Bye Carolyn

[swok34]

I really like her..........can she coach defense? :D

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/local/orl-bk-ufpeckgone12feb07,0,4148571.story?track=rss

Florida is holding a 2:45 p.m. news conference today to announce that women's basketball coach Carolyn Peck is being relieved of her duties. She is expected to finish out the season.

[Bball Girl]

Why would you have a press conference to announce this NOW and expect she and the team to go thru the rest of the season???

Couldn't they just wait until the end of the season to make their announcement?

[TTU79]

Well, it could be a situation like Marsha's--someone let it leak early and the news media is going to put it out regardless.:mad:

[Bball Girl]

Well, it could be a situation like Marsha's--someone let it leak early and the news media is going to put it out regardless.:mad:

Good point...I didn't think about that at all.

[35TangoTango]

I think they're letting her go because of her record and announcing it now so they can freely contact prospective coaches.

[Row6Seat10]

I think they're letting her go because of her record and announcing it now so they can freely contact prospective coaches.I agree.

Cara Lawson said tonight that Florida is a top 5 school for women's basketball and that they could get any coach they want and have the resources to make it happen. I'm not sure if I agree with Lawson on the high status of the Florida womens basketball program but say if that's is the case. I'm guessing they're going to be looking at Marquette coach Terri Mitchell. Would they have the gonads to nab another coach in the SEC such as Kentucky's Mickie DeMoss. Though I don't think the coach at the "Bob" would want to leave we may have to put a padlock on the front of the Devaney Center to keep the Gators out. Then again if Lawson is right "money talks".

[Bob_Ballew]

No way is Florida one of the top 5 jobs for coaches in women's basketball. Money or not! I would put some Big XII schools ahead of Florida and you know we don't get much respect.:p

[Jennifer]

Actually, I can see how Florida could be considered a top job--Top 10 maybe? They have the resources, it's a great place to live, a great university. I'm sure they'll get some up and comer.

[dem]

Just imagine what might happen if Florida really decided to put its resource muscle fully behind women's basketball. Sheesh, I hate to think about it.

Well, you know...I'm actually sort of ambivalent about it but anyway, it's something to think about.

[dem]

Another thought...how do you go from winning the national championship to getting fired? What I mean is, how bad a coach could she possibly be? She may have inherited Lynn Dunn's players, etc., but they didn't coach themselves to the national championship. So, what's up with her? Anyone know?

[tx4OU]

After just finishing a book that swok lent me on the history of women's basketball, I'm afraid we'll be seeing a lot more of this than in year's past. It's taken some time to develop the women's college game to receive the attention we've been blessed to have the past 10 to 15 years, but within the last 5 or 6 years, the nation has awakened to how exciting this sport truly can be. The down side to that (or up side if you want to look at it that way) is more and more athletic departments are going to see the $$$ that can be made from having a top notch program, as well as the national attention it will bring to your overall school's athletic program.

It used to be, ADs hired a coach and left them alone. Not any more. With the advent of national TV contracts, ESPN covering the NCAA tournament from start to finish and more and more fever of nat'l TV packed out arenas, everyone will start getting into the arms race with facilities and such. It's already well underway here in fly-over country.

[Marquette Fan]

I agree.

Cara Lawson said tonight that Florida is a top 5 school for women's basketball and that they could get any coach they want and have the resources to make it happen. I'm not sure if I agree with Lawson on the high status of the Florida womens basketball program but say if that's is the case. I'm guessing they're going to be looking at Marquette coach Terri Mitchell. Would they have the gonads to nab another coach in the SEC such as Kentucky's Mickie DeMoss. Though I don't think the coach at the "Bob" would want to leave we may have to put a padlock on the front of the Devaney Center to keep the Gators out. Then again if Lawson is right "money talks".

I don't think Terri Mitchell leaves Marquette for another coaching job at this point. I could see her leaving more to do something outside of coaching. I also don't know if they'd be looking at her either.

[giraffespots]

I don't know whats up with her, but look at her history. She wins a NC, then quits to go to the WNBA. She wasn't very successful there and left there to go to Florida. I'm not sure if she's a good coach or not, but she's not a very stable one.

[YCN]

Another thought...how do you go from winning the national championship to getting fired? What I mean is, how bad a coach could she possibly be? She may have inherited Lynn Dunn's players, etc., but they didn't coach themselves to the national championship. So, what's up with her? Anyone know?Peck had great players in her two years at Purdue: Katie Douglas, Stephanie White-McCarty, Ukari Figgs, Kelly Komara, Camille Cooper, etc.

But they weren't her players, she didn't recruit them, although Douglas as a sophomore was probably most influenced by her presence. It's possible that Peck isn't a good recruiter and/or developer of players. Her record at Florida was very spotty, and this year they are just plain not any good: 0-11 in conference, 6-20 overall. There simply was no momentum to indicate that Florida's program was anywhere but dead in the water under Peck.

More and more, you have to produce to some standard of acceptability, which varies greatly among schools. Florida is a school that thinks they ought to be an SEC leader in athletics, and they are in many sports, but not including women's basketball. She had to be expecting this.

[Scamp]

Gators fire Peck
http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070213/GATORS03/702130328/-1/sports

Major story in the Gainesville Sun. Via Women's Basketball Online--yep, Kim Callahan is back! :)

[swok34]

I never understood why the coach before Carolyn left Florida. She wasn't fired and it almost seemed to me at the time that she took a lateral position.
I don't recall her name and my computer freezes everytime I try to go into Florida's website. Does anyone know?

[TTU79]

Can't remember her first name for sure, but I think it was Carol Ross, maybe?

[swok34]

That's her, thanks TTU......

and she went to Ole Miss, her alma mater, so it does make sense.

[DblT81]

I thought Ross was pushed out by Florida. I didn't remember it being completely voluntary.

I was thinking that Florida thought they had a shot of a NC caliber coach in Peck being available so they showed Ross the door. But my memory isn't good at times and this one isn't worth my time to look up.

[BearLady]

Yes, Carol Ross was the coach prior to Peck; Ross did not leave voluntarily.

Someone mentioned the possibility of perhaps Mickie DeMoss for the Florida job. I doubt that's likely, though, as she's already had it. From the U of Ky bio info:

DeMoss has 30 years of collegiate coaching experience that began in 1977 as an assistant at Memphis State. After receiving her master's degree in education, she went on to become the first full-time coach for women's basketball at Florida from 1979-83. She compiled a 45-68 overall record with the Lady Gators before leaving to join the staff of the nationally ranked Auburn Tigers under the direction of Joe Ciampi.

Two years later DeMoss was hired by Pat Summitt as the top assistant at Tennessee and became one of the most highly visible assistant coaches in the game.

Another interesting possibility might be her former Lady Vols counterpart, Holly Warlick. That is, if Florida were to consider someone without prior HC experience. I wouldn't normally think so, but then again, Warlick doesn't have the typical credentials that most assistants might bring. Also don't know if she would ever consider leaving the Lady Vols, but if she did, the money at Florida might help persuade her.

Some thought that DeMoss would never leave. I think that Pat helped convince her she was more than ready again to be a head coach and helped promote her for the KY job. Perhaps we could have deja vu with Warlick?

[Scamp]

The bar is set high in SEC, at UF Pat Dooley, Gainesville Sun

... No offense, but the level of enthusiasm for [women's basketball] has never been high in Gainesville. Ross, with all of her success (nine NCAA Tournaments in 12 seasons), sometimes grew frustrated with the lack of attendance.

But it never got this bad. The game Sunday against Mississippi State drew an announced crowd of 907, which includes band members, cheerleaders, UAA personnel, vendors, security, players, coaches and a few folding chairs with sweaters hanging on the back.

Florida women's basketball had become so irrelevant that Peck must have been surprised to see so many media members at her going-away announcement. Women's basketball is a tough sell, but 6-20 is an impossible one. ...

http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070213/GATORS24/702130323/-1/sports

[Bball Girl]

But Ross stayed out of coaching for a few years before taking the Ole Miss job. She played for Van Chancellor and brought in P. Gillom as an assistant so it's stayed in the family.

Peck left Purdue for the WNBA - but her Florida team folded. There are several coaches out there as possibilities - it will be interesting to see.

[sybarite]

I assume that Bernice Mosby is at Baylor as a result of Peck?

Florida was a team that beat LSU last year and finished the season well, until the tournament. This year, they have floundered rather badly.

I've seen that a lot of basketball recruits come from Georgia. Do many come from Florida?

If you're looking for a coach, don't you begin at South Dakota State?

[BearLady]

I assume that Bernice Mosby is at Baylor as a result of Peck?

Peck did make the decision to dismiss Bernice. I'm not privy to all of the details that were involved but understand there had been an altercation between Bernice and another player. What the nature of it was, etc I don't know.

I would say that Peck made the decision she thought was best for the Florida program. She has acknowledged that it wasn't an easy decision. As it turns out, perhaps it was a decision that benefited Bernice in the long run as well.

[swok34]

Actually, Carol Ross' stepping down was a surprise:

While manning the Lady Gators, she was a finalist for the 2001 and 2002 Naismith National Coach of the Year award.

March 22, 2002: Carol Ross stuns the college basketball community by announcing her resignation after 12 successful years as Floridas' head coach. She steps down as the Gators all time winningest coach with a 247-121 record.

April 3, 2002: Carolyn Peck is introduced as the eighth coach in Floridas' womens basketball history.

http://www.gatorzone.com/basketball/women/media/2006/pdf/history/florida.pdf

This is her fourth season at Ole Miss.

[swok34]

Someone posted a very good article a couple of weeks ago about Bernice Mosby and how Kim wasn't going to take her at first, until she sat down and talked to her.

Sometimes, players just need a different kind of coach.

[Scamp]

Foley has critical hire to make for women's hoops
http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070221/GATORS27/702210338/-1/sports

Hubert Mizell, the Gainesville Sun's sports columnist, on the search for a successor to Carolyn Peck.

[Waylontheman]

Every program wanted Bonnie but she wouldn't leave VT until Lew payed her too much.........

Maybe shes what Florida needs! I'll pass her email and phone number on to the AD!