[BostonCard]

No, Tara did NOT do this when she coached the Olympic team. Then again, IIRC, she was the coach who took over after the USA women had LOST in the Olympics, then brought them back to winning. Her priority as the Olympic coach was to win the Olympics. That is what the priority should be, not greasing the skids for her college team.

Worse than that, Tara was saddled with Rebecca Lobo when she was coaching the Olympic team, a player who came into camp out of shape and was not of the same caliber as some of the other players:

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-...story.html
https://www.sfgate.com/books/article/Tar...829477.php

For much of the year, VanDerveer worried that her players were too small to beat the larger and more formidable Russian and Chinese women. She urged the team's sponsors to replace some of them, including media star Rebecca Lobo. When that didn't work, VanDerveer vented her concerns to USA Today.

But Lobo was the media star, and Geno was on the selection committee, so Tara was obliged to keep her. Lobo contributed 3.9 ppg and 2.0 rpg, mostly in garbage time.

BC

[BostonCard]

No, Tara did NOT do this when she coached the Olympic team. Then again, IIRC, she was the coach who took over after the USA women had LOST in the Olympics, then brought them back to winning. Her priority as the Olympic coach was to win the Olympics. That is what the priority should be, not greasing the skids for her college team.

Worse than that, Tara was saddled with Rebecca Lobo when she was coaching the Olympic team, a player who came into camp out of shape and was not of the same caliber as some of the other players:

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-...story.html
https://www.sfgate.com/books/article/Tar...829477.php

For much of the year, VanDerveer worried that her players were too small to beat the larger and more formidable Russian and Chinese women. She urged the team's sponsors to replace some of them, including media star Rebecca Lobo. When that didn't work, VanDerveer vented her concerns to USA Today.

But Lobo was the media star, and Geno was on the selection committee, so Tara was obliged to keep her. Lobo contributed 3.9 ppg and 2.0 rpg, mostly in garbage time.

BC