Who Will Be Mason's Next Women's Basketball Coach?

gmutom

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I don't follow women's basketball and don't have an opinion one way or the other on the hire, but as an NBA fan I do find it cool that her husband Eric is a well-known NBA referee.
 
At the last minute Brad pulled a DP on me...said the University had "changed its mind" and went with what's her name.

Kind of classless but as a white male I totally understand the decision.
 

sleeperpick

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Yeah I mean best of luck to her, but if she was part of the women’s program for 8 years she definitely didn’t coach a whole lot of winning.
There’s just nothing like someone getting fired for sucking a** at their job talking about resigning. “I made the decision” good go coach the Virgin Islands national team for $3 an hour and good luck with life
 
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Pablo

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I expect Coach Blair-Lewis to bring her Bethune-Cookman associate head coach/recruiting coordinator to Mason - https://bcuathletics.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster/coaches/chandler-mccabe/2568

"Chandler McCabe begins her sixth season as an assistant coach on Head Coach Vanessa Blair-Lewis' Bethune-Cookman staff, coming off a 2017-18 campaign that saw her gain both national exposure and a unique opportunity for her first Division I head coaching experience.

For four games, McCabe handled head coaching duties with Blair-Lewis on maternity leave. The Lady Wildcats won three of those four games, including an overtime win at Morgan State and a quarterfinal victory over Maryland-Eastern Shore at the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament.

In March, McCabe was recognized by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association as one of its Thirty Under 30 honorees presented by Marriott Rewards®, a program created to recognize 30 up-and-coming women's basketball coaches age 30 and under at all levels of the game. Each honoree has exemplified their involvement in community service, mentorship, professional manner, and professional association involvement."
 

MasonFanatic

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Yeah I mean best of luck to her, but if she was part of the women’s program for 8 years she definitely didn’t coach a whole lot of winning.
I felt she was the only assistant coach that visibly did a good job (from what I could see). She worked with the post players and they always got better over time. We always had some talented 4s and 5s, and even the less talented ones developed good fundamentals. The problem this past season was the guard play - they couldn't get the ball to their bigs. Personally, I'm sorry to see Coach T go.

And yes, her son and her nephew are both stud HS prospects.
 
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Pablo

Pablo

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"George Mason​

Incoming (former school in parenthesis):

N/A

Outgoing (new school in parenthesis):

Devyn Wilson (TBA)

Vita Stam (TBA)

Teodora Popovic (TBA)"
 

He15man

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I really hope Blair can make this program relevant. I admit I don't want women's college basketball, but it'd be nice to have some degree of success on both the men and women's side of the sport. There's no reason our women's team should be as bad as it is. I think Tanneyhill was the last coach with even a moderate amount of success... and that's probably being kind because i think the program hasn't made a single NCAA tournament appearance. Only a few WNIT games.
 

FreeGunston12

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I really hope Blair can make this program relevant. I admit I don't want women's college basketball, but it'd be nice to have some degree of success on both the men and women's side of the sport. There's no reason our women's team should be as bad as it is. I think Tanneyhill was the last coach with even a moderate amount of success... and that's probably being kind because i think the program hasn't made a single NCAA tournament appearance. Only a few WNIT games.
I think about this with the men's team too - - when you are a good program, being in a recruiting hotbed is an advantage. When you're a bad program, it is not so much - - because your area is so heavily recruited that better schools are going to pick it over. We get left with the scraps. A look at the women's roster shows that we do not recruit locally.

All the big school's scouts and coaches come to the DMV. There are no hidden gems to be found in our backyard. Not in women's basketball anyway, where the good players really stand out so much more. There is a reason for the lack of parity in women's college basketball.
 

He15man

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I think about this with the men's team too - - when you are a good program, being in a recruiting hotbed is an advantage. When you're a bad program, it is not so much - - because your area is so heavily recruited that better schools are going to pick it over. We get left with the scraps. A look at the women's roster shows that we do not recruit locally.

All the big school's scouts and coaches come to the DMV. There are no hidden gems to be found in our backyard. Not in women's basketball anyway, where the good players really stand out so much more. There is a reason for the lack of parity in women's college basketball.
Probably true. But if the talent pool for women basketball players just isn't comparable to the men's (esp here in the area), and the big schools poach all that talent, then many of the middle-tier schools in the mid-major conferences are all competing for what's left over, right? So if we can just win a couple of those recruiting battles for "better than average" players, and combine that with better coaching, then we should be competitive in the A-10 right? I don't expect to be competing at the same level of the UConns, Tennesseees, Baylors, etc. Just enough to be competitive in our own conference and MAYBE make it to the NCAA tournament one day.
 
Probably true. But if the talent pool for women basketball players just isn't comparable to the men's (esp here in the area)

This is maybe the premier area for girls basketball in the entire country. At worst top three.

Just Northern Virginia? Better than the guys side. DMV? About the same.

But, the overall talent pool nationally as you say isn't nearly as deep as the guys side.
 

jessej

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I think about this with the men's team too - - when you are a good program, being in a recruiting hotbed is an advantage. When you're a bad program, it is not so much - - because your area is so heavily recruited that better schools are going to pick it over. We get left with the scraps. A look at the women's roster shows that we do not recruit locally.

All the big school's scouts and coaches come to the DMV. There are no hidden gems to be found in our backyard. Not in women's basketball anyway, where the good players really stand out so much more. There is a reason for the lack of parity in women's college basketball.
and arguably one of the best women's bball high school in the country is/was down the street at Paul VI
2 U of MD starters, one at Notre Dame, etc, etc
 

FreeGunston12

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Probably true. But if the talent pool for women basketball players just isn't comparable to the men's (esp here in the area), and the big schools poach all that talent, then many of the middle-tier schools in the mid-major conferences are all competing for what's left over, right? So if we can just win a couple of those recruiting battles for "better than average" players, and combine that with better coaching, then we should be competitive in the A-10 right? I don't expect to be competing at the same level of the UConns, Tennesseees, Baylors, etc. Just enough to be competitive in our own conference and MAYBE make it to the NCAA tournament one day.
What I'm trying to say is that we don't appear to recruit our area very well AND there is no hiding talent in the DMV AND we have no history of success to help us win recruiting battles. The talent is here but this area is poached by every program worth their salt. My theory is that our area is more picked over than some other places. GW is also much better in Women's basketball, so there is more local A-10 competition there.

Secondly, the standard deviation of talent (if it was quantifiable) seems to be much larger than in men's basketball. That is to say, the average women's basketball player (and program) is much further away from the great women's basketball player (and program) than the average men's basketball player is from the great men's basketball player. This leads to a lack of parity, which keeps us stuck near the bottom.
 
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