Our Mail Bag Series is your opportunity to interact with us to ask questions regarding the world of women’s basketball and get our take on some of the biggest issues in the game. We will be doing a weekly column on it so feel free to email your questions to kallhoop@gmail.com and I will do my best to give you an intelligent response. So here we go for our week one. Obviously these were not questions emailed to me but just things I’ve received via text which I figured I would share and give some thoughts on.
Question 1 “Kenny with Mississippi State open now after Nikki McCray’s resignation you have had four Power 5 programs who have had a change in leadership since July 1 in Syracuse – Florida – Purdue – and now Mississippi State – Why do you think that is?
Great question – I think the biggest thing I see with the openings this spring is the alleged mistreatment of players. If you look at 3 of the 4 openings there was some type of investigation going on in the background which resulted in a vacancy. It says a lot about the sport and the culture of women’s college basketball that just this year already we have had 3 programs under investigation for the way they treat their players. In football and men’s basketball we would be talking about cheating recruiting or something else but in women’s basketball there is not of that just how poorly players in their programs are treated. This is a real indictment of the sport and the system which has fostered coaches to come up through the rankings with this type of behavior.
If three programs created vacancies this fall for this what do you think is going on at other places and do we think this is isolated – I think absolutely not. I think the WBCA and it’s coaches need to take a deep look at the culture of women’s basketball overall and move in the right direction towards correcting these things. Assistants in programs where this is going on also really need to blow the whistle because I will be honest the assistants who were complicit in these cases this fall look just as bad as the head coach for not stepping up. I have never seen anything like it but times are changing and my guess is you will see more not less in the next 3-5 years because just like the openings this fall many coaches in women’s basketball are a product of running programs the exact same ways.
Question 2 “Kenny why are all these event operators putting dates out even though the NCAA has not set the viewing period dates for 2022?”
Partially to stay relevant, partially to get people to prepay so they can control you if the calendar does switch, and partially I think to speak the old calendar into existence. I think as of December 1 if you dont have a schedule out as an event operator you’re somewhat out of site out of mind but everyone knows at this point that there is going to be a vote in January to determine if there is a change in the calendar.
What I heard is there will be 100% a change in the calendar in the future. The only question is will it be for the 2022 summer. I am hearing it will likely be starting in 2023 but anything could happen especially when you now have a band of club directors and event operators attacking the NCAA and their coaches. What do I think is happening? People are going to begin to get pressured in for paying for 2022 events – similarly to the 2020 year of the pandemic and if the calendar does change event operators will just force you into whatever event they want you to play in (in whatever location ect) because they’ll offer you store credit not actual refunds. Lastly – remember how much money these event operators have to lose if they lose 25% of their July dates. That is a major hit and I think when they try to sleep at night they’re just going to speak the old calendar into existence as much as they possibly can.
These have been the two biggest burning questions I’ve been hearing. Want me to discuss something or break it down so you know what to think, email me at kallhoop@gmail.com and your question could be featured in our mail bag segment.
