[SearchingForTheTruth]

So when they don’t mention coaches it is negative and if they do it is negative even if it says positive things. Got it. 

Lara said “This is not an easy choice, and it comes with a lot of appreciation and respect for everything Stanford has given me.” But this is a secret message that Stanford was a toxic environment. Got it.

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.

---

Scott Rueck is 3-22 vs Stanford. Hard pass. 

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.

[SearchingForTheTruth]

So when they don’t mention coaches it is negative and if they do it is negative even if it says positive things. Got it. 

Lara said “This is not an easy choice, and it comes with a lot of appreciation and respect for everything Stanford has given me.” But this is a secret message that Stanford was a toxic environment. Got it.

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.

---

Scott Rueck is 3-22 vs Stanford. Hard pass. 

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.