I will preface this by the fact that I currently have a daughter going through the WBB recruiting process (athough not at an Elite player level) but have been a summer coach for many teams and players that were at an Elite level.
I have no specific or detailed information about what transpired between Pat & Geno but giving it some thought over the past few days.....here it goes....
Without any dispute.....Pat was a leading figure in building women's college basketball and other women's college sports from the early 70s - she had a lot of people that she shared ideals with like Lin Dunn, Bobbie Moore, Jody Conradt, Leon Barrmore, Debbie Ryan, Marianne Stanley, Sylvia Hatchell, Muffet McGraw, Vivian Stringer, Jim Foster, Andy Landers, Tara Van DeVeer and many others involved in building women's college athletics in the 70s, 80s and 90s.
Each of these people seemed to share a common theme and belief.....
Each person was helping build a program and a sport and every success and accomplishment was good for the common good.
The true principles of a student-athlete were to be shared, supported and celebrated.
Competition between programs, coaches and players should always be fierce butport andnot at the expense of building the sport and the overall success of women's athletics.
Everything you did was 1st in support of your team and players but the overriding philosophy was to do what was best for the sport and women student-athletes.
Geno came along......and all the overriding principles and ideals that Pat believed in and pursued were thrown out the window.
For Geno and UConnn.....it has always been about what was best for Geno and UConn,,,,,,,,,not what was best the sport or female student-athletes.
As a result - with the rise of Geno and UConn there was a lot of negative recruiting and slander introduced into the recruiting process and sport.
There were certainly individual instances that contributed to the issues between Pat & Geno.,,,,but overall - I truly believe that it wasn't about "cultures", NCAA violations or other things but more about whether women's college basketball and other women's sports would follow much of the corruption and lack of integrity that mark college football and men's college basketball or whether the sport and programs would stay true to the principles that contributed to the success and growth of the sport.
I have no specific or detailed information about what transpired between Pat & Geno but giving it some thought over the past few days.....here it goes....
Without any dispute.....Pat was a leading figure in building women's college basketball and other women's college sports from the early 70s - she had a lot of people that she shared ideals with like Lin Dunn, Bobbie Moore, Jody Conradt, Leon Barrmore, Debbie Ryan, Marianne Stanley, Sylvia Hatchell, Muffet McGraw, Vivian Stringer, Jim Foster, Andy Landers, Tara Van DeVeer and many others involved in building women's college athletics in the 70s, 80s and 90s.
Each of these people seemed to share a common theme and belief.....
Each person was helping build a program and a sport and every success and accomplishment was good for the common good.
The true principles of a student-athlete were to be shared, supported and celebrated.
Competition between programs, coaches and players should always be fierce butport andnot at the expense of building the sport and the overall success of women's athletics.
Everything you did was 1st in support of your team and players but the overriding philosophy was to do what was best for the sport and women student-athletes.
Geno came along......and all the overriding principles and ideals that Pat believed in and pursued were thrown out the window.
For Geno and UConnn.....it has always been about what was best for Geno and UConn,,,,,,,,,not what was best the sport or female student-athletes.
As a result - with the rise of Geno and UConn there was a lot of negative recruiting and slander introduced into the recruiting process and sport.
There were certainly individual instances that contributed to the issues between Pat & Geno.,,,,but overall - I truly believe that it wasn't about "cultures", NCAA violations or other things but more about whether women's college basketball and other women's sports would follow much of the corruption and lack of integrity that mark college football and men's college basketball or whether the sport and programs would stay true to the principles that contributed to the success and growth of the sport.
