And it isn't worth much. Long....
The most important thing in this new hire was someone to be able to instill discipline, toughness, accountability and team.
Those may sound cliche but for the Lady Vols they are not. Some programs greatly needed a marketer or flashy hire. Not here.
The Lady Vols are truly one of the iconic brands in college sports. Girls today literally play basketball because of the Lady Vols. The weight that holds is enormous. We haven't been an elite program for 3-4 years but the icon status is there.
You are going to have access to a player that only UConn does. Notre Dame and Baylor have elevated theirself to the truly elite status butt they are not iconic the way UT and UConn are. The next programs knocking are Stanford, Louisville, Miss State and South Carolina who we are now seeing cracks in the foundation. Staying power is hard.
With that said as HC of the Lady Vols you are simply going to always have more talented players than everyone maybe besides those 5-7 schools listed. And in the women's game the talent differential is significant.
When you get that talent if you don't have discipline, toughness, hold them accountable and foster a team environment you will get what we have had. Not to go into detail on the program the last few years but just know all those areas were lacking severely. The toughness and accountability was gone. Totally.
From the conversations I have had Kellie Harper is a tough hard nosed coach who has great relationships with players. She strikes the balance between being hard on them but having them respect her. That is an important balance to have. She is fine blowing up her players if they get out of line. Holly really struggled in this area. This isn't surprising becomes many assistant coaches move into friend role with players while the HC is the enemy. That's why you see that transition fail many times. As HC of a program there better be a healthy fear and respect towards you from your players. If not it will get ugly. Players can not totally respect a certain assistant but if that gets to a HC then it's over.
If those trails are back again at Tennessee the floor is going to be Elite 8. When you get there you are competing for National Championships again.
This hire didn't need to be a flashy marketer or someone who would crush the PC. Didn't even have to be an X's and O's guru because at Tennessee the sheer amount of talent takes care of X's and O's. This was about getting a coach who is tough as heck and will demand the players be. If they are playing as individuals a coach who will blow them up. When you have HS AA's you better be able to keep them in line. If you win the fans will come. Like all Tennessee sports really. But when the Lady Vols win they put 15,000 people in the seats for a conference game which is borderline unthinkable for women's basketball anywhere else in the country.
Basketball more than any other sport is a talent game. If you are more talented and get that talent playing for each other with toughness and discipline you will win. When you play against another team on your level it comes down to who plays better that night.
Bottom line in my conversations with people who would know. Harper is tough and demanding but walks the line with caring for her players which gains their respect.
We will see what happens wins and lose wise but to me that is what this hire was about. And I agree with it.
The most important thing in this new hire was someone to be able to instill discipline, toughness, accountability and team.
Those may sound cliche but for the Lady Vols they are not. Some programs greatly needed a marketer or flashy hire. Not here.
The Lady Vols are truly one of the iconic brands in college sports. Girls today literally play basketball because of the Lady Vols. The weight that holds is enormous. We haven't been an elite program for 3-4 years but the icon status is there.
You are going to have access to a player that only UConn does. Notre Dame and Baylor have elevated theirself to the truly elite status butt they are not iconic the way UT and UConn are. The next programs knocking are Stanford, Louisville, Miss State and South Carolina who we are now seeing cracks in the foundation. Staying power is hard.
With that said as HC of the Lady Vols you are simply going to always have more talented players than everyone maybe besides those 5-7 schools listed. And in the women's game the talent differential is significant.
When you get that talent if you don't have discipline, toughness, hold them accountable and foster a team environment you will get what we have had. Not to go into detail on the program the last few years but just know all those areas were lacking severely. The toughness and accountability was gone. Totally.
From the conversations I have had Kellie Harper is a tough hard nosed coach who has great relationships with players. She strikes the balance between being hard on them but having them respect her. That is an important balance to have. She is fine blowing up her players if they get out of line. Holly really struggled in this area. This isn't surprising becomes many assistant coaches move into friend role with players while the HC is the enemy. That's why you see that transition fail many times. As HC of a program there better be a healthy fear and respect towards you from your players. If not it will get ugly. Players can not totally respect a certain assistant but if that gets to a HC then it's over.
If those trails are back again at Tennessee the floor is going to be Elite 8. When you get there you are competing for National Championships again.
This hire didn't need to be a flashy marketer or someone who would crush the PC. Didn't even have to be an X's and O's guru because at Tennessee the sheer amount of talent takes care of X's and O's. This was about getting a coach who is tough as heck and will demand the players be. If they are playing as individuals a coach who will blow them up. When you have HS AA's you better be able to keep them in line. If you win the fans will come. Like all Tennessee sports really. But when the Lady Vols win they put 15,000 people in the seats for a conference game which is borderline unthinkable for women's basketball anywhere else in the country.
Basketball more than any other sport is a talent game. If you are more talented and get that talent playing for each other with toughness and discipline you will win. When you play against another team on your level it comes down to who plays better that night.
Bottom line in my conversations with people who would know. Harper is tough and demanding but walks the line with caring for her players which gains their respect.
We will see what happens wins and lose wise but to me that is what this hire was about. And I agree with it.
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