by Marilyn McManus, SECWB.com
It has now been about 2 weeks since University of South Carolina head women’s basketball coach Susan Walvius resigned her post and, as yet, there has been no official word about who her successor might be. For the first week, there was nothing but speculation to be had. Of course, there were rumors. Some seemed credible, others, not so much. The USC Athletic Department has officially announced that they will not comment on an ongoing search. So, we are left to our own devices.
Should you lurk about Internet message boards, you would find that the speculation currently centers around a small and quite varied group of active coaches. They are UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell, Temple coach Dawn Staley, Chattanooga coach Wes Moore and Tennessee associate head coach Holly Warlick. (Prior to the end of the season, we heard some talk that Athletic Director Eric Hyman also had his minions testing the waters to gauge the interest of Texas assistant Micki DeMoss and ESPN commentator Carolyn Peck, but those names have not resurfaced during the actual search.)
This week, UNC officials acknowledged that Hatchell has spoken to USC about the job and also stated that they were interested in keeping her at UNC. Hatchell has acquired a new agent since her last contract renegotiation with the school and seems to have decided, quite rightly, that her current compensation is not commensurate with her record. She is about 24th on the list of head coach’s salaries, while she has the 4th best winning percentage among active coaches. Hopefully, USC fans do not have their hearts set on acquiring this particular coach, because it seems much more likely that she will get the raise she deserves and retire from UNC–eventually.
Temple’s Dawn Staley has aroused some curiosity and many fans believe that her reknowned “intensity” is something that the current Gamecocks team could benefit from. She has enjoyed a high degree of success, since her arrival at Temple, winning 4 conference championships in her 8 seasons. Playing in the same conference as George Washington (as well as Charlotte and Xavier) makes that a more impressive feat. Staley has done some great recruiting at Temple, but she is working in a basketball-rich environment in Philadelphia. It seems doubtful that she will be able to use the same recruiting base in South Carolina, though her name/face/attitude/record should impress Southern players, as well.
Chattanooga’s Wes Moore has achieved phenomenal success in the Southern Conference over his 10 years there, with a winning percentage above .800 as he draws near the 300-win mark at a Division I school. After coaching at the NAIA and Division II levels, it would seem a natural progression to move from mid-major into a power conference like the Southeastern Conference. Moore seems to be a comfortable idea for the fans; nobody sounds overly excited about him, but his winning record looks very attractive.
Tennessee’s Holly Warlick is not known to go on many job interviews, but we hear a rumor that she has talked to USC. One assumes that she would not bother to do so, entrenched as she has been with women’s college basketball’s winningest program for the past 23 seasons, unless she had some actual degree of interest in assuming a head coaching position. Although she has not held the top spot thus far in her career, Tennessee-raised coaches have a pretty decent success rate in college basketball. USC could do a lot worse.
In fact, if the group named IS the actual group of candidates for the head coaching job, it appears that the program will receive a major boost of energy and enthusiasm when the actual announcement is made. And that can’t happen soon enough for the team and the fans of the University of South Carolina.
P.S.The latest rumor from the message boards is that Staley will accept the position and announcement made by the end of the week. We will wait and see.
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