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Flu23 · Sophomore Joined: 10 Dec 2005 Posts: 79

What do you think

MullinsManiac · Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2005 11:36 pm Post subject:

Marnie was given a lot of rope, given the bad feelings left behind by her predecessor. But I'd say enough time has passed that Joanie O'Brien can no longer be blamed for the state of the women's hoop program. I'd say unless Dacko can make the program at least respectable by the end of the season, she's probably gone.
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MullinsManiac is on a drug ... it's called MullinsManiac.

lane one · Junior Joined: 17 Aug 2003 Posts: 676

I do not think it is reasonable to blame Coach Dacko for the state of the Junior and Senior classes in her third year of coaching. She was recruiting non-scholarship players at Cornell, so wasn't going to be able to bring in A10 talent in the her first year, and Coach O'Brien didn't even leave her a mailing list of players interested in UMass. Coach Ford is getting alot of production from players he inherited. Coach Dacko is not.

philosopher · Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2005 1:20 pm Post subject:

Our women's program had to scrape UP to get to the bottom of the barrel. Coach Dacko was in a worse situation than starting a program from scratch. She is bringing in talent, and needs a minimum of two more years before her work in Amherst can be judged fairly. I have spoken with some top flight women's coaches who believe Dacko will turn the program around if the hounds just stay off her heels and let her do her job. One of my sources had a similar job to do over 20 years ago, when the competition wasn't nearly as fierce. She said it was hell then. It is hell squared, now.

I figure it this way: years one and two were cleanup from O'Brien. This is really her first year to do any real coaching. Next year should bring some of the rewards of her work. Any talk about firing her until next year is over and in the books is idiotic.

Umass_Minuteman · Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2005 10:17 pm Post subject:

Come on. Lets give her more of a chance to get the program in good shape.
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UConn 59
UMass 61

December 9, 2004
William D. Mullins Center
University of Massachusetts
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cox'n · Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 4:24 pm Post subject:

Golly, give her a FAIR chance!

Skip · Sophomore Joined: 04 Apr 2003 Posts: 138

Umass_Minuteman · Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2005 3:15 pm Post subject:

BostonBert · Senior Joined: 28 Sep 2004 Posts: 1229

I challange someone to find a women's program that went from terrible to sucessful in 3 seasons. Stop counting this season because they are 2-7, yea they may end up 2- twenty something but they could also finish up with 16 or 17 wins. The building process takes a very long time. And furthermore, if you aren't going to the games don't bitch about the program. The attendance has been pretty weak. If you don't like women's hoop that's fine - but don't bash this coach until you have a vested interest in the team.

Skip · Sophomore Joined: 04 Apr 2003 Posts: 138

I'm not looking for the program to go from terrible to successful in three years.

As much as everyone loves to bash Joanie O'Brien, the program was not terrible when Dacko took it over. The team went 8-8 in the A-10 the year before and lost in the championship game of the A-10 tournament. And I'm sick of hearing how there were no recruits for Dacko that first year. When Travis Ford took over, Lappas left him with no recruits, and he seemed to do just fine.

I also don't expect us to win the Atlantic 10 every year. But is it too much to ask for us to at least be a .500 team in the league. The bottom half of the Atlantic 10 is very weak. We should at least be the fifth or sixth best team every year.

I'd settle for us being a slighty better than average team, and in three and half years under Dacko, we are not even close to that.

CrooksisRhyming · Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2005 4:43 pm Post subject:

InnervisionsUMASS · Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2005 4:48 pm Post subject:

BostonBert · Senior Joined: 28 Sep 2004 Posts: 1229

ktabz16 · Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2005 7:45 pm Post subject:

let me qualify my post by saying that i have never attended a women's college basketball game... i do however, have the ability to compare men's w/ women's... trying to compare the two are not fair... there are many more blue chip men's recruits... that is why the best women's programs beat good mid majors by 60 or 70 points... i would say it is a little too early to call for her head... give her till the end of next year to show signs of improvement, then if it hasn't happened, respectfully let her go... to be selfish, let me nominate anna kinne as a replacement... an assistant at holy cross who played there and led them as point guard to i believe 4 ncaa tournament berths.. she also happens to be the best female athlete ever to come out of my high school... she also scored 50+ points in a game which happened to be in the western mass finals which was held in the mullins center, which is a record for most points scored in a game in the building by a male or female.... just my two cents

lane one · Junior Joined: 17 Aug 2003 Posts: 676

A record at Cornell needs to be taken with a grain of salt. There is a definite pecking order in the Ivy League. Any athlete that can get into Cornell can get in, can also get into H-Y-P. H-Y-P get first choice. For the most part, Cornell gets the left overs. Of the Ivy's, Brown tends to be the most inclined to take things other than pure academics into account in the admissions process (and not just for athletes), so some athletes are admitted to Brown that could not get into Cornell, so Cornell often has a tough time competing against Brown as well. When four of seven other teams in your conference have a huge recruiting advantage over you, 0.500 becomes a much better record than appears at first glance.