Next SMS coach could be another former ISU assistant?

[mred]

http://www.springfieldnews-leader.com/webextra/burnett/michiganst051102.html

Katie Abrahamson-Henderson, who was an assistant at ISU for six seasons before spending the last two as Associate Head Coach at Michigan State, apparently visited the SMS campus on Friday.

[dem]

Springfield papers are reporting that former ISU Coach "Abe" (Katie Abrahamson-Henderson) will be named as the new SMS head coach Tuesday morning. This would mean that former Iowa State assistant coaches are now established as head coaches in two very prominent programs: Maryland (Brenda Oldfield) and Southwest Missouri State (Katie Abrahamson-Henderson). Also, one at a somewhat less prominent program: Akron (Kelly Kebe).
http://www.springfieldnews-leader.com/webextra/burnett/index.html

With all of his recent success in grooming assistants to move on to higher positions, Coach Fennelly has just made a pre-emptive move by securing the "Associate Head Coach" title (with appropriate salary, etc.) for Robin Pingeton, previously one of three Assistant Coaches. This should be a big incentive in getting Pingeton to stay around for a while, even while the market demand for good women's coaches keeps shooting up.



[This message has been edited by dem (edited 05-14-2002).]

[CYMAN]

IMHO Coach Pingeton will be much harder to keep around than any of the other assistants that have left. She already has alot (I think 6 - 8 years) of head coaching experience.

[mred]

Originally posted by CYMAN:
IMHO Coach Pingeton will be much harder to keep around than any of the other assistants that have left. She already has alot (I think 6 - 8 years) of head coaching experience.

Hopefully promoting her might allow us to keep her an extra year. http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/smile.gif I do not expect to see her at ISU after two more seasons, max.

[This message has been edited by mred (edited 05-14-2002).]

[dem]

I wouldn't try to argue that Pingeton will necessarily stay around a long time, but it's not an impossibility. Chris Dailey and Mickie DeMoss have been Associate Head Coaches for years and years (at UCONN and Tennessee, respectively, both for 17 years overall), and have seemed pretty satisfied on the whole. DeMoss, though, did apply for the Ohio State job that Jim Foster took.

[DblT81]

Linden Weese has been on the Tech bench for every game of Coach Sharp's 20 year head coaching career.

[mred]

I don't think any of the assistants who have left ISU have had children, and that's no coincidence. A family would make a coach much more likely to stay put. ISU assistant Latoja Harris has a daughter, and she's been at ISU since 1997. Jodi Steyer, ISU's newest assistant, has a family (and I think her husband has a pretty decent job in Des Moines) so I doubt she'll be going anywhere soon. Coach Pingeton does not have children, so I wouldn't be surprised if she moves on.

[DblT81]

Good point mred!

Weese has been Sharp's assistant so long, he now has grandchildren to keep him hanging around Lubbock.

[dem]

Columnist Scott Puryear in the Springfield News-Leader, about what helped tip the scales in SMS's decision to hire Katie A. Henderson as the new head coach:


What sealed the deal were repeated endorsements from her former boss at Iowa State, Bill Fennelly, who enlisted Henderson's recruiting help in particular to turn the Cyclones into a powerhouse.

"I called Bill Fennelly for a third time and I said, 'Bill, we've talked about all this stuff, and you've told me what she did ... I like all the credentials, but I want to know this: Can she do the job as a head coach?' " Rowe said. "And he said, 'the strongest thing I can tell you is she absolutely is ready.' "
http://www.springfieldnews-leader.com/sports/puryear051502.html


Columnist Eric Bailey added this:

Fennelly, who had Henderson on staff from 1994-2000 before she moved to Joanne P. McCallie's staff at Michigan State, said she's been ready to be a coach for a long time.

"It was all about timing," he said. "Katie is someone that isn't going to jump at anything. She's had other opportunities in the past to be a head coach. When the SMS job opened, she called me immediately. It's a great fit for SMS and for Katie."
http://www.springfieldnews-leader.com/webextra/burnett/henderson051502.html

In the unlikely event that anyone reading this board is unfamiliar with the Southwest Missouri State program, suffice it to say that they have fan support and a playing environment that is second to none. If you've ever watched their home games on TV, you know that the noise level is off the charts. They've been in the Final Four twice within ten years, won nine of the past twelve Missouri Valley Conference titles, and have been to the NCAA tournament 10 of the last 11 years. There is probably no community in the country that has given their women's basketball team more enthusiastic support and affection than Springfield. Jackie Stiles, of course, put them squarely on the national map, but her departure has only left the school and community hungry for more success. In my opinion, this is a FANTASTIC job for Katie to have landed, especially given her lack of head coaching experience.

[This message has been edited by dem (edited 05-15-2002).]