Latest / Spiders Sound Off / Emergency Pod: Aaron Roussell Leaves Richmond for UVA | Coaching Search Begins

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Emergency Pod: Aaron Roussell Leaves Richmond for UVA | Coaching Search Begins · Spiders Sound Off

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Off Warning Warning Emergency pod Emergency pod This is a a
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new and off the cuff spider sound off.
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The pod we were hoping we would not have.
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To and as usual, this is Tom. And this is Porter.
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And we are here to talk about the news that came out yesterday
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about Coach Russell leaving Porter.
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I want to start off and say we've got somewhere in our list
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of potential podcasts, topics you already drafted.
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Like how do we keep Coach Russell?
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It never came to light. So is this partially your fault
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for not pushing that as the season wrapped?
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Up you know, dude, I, I probably should have put out a broader
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episode earlier. I think I was advocating for it
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in December and I think he was got got some pushback that it
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was too early, too early and then it got to be too late.
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So look, I mean, we, it's a hard, hard day.
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Last night was a hard night. We lost one of the best coaches
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in Richmond history through nobody's fault.
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I mean, he had a great offer apparently to go right up the
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road to UVA where he very easily could win a national title.
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I think our administration did a good job of trying to keep him.
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I mean, I saw we saw the effort they put out for the at large
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big game down in Durham. That was really, really good.
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So I mean, like, look, there's sometimes, you know, great
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coaches leave for great opportunities and there's no,
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there's no fault to be to be doled out, but it doesn't make
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it any less painful. Yeah, that's right.
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I mean, what's tough? I mean, and just so you know,
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maybe you take a step back so everyone knows kind of the
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timeline a bit. So UVA fire their coach a bit
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unexpectedly to the public at least on April 4th.
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And Russell was hired on the 7th USA TODAY reported that their
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coach is some was subject to some internal investigation
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involving kind of staff mistreatment and so that she
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went to the Sweet 16. So that where from a public
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standpoint, it was a surprise that you fire a coach who kind
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of took that team further than they've been in a bit.
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Coach Roussel was hired, 6 year contracts been reported.
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No financial figures, although I think because it's UVA, we'll
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probably get those quicker than we would if he went to
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absolutely a private school. The timings not great because
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open the portal is opened. It's also was I think was you
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our giving day. So that that makes that a bit
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tough. Now, the good news if you want
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to try to be good news from a timing standpoint, is that the
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first few days of the portal is when like the top players are
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getting signed. I mean, it's he's under a lot of
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pressure at UVA. He's got to like bring his best
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player back or and if not, kind of sign some of these top
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players that are out there on the portal.
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I you know, as soon as the market for those top players get
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determined, then it's kind of the next level.
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It's kind of like free agency from any kind of professional
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sport you like. It's usually the top players go
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first and then it's, you know, the players that are likely kind
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of more in the Richmond ballpark would come soon after.
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But we've we've got to nail down this coach this week, like if
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this drifts into next. See, I'm I'm actually worried
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about that because like, if you go too fast just to save portal
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season and you get the wrong person, that could set you, of
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course, four years. Whereas if you get the right
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person, but maybe you take you a little bit more time, you might
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have a tougher time next year, but you might in the long haul,
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you know, reap, reap massive. Dividends, right.
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So I guess the the story supposedly is that we've hired
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this firm. Was it elevate?
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What they're called Twitter or X is reporting Elevate.
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And they've done searches before.
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And so I think they're kind of so that's that's one of those
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where you hire a firm like that because they've already been
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talking to people through other searches.
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They kind of got lists. You can tell them what you're
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looking for. They can narrow that down.
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You can say, I also want to talk to these five coaches and
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they've got the network to do that.
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So that's where like this should go fast because.
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They have a network. These process are built to go.
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I will also say your caution needs to be exercised with firms
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like this because you know they're going to be incented to
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place a candidate with you. They get paid a lot of times on
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a percentage of that person's salary.
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Sometimes it's just a retainer, sometimes it's a percentage of
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the salary. So you don't want to get pushed
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on somebody who's good at the expense of somebody who's great
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goodwill set you back. This is the hottest program in
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the nation right now that has a job opening and we really should
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approach this search in a way that we make sure we're take
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casting a wide net, not excluding anybody from the
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search. I believe personally we should
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be looking at head coaches, assistant coaches.
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I think you should talk to Coach Brittany and Coach Janine on our
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team, see, you know, where they're at, whether they're
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ready to take that next step. The major, the, the Final four
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teams were all kind of locked up in play when a lot of these
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coaching searches came open. So those elite assistants
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haven't had a chance to really pursue a lot of coaching jobs.
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If there's a great coach on one of those Final four teams that
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is ready to take a step or maybe has previous coaching success,
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they just went back to learn from the best.
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Now they're back, you know, for their second run.
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I think you should at least cast a net and talk to those folks as
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well. Yeah.
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And part of the timing urgency is obviously coach Russell at
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some point is going to announce his staff.
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So if there is anyone from our staff or from his U of our staff
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that is a candidate like you need to figure that out before
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kind of. They've committed and he might
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already have agreements for those folks in place.
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I don't know. We don't know that.
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And I'm not saying that, you know, hiring one of his
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assistants is a likely outcome. I'm just saying we should at
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least talk to them because of the success the programs.
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Well, and and kind of my recommendation there, and this
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is and maybe my guess is this is already happened, is that when
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Hart and Russell were having the conversation of OK, I'm leaving
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and let's talk about transition and communication or the agents
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were doing that conversation at some point.
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It's like, what are what are your plans with your existing
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staff? And is there anyone on that
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staff that you would recommend? Meaning heart asking Russell
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that that I should be talking to as a potential head coach
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candidate tomorrow. And I would hope Russell would
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have a recommendation that could be yes for this person, no for
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that person, or I've already talked to these people and
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they're coming with me. But that that should be a very
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quick conversation when it comes to assistance, whether they
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should be getting an interview or not.
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I mean, assuming they were open to at least being considered, I
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think, you know, if you're one of the assistants under Russell,
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you have to listen because it's your chance to move up.
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And, and I'm not saying that's the right play because I don't
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know who else is out there, but I, I think I certainly would
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have a conversation with them before I made any decisions.
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So Porter, just question for you before we start talking about
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some of these potential names that are out there, How do you,
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and I'm not looking for like a ranking or a number, but
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obviously there's like you got your existing or at least the
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returning team. Like how do you prioritize, like
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how important it is the coach kind of fits in with those
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players versus what sort of system they could bring?
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That is, let's say, similar to what we've played versus, you
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know, you could there are some coaches out there who are known
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for like being incredible defensive coaches more than
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offensive. Also like this.
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You know, if you think of Roussel, one of the things we
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loved was like how much he engaged with the fans, kind of
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had his team engage with the fans.
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Like that's a philosophy that is not shared, but at the same
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level, maybe like how do you prioritize what we're looking
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for in in a coach? And obviously, and then there's
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winning track record of like winning as a coach.
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I mean, how do you how do you pull all of that together if
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you're John Hart? Nope, trying to.
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Number one, I got to imagine, you know, you know, Hart hired
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Russell, give him credit twice, right, Bucknell out of
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University of Chicago and here out of Bucknell.
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So he has two great women's coach hires, both Aaron Russell.
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I got to imagine he was prepared for this day.
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So I think he probably has a short list of candidates that
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he, you know, wants to talk to. I think there are people that we
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would aspire to talk to that probably aren't going to want to
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talk to us. We'll get to that in a second.
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But how do I prioritize it? I would say #1 I want, if I'm
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going, if I'm going to hire an existing head coach, I want to
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see a track record of success, right?
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That's the number one thing because you know, in coaching
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your, your track record is your resume, right?
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I mean, if you could be the greatest person in the world,
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but if you're a 500 coach over Four Seasons, then you know, you
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kind of know what you're getting, right?
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So track record success as a head coach and not one year
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success, multiple years of success is the the most
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important thing. I will follow that down with
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like modern, the modern game is all built around offensive
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efficiency. I would want to understand their
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offensive efficiency and their philosophy and coaching offense.
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You see, a lot of the great coaches are, are extremely adept
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at, you know, creating, you know, easy looks for their team,
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right? So that would be #2 number
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three, I am a huge fan and I know you've heard me say this
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time and time again that, you know, you need to have an
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understanding of how analytics have changed the game.
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I would make sure this person is analytic friendly and not
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analytic opposed because I think that really is, you know, a key
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thing to gain competitive advantage.
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And lastly, I think, you know, a person's character has to also
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equal to the other three things. If you get all of those things
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but the person is of terrible character, you're just, you
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know, you're going to end up with a program that follows.
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So how do you the one part you didn't speak to is kind of our
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roster coming in. Does that have any do you care?
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Like the the the part that's tricky in this is like, I don't
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think we're hiring the coach for the next 10 years.
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We're hiring a coach for the next, let's say, four to six
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years. And if the next two years are
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miserable because she has she or he has to bring in right 15 new
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players over the next two years and let's the independent of
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options. Let's say next year because like
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honestly, the portal changes everything's yeah, longevity.
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So next year could be awful or it could be great.
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We just don't know. I know, but you can't like does
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that. I don't care.
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Yeah. I mean, like, at the end of the
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day, I like I'm with you. I want Allie Sweeney to stay and
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have her senior year for a lot of reasons, because I think
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Allie's going to make the Hall of Fame.
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I think Allie is a winner. I think she's a great spider.
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I think, you know, we've got some great recruits.
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It'll, it'll be interesting to see if they go with Russell, the
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UVA or if they stay open to Richmond coming in.
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I want to get my share of those 4 stud recruits that we have
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coming in and I want to keep, you know, rain right and, and
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Persichetti and all those folks. I want, I mean I want to keep
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them, but at the end of the day, you got to get the right leader
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of the program or nothing else will matter.
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Yeah, it's interesting. So on the just on the portal
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side, then we'll start talking about coaches.
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I think last time we recorded Jade, it was on the portal.
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Annika Manthey went on maybe the next day.
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Not a not a giant surprise. Alicia Newell was the new name
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yesterday. So that's that's that's.
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You know, we love Newell and I actually think Manthey has
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something left to show. And I know you've heard me say
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that. I think, you know, she's she's a
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very tall player and I think she's going to make a good
11:17
college player somewhere. I was hoping it would be
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Richmond, but I'm sorry to see her go and I definitely am sorry
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to see, you know, the other two go as well.
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But. Now again, you're on in the
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portal doesn't mean you're gone. So right, I think there's, you
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know, I think over 1000 players on the portal.
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I think it's like 3 if on the men's side.
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I heard today there's 5000 players and 3000 are on the
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portal. Wow, so they're not all
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switching this team, you know, play.
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It's good for these kids to try to, you know, have
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conversations, try to make some more money if they can, or just
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find a a place where they can play more.
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But anyway, so Alicia's been added.
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I suspect we'll see more just because you got to put in your
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name to talk. So you can't overreact.
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I do think part that is hard for us to to judge, but I will say I
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will declare this and maybe you'll yell at me like not
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everyone who is a potential returning player at U of R,
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whether you're a high school kid is going to be a freshman or
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you're a returning player because you are on our roster.
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I would say most of them are not at the level where Russell is
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going to want them at UVA. It is a different level.
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Now I'm not saying none of them are, but it's not like he's
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going to like rebuild his UVA team with 10 players that were
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coming to U of R because I don't think he'd look at those ten
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players and say he needs all ten of them because he's going to
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get 5 better players off the portal.
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His well, he's going to have, he's going to have other
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recruits that UVA was talking. About first and foremost, you
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know he's going to try to lock up Kimura Johnson, right?
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She's one of the best players in the country and she's in the
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portal for UVA. And then there's other players
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that you got to try to lock up. So his first thing will try to
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be to stop the hemorraging at UVA.
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Once he gets his core, which hopefully is quickly, then I
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think you'll look at, you know, what he has at Richmond and
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maybe pick one or two or three or four players.
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One or two. Yeah, that could augment that,
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right. And then I think the last thing
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will be, you know, recruits coming into UVA, how many of
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those can you sell? Well, I mean how many recruits
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can you salvage will be before, well, you know who from Richmond
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joins him. And then the last thing will be
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where do you augment all that with on the portal?
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I would think the portal is going to come at the same like,
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you know, if there's a great like this is some, I don't know
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her name. There's some player from LSU
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who's, like, put herself in the portal.
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She's a freshman. Like everyone's kind of excited
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about her. Like those are the players that
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like he needs to be talking to, right?
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I see, I don't think I don't think that's yourself style.
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I think he's I think he's going at this for a four to six year
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like I'm going to build a great thing and year 1 is going to be
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a build and then year 2 you'll see his success.
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So I think he's got AII think the key thing is retain what you
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have because you have a winning roster that that went to the
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Sweet 16. So if you can retain that, I
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mean, Roussel's coaching with that talent is definitely a, is,
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is a, is an incredible team. Yeah, well, we'll see where that
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goes. I do think like when he's
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bringing Johnson back, it's because he it's to win next
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year. And I think and, and actually,
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and I know it's hard to judge you.
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Junior, so I think it's to win the next two years.
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Right. But they, I mean, they had I
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think 5 or 6 like graduate transfers or portal players on
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last year's team. So he's got to rebuild that
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team. There will be some spots.
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So I think I mean he'll be hitting the portal.
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Probably. I mean, if I'm, you know, like
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Russell, the biggest risk in my mind are the are the star
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recruits he was bringing in here.
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There were a couple of stars considered stars.
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So like I'd be, if I'm Richmond, I'm worried about, you know,
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those, those folks joining him. Yeah, but you know, maybe,
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maybe, maybe not. You never know because Richmond
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is a special school too and those girls might have their
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hearts set on planet Richmond and that would be fantastic.
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OK, last thing on her cell before we start talking about
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potential players. Here is an interesting thing
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we'll see. We talked to Coach Russell about
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scheduling as a mid major and at some point he commented how UVA
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and Tech won't schedule us. Well, he's at UVA and to be
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clear, I wouldn't expect in year 1 when you're a new coach that
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you're going to be like, let me go play my old team.
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But a? Good chance that we might get a
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game. We will see over the next few
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years if we don't get any games against UVAI.
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Think we'll have some Coach Roussell criticism on this pod.
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I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume
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over the next couple of years they're either in the Henrico
15:21
tournament and we can play them there or we're getting a, a home
15:25
and away game against UVA. We'll we will see where that
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goes. That's that's that's a challenge
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because I get like it might not be in the best interest of UVA
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to play us and. Let me just say this, I didn't
15:34
get into UVA. Yeah, and me neither.
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I still hold that grudge for 30 some years and so I I'm not a
15:40
big fan of UVA, but I love Aaron Russell and UVA got a fan.
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Fantastic coach. I believe UVA women's basketball
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will be in the Final Four in the next four years.
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Well, I'll tell you what's what. What's interesting, what's,
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what's cool about the job is that they've been to the Final
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Four before. They had the great time in the
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early, I think it was early 90s where they were like, I mean, it
16:03
was South Carolina and UVA. Actually Virginia Old Dominion
16:08
was kind of in that that category at some point.
16:11
Obviously UConn has been there for a while now, but he's got a
16:14
team that never got to that championship level.
16:19
So they were almost there at some point.
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They didn't win it. I think they went to 1
16:24
championship. But anyway, so that's like, I
16:28
can see the allure of this. This is a team that used to be
16:32
amazing. They fell on some, you know,
16:35
harder times. I mean, they're still making the
16:37
tournament. They were kind of still, I think
16:39
a good ACC team. But I think he can get them
16:41
back. So we will see how that goes.
16:45
OK, let's talk about potential names.
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I know there was a tweet out there that had a what I would
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call low level, mid major names. OK, so.
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And then I think we've got others that we'd like to throw
16:59
into that to make this list better.
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So I have no idea if this is true.
17:04
This Guy Mitchell Northam at Primetime Mitch 11 hours ago
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tweeted Quick list to hear names to watch for the Richmond
17:12
opening. He said Tim Taylor from Navy,
17:15
Jermaine Woods from Norfolk State, Aaron Dickerson Davis
17:18
from William and Mary, Alyssa Kresge from Vermont, Lindsay
17:20
Edmonds Rice and Terry Williams, Gardner Webb and then he writes
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elevates running the search. Richmond wants a sitting head
17:26
coach. So first and foremost, I've
17:30
already made the point. Don't limit yourself to just a
17:32
sitting head coach. I'm not saying that that's not
17:34
going to be where you you land on, but you should consider a
17:37
lead assistance given, especially where we are in the
17:39
cycle of coaching searches, having the best opening in the
17:42
country right now for some of the elite assistance.
17:45
As you might have missed out on the head coaching hires that
17:48
took place before them, you should at least see who's
17:49
interested in the job. So if that's true, I want to
17:52
just put the bug in the ethos here.
17:53
We should not limit ourselves to just sitting head coaches.
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OK, can I go through these names with you or do you want to?
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Do you well, do you like it? You already said the names.
18:02
Is there anyone on that list that you would keep?
18:04
OK, who Who would you keep on? I would.
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Keep Alyssa Kresge from Vermont and Lindsay as Edmonds from
18:09
Rice. Keep those two names.
18:11
They're both, they both have potential and have track records
18:15
where I think you know, you could easily say they're they,
18:19
they fit that coaching role who have proven they can coach.
18:22
Yeah, I agree. I agree with them.
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I don't mind. I think you interview the Aaron
18:27
Dickerson Davis from William and Mary, she's still kind of a
18:31
newer coach and she's new in her career.
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So I think it's just kind of maybe a comparison of someone
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who has just recently had some success.
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But yeah, she's not that perennial winner.
18:41
I personally don't see the need I wrote when I looked at her
18:46
coaching resume. Nothing to see here.
18:47
And that's not to say she's not a fine coach.
18:49
She's just not a fine coach to take over after Aaron Russell
18:53
has gotten us to this elite station in women's college
18:57
basketball. And by that I mean her Bartorvic
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rating the last four years cluster around an average of
19:03
220. I don't think we want the 228th
19:05
ranked program coach coming in to take over after yeah.
19:08
No, I yeah, I don't think she's top of the list, but I, I, I
19:12
think we talked to her. OK, so let's talk about the
19:14
bigger names. I think the ones that in some
19:17
ways in this, there's a bit of, it's interesting.
19:20
It's part of kind of Coach Roussel's old coaching
19:22
philosophy was try to get as many great games as he can
19:25
against the majors. And when he can't get more than
19:28
a couple, let's fill that in with the top mid majors.
19:30
So we've got experience against Columbia, against Fairfield,
19:36
against Green Bay. Both have kind of, let's say,
19:42
emerging coaching talent. They haven't been there for 20
19:46
years. They are kind of still newer
19:48
now. I think part of the challenge is
19:50
Columbia's coach is a Columbia alum.
19:54
She may be ready to move because she's been there for a while.
19:56
Megan Griffiths I mean, look, here's the deal like I don't
19:59
You're running the Top 40 program from Columbia.
20:02
It's an elite academic school. Same with Princeton.
20:05
I know that's the name we'll probably get, you know, in our
20:07
in our ear like those, those programs.
20:09
I don't think you're going to pry their coaches loose.
20:12
I would certainly reach out, 100% would reach out to Megan
20:14
Griffith and the coach from Princeton and ask.
20:16
Get Kevin Huffy to go down the hallway to.
20:19
Jettison her, yeah, talk to her, be fantastic.
20:21
Fairfield, I would definitely reach out just because I think
20:24
she turned down Rutgers. Like, I, I mean, you know, I
20:27
think Richmond's a better job than Rutgers, quite frankly.
20:29
So I would reach out to. As did I think you know, 80% of
20:31
the people who applied the Rutgers I, I, I don't know what
20:34
their stats are. But I mean, Carly Tibow Dudonis,
20:37
we saw her in the Robin Center. She's an amazing coach, almost
20:41
the identical style of what Russell played, a great, proven
20:44
to be a great recruiter. She would be an unbelievable
20:47
get. I don't think she's going to be
20:48
our coach, but like, I would absolutely reach out.
20:51
Here's the one of the one of the things I think we have to do to
20:54
get someone like that is whatever John Hart renegotiated
20:59
with Russell to say like, we will pay you this much if you
21:03
come back. That has to be what we're
21:05
offering these. These, yeah, if you're getting a
21:06
stud for sure. So when you go to Fairfield, you
21:09
can't be like, let's save some money and pay 80% of you're.
21:12
Not going to save any money with Fairfield.
21:13
So like, I mean like Green Bay's another one that you could, you
21:16
probably wouldn't have to pay her what you paid Russell
21:17
because she's up and coming. But.
21:19
I think she's a Green Bay alumni.
21:20
I think she is too, but like, you know, you're talking about a
21:23
lady who went 29 and 625 and 9 top 85 teams coming out of, you
21:28
know, a lesser conference. I would absolutely reach out to
21:31
her. Just like, you know, if she's
21:33
upwardly mobile, she's the kind of coach you get for four to six
21:36
years and then she's probably going to move on.
21:37
But she's a great coach. OK.
21:39
Can I give you a couple other names Are you ready for?
21:41
Some do we want to talk about the the lists, the other names
21:44
on the list that the guy came out with.
21:46
OK, no, OK. So I'm, I'm going to throw some
21:49
curve balls at you. Are you ready?
21:51
Yeah, GAIL, folks from Davidson. Why would she leave Davidson?
21:55
For twice the pay Davidson probably has AI mean all the men
21:59
are leaving their nil budget's got to be teeny.
22:03
I look if she I think she wants to.
22:05
Call her if she wants to come. I'm all behind it, right?
22:08
I don't know. A10 to a 10 is not usually a
22:10
common thing that we see, however.
22:11
Happening with players all the time now.
22:13
I would say we should reach out. That's a good if she if if you
22:15
know, her pay is half of what we're paying.
22:17
And yeah. I think you talk to her.
22:18
And then you recruit some of her players with her.
22:20
Absolutely. I've got, I've got a name I
22:22
found by accident, but it's interesting.
22:23
Yeah. OK, So the East Carolina coach,
22:27
we look up East Carolina because you want to see it.
22:29
Kim McNeil. OK, hold, please.
22:33
She's been to the tournament maybe once recently.
22:37
They won 20 last year. You're looking up the stats.
22:40
So they won 22 games last year. They're in the American
22:43
Conference. She's AU of R alum.
22:47
Is she really? She played under Joanne Boyle
22:51
and then was an assistant with her at Cal, an assistant with
22:54
her at UVA and they got her first head coach job, I think
22:58
here. No.
22:58
She was at Hartford and then came to East Carolina.
23:00
OK, this is a good get for you. I'll give you that because
23:03
you're not usually doing this deeper level research.
23:06
I will say she's better than the other names that were on that
23:09
guy's list, but not as good as the top 2.
23:12
But I do like, I mean, it's, it's, it's a resume that I could
23:14
get behind, especially coming home to your alma mater.
23:18
She's had some success. All of her teams have been 152
23:20
or better the last three years. You know, she's clustered around
23:24
125. She had a 98 in.
23:26
Terms of what's interesting about her, and she's not the
23:28
only one on the list like this, but when I looked up like what's
23:31
her coaching philosophy, It is like defense first, like defense
23:34
will carry you to championships. And it's just interesting to
23:36
think like I don't think Russell would ever have said like my
23:39
number one priority is defense. Not that he didn't care about
23:42
defense. He cared a lot about it.
23:43
Like it's interesting if we ever got AI mean.
23:46
Not that I don't have the George Mason coach on our list, but
23:48
imagine if she was our coach. Like all of a sudden the style
23:51
is nothing like we've seen. I I don't mind like, I mean,
23:54
like offensive efficiency was second on my list behind great
23:57
coaching success. You could convince me a great
23:59
defensive coach would be a get that we should consider.
24:03
So yeah, I would consider Kimming, you know, I mean,
24:04
because you can hire an unbelievable offensive mind as
24:07
long as you know your strength and you're willing to to
24:09
outsource, you know, the other thing to somebody else who has
24:12
that strength, meaning you trust somebody else to make those
24:15
those moves. And I think that's, you know,
24:16
that's also the sign of a great leaders when you when you know
24:19
somebody's better than you and something and you trust them to
24:21
make decisions. So.
24:22
And I had one other name and I don't know this coach very well,
24:25
but I was looking at like the Princeton coach actually went to
24:28
Northwestern. So, so like, you know, I first
24:31
was like, well, hey, Princeton had a great year.
24:32
Let's look at them. So then I was looking at the Ivy
24:36
and and somewhat, you know, we're we we're not an Ivy
24:39
school, but I think education is really important to us as a
24:42
university. So if you get someone like from
24:44
Columbia, but I looked at Harvard's coach, Carrie Moore.
24:49
So I think again, kind of, let's say a rising name it out there
24:56
kind of has been successful at Harvard.
24:58
I mean, getting Harvard's been Princeton's been the kind of the
25:00
dominant team in that league, but I think she's had some
25:03
success. So again, it'd be kind of
25:05
interesting to talk to her. And the other name I had doing
25:08
my own research was, and this is a bit far fetched just because
25:12
there's not really a connection there.
25:14
But Miami of Ohio, they had a pretty good year.
25:18
Glenn Box is their coach. He's been around a lot more, but
25:24
I think there's some opportunity there at least just someone
25:27
who's a who's more of a veteran coach to talk to you to see if
25:31
they're they're ready to kind of upgrade the league they're in.
25:35
I would. I would talk to Brady Sally at
25:38
Ball State coming out of the Mac.
25:41
I mean has never had a losing record in D1 and has gotten
25:45
pretty much better every year he's coached.
25:48
So we've got now I think 6 years at at Ball State.
25:50
He went 14-11 in 20 and 1326 and 9:28 and 6:27 and 8:26 and
25:55
seven. Made the NCAA double AA as a 12
25:58
seed in 2025. This is a guy who knows how to
26:03
coach. Just looking at it.
26:04
I would say if you could get him to talk to you, he would be on
26:07
my list for sure. That's Brady Solley.
26:10
No idea if he's going to if he's interested or what his his
26:14
interest level of leading Ball State would be.
26:15
But that's a guy who has a track record.
26:17
You know he's been successful. Another name I'll throw out is
26:20
Trisha Fabry. I haven't looked her up to make
26:23
sure she hasn't already taken an upgraded job.
26:26
Let me just make sure that's trick case.
26:27
I was, I was doing it a little bit backwards, so I was actually
26:30
looking up just who is kind of a great coach and I haven't looked
26:35
to see if there's any any change.
26:37
So I don't think she's left. She's a head coach at
26:38
Quinniapac. Quinniapac.
26:41
Quinniapac. If you can't even pronounce it,
26:44
you need to be upgrading your. Yeah right.
26:47
Like get better with you I. Mean.
26:48
Well, no, I'm just saying like, it's like, that's a reason to
26:50
leave. If somebody's calling you
26:51
Quinniapac, it's time to go Tricia.
26:55
So Tricia, it's the Metro Atlantic.
26:57
She coached the 84th ranked Bartorvic team in in the out of
27:01
the Mid-Atlantic. She had she had two, she had one
27:04
bad year out of out of 6 where she went 13 and 18.
27:09
The other five have been pretty successful kind of clustering
27:11
around the lady that you just identified from Eastern
27:14
Carolina. But the last year was her best
27:15
year coming out of the MAAC, where she finished 84th.
27:18
Worth a talk, I think. I think the other candidates are
27:20
better candidates that we've identified.
27:22
But I'd at least reach out and talk to her, have a
27:24
conversation. Yeah, there's something when you
27:25
get to I mean, I don't with Quinnia Pack and and really, you
27:29
know, it's a little less with Fairfield because we know kind
27:31
of they up their schedule. But I think there's a question
27:33
when you find the for me, you find the coach who's won 27
27:37
games in a really. But you don't.
27:39
But you don't get to 84 in Bartorvic by just beating bad.
27:41
Teams you play some good teams yeah.
27:43
So I mean, they're coming off a big year, but I think that, I
27:45
mean, you could see that record a lot of 20 win seasons.
27:48
I some of them aren't worth nearly as much as others
27:50
depending on. I'll also see schedule like
27:53
we've we've shown that being a great coach is 01 other name I
27:58
want to throw at you. And again, this is a this is a
28:00
long, long shot, but you have to try, right.
28:03
Yeah. Shawn O Reagan from JMUI mean he
28:07
grew up as, you know, kind of a JMU alum.
28:09
Yeah, he's an alum. He's been in a coach, assistant
28:12
head coach under Kenny Brooks. He was a student manager of the
28:15
men's basketball team. So this guy's got, you know,
28:17
purple and gold bleeding through his veins, but he's quietly
28:20
become Aaron Roussell at JMU. Like he is incredibly successful
28:26
as a young man, efficient, runs a good offense.
28:29
How long has he been? He's been there for a while.
28:30
Hasn't he several years? I mean, the last two years he's,
28:33
he's had incredible teams. He knows what he's doing is
28:36
another way of saying it. So I would definitely try to at
28:38
least reach out and talk to him. I've got some dark some, we'll
28:42
call them long shot candidates that I really like.
28:44
I would say, you know, great coaches come in all shapes and
28:47
sizes. John Beeline came out of D3 to
28:49
D2 to D1. The guy at Saint Louis that
28:53
just, you know, came back shirts, I think his name is, is
28:55
now. It was AD 2 coach before
28:56
coaching Illinois State, St. Louis.
28:58
Dusty May came out of the lower ranks to win the national title
29:01
at Michigan. You saw Aaron Roussell come from
29:05
Chicago, jumped up to D1 at Bucknell.
29:07
So Hart has a history of hiring some of these folks.
29:09
Yeah. I don't like where you're going,
29:10
but. Well, I'm going to go there.
29:11
So three names from the division, three ranks.
29:14
You should talk to Brittany Kemp, Washington and Lee Nodac.
29:17
Coach of the year 28. No last year was #1 ranked most
29:20
of the year. She's a young coach in Virginia.
29:23
Clearly she knows how to coach. You put pay for play money with
29:26
somebody who knows how to coach, I think you could build a roster
29:28
that would really surprise some people.
29:30
We've talked about Dennison in the last.
29:32
Episode I've been to the lame of the Washington League Washington
29:36
League gym before. I can't imagine someone coaching
29:39
there is ready to jump to the A10 like let these, let these
29:43
Division Three coaches take the job of the person we took from
29:47
the Mac or from American. These are bold hires, Tom.
29:53
None of these people will be interviewed.
29:54
These are these are bold moves. Cotton keep, Keep.
29:57
Telling us these other names of folks we will not talk.
29:59
To I would talk to Maureen Hurt at Denison.
30:01
They just won the national title.
30:02
They've got a UR2UR alums daughter on the coaching staff
30:06
there. No bias.
30:07
That's that's I'm biased, but I mean that that Lady can coach
30:10
and coach well. I and, and they're New Jersey
30:12
based and guess where a lot of university Richmond prospective
30:15
players come from New Jersey. So I would be all over that.
30:17
I talked to Brittany Kemp. I talked.
30:18
To don't they all come from Pennsylvania, it seems, but go
30:20
ahead. And the last one I would I would
30:23
talk to, and this one was sent to me by our research department
30:27
in the north, Ben O'Brien from Scranton, another D3 school, 117
30:34
and seven is AD 3 coach. That's a 943 winning percentage.
30:38
The Elite Eights this guy's appeared in are just insane.
30:42
This is a guy just knows how to win, doesn't know anything else.
30:45
So those are three D3 names I would talk to along with casting
30:49
a wide net. There's no way we're talking to
30:51
a D3. Coach 100% disagree with you.
30:53
We won't. I mean, I'm not saying I
30:55
understand. You think we should.
30:56
There is no way Elevate is going to go to a Division Three coach.
31:00
I'm not saying Elevate should be there, I'm saying John Hart
31:02
should be there because these guys can win.
31:04
And I think honestly I would much rather take AD 3 coach
31:07
that's gone 117 and seven and knows how to coach an elite
31:10
system with pay per play money. The other great thing you get
31:13
here is you pay them probably 1/3 of what you were going to
31:16
pay resell next year. You take the rest of that money
31:18
and you repurpose it to pay for play for the players.
31:20
It's a it's a system that can win.
31:22
It's exactly what Saint Bonaventure just did for their
31:24
men's team. Absolutely.
31:26
You try. That doesn't mean that's going
31:27
to work. It's 100% we're.
31:29
Way We're way too high of a level for a Division Three
31:33
coach. To jump into that kind of
31:36
arrogance is what will cost us a chance of having the next great
31:42
coach. And so like, I think honestly,
31:43
you got to talk to these folks because you might find that that
31:46
is the best hire. I'm just saying cast a wide net,
31:49
talk to a lot of people, make the hire.
31:50
But some of the names that were showed up on that tweet, not
31:53
names we should be talking. To yeah, no, I agree with you,
31:55
but I, I do think at some point there's going to risk and
31:58
reward. And I, and I appreciate you
32:00
bringing some names that are kind of high risk, high reward.
32:04
But I, I, I think, I mean, I don't know the systems they run.
32:07
I don't know anything about these three, but I think there's
32:09
a high likelihood that two years later, you've gone 5 and 25 each
32:14
year 'cause they're overwhelmed. They don't have a staff to bring
32:17
in. That's like a bunch that's, that
32:19
knows what they're doing. And we're like, what in the heck
32:22
just happened? Like let those let let them
32:24
learn at the the Patriot League School as their Division One
32:29
school and then prove that they. Can go if Aaron, If Aaron
32:32
Russell had gone from Chicago to Richmond, you know.
32:36
You. I don't.
32:36
I don't. Think he'd be as successful?
32:38
Not as successful. I think he should.
32:40
I think he'd say the exact same thing.
32:41
IA 100% disagree. You don't think he'd learn
32:43
anything I. Think a guy who can coach can
32:46
coach and that's dumb. You might have a year where it
32:49
takes you to learn it. And I think anybody who's come
32:51
in comes in here might have a tough first year.
32:53
But like after a year, if you know what you're doing and you
32:55
can figure it out and you're you're a hungry coach, you can
32:57
absolutely be successful. IA 100% disagree.
33:00
With you, yeah. I mean, I think these coaches,
33:02
the best coaches are constantly learning and and, and yes, they
33:07
they're they're a lot of them believe they can win the
33:10
tournament, NCAA tournament tomorrow if they were given the
33:12
right circumstances because they are ambitious.
33:14
And I appreciate that. But I think if we had Coach
33:16
Roussell, he'd say, like, boy, every year at Bucknell was such
33:19
a huge learning experience that set him up to be more successful
33:23
at U of R versus like, hey, I was ready after Chicago to coach
33:28
Maggie Dugan for four years and go to the tournament three years
33:31
in a row. One thing you can't do in my
33:33
opinion is hire somebody who had three mediocre years and one
33:36
decent one at D1 and try to spend that is like this is the
33:39
person to take us to the next level.
33:41
You can't do it. They have four years of track
33:42
record at D1 where they did not succeed wildly.
33:45
You have a great opening. It deserves a great coach.
33:48
I think the recruiting is going to be easier, not harder in the
33:51
NIL slash pay for play era because money talks.
33:54
And so you get in with three kids that you like, you give
33:57
them each the same offer. You know, one of the three
33:59
comes, you know, now putting that person with the lady or guy
34:01
who knows how to coach, I think you're gonna be very successful.
34:04
I really do. Yeah, I would.
34:06
My challenge to that is like. Stop on socials folks.
34:08
Tell us who you agree with. Do you think that you know you
34:10
can take the step from D3 to D1 or do you think agree with Tom
34:13
and say no, absolutely not you? Need to.
34:14
I'm guessing whoever ripped me about mentioning the Patriot
34:17
League is going to come all after you on this Division
34:20
Three. Coach, it's possible.
34:21
I'm saying, I'm saying look, I, I, I wouldn't take AD three
34:24
player and say they can play D1. I'm saying AD 3 coach can coach
34:28
D1 and I'm saying if they're they're, if they've proven
34:31
they're a winner across multiple years of D3, I think they can
34:34
make the jump. Yeah.
34:35
I, I would think the one thing that I think we both agree on
34:37
this is kind of the level below of any analysis that we've done
34:40
to date is that whether it's there could be the four year,
34:44
you know, winning 30 games a year, D3 coach who just has like
34:47
2 big bodies every year and just dunks it on these smaller teams.
34:51
And we'd be like, well, that's not an offense.
34:53
And there could be someone in D, You know, whatever level who had
34:57
a couple mediocre years and then all of a sudden brought in a new
35:00
offense, had two incredible years.
35:01
And you'd look at the data and be like, holy cow, this is guy,
35:04
this person, this got this incredibly efficient offense and
35:07
they're the next superstar. But you got to get to that.
35:09
That's why Ben O'Brien might be the best of the three.
35:11
But let me just let me just say this out loud.
35:14
I'm not saying that the D3 person is who you hire, but I'm
35:18
saying given the track record of success, I would certainly want
35:22
to talk to them if I'm casting a wide net.
35:24
And I know Elevate might not get there, but you know what?
35:27
I think John Hart should get there and Augment whoever
35:29
elevates sends his way with these people.
35:31
And then you make the decision based on all of the data you're
35:33
presented with. Yeah.
35:35
No, I'm with you. I mean, I think Elevate, what
35:36
they should be able to do is be able to identify.
35:40
I think what you're looking for is like who is the the name that
35:44
isn't on anybody's list? That is kind of unknown, whether
35:47
they're like an assistant who maybe were Division Three coach
35:50
and now they're like an assistant at a big program or it
35:53
is these Division Three coaches. But it's, it's because they're
35:55
doing something really unique and special versus just they won
35:59
a lot. And that's like you hire someone
36:01
like Elevate not to just be like, hey, this guy's won 120
36:04
games over over six years. It's more of like, well, they've
36:07
done that, but like here's how they've done that.
36:09
They've out recruited or they've got some offense that they've
36:13
put in which is like this elite efficient offense.
36:16
Or he's got some scheme which is very unique and is will be
36:19
successful at Richmond. There's kind of a level below
36:23
that that audit what the pros should be getting paid to do.
36:27
Well, someone wants to pay us to do.
36:28
It so of all the people we've talked to like, I mean, again,
36:31
we don't think we're going to be able to to pry the Fairfield
36:34
coach, the Columbia coach or the.
36:35
Prince, I think the Columbia coach is the one I'm I would say
36:38
is the most. Pryable.
36:39
Out of the Green Bay, Fairfield, Columbia trio, I'd say that's
36:44
the one I think is most likely. I don't think any of them are
36:48
very likely. I think certainly if you could
36:50
get one of them, you take it right because they're proven
36:52
winners at D1. I would say after that, I liked
36:56
the Rice and the Vermont resumes a lot.
36:58
I also like the Ball State resume.
36:59
I think all three of those schools, those coaches know what
37:02
they're. Doing what I liked about right,
37:03
the Rice resume, if I remember correctly, while you think of
37:06
like Rice is in Texas, like boy, what would they know?
37:09
Like she, she's from North Carolina.
37:12
She went to app State. I think she coached somewhere
37:16
and maybe at NC State, she was an assistant before she got the
37:19
job at Rice. So she's got kind of, you know,
37:22
regional roots. So from a recruiting standpoint,
37:24
there's always that, you know, we could get the greatest if if,
37:28
if we end up hiring someone who like, is it, let's say at
37:32
Gonzaga, was this amazing assistant coach or amazing
37:35
coach? All of a sudden, it's like if
37:37
all they've recruited is the Northwest, like they start off
37:40
behind here. So I did like it when I
37:43
researched Lindsay. Yeah, Lindsay Edmonds, she she,
37:46
she was 26 and six last year, 17 and one in conference or 29 and
37:50
six last year. And it's a that's a high
37:54
academic school. Very high academic school, three
37:56
teams in the top 100 and the other two were really close.
37:59
That's a lady who knows I. Can, and I think she was an NC
38:00
State assistant if I remember. I know she wouldn't.
38:03
Coach the lady. The lady from Vermont can coach
38:05
for sure. I would say, yeah, Alyssa
38:09
Kresge, 2 years in a row in the top 148 wins the last two years.
38:14
And then, you know, if you take the fifty wins, the two years
38:16
before that, there's four straight years of of almost 100.
38:19
OK, I got one wild card to throw out before we're done, just for
38:22
fun. I was thinking of like, you
38:24
know, UNC just hired, what's his name, that he's the guy who
38:28
coached the Denver Nuggets. What would be our version of
38:31
that? Nancy Lieberman.
38:33
Nancy Lieberman. That's right.
38:34
Yeah, I don't say. I know, but.
38:36
How about, how about was it Joanne O'Brien, who's who's the
38:39
lady who coached for us and went to Cal and then you that's.
38:42
No, that's Joanne Boyle. Joanne Boyle?
38:43
Yeah, she's retired now, I'm guess.
38:45
I don't know if she's interested.
38:46
But she I think she lives in Charlotte, Charlottesville.
38:48
So like, but I know there's there's a wild card name if
38:51
you're thinking if you're thinking about.
38:52
Lieberman's a good example. Like who?
38:54
If I'm heart like, I'd want to talk to almost as like another
38:57
consultant. Get an autograph.
38:59
Well. I'd be like, hey, can I?
39:01
Well. She's been, she's, she's been
39:02
around since, you know, obviously she's TJS Klein's.
39:04
Mom coach from the WNBA for a little while.
39:06
Yeah, she's coaches, yeah, so. She's one of the greatest
39:08
women's players of all time. I think that's why you talk to
39:11
her because she's probably super connected.
39:12
Like you're like, as a consultant of like, if you're
39:14
deciding between these three coaches, I think I'd love to
39:16
know her, I think. She would make a very unique
39:18
hire. My question, there is a lot of
39:20
those those Pat Summit like old school legends are so tough.
39:26
I just wonder if they're too tough for the modern era.
39:28
Like they might just be too tough to to.
39:30
Coach OK, so everyone, I mean, we'll be, and I assume many of
39:36
you listening will be checking the portal over the next few
39:40
days to see what happens. There'll be more news about
39:43
coaching staff. I doubt Russell waits more than
39:46
a week. It's probably less than a week.
39:47
We'll we'll start hearing kind of.
39:48
Is there anyone from the old staff staying?
39:50
Is he? Can I just say 2?
39:51
I, I got to say it, I'm a hard no on Tim Taylor.
39:53
I mean, I know he's a top of the guys list.
39:56
He was also mentioned as a UVA replacement.
39:58
He's a JMU alum too. He's a Harrisonburg.
40:01
Student. I'm a hard no on him.
40:02
I'm sorry. He went one in 29, one year at
40:04
Navy and that's in the Patriot Conference.
40:06
You can't go one in 29 and be the head coach for the
40:10
University of Richmond Spiders after an errand your cell run
40:12
you just can't do. It he won 22 last year in 19.
40:15
I don't care one in 29 you cannot spin that as and he's
40:18
under 500 coach. You cannot spin that as a
40:19
success. To me.
40:20
I mean, probably a nice guy, no, and maybe a great coach for
40:24
somebody else. Not for us.
40:25
Jermaine Woods. It's the same.
40:26
It's it's just no, I mean two O 8 your best Bartorvik ever out
40:30
of the MIAC 18 and 15. You can't spin that as
40:32
successful to a fan base ravenous for more success.
40:36
OK, so we're going to wrap up this emergency pod.
40:39
It was probably just good therapy for us, hopefully good
40:41
therapy for you. We ought to forget, don't
40:44
forget, there'll be changes on the men's side or.
40:47
Wrap it up. On the portal.
40:48
I want to give us a heartfelt thank you to Aaron Roussell.
40:52
You know we love him. If you listen to this pod or if
40:54
he's been with us, he is a phenomenal coach, a phenomenal
40:57
human being from what we've seen and.
41:00
How long did you weep to yourself last?
41:02
Night. I had a hard night last night.
41:03
I'm not going to lie to you. I I I've had Aaron's text cell
41:08
phone number since we kind of started doing this.
41:09
I've never used it until yesterday.
41:11
I finally texted him to thank him.
41:12
For and his response was new phone who dis.
41:16
No, he wrote a nice note back. It wasn't until like 1:10 AM
41:19
that he wrote it. So I was sort of like, you know,
41:21
not only having a bad day, but then I'm like, oh man, I mean, I
41:24
shouldn't have waited my first time to text him after he's
41:26
leaving. But anyway, so you know how you
41:27
get when you're a fan, I will say UVA got you got yourself a
41:30
great one. We wish him nothing but the
41:32
best. Yep, he's a legend.
41:34
Well, and we wish him nothing but the best except for some
41:36
losses when he plays U of R. We would love schedules.
41:39
I mean, look. Here's the thing, we're Spider
41:41
alum. We're always going to U of R no
41:42
matter what. So yeah.
41:45
OK, well until next time and they'll we don't know when that
41:48
next time will be, but until next time, this is Tom.
41:51
This is Porter. And this is spiders sounding.
41:54
Oh. See you funny.
41:57
And entertaining.