!  The toxic environment is just the cherry on the top of the decision to cut KP loose.



And it's most likely the root cause of the underperformance of the team and the massive player exodus.

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RE: WBB news - Jskass - 04-09-2026

my spidey sense says her contract was too long for a first year head coach!

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RE: WBB news - jacket3ree - 04-09-2026

Interesting how many people here are related to people at UVA. My son was an athlete at Navy and harbors a desire to run an athletic program somewhere, someday. As part of his coursework he's been shadowing Virginia's AD and has met Carla Williams numerous times. If she was on thin ice after Bennett quit and while Elliott was floundering, she seems to have safely escaped without falling into the cold water below. Apparently UVA has gone all in on players, so no surprise that Mox (is that short for 'Moxie'?) was pushed out even after such a good tournament run. They upped their player payments by herding the donor cats and surprise, surprise Elliott becomes a genius and they should have been ACC champions in football (can't figure out how they let Duke beat them) and finished second in hoops to Duke (again). Baseball team is decent under a new coach (from Duke! with all their players transferring in) after O'Conner went to Miss State and dominate "Stanford sports" like swimming and diving.

Players vote with their feet.  Sort of shocked that a coach who has been at Stanford for 17 years and was always the heir apparent would just suddenly turn toxic out of nowhere. Hard to know whether this is the coaching staff or soft Generation Z players (that need to stay off my fake lawn! "Zoomers" apparently) without being around the program on the regular, but again, players have plenty of options now. Many schools start over year after year. 

NIL isn't paid by the school, is it? I know the school facilitates that now, but there can't be contracts that forbid disparagement against Stanford because someone with a contract would be an employee of the school, wouldn't they? So murky - there must be multi-year NIL deals with conditions based on the donors wishes. Don't know. I'm not a lawyer; I just spend hours searching depositions for smoking guns that I thought the actual lawyers are supposed to find.

That football X account is impossible to follow. I wish Paye well in her defamation suit if that's what does her in. Pretty flimsy reason to fire for cause. Players not praising coaches in their 'that being said' messages is also pretty flimsy.

Yes, all we know is that players are in the portal, which closes April 20, and there are rumors, so Lindy Laroque is the Messiah. Or maybe the OSU dude. 

Tennessee and Stanford should just swap teams. Always a greener pasture somewhere else.

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RE: WBB news - farmerguy - 04-09-2026

NurdyGuy - What don't you "buy" about a there being a toxic environment?  Do you have knowledge that there was not a toxic environment that you want to share with us?  Just because there has not been a public statement does not mean that there is not a problem.

We just lost 7 players to the portal, all with different profiles - starters, non-starters, freshman, juniors, former transfers, etc.  Each could have chosen to stay at Stanford but all decided to leave. Also, while walking out the door they either nothing to say about the coaches or said "thank you for challenging" me, which could be taken several ways. Sure, Instagram posts are not proof alone of a toxic environment, but something seems to be going on that is making players not want to stay.  Some people online who seem to have direct knowledge have said as much.

So, am I correct that your solution to the exodus is for the administration to make it easier for players to transfer into Stanford?  

I have an alternative strategy. How about the administration work to keep the players that we already have and having the players' backs and elevating their well being as a much higher priority.

Also, without retention, Stanford would just be a revolving door, much like many of the teams that, we as Stanford fans, don't much care for.

To be clear, I am not saying that we just throw NIL money at people to attract folks.  That works sometimes, but no matter how much money you pay someone, if the person hates going to work (the gym in this case) everyday because of the environment, even the highest paid players won't stay.

Just my two cents.

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RE: WBB news - Nurdyguy - 04-09-2026

(04-09-2026, 04:58 PM)martyup Wrote:  

(04-09-2026, 04:46 PM)Jskass Wrote:  aren't key measures of a coaches' success their win-loss, win-loss vs. expectations, ability to keep players?

Exactly!  The toxic environment is just the cherry on the top of the decision to cut KP loose.



And it's most likely the root cause of the underperformance of the team and the massive player exodus.

Chicken vs. egg.  I believe every Stanford coach will continue to underperform until the Stanford Administration levels the playing field on transfers. That includes Kyle Smith, who is a great coach. We got lucky that Kyle Smith has an affinity for Stanford, but we otherwise won't be able to compete for good coaches in revenue sports until they know that the Stanford administration will allow them to reasonably reload with high-talent upperclassmen and graduate students in the portal.

Coaching is important, but I don't think coaching is the root of our problem because if this team had been allowed to reload with upperclass talent the past few years, they wouldn't have lost as many games, thus no exodus.

I think the hostility of the Stanford Administration to transfers is the root of the problem because even if we fire this entire coaching staff, and the new coach is the 2nd coming of John Wooden, they'll still underperform due to the restriction on transfers, and thus experience their own exodus in due time.

Great coaching is great, but great coaches won't go to a school that won't allow them to get great players. Even great coaches will lose transfers, so they need to be able to reload with great players in return. Not just freshmen. Cori Close reloaded with upperclass talent after her exodus, leading to a natty. Stanford Administration needs to catch up with the times. Otherwise, that's who I'd fire.

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RE: WBB news - 2006alum - 04-09-2026

Nurdyguy, I feel like this is arguing the root cause of a burnt down building not being rebuilt is overly restrictive zoning laws, when the root cause by definition is the fire. Sure, having easier access to transfers would ease our next steps here, but there's no point in rebuilding when the building is still on fire. 

I implore any of you to read the players statements. They are so obviously examples of "say you're leaving because of the coaching staff without saying you're leaving because of the coaching staff." 

I have DM'd with one player who clearly is restricted in what she can say, presumably by agreement with Stanford as others have speculated, but as a lawyer myself, I read her message as communicating, " I'm really sad I have to do this and wish I didn't, and I'll really miss Stanford, the fans, the community and my fellow players." what didn't she mention? The coaches.

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RE: WBB news - jacket3ree - 04-09-2026

2006alum,

Do you think the players are just leaving coaches off statements because even if they hate the coaches, why go there; or is there really language somewhere saying they can't disparage Stanford, who we all know is not their employer? Is that in a scholarship agreement? Are there NIL contracts and with whom?

-Not a lawyer

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RE: WBB news - stopandpop - 04-09-2026

(04-09-2026, 05:32 PM)jacket3ree Wrote:  Interesting how many people here are related to people at UVA. My son was an athlete at Navy and harbors a desire to run an athletic program somewhere, someday. As part of his coursework he's been shadowing Virginia's AD and has met Carla Williams numerous times. If she was on thin ice after Bennett quit and while Elliott was floundering, she seems to have safely escaped without falling into the cold water below. Apparently UVA has gone all in on players, so no surprise that Mox (is that short for 'Moxie'?) was pushed out even after such a good tournament run. They upped their player payments by herding the donor cats and surprise, surprise Elliott becomes a genius and they should have been ACC champions in football (can't figure out how they let Duke beat them) and finished second in hoops to Duke (again). Baseball team is decent under a new coach (from Duke! with all their players transferring in) after O'Conner went to Miss State and dominate "Stanford sports" like swimming and diving.

Players vote with their feet.  Sort of shocked that a coach who has been at Stanford for 17 years and was always the heir apparent would just suddenly turn toxic out of nowhere. Hard to know whether this is the coaching staff or soft Generation Z players (that need to stay off my fake lawn! "Zoomers" apparently) without being around the program on the regular, but again, players have plenty of options now. Many schools start over year after year. 

NIL isn't paid by the school, is it? I know the school facilitates that now, but there can't be contracts that forbid disparagement against Stanford because someone with a contract would be an employee of the school, wouldn't they? So murky - there must be multi-year NIL deals with conditions based on the donors wishes. Don't know. I'm not a lawyer; I just spend hours searching depositions for smoking guns that I thought the actual lawyers are supposed to find.

That football X account is impossible to follow. I wish Paye well in her defamation suit if that's what does her in. Pretty flimsy reason to fire for cause. Players not praising coaches in their 'that being said' messages is also pretty flimsy.

Yes, all we know is that players are in the portal, which closes April 20, and there are rumors, so Lindy Laroque is the Messiah. Or maybe the OSU dude. 

Tennessee and Stanford should just swap teams. Always a greener pasture somewhere else.

I understand why Lindy Laroque would be a favorite (among many on this Board) to replace KP, should she be fired.   Lindy has done an excellent job with UNLV since she took over, although this past season her team did not make the Tournament and of course, she has strong ties to the program.  But at this particular moment in time, with Stanford WBB in such shambles, I would pass on anyone with connections to the program and go with an outsider with Power Five/Four experience, and the ability to rebuild AND infuse their own brand of basketball that better fits how the game is played today and where Stanford becomes an entirely different yet a very strong and competitive team.  There are several coaches that come to mind, but my pick (should he be interested) is Rueck from OSU.

Look at it this way.  If Stanford was a house on the TV show "Fixer Upper", Lindy would come in and perhaps create an open concept living room, dining room and kitchen and perhaps the remodel the old bathroom upstairs. It might be a better house, but it would still be Stanford with subtle changes. Scott Rueck would come in, demolish the house and with the care, compassion and vision he had of what Stanford women's basketball would be- work towards producing an elite program, but playing a totally different style with players who can perform well in his system.  Rueck (like Close) has always cared for his players on a personal, academic and a team level.

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RE: WBB news - TheFarm07 - 04-09-2026

(04-09-2026, 06:19 PM)stopandpop Wrote:  

(04-09-2026, 05:32 PM)jacket3ree Wrote:  Interesting how many people here are related to people at UVA. My son was an athlete at Navy and harbors a desire to run an athletic program somewhere, someday. As part of his coursework he's been shadowing Virginia's AD and has met Carla Williams numerous times. If she was on thin ice after Bennett quit and while Elliott was floundering, she seems to have safely escaped without falling into the cold water below. Apparently UVA has gone all in on players, so no surprise that Mox (is that short for 'Moxie'?) was pushed out even after such a good tournament run. They upped their player payments by herding the donor cats and surprise, surprise Elliott becomes a genius and they should have been ACC champions in football (can't figure out how they let Duke beat them) and finished second in hoops to Duke (again). Baseball team is decent under a new coach (from Duke! with all their players transferring in) after O'Conner went to Miss State and dominate "Stanford sports" like swimming and diving.

Players vote with their feet.  Sort of shocked that a coach who has been at Stanford for 17 years and was always the heir apparent would just suddenly turn toxic out of nowhere. Hard to know whether this is the coaching staff or soft Generation Z players (that need to stay off my fake lawn! "Zoomers" apparently) without being around the program on the regular, but again, players have plenty of options now. Many schools start over year after year. 

NIL isn't paid by the school, is it? I know the school facilitates that now, but there can't be contracts that forbid disparagement against Stanford because someone with a contract would be an employee of the school, wouldn't they? So murky - there must be multi-year NIL deals with conditions based on the donors wishes. Don't know. I'm not a lawyer; I just spend hours searching depositions for smoking guns that I thought the actual lawyers are supposed to find.

That football X account is impossible to follow. I wish Paye well in her defamation suit if that's what does her in. Pretty flimsy reason to fire for cause. Players not praising coaches in their 'that being said' messages is also pretty flimsy.

Yes, all we know is that players are in the portal, which closes April 20, and there are rumors, so Lindy Laroque is the Messiah. Or maybe the OSU dude. 

Tennessee and Stanford should just swap teams. Always a greener pasture somewhere else.

I understand why Lindy Laroque would be a favorite (among many on this Board) to replace KP, should she be fired.   Lindy has done an excellent job with UNLV since she took over, although this past season her team did not make the Tournament and of course, she has strong ties to the program.  But at this particular moment in time, with Stanford WBB in such shambles, I would pass on anyone with connections to the program and go with an outsider with Power Five/Four experience, and the ability to rebuild AND infuse their own brand of basketball that better fits how the game is played today and where Stanford becomes an entirely different yet a very strong and competitive team.  There are several coaches that come to mind, but my pick (should he be interested) is Rueck from OSU.

Look at it this way.  If Stanford was a house on the TV show "Fixer Upper", Lindy would come in and perhaps create an open concept living room, dining room and kitchen and perhaps the remodel the old bathroom upstairs. It might be a better house, but it would still be Stanford with subtle changes. Scott Rueck would come in, demolish the house and with the care, compassion and vision he had of what Stanford women's basketball would be- work towards producing an elite program, but playing a totally different style with players who can perform well in his system.  Rueck (like Close) has always cared for his players on a personal, academic and a team level.

I totally agree that if we were to look for a new coach, I want someone without any previous ties to Stanford, we need to start fresh.

Also, I concur with Rueck. He also has experiencing rebuilding a program after a scandal. His predecessor at Oregon State, LaVonda Wagner left under a flurry of player abuse allegations.

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