@NESCACDAD Not sure where you’re getting your information but the only player besides Wolf and Cluse, who was on last year’s roster and is in the portal, is Sydney Watkins.
MAC coaching jobs for many are stepping stone jobs. For someone as loyal as Colleen… Miami is a destination.
If you are looking for a coach with D1 head coaching experience, more than likely they have been let go from a program and are looking for a bridge job. That is not want Miami needs.
If you want loyalty, integrity, knowledge of the game, recruiting prowess and someone to take Miami to the next level… there is no other choice.
Give Colleen a chance to lift the program from rock bottom and get to the next level.
Colleen is the one.
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This is posted on the Womens’s Basketball Transfer Portsl Tracker for 2023. Names get dropped from college rosters often when a player hits the portal so cross checking is sometimes hard. Thanks for pointing it out…
Miami (OH)
Ivy Wolf, 5-8, G, Soph. (17.0 ppg, 3.8 apg) → Dayton
Kaitlyn Davidson, 5-10, G/F, Jr. (5.0 ppg, 3.6 rpg – 2021-22)
Taylor Boruff, 5-11, G, Jr. (0.6 ppg – 8 games)
Sydney Watkins, 5-8, G, Soph. (2.3 ppg)
Edyn Battle, 5-7, G, Jr. (10.1 ppg – 2021-22)
Tihanna Fulton, 6-0, F, RS Sr. (1.4 ppg –2021-22)
Madison Cluse, 5-10, G, Soph. (14.9 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 3.1 apg)
Colleen should certainly get a hard look for all the reasons you state.
However, I am not looking for someone who sees Miami as a destination. I want someone who sees Miami as a winner. I think we all know the reality is that if Miami is a winner our coaches move on. Loyalty only goes so far if you can double or triple your pay.
If I look around I see assistants at Ohio State (Carla Morrow) and Indiana (Glenn Box) that would seem to be good fits for us and arguably have better resumes than Colleen.
Morrow is the associate HC to Kevin McGuff for the Buckeyes and also served on his staff at Xavier so she is very familiar with the recruiting territory. She spent eight years at Xavier in total. She was also an assistant in the WNBA for a few years.
Box is associate HC at Indiana and is entering his eight season there. He has been an assistant at both Western Michigan and Akron and also had time at St. Louis. Early in his career he was a successful JC head coach.
Colleen certainly is one we should look at closely considering her ties to Miami. However, she is not the only one. There are some other strong candidates right in our backyard.
Let’s be honest, just about every Miami HC hire has question marks. But Colleen has experience coaching in the MAC, has Ohio connections, and loves the school. I have no doubt, she would do an excellent job.
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Or if you’re one for in with the old, bring back Maria. The more you look at the foibles of this regime and Cleve’s slightly before that, you wonder what on Earth the AD was thinking when he fired Maria.
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One other thought. Would the new coach, whomever it may be, be able to convince Maddi Cluse to withdraw from the portal and return to Miami. At least with Peyton and Maddi we would have two solid pieces in place. Which is a reason that perhaps moving quickly on this is desirable.
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No. Being McGuff’s assistant doesn’t equate - transfers have carried that program the past several yrs NOT in state signees. This is Miami we are talking about…not to be seen as a mid-major stepping stone - we’re the ones with the history of beating the Big 10s, Atlantic 10s, etc. Recently we have gone so far as to put D2 and lower on our schedules. That’s not the Miami I knew. Colleen Day Henderson is the product of the best Miami has created - a product of an Ohio H.S. powerhouse duo - she and Dr. K. B. (I’m going to assume you know who that is) could have gone to the “big name” programs, an AAU All Amer. on a team of Big 10, MAC stars etc., All MAC herself, co capt of one of the best Miami teams, Academic All everything to the point of getting her doctorate here, recruiter of the best Miami players in the previous decade and I could go on. She is very respected by all ages of Miami Wball alumni, she in the HOF for pete’s sake…so if she isn’t what is best to lead then we all better get on another school’s fan club bc she represents the best result of what Miami puts out into this world.
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Scott…Gone.
ah geez. well, when the new hire happens hopefully the door will remain open.
Only question mark is what has taken Sayler so long in hiring her.
I agree that every HC hire has question marks.
However, you then go on to say that you have NO DOUBTS that Colleen would do an excellent job.
You don’t have any question marks beyond the fact she has a new baby compared to anyone else out there?
I have stated that she has a lot going for her but there are others that have a better coaching resume without the Miami connection. Perhaps the Miami connection outweighs the resume. All of these things need to be taken account of in the hiring process.
A lot comes down to intangibles. How does the coach relate to the players? How good is their network of coaching and recruiting contracts? Are they great leaders? Do they have “IT”?
Sayler also knows that there are question marks with every HC hire. Based on his prior hires for HC positions in the major sports I have observed that it is his practice to try to minimize the risks that might be there.
He has tended to hire HC that had prior head coaching experience. He clearly has been trying to limit the risk that goes with a first time HC. Martin in FB, Steele in MBB, Hendrix in WBB, Bergeron in Hockey. He didn’t do that with Owens and got burned. He did it with Hendrix and still got burned. He didn’t do it with Duffy and scored his best hire.
As you say, there are question marks with every hire.
I know a lot of people on here are personally friendly with Day and Henderson, but I’d be stunned to see Sayler hire someone to be head coach who he fired twice as an assistant and who just got fired from another job as a MAC assistant. If she gets the job, it would likely be because no high profile assistant coach or up and coming head coach wants to take over this dumpster fire.
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I hope Peyton’s decision was an emotional reaction to Hendrix leaving and she will reconsider after the dust settles.
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Top insight of the year on HawkTalk.
Perhaps Colleen would be a great head coach.
However, it is a hero or zero outcome for an AD. It would be more than a stunner. Sayler would literally be betting his career on the hire.
Could there be a greater risk to an AD than to hire an unemployed Assistant Coach for a head coaching job and it does not work out?
How could that decision be defended if it did not work out?
The Treadwell hire was defensible. The Cooper hire was defensible. The Wright decision was defensible.
The Hendrix decision was defensible on their coaching resumes at the time they were hired.
What do you point to defend the hire if it does not work out? I liked her, She was a Miami grad. She needed the job?
That decision could be a career ender for an AD.
Would it not make more sense to hire Melissa Jackson who was the HC at Akron than Colleen?
Have her bring Colleen with her as Associate HC as she was at Akron. Win big, Jackson leaves and Colleen gets her dream job.
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Colleen wasn’t fired from any job. When a head coach loses a job … so do the assistants. Was Maria just fired?
Cleve kept Colleen after Maria was fired. That is a highly unusual situation and says a great deal about her abilities.
No way would an OSU assistant be better… and I know the program quite well. OSU has missed out on a ton of in state prospects and assistants there do not stick around for long. If you think an assistant from a power 5 program would stick around at Miami more than two or three years, you are kidding yourself.
To the poster with the misogynist comment about Colleen with a child… I suggest you think a bit before you post. Do you say the same about new fathers? Ugh.
Colleen can recruit Ohio, out of state, and internationally. She is a great communicator and loves Miami. I am insulted by the doubting of her ability as a coach and recruiter.
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I agree with everything MotherMiami said.
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Kate that was not meant to be an insult. I am sorry if it came across that way. And yes, I would be saying the same thing if Jermaine were up for the HC position. I have been advocating for Colleen since before Hendrix was hired. I was going to make a personal announcement on this board today, but I think I will just sign off for the day. I hope everyone has a nice day.
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All I will say is that if an assistant from a Power 5 program leaves Miami after two or three years it means that we were hugely successful in their tenure.
I appreciate all of the passion for Colleen from you and Mother Miami. I think it is great you are lobbying so hard for her. It says a lot about her.
However, we should not be blind to other possibilities as well and there are good options out there.
You should also not be blind to the fact that hiring Colleen would be a huge risk for David Sayler.
Perhaps he would be willing to do it but it would be akin to the conviction that Tom Butters of Duke had in hiring Coach K from West Point when he was coming off of a 9-17 record in 1980.
I would like nothing better than a similar result here but that type of heroism is scarce in the college athletic landscape today.
Welcome btw