OBX Dave has obviously elbowed me out of the Tribe men's hoops gig, so I had to find a new angle. And I only had to go a few doors down in the bowels of Kaplan Arena to discover a story that's been years in the making.
If it's possible, W&M's women's hoops program is worse than the mens'. Since the CAA was founded in 1983, the Lady Wrens have never finished better than third in league play. They've made one CAA tournament final, and a mere five semis. The team is 13-37 all-time in the CAA tourney, and has four winning seasons in conference play. No coach in program history that's been on the bench for more than 40 games has a career winning record. It ain't been pretty.
Long-time head coach Ed Swanson was let go after going 10-20, 5-13 last season. Athletic Director Brian Mann took a gamble on Erin Dickerson Davis, giving the Wake Forest assistant and Northwestern grad her first head coaching gig. Worked so well on the men's side, how could it go wrong?
I snark, I snark.
And to date, after a bit of a slow start, it's going really well. The Lady Wrens got smoked at Towson, 75-43, on January 13 and faced a game against Drexel, the league's top team. The won that by 16 and haven't looked back.
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| Riley Casey |
The Tribe has a challenging run in to the CAA Tournament, facing rematches with Drexel (in Philly) and Towson before closing with winnable games against Elon, Hofstra, and Monmouth. I'd say we should start booking our tickets to Towson to see the Wrens play in the conference tournament, but Whitney and I will be in Edinburgh. So the rest of you should go and cheer on the best hoops team at William & Mary.
tribe men now in a five-way tie for seventh in the conference. really doesn't matter where they finish, so long as they can avoid 12th or 13th - those two spots play off to get into the main draw of the tournament. the dreaded pillowfight friday matchup. in fact, the 11th seed might be optimal, because it draws the six seed, which is likely to be north carolina a&t and avoids hofstra/charleston for as long as possible. strategery. these wrens go to 11!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure whether to view Rob's commitment to Wrenball with admiration or concern...
ReplyDeleteyes
ReplyDeletepatrick ewing's coaching tenure at georgetown is so bad it's costing eric bienemy opportunities. that's a least as logical as any other theory.
ReplyDeleteI think Eric Bieniemy's problem is Eric Bieniemy not Patrick Ewing. Last year he said “I have to make sure that I’m always evolving, because if you’re not evolving, you become like the dinosaurs — you become extinct." The dinosaurs went extinct because a massive asteroid slammed into the Gulf of Mexico and eliminated 75% of the plant and animal species on Earth. Evolution had nothing to do with it. Zoological and astronomical inaccuracies aside, you don't want a guy who says shit like this speaking for your organization at press conferences.
ReplyDeleteif the dinosaurs had evolved a global defense shield they would've survived. i got what he meant.
ReplyDelete“It’s out of a business setting,” he explained. “It’s a personal setting where you get to know people. And I think that’s important because everybody don’t know Eric Bieniemy. I don’t know all those owners. I can name so many different people. It gave everyone a voice and a view to see exactly from that window what it’s like to interact with those people. On top of that, to have that opportunity to just say, ‘Hey, this is who I am.’”
ReplyDeleteZman makes a compelling case.
ReplyDeletei understand the point. at the time, jonathan gannon’s presser today after getting the arizona job was a festival of nonsense, as just the most recent comparison. i think bienemy is being held to a different standard.
ReplyDeletethis is my best episode! i've captured what it's like to be in my high school class on audio. i'm very happy with it . . .
ReplyDeletehttps://www.podcastics.com/episode/224406/link/
FWIW, a buddy and former colleague who's covered the NFL for years, used to work in Denver covering the Broncos. Not KC, obviously, but Chiefs' division. He, too, was curious about Bieniemy continually passed over.
ReplyDeleteWas told that Bieniemy's OC title is mostly nominal. Reid devises and calls plays. QB coach works more closely and deserves more credit for helping develop Mahomes than EB. Was also told that, in addition to various arrests and transgressions while player and asst. coach at Colorado, there were other unpublicized incidents and statements thru years that have made him less than attractive for GMs and owners.
Racism likely still plays a part in EB not getting an opportunity to be a head coach, but team brass hates to not only sell a guy but perhaps defend him, as well.
well if you’re gonna bring ‘facts’ and ‘logic’ to the party, dave. can certainly understand that those would be complicating factors.
ReplyDeleteDave’s really slutting it up with this episode
ReplyDeleteAn hour + into a walk in downtown l.a. after stopping at MedMen, theoretically.
ReplyDeletegeorgetown is 1-34 in its last 35 big east games.
ReplyDeleteDanimal- is that good?
ReplyDeleteRob- is that bad?