[liveoak]

So you agree that bringing in someone that doesn’t know the system that worked well the year before, that doesn’t know the players, and that doesn’t know the school administration nor the school culture waa a risk best not taken?

Agree? Yes, I agree since, yes, my entire point is hiring a long-time assistant is a risk and imo a mistake without at least seeing who else is available. :)

Worked well the year before? Umm, depends on how you define "well" in light of their flame-out in the Tournament -- and the prior year's worse flame-out -- but not worth arguing about since it's not the point. The point is that Tara of course had a great career, but her longtime assistant isn't necessarily going to achieve at those same levels and shouldn't have gotten the job imo without at least seeing who else was available. A lazy hiring by Muir.

And my point is...it depends. I'll give you two names - Holly Warlick, Pat Summitt's longtime assistant at Tennessee and Niele Ivey, Muffet McGraw longtime assistant at Notre Dame.

 Warlick started off well and won a league title and three Elite Eights before she had a couple of relatively bad years and got fired. Ivey took over for McGraw in 2020 and was 10  -10 in that Covid year. She's won at least 24 games the next four years, along with two lleague titles

I think the idea that you shouldn't hire a longtime assistant is a truism that is not necessarily true. I think the first coach who follows a long-serving legend will have a very difficult time and often doesn't succeed - whether they were a long-term assistant or not. This may happen to Kate Paye, though I hope and wish that she has great success as a Stanford coach. 

A couple of comments about the "year before" We lost to NC State last year (I was there) because our players weren't athletic enough to cover their guards, Aziaha James and Saniya Rivers - not by coaching.

I believe I read in another thread a concern that Kate hadn't gotten any outside job offers since USC in 2017. I think it was pretty well known afterwards that Kate was being setup to take over from Tara when she left...in fact, it would have been shocking if she didn't get the job. I think this was already planned and I would not attribute her hiring to Bernard Muir. I don't think Muir's done a good job the last several year and I'm glad he's leaving, but this wasn't on him.

Kate may do well or may not. There is definitely room for improvement, but I'm very much looking forward to seeing her and the team next season.

[liveoak]

So you agree that bringing in someone that doesn’t know the system that worked well the year before, that doesn’t know the players, and that doesn’t know the school administration nor the school culture waa a risk best not taken?

Agree? Yes, I agree since, yes, my entire point is hiring a long-time assistant is a risk and imo a mistake without at least seeing who else is available. :)

Worked well the year before? Umm, depends on how you define "well" in light of their flame-out in the Tournament -- and the prior year's worse flame-out -- but not worth arguing about since it's not the point. The point is that Tara of course had a great career, but her longtime assistant isn't necessarily going to achieve at those same levels and shouldn't have gotten the job imo without at least seeing who else was available. A lazy hiring by Muir.

And my point is...it depends. I'll give you two names - Holly Warlick, Pat Summitt's longtime assistant at Tennessee and Niele Ivey, Muffet McGraw longtime assistant at Notre Dame.

 Warlick started off well and won a league title and three Elite Eights before she had a couple of relatively bad years and got fired. Ivey took over for McGraw in 2020 and was 10  -10 in that Covid year. She's won at least 24 games the next four years, along with two lleague titles

I think the idea that you shouldn't hire a longtime assistant is a truism that is not necessarily true. I think the first coach who follows a long-serving legend will have a very difficult time and often doesn't succeed - whether they were a long-term assistant or not. This may happen to Kate Paye, though I hope and wish that she has great success as a Stanford coach. 

A couple of comments about the "year before" We lost to NC State last year (I was there) because our players weren't athletic enough to cover their guards, Aziaha James and Saniya Rivers - not by coaching.

I believe I read in another thread a concern that Kate hadn't gotten any outside job offers since USC in 2017. I think it was pretty well known afterwards that Kate was being setup to take over from Tara when she left...in fact, it would have been shocking if she didn't get the job. I think this was already planned and I would not attribute her hiring to Bernard Muir. I don't think Muir's done a good job the last several year and I'm glad he's leaving, but this wasn't on him.

Kate may do well or may not. There is definitely room for improvement, but I'm very much looking forward to seeing her and the team next season.