Mechelle VoepelESPN.com
Joanne P. McCallie resigned from Duke on Thursday after 13 seasons in Durham, North Carolina. This leaves one of the biggest coaching jobs in women’s basketball open and attracts enormous interest.
McCallie had a share in the success at Duke and previously at Michigan State and Maine. But since there was still a year left for her contract with Duke and no extension was imminent, it was time for a change. One could argue that it is past because Duke has lost its place among the national championship candidates. McCallie reached Elite Eight four times, but was up there. In order for Duke to try to regain true elite status, he had to move on from McCallie.
Which direction will Duke go? A year ago, archrival North Carolina replaced longtime trainer Sylvia Hatchell with Princeton Courtney Banghart, who was respected for her strategic acumen and success in the Ivy League, but had no experience in a Power 5 conference. UNC has not tried to lure one of the most successful Power 5 head coaches because it relied on Banghart’s ability to grow quickly in the job. North Carolina was between 16 and 14 years old last season and Banghart has been well recruited there so far.
In the prime of women’s basketball rivalry in Duke, North Carolina, both programs were national championship candidates, even in 2006, when both reached the final four. Who could Duke look at to go back there? Here are some potential candidates for the job.
Gail Goestenkors
Duke was able to bring back the architect who made the program a powerhouse. Goestenkors took over in 1992-93 and transformed the Blue Devils, which had largely been rethought even in the ACC. In 15 seasons she went 396-99 and led Duke to four Final Four appearances. In 2007 she was lured to Texas, but it didn’t fit. Goestenkors resigned in 2012 after failing to survive the second round of the Longhorns NCAA tournament.
Since then she has trained as a WNBA assistant, done radio work and is a coaching consultant. At the age of 57, she says her batteries are fully charged and the Blue Devil fan base is likely to be powered to welcome them back.
“I’ve never felt as safe in coaching as I do today,” Goestenkors told ESPN on Thursday. “I remember a conversation I had with UNC football coach Mack Brown last year after he returned to coaching. He talked about missing the locker room and the energy to teach and coach young people. I can do myself 100 percent refer to it. “
Katie Meier, Miami
The ACC knows the 52-year-old Meier, a Duke alum, who ended his outstanding career as a player there in 1990 very well. She is 292-187 in 15 seasons in Miami. Your best result in the ACC is the first draw in 2011; Last season the hurricanes were 15-15 and ACC 7-11, which corresponds to 11th place.
Miami has not completed the second round of the NCAA tournament under Meier, so the question is: could it be much more successful with the caliber of recruits that it should regularly reach at Duke?
Lindsay Gottlieb, Cleveland Cavaliers
The former Cal trainer, who took the bears to the Final Four 2013, changed last year to gain experience as an assistant at the NBA level. But Gottlieb, 42, could choose to return to college game for this opportunity.
Born in New York, she graduated from the Ivy League (Brown) and goes well with a program with Duke’s academic reputation. And their time with the Cavs should be a bonus for recruiting players who want to make it to the WNBA.
Gottlieb was 179-89 in Cal from 2011 to 2019.
Adia Barnes, Arizona
At 43, she seems to be in a really good place in her alma mater, where she’s between 68 and 60 in four seasons, but just had her best year. The Wildcats were 24-7 and finished fourth in the Pac-12. Barnes’ success on the pitch has also sparked greater interest among the fan base.
The former WNBA player comes from California and worked as a coach on the west coast. Many points indicate that she will stay there, but Duke is a rare opportunity. And she may not be the only current Pac-12 trainer in the mix for the Blue Devils job, since Cori Close from UCLA could also be a candidate.
Tina Langley, rice
Langley, a former assistant in Maryland, has made a name for herself as head coach at Rice. She is 115-43 with the owls and her 28 wins in 2018-19 were a program record. This season, she was Conference USA Trainer of the Year. The owls were 21-8 last season.
Langley had experience in the ACC when the Terrapins were still in this league – she was part of two Final Four trips with Maryland – and also as an assistant at Clemson.
Michelle Clark-Heard, Cincinnati
She was 154-47 in six seasons at her alma mater in West Kentucky before taking over the Bearcats in 2018. In the past two seasons she has been 32-15 in Cincinnati. In her time with these two programs, she has never won less than 22 games in one season.
Clark-Heard, 51, was previously Jeff Walz’s assistant in Louisville and helped the Cardinals make their first Final Four appearance in 2009.
Jennie Baranczyk, Drake
She has been interviewed for several Power 5 jobs in recent years, including North Carolina last year. At 38, the former Iowa player is happy about Drake in her hometown Des Moines, but with her success there, it is expected that she will continue at some point.
She is a total of 174-83 in eight seasons at Drake and 110-34 at the Missouri Valley Conference, where her bulldogs have ended the first three and second three times.
Shea Ralph, UConn assistant
The former Huskies player and long-time assistant could be seen as a possible heir to Geno Auriemma at UConn. But Auriemma has shown no signs of slowing down, and 42-year-old Ralph is ready to become head coach. She is also from Fayetteville, North Carolina.
George Washington head coach Jennifer Rizzotti, another former Huskies guard, could also be considered. At 46, she has an overall record of 379 to 276 in 17 seasons at Hartford and four at GW.
And there is also Marisa Moseley (38) from Boston University, the current head coach at her alma mater. From 2009 to 2018 she was UConn assistant.
Joy Smith, Clemson assistant
It remains to be seen whether the Blue Devils would consider hiring an assistant like Ralph or Smith. At 32, Smith is the youngest candidate on this list and a former Duke player known for her recruiting skills. Smith, whose maiden name is Cheek, ended her Blue Devils career in 2010 after playing for both Goestenkors (who recruited her) and McCallie.
Smith, a native of Charlotte, North Carolina, was an assistant at her alma mater, Ohio State and Vanderbilt before going to Clemson.
Smith is one of the fascinating names of former Blue Devils who are either in coaching or could start their careers. These include Lindsey Harding, who is currently working with the Sacramento Kings of the NBA, and Alana Beard, the best all-round player in the program who left the WNBA.
Duke might even consider hiring Goestenkors as head coach, knowing that she could call in assistants like Smith, Harding, or Beard to help them move up to the position of head coach at some point.
Curt Miller, Connecticut Sun.
It is likely that Duke, who has had no male head coach in program history, will hire a woman. But there could be some male candidates in the mix, including Miller. He used to be college head coach at Bowling Green (11 years) and Indiana (two years) and completed a combined 290-124. In four seasons with the Sun of the WNBA he is 79-57 with three playoff appearances. He brought Connecticut to Game 5 of the WNBA final last year and has also had good experiences coaching former Duke players such as Jasmine Thomas in Connecticut and Alana Beard when Miller was an assistant in Los Angeles.
Other male candidates that could be considered are Louisville’s Jeff Walz, whose name appears to be mentioned in many coaching searches, but who does a very good job (and a good pay) at the Cardinals, and Kenny Brooks Virginia Tech.
.
