@vu72 - ok, but don't mention that the AD is committed by beyond mediocrity when the women's basketball and football, even with new hires, are in below mediocrity situations.
From the 2003-2004 season to the 2021-2022 season, there were 288 new coaches in the top 12 conferences in Division 1 women's college basketball. Only one (Keith Brown at Georgetown in 2013) was dismissed after their first season. However, none of the new coaches had a winless season and only 19 had fewer than 5 overall wins.
As I indicated, “unless the coach is arrested etc” . Keith Brown was dismissed for inappropriate behavior. What ever that may have been. His team won 15 games.
@usc4valpo tbh it’s becoming a tired act the amount you bash women’s basketball. Was last year unacceptable? Yes of course it was. Everyone connected to the program knows that. Hosmer and Boyd had a postmortem after the season ended to review expectations. Everyone’s on the same page that last year was not okay, but we also knew it was gonna be a rough start. Maybe not 0-32 rough, but there’s a 5 year contract for a reason.
Anyone who has been able to be close to the program for both Evans and Boyd as coaches can see the clear difference in the culture and the coaching.
Under Evans players were getting suspended for stealing and other personal conduct issues. Losses were a mood and motivation killer. And Mary, as much as she tried and as long as she lasted, was not cut out to be a D1 head coach.
Under Boyd it’s a night and day difference. The players sometimes seemed to have a better culture even in losing than the last teams of Evans’ time had in winning. And Courtney is a vastly different, better, and more involved coach than Mary was.
In short: they know they sucked this year. And they know they can’t do that again. But it’s not a lack of commitment or effort by any person associated with the team…except maybe the NIL donors and fans who don’t exist. Rebuilds don’t happen overnight. This year is going to be much better, and the year after that, and probably after that too. Be patient.
@vu72 - women’s basketball? They went a record 0-32 last year! You can’t say they are committed just because you replace coaches
Usc. I get it but nobody, except maybe a BIG program is going to fire someone after one year, particularly when they have a five year contract and the buyout would be huge. My point is better proven by firing Evan’s who didn’t even finish last in the Valley.
0-32 is historically terrible, full stop.
However, from the perspective of the AD at a place like VU, the questions are about being competitive and building a culture. I'm guessing that all of the coaching candidates looked at the roster, the timing and the resources and had some serious discussions with the AD about how poor the first year would be, and assurances that they would have time to turn things around. I doubt that anyone expected to go winless, yet if the record was 5-27 or 6-28 it would not be all that different.
There has to be a marked improvement this year, but even without a financial buyout to fire someone after one year (barring some unusual circumstance) is very unlikely.
I still remember the chants at the ARC to "Fire Homer!" after a poor first few years. What a mistake that would have been!
for the record -- I never said specifically that Boyd should be canned. Read all my previous posts.
The big issue I have is that Hosmer has been slow and reactive in decision making for this program. Evans was terrible as posted, but it took an extended time to make a decision and hire. I then hear that she is committed to rise above mediocrity. These statements are crapola to make after you see a football team struggle for 2 wins and a women's team that goes 0-32, which is a national historic embarrassment.
I disagree that 5 or 6 wins look a lot better aesthetically than 0-32. People pay attention to a record like that.
Also, I should be critical and we should care and critique that this is insanely unacceptable - if no one critiqued this, you have a bigger apathy issue at hand.
Instant gratification is just something you are never going to find in the sports world. No matter at what level. Hiring a new coach does not automatically mean that the very next season you are going to go undefeated and win it all
@Rez - I never said that. I would have accepted 5 wins from that team. But to go 0-32 and talk about Hosmer wanting to rise above mediocrity is bogus. First you need to be mediocre before you go beyond that.
@usc4valpo except 1 season isn't a standard. Especially a season where you were hired late.
Like others have said. Team culture has improved and boyd now has had a full off-season to work. Acting like there is anything Hosmer related is asinine. Evans and Fox were given long leashes under previous ADs for seeming no reason other than "the alums liked them". Hosmer was quick to see that that isn't a sustainable methodology