Blue Star Basketball

What’s a big-time women’s college job worth today?  That seems to be an issue for the coaching community which sees lavish sums heaped upon men’s college coaches and wonder about the “gender” affect to this.  That means if the men’s coach gets $2 million a year (package, which is another entire story) then why can’t the women’s position either the same amount.  The standard argument is visibility, marketing, fan base, booster support etc.  Ok, how about half?  I think most of women’s basketball could live with HALF !!  Well, think again.  Of the major jobs in the US there may be less than a dozen which pay out a cool million out of 300-plus NCAA Division One positions.

There seems to be a staggered market for college coaches today.  Most of the women’s game has moved to make their coaches “millionaires” after counting the multiple year contracts.  Get a $200-$300K contract over 4-5 years and you’ve reached that milestone.  About 40% of the jobs today are in this range but you won’t hear people praising it either.  The smart coaches who needed to be damm good or connected to get to that level know what the men’s positions are paying for almost the same level of job security today and job demands.

One of the luxuries of being around women’s basketball for so long is the ability to see the game move from $1,500 part-time head coaches in the mid-70’s to this new level of affluence.  Those who started in the sport at that time line  through the mid-1990 were happy to see a continual rise in their salary structure.  I remember hearing all the coaches complaining on how much money a camp owner made compared to them.  Well, by the mid-1990’s that common refrain and complaint was quietly stopped as their pay checks rose dramatically above the people they saw as the affluent. Notice how you don’t hear that “pay” complaint anymore at the WBCA convention?  The last 15 years has been boom times for the women’s game and pay scale.  The true test of a program is how well you pay your assistants - not just the first, but the entire staff.  To be considered a big-time program you should have a staff that’s making in the $60K and above mark for the last position and almost and if not six figures for the top assistant.  This are wages in which a person can make a living and plan for a future.  People will want to move that bar $10K in either direction but you get the picture.

Most people know that the Geno and Pat’s of the world make an easy $1M plus and probably more a year.  There are a handful of others who are in this ballpark.  I applaud them and their ability to get what they are worth.  What was interesting last year was the discussion about the Florida job.  There was plenty of talk but it was never written about.  The chatter circled around the $1M plus offer for  job.  Geno was the first name and big number on the street.  Next was Brenda Frese with almost seven figure numbers being bantered. What happened in the end was an interesting switch in the women’s game.  When Florida men’s coach Billy D made the “NBA” leap the necessary funds to support his return was - according to street chatter - deducted from the women’s suitcase of money which meant a lower expectation due to less expected money.  The school eventually hired an assistant and not a head coach and proceeded to pay far less than what the street and coaching community anticipated. The position at Penn State when to another assistant for far less money than the previous chair holder. (and that’s another story unto itself). This year a number of big jobs such as UCLA, Arizona and Boston College came open.  Where these great jobs? Yes, if you look at the name and the men’s program histories.  They would be expected to be big paying, hiring jobs. Turns out they were a continuation of the Florida move. Two up-and-coming assistant coaches were afforded the opportunity to get a big time first position but for far less money than a big-time head coach hire would have necessitated. You could say there aren’t a lot of big-time women’s coaches who deserved these jobs if you listen to some pundits.  What makes all of this interesting is that some big time schools have decided to pay the going rate and give a number of women’s assistants a shot.  In one regard you applaud the move to get new fresh faces into the game but wishing they were compensated at the level due a big time name.  Hopefully they will have the success that is expected of them and they can get the money they deserve for themselves and their assistants.

Not to be missed is that a number of head coaches who are either below or above the “millionaire’s” club level of pay don’t necessary look at some of these openings as a new opportunity for a big pay jump.  If you’re making the $300K level and take care of your staff and win games why put your name out there for a position that isn’t a golden opportunity?   I guess we’ll see how much the women’s game changes and the commitment that a University is willing to make in the coming years when more jobs open.

As I wrote earlier about the South Carolina position, it is an interesting job.  The rumor mills about the North Carolina coach looking falls back upon some of the above economics.  Street talk had UNC paying maybe $250K and far less than a number of coaches in the ACC.  This is amazing since they’ve had a great record for a program that recruits itself. Don’t fret, there is the news that they might be trying to retain Ms. Hatchell.  I’ll skip the rumor-story that they wanted to let her go before she won her National Championship (still disputed by some on the inbonds play that was allowed).  She didn’t catch flack for the recruiting of Little and Latta and a few others when it was again rumored that they were a part of a special camp which was then brushed under the ACC table due to connections and the anger of some other ACC coaches. Heck, I even remember how hot and heavy those stories were and how nothing was done about it.  Regardless, the team with the best talent in NCAA didn’t produce the title that was expected.  Now, maybe there are second chances.

When a job like UNC doesn’t open it creates a bottleneck of mid-level coaches who are awaiting the next jump to those plum “millionaire” positions which then allows their staff to slide into mid-level positions and start their process.  Taking high profile assistant coaches for high profile jobs doesn’t help those mids move up, it just creates the continual wait and see game for the right position.

This is the position that someone like a Jamelle Elliott, who’s probably the most worthy candidate for a big time job out there in the game today.  As with some places the position you’re in is so well-paying and so less stressful (getting recruits and winning) than taking that job that might put you on the block in 5-6 years if you don’t make it happen.  That makes it even more difficult for those great assistant coaches to get that right position - support, money and facilities - to make the jump.  So, when people wonder why the slots at UCLA and Arizona went to high profile assistants maybe it was the right job at the right time for them.

Over the course of the summer Blue Star will be preparing a new list of assistant coaches and visible and successful head coaches for the next set of jobs to open in 2009.  Some of you already know who you are and we wish you the best this summer.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted.  I returned from a very successful Boo Williams Tournament weekend with the typical illness that comes from too many people and not enough sleep.  You catch everything.  I was in no mood to write despite a lot of happenings from coaching changes to the first Nike Skills Academy to Sonny Vaccaro’s seminar speech in NYC. All of these things are news and information but the time to post was just missing.

I am headed out today to Los Angeles for the second Nike Skills Academy.  I will be writing more about the various coaching changes and shifts in the game.  I did this once but it was erased from my screen before I could post it.  This short version will have to do until I land in LAX.

Maybe we’ll find out today what’d going on with the South Carolina job.  Maybe Sylvia Hatchell will take the job since she was given according to some a open checkbook and opportunity to return back to SC where she was successful at Frances Marion.  If it happens look names like Dawn Staley (also in the mix for the SC job) Kelly Jolly-Harper, Jeff Walz, Jamelle Elliott and frontrunner Joann Boyle for that coveted position.

More to come later….

Yesterday - Thursday - was an all-day trip down to Hampton, VA for this weekend’s Boo Williams Inviational (names the Best of the Best for NCAA reasons).  I love this event. I love the man.  I love the new $15 million, 8-court facility in Hampton. I love seeing everyone again.  This wekeend is the traditional start of summer basketball for the travel hoops community.  It’s also the end of the high school and college basketball seasons.  The rush to fill college jobs takes on a certain urgency when you have to get hired and out on the road for the one NCAA observation event before the long wait for the summer (20-day) competition fest.

My last post was on Sunday evening while I was sitting in the Marriott overlooking Portland, OR the evening after the Nike Hoop Summit.  It was before dinner with George Raveling the director of Nike Global Basketball.  I usually don’t like to discuss some of the meet-and-eat situations since as I’ve written before has to remain off this radar screen to keep information where it belongs.  This is one I don’t mind talking about since it was a dinner with Glenn Wilkes George’s long-time Jordan Camp assistant and Nike event person and Lanny VanEman a former college and NBA basketball coach.  The joy of dinner and time with these gentleman over the Nike Hoop Summit weekend was the ability to just listen to the stories of basketball.  The best were those about the early days of their basketball careers in the 1960s as college recruiters when coaches had to fly in prop planes into small tournament towns (the event system prior to what we have today) like the Sharon PA tournament.  George and Lanny talked about the making calls from pay phones with rotary dials (which you never see today). The age of recruiting before the cell phone.  The stories slid back and forth from high school recruiting to college basketball to the pros.  People, events, games and tournament were all on the table - a lifetime of experiences that would otherwise be forgotten.  I said to the the three of them that it was pleasure to just listen and hear about the times of the game before I got into it myself.  I’ve heard a lot of the names and some of the places but not the real stories and real adventures.  As a history geek this was to repeat myself - a joy.

The next day (Monday) was an all-day flight back from the West Coast (first class on both segments) to Philly.  As soon as I landed the calls came fast and furious.  The big move was the opening at South Carolina.  This was a shock to me since I was not in Tampa where the rumor of an opening was rampant.  I am a huge Susan Walvius fan. Knew her from her high school days when she was the type of player who was an acquired taste (you had to like her game to appreciate her).  Her dad was one in the first wave of the modern era girls basketball travel coaches.  When she jumped into college she was a very direct, intense, humorous and intelligent recruiter and eventually college coach.  She was one of the few people who’s come to women’s basketball too smart for the game and not driven for the pure finances of it.  She could have been a big-time business woman instead of a college coach.  Susan was one of the early and still few very tech savy coaches in the game.  Don’t worry about her and her next position - Susan’s a smart cookie. 

The second news of the day was Matt Insell taking the assistant position at Kentucky.  The position came open with Nyia Butts getting the Arizona chair.  This is a monster move since Matt is one of the most intense and respected young recruiters in the game - a young Geno with a less arrogant personality (and that’s not an insult to Geno - he’s who is he since he’s a Norristown, PA  kid with moxie.)  When you’re that good and young and people know it then you are feared.  Matt was in line after college graduation to jump from summer travel basketball (TN Flight-Shelbyville Sports Shop) to become the main recruiter for his father (legendary hs coach Rick Insell from Shelbyville) at Middle Tennessee.  MTSU did not allow Rick to hire his son while there were other instances of other state institutions doring this in other rare occassions.  Well, you can do the math on this one.  Someone didn’t want him having this platform to make MTSU a powerhouse.  Matt had to skip this dream position and take a job at Louisiana Tech for the year.  Now its payback time for those in the SEC who felt he would have been a threat at MTSU.  A more mature Matt Insell will be hell to deal with due to his extensive and very deep level of relationships, youthful age and high energy which connects with today’s top young players and their coaches (travel and high school).  That hire had other implications also for others.

Tuesday was a wasted day of emails and catching up with people.  Wednesday was a prep day of getting equipment ready for the Blue Star Select team which was going to compete in Boo this weekend.  More call and a late night call from Trisha Cullop who notified me she was going to accept the Toldeo job.  Trisha attened Blue Star Midwest camp in her HS days. Later on Trisha and Brenda Frese (Ball State, Minnesota, national champ Maryland) both worked for me doing assorted camp work at Blue Star camps during their college days.  Trisha was in the mix for Memphis but without a Matt Insell to come in as the top recruiter it would be a rough path to take.  The word on the street is that a lot of people have looked at the job and feel its a rough position.  Whoever gets the position won’t be someone who’ll challenge Coach Calipari and the men’s team on budget and other basketball luxuries.  They’re a final four team while the women’s team needs to compete.

Trisha let me know that she is doing her press conference tomorrow (Friday) and then jet to Chicago for the USJN event there and have to decide between the Deep South (Mike White) and Adidas (John Phillips) events in North Carolina.  With the pullback of Adidas (who owns Reebok) on the summer youth basketball circut and declining sales the face of the women’s game is changing.  Nike now dominates with the majority of top talent now at the Boo Event.  This weekend Boo will have 9 of the 10 class of 2009 class in competition while the 2010 class has 6 of the top 7 in attendance. The Elite 32 bracket will have a number of the summer powerhouse teams fighting to get to the Sunday final. 

The ride down to Boo was filled with more calls and more info. The word was that Nikki Caldwell the assistant from Tennessee was going to be names the UCLA head coach at a 1pm press conference.  I was asked last September what I felt about her and the remote possibility of her at such a place like UCLA.  Well, I guess it was the right question since the answer was exactly what happened.  Interesting that two major jobs like UCLA and Arizona went and hired top assistant coaches.  Is there an inside world of women’s basketball hires - of course there is.  But then again, would I tell you how it works and give out “maybe” information.  Nah, not me.

When I arrived down at Boo’s new Sportsplex it was fun to see the familar faces of the game.  Tom Inseel (the non-college one) and his TN Flight team was practicing.  I know most, if not all, of the TN Flight coaching staff from Michael Burt to even the famed Worm.  I have a long history with the two major names of TN travel basketball - Rich Insell who’s now at MTSU and Lynn Burkey (East TN Stars-SSS-TN Flight) who replaced Rick at Shelbyville.  Lynn ran Blue Star Southeast Camp for me back in the 1990s before the NCAA calendar ruined the summer camp-skills system they complain is not there anymore.  The other face it was good to see was Kevin Nixon who runs the Las Vegas Lady Knicks.  KN came to Boo on my recommendation to get into the top flght of competition basketball.  It was his frist time here with his 15U team - his best ever team.  Steve Thomas who works doing USJN Boys event was working for Boo for the past two weeks got to show Kevin the new Booplex.  Maybe he’ll try to get something like this built in Vegas one day.

The end of the day was catching up with Keirsten Walters who brought her two players - Brenna and Megan Malcom-Peck from Colorado here to play for the Blue Star Select team.  Keirsten who trains players on the side and works out getting ready for triathlons played for a similar team for me which traveled to Paris back during her high school days.  She’s familiar with me and my system and the bigger picture of doing this kind of team and the impact on a person’s life something like this experience (blue star select team) can be.

Tomorrow is the start of the big event - the Boo.  No matter what’s going on from USJN Chicago to Reebok Deep South to Adidas there is nothing better or bigger than this event - 188 teams in attendance.  And don’t think the college coaches in America won’t be here for the weekend.  As I said - this is the beginning of the summer circuit and a world of opprotunitiy for each player participating this weekend.

At this time of year the phone never stops rining with the desire of so many college coaches to seek other employment.  The job market is not that big this year with just a few plum jobs open such as UCLA and Arizona (just filled) which are not paying the top dollar that people hoped for and is on the hotlist for some of the top assistant coaches.  The other six slots - Boston College, Toledo, Memphis, George Mason, UNLV and North Texas have received a lot of interest from a gaggle of mid-level head coaches.  Maybe when those slots fillup the schools where then jump from will afford some other assistant coaches some more opportunity to get into the coveted big chair.

The rest of the calls come from college assistants looking for that next step up too. Look for some surprises in the next week as key assistants either move up or swtich jobs.  The big thing for most assistant coaches is visiibility.  A lot of people want jobs but do they know the right people?  Are they intellectually ready to make a bigger move?  What does that mean?  Reading and getting smarter. A lot of people just use their relationships to help them either move into the sport or make moves.  The game today is based on recruiting and psychology - being able to bring the right chemistry of a team to the table.  You also need to being a sunshine personality to the mix to get in the door and be engaging.  Sometimes these people don’t get it or don’t figure it out until its too late.  There are a lot of dour personalities dotting the landscape of women’s basketball.  Why do you think the big time assistant coaches usually are the ones who get the plum head jobs when worthy head coaches don’t - visibility and energy.

The NCAA makes sure that the high school student athlete takes the NCAA lecture as many times as possible but it doesn’t stop the cheating by college coaches.  Maybe we can have the NCAA hold classes for assistant coaches and help them with all the skill sets and coaching attributes it takes to move up in the game.  Well, maybe not - the big schools at the top really don’t want that competition and neither does the NCAA for their profile schools and TV packages.

If you got to see the Nike Hoop Summit on FSN or Comcast in Philly yesterday afternoon then you were able to me sitting at courtside at midcourt for the game.  Normally I sit in the media section or in the area where coaches or connectors in the game are.  This game is a big Nike basketball event and the front rows were where all the Nike Sports Marketing staff and leadership was seated.  I was a guest for the game and had the distinction of sitting there through my involvement with Nike SM on the girls basektball side.

What the game brought into focus was the global extent of basketball and the winds and currents of the game here in America - a place where the NCAA wants to take over the high school market for their own financial gain.  Some will tell you that the game is sleezy and its needs help.  Well, where’s the help. In 2002 at a meeting between their Event Certificaiton Staff and selected basketball event operators.  In the room at the table were Bobby Dodd of the AAU and Boo Williams along with a few others at the time.  During the meeting I asked TWICE for the NCAA to hold off on legislation and to form a work group to investigate the issues in the sport and to come back and make solid recommendations instead of putting in rules that have to be legally challenged and then pulled back when they hit the legal roadbump at a cost to those who have to stop the NCAA from making unsupported rules. Well, so much for that.  Here we are - six years later - and the NCAA is moving ahead with their unsupported plans to wipe out summer basketball.

Some more of this discussion is written below but the main point is that now the sport - girls youth basketball - has to organize even more than the modest org that I and Steve Kozaki founded in 2004 to deal with the NCAA.  Now the rest of the event community will have to come together to deal with these issues.  It is good for the game?  Yes, because there is too much redundent systems and staffing issues when it comes to operating events within the constructs of the NCAA rules.

If you have ever filled out an NCAA Team Event Certification form - did you ever see the place to check off where you release this data to them for any other purpose?  And, where did all the financial information collected from Event Operators a few years ago (before they stopped doing it) go to?  Now the NCAA is requesting Insurance information for events.  Now they want to see how events insures themselves.  Maybe they want to provide insurances next from their NCAA sponsors to youth basketball?

While writting all this - and there will be a lot more ahead in the coming months - the other side of this is where are we going with basketball here in the US.  Those at the top (the Stakeholders) who talk about the game haven’t seen the decline in participation and sales of shoes in America up front from the bottom like I do and the other people involved in grassroots basketball see.  The Hoop Summit is about Elite Basketball and the major concern of the NCAA and NBA. I am talking about grassroots basketball.  Where are we going? In the drive to control elite athletes (and note there is NO DISCUSSION about girls basketball at this level) the push does affect the grassroots level of the game. You don’t have those issues with Global Basketball. They get it.  You play basketball with your club - you get paid, hopefully more when you get older and hopefully become a star.  And if not, well, then you had the experience and you go back to school. Here, it’s the reverse - go to school and be a star later.  This is how it is in Europe and in China.

And yesterday in the Wall Street Journal there had their China Olympics section.  A number of article on the Olympics and its impact on the people and culture.  This is very important in viewing the future of US Basketball here in America.  Don’t forget that China has more people speaking English then we do here with our entire population! And add to that they staggering claim of over almost a billion people playing basketball in some form.  That’s a lot of basketball shoes, equipment and interest. It’s no wonder that all shoe companies including the NBA covet that consumer market.  The Chinese government runs sports and basketball and does what it can to grow the sport. Here, in the US, we get the opprotunity to see global basketball and how they grow our game while the people in the NCAA try to steal the game for the envious desires of their advertisers in their quest to reach younger consumers.

If the NCAA operates basketball here in the US like they want to then maybe we’ll just feel like those who enjoy the sport 90 miles south of Key West, Flordia. 

There has been a lot of conjecture about the team which I will coach this spring and summer - the Blue Star Select team.  For now, the team will comprise of nine players who’ve been asked to play.  The names are 6-4 Kelsey Bone (TX), 6-6 Melissa MacFarlane (NE), 6-1 Brenna and Megan Malcom-Peck (CO), 5-11 Laurin Mincy (NJ), 5-6 Nadirah McKenith (NJ), 6-1 Emma Golen (MI), 5-11 Sabre Proctor (PA and 6-5 Arieal Johnson (VA).  A very good team but not the team people would love to make it out to be.  This team will compete at Boo Williams this coming weekend in the Elite bracket (32 teams).  There are a few other teams such as the DFW team with players outside their area along with the CA Storm as does host Boo Williams’ team.

A quick survey would show the top teams to be DFW Elite, LI Silver Bullets, GA Metros, TN Flight, Phila. Belles, Boo Williams, Blue Star Select and Illinois Hustle as probably the top eight.  Their will be others but these teams should be someplace in the running come Sunday morning at Boo.  There is a big batch of other teams next that could nudge into this top eight group.  That’s the level of competition in 2008 and compared to the past - it’s down. 

When considering any team coming to Boo and how they’re considered you have to count past performance, team / coach leadership, chemistry and familiarity count in these events - not just talent.  And, don’t lose sight as to why any of the teams are headed to Hampton next weekend - exposure and competition - not the singluar purpose of winning.  To put it into perspective do you remember who came in second eight years ago?  Or even who won?  That’s why these things should be taken as for what they are. A great time and a great experience.     

I came to Portland, OR to attend the USA Basketball Nike Hoop Summit.  The event tonight (April 12) will be a game between the best high school players in the US and a team comprised of international players of similar age.  I spend the early evening on Friday watching the World team practice at the Portland Trailblazers practice facility.  The court was surrounded by chair upon which sat NBA scout after scout.  Surprisingly I knew quite a few from Tony DeLeo from the Sixers.  I met Tony on my first trip overseas to West Germany in the fall of 1984 - right after the Olympics.  Tony is from the Phlly area and he was coaching the German Women’s National Team.  I spend the day with his brother Frank who eventually came back to the States and was named the Virginia ass’t coach for Debbie Ryan back in the late 80’s.  Frank is not out of women’s basketball but according to Tony was at the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament (PIT) down in Virginia (near Hampton, Boo Williams’s town.)  I spent the time talking to pro assistants, former pro and college coaches and familiar Nike Sports Marketing pro and global basketball staff. 

While here I’ll get the chance to watch some more global basketball which is where this game is headed. When the NCAA and NBA met earlier this week in San Antonio what was missing is the implication of a new FIBA event coming in 2009 - the 16U championships.  This means that USA Basketball will have to produce a team of top player for international competition each summer.  The top players will be selected and will not be available for the usual summer circuit of competition.  Now the power teams will lose their star.  The impact of this will delute the summer travel circuit and then why bother to fund a cycle that does not have the premier talent.   The NCAA claims to want to help the players get better. Well, if they’re at USAB events then who are they helping?  Not the common high school player. 

The impact of this game is slight for those in boys basketball for now and even smaller for girls.  After going to South Africa in the fall for NBA’s BWB in Johanesburg it is obvious that the talent market is global while the economic clout of China and other global markets will demand that basketball be thought of outside of the high school format.  It won’t happen tomorrow but the NCAA-NBA meeting brought into focus the impending changes at the high school level where elite players will move into a different level of basketball - a global one.

It’s taken me a while to get to this subject - the one in which I am supposed to know something!  Well, since I missed the Tampa Women’s Final Four to head to San Antonio for the Men’s Championship I shouldn’t let the event go by without some commentary.

The biggest surprise was the failure of the much desired UConn-Tenn game.  You all know the details by now but not the commentary.  Most people feel that Pat dropping Geno was bad for the game.  I thought it was a very smart move on Pat’s part to do so.  She gains nothing from continual matches and most of the time defeats.  It’s no state secret that Geno is the best coach in women’s basketball - period.  It does Pat no good to lose and then have Geno tell a recruit - why go there and get beat by me!  Don’t think that happens?  Think again.  Record counts and then again so does the pressure of them versus us that both schools foster on each other.  I’ve seen it, heard it and experienced it from a short distance.  But, in the end it was a strategic move by Pat not to play the game.  Let Sylvia at NC be the “new” rival.  Geno will drum them like a tom-tom regardless of the “talent” that Carolina pulls in.  Pat helped place Sylvia in the position knowing she can outcoach and out recruit SH when she needs to.  Again, that’s why Pat is the most interesting and deserving of all accolades as a mover-shaker in the game.  She’s the only one to think ahead and do it with longevity.  For you newbees to this sport - in the heyday of the late 80’s, early 90’s the most fearsome people to recruit against were Pat, C Viv at Iowa, Joan Bonvacini at Long Beach and famed Sonja Hogg / Leon Barmore duo at Louisiana Tech.  Two are left now with the departure of Joan B from her long tenure at Arizona. The fire and battle for players she brought to the game at Long Beach, pulling in LA players before the rise of UCLA, Stanford and USC, never occured at Arizona.  The other surpise opening was UCLA when Kathy Olivier stepped into another slot at the UCLA athletic department.  KO never got it done to the expectations of the men’s side over the 14 years at the position. Kathy was a fearless assistant and one of the game’s top recuriters before she moved up to the head position.  She made the move to ”be a coach” and forgot recruiting like her old self once she got the big chair. That was the problem why she had a few very good seasons and not a lot of super ones.  She’s a sad departure since I’ve always remember her as a great recruiter.  The fresh opening is now the one at Boston College.  I saw Cathy Inglese a few weeks ago recruiting at the New York State championship NYC rounds on Staten Island.  She did not look like someone who was about to get the axe.  The rumor of unhappiness hit my ear in the late fall and again after the New Year but disgarded until after the season.  The lateness of the move is surprising since you expect these things to occur once the season ends.  I guess they were waiting for the end of the men’s FF tournament. The names for that opening are Jen Rizzotti (New Haven) and Jamelle Elliott (UConn) who’s also peeking at the George Mason position.  A host of people are going through the process at Memphis while UC Santa Barbara could have former assistant Cori Close, now at Fla. State  to come back and take the job.

Back to why UConn didn’t win.  Well, I expected the Huskies to win the entire thing.  I still think they can win the next three (now that Candace Parker is gone form TN).  I forgot to remember the only reason why the lost this year to Stanford - extreme height.  Huh you ask?  Look back when they played Notre Dame for the championship in 2001.  ND won because UConn wasn’t able to contend with the extreme height of the Irish that night despite a big halftime lead.  Here we are in 2008 and Stanford posed the same problem - extreme height.  Another factor is that Tina Charles, who needs to have great games in this situation, has never played well against taller people who challenge her.  Saw it numerous times in high school. Since there are so few big players to do that it takes special situations like Stanford to expose that hickup.  Regardless, I was extremely happy to see Candace Parker win her second championship - a feat since these Tennessee championshps were hers - not the head coach - who usually received the aclaim over the years before CP.

Maya Moore becomes the heir apparent as the great player in the game but unfortunately she’s not the shining light of a Candace Parker.  MM’s way better than Chamique Holdsclaw who people at the time claimed was better than Cheryl Miller.  I’ve seen them all since their high school days and its no contest - Miller and Parker reign as the game’s to most dynamic women to compete and win.

Candace Parker is in Portland, OR this Sunday to meet with people and talk about her shoe company opportunities.  The word I hear is that her agent is the famed Aaron Goodwin who’s the same agent as Kevin Durant.  While the fans of the game would love to hold onto CP as their star the best move she can make is to step into the pro game with one foot and the tv-media with the other.  Look around at how visible any of the American pro players are.  The normal basketball fan thinks women’s basketball is a joke and their players even more so.  Candace Parker has the unique personality and skills to make the jump from the sport and into more mainstream media - make that TV. 

The last post was on Saturday evening telling you and all who read this the upcoming press conference betwen the NCAA and the NBA.  I went to my office on Sunday to get a lot of work (emails and return emails) to people on a variety of topics.  I divide each topic and place them in folders.  On Friday I went though each one and placed sticky note sheets on each with a to-do list on it.  I had 12 folders ranging from Belles to USJN, to NCAA Legal, to Blue Star Pro, to Blue Star Select, to equipment orders, to McDonalds game, to travel, to Reze France trip, to top 2009-10 players, to Youth Basketball notes, to Nike meeting notes, to USJN boys, to USJN schedules, to Belles event schedules, etc… Yes, quite a bit to juggle each day in the brain. I was pretty pleased with myself on Sunday evening when a call from Bobby Dodd, president of the AAU, informed me of his impending trip to San Antonio for the NCAA’s men’s final four and the press conference.  I was elated with this news because on Friday this was not the case.  The NCAA was supposed to contact Mr. Dodd and Mr. Boo Williams (the only two youth basketball reps for youth basketball in the US at the US Basketball Summit in Oct 2006) to talk about future meetings, agendas last fall.  That call never came - the NCAA big-wig was too busy was the repsonse.  The discussion among youth hoop leaders was that the NCAA was doing something and was cutting out youth basketball.  Well, it worked.  While everyone was waiting the NCAA went and crafted their own new (for profit) org and got the NBA to jump in.  (Why, because both want the 20-year-old rule in.)   As noted here, the stories about the NCAA taking over were true (as the press releases and stories that came out on Tuesday showed) and that the AAU was being cut out and within a few years unable to operate as it does now.

I made a few calls to Ron Crawford and Boo to ask Bobby to attend on Monday.  The message got through on Sunday and he called to tell me to get down to SA the next morning for the 1pm press conference.  It was 9pm when I got the message.  Boo and WIllie Brown were on a late night jet to SA.  Ron and Bobby were going in the morning.  I later thanked Ron who finally convinced Bobby to go who then pushed Boo to get there too.  The four of us met with the NBA in January 2007 to discuss the position of the AAU and Youth Basketball.  This would be the next time we all were to meet with the NBA people again.

I will skip the 3.5hrs of sleep, the missed United flight and the next American flight (yes, not USAir) down to SA. I got down to SA at 1pm and took a taxi to the hotel for the press conference. It was held in a crowded room.  They had people outside watching on a monitor.  I asked to go in and was let in for the remaining press conference.  I noticed the power of the game on the platform. NABC (hewitt), NBA (stern), NCAA (brand) on the front row, NHSF (canaby), NABC (haney), Nike (raveling), USAB (ackerman), NCAA (sheehan), NBA (silver), AAU (dodd), AAU (williams) on the back row.  In the audience were other numerous NCAA, NBA and USAB staff and news media types covering the men’s Final Four.  The NCAA was trying to ram-rod this new concept past everyone but the NBA stated that there’s a difference between the public perception of youth basketball (AAU as people want to conjecture it) and the real AAU.  This was a vote of confidence for the AAU and all youth basketball people. It also signaled the bum-rush of the NCAA wasn’t as clear as they wanted it to be.  So, what’s the future of youth basektball?  Well, its obvious that there needs to be a Youth Basketball Congress called by Mr. Dodd and that the sport needs to organize before the NCAA tries to promote a pseudo-org that is really an advertising outlet (web site) for their NCAA corporate sponsors.  Remember, this has NOTHING to do with basketball - it’s about the money! And if you want to know why, then just look at Major Leage Baseball (MLB) and their digital products which make more than their TV packages. The NCAA rents their tournament bandwidth from MLB and see the dollars and potential for their corporate sponsors and CBS (which now owns MaxPreps and CSTV web sites !!!).  Don’t think this is a battle between Disney (ABC-ESPN) and CBS (NCAA) for the hearts and eyeballs of the young consumer.

Oh yes, it was the Final Four.  After the meeting we all met at the hotel, talked about the press conference and then the majority of the AAU people took off for home again.  I stayed to see the final game and to hang with George Raveling (and talk about the press conference).  I then headed over to the Marriott a few blocks away (SA is a great site and has plenty of things to do plus hotels) to see Dana Pump.  Dana and his twin David are head of DoublePump.  They started out as high end ticket scalpers and running boys travel teams.  They both work for Adidas. Me and Dana were togehter with GR at the NBA Basketball without Boarders (BWB) in South Africa last September.  (sorry but you all would love to read those adventures but that was before i started this.) It was a great time seeing the talent, and the cities of Johanesburg and Cape Town (I recommend CT as a place to go whenever you can make it happen).  The twins have progressed beyond that level of work to do professional coaches search work for colleges needing to fill their coaching positions.  This has become a very big business - huge.  I gave Dana some names for a few of the women’s positions and it was a strong list of candidates.  I got tickets for the game from Dana and saw a great OT game between Kansas and Memphis.  Later that night we went to the Kansas hotel. The team usually comes back about 2hrs after the game for the closed presentaiton. The last one I attended was the Maryland 2006 women’s championship in Boston. We hung out at the hotel until they arrived.  The team got into the elevators and went to the ballroom.  A few minutes later Mario Chalmers who hit that amazing three to get KU into overtime came downstairs for a few minutes.  I congratulated him and then headed back to my hotel while everyone stayed out.  I had a flight back home and arrived back in Philly to meet Steve Thomas who does USJN boys.  He was headed down to Hampton the next morning to work for Boo at his boys event in his new facility.  I took calls about women’s openings and job searches the rest of the evening.  The next day (Wednesday) was spent doing a Belles April Invitational schedule with 24 requests by teams for times, number of games, certain teams to play and not to play, etc.  It took 10 hrs to finish while getting boxes out and shipped to Chris Mennig and various others.  It was sort of a wasted day since I had to head out to Portland for the Nike Hoop Summit (USA vs. International team) game.  Nothing like an all-day trip (Thursday) starting with a 5 am wakeup call.

I decided to skip the NCAA Women’s Final Four in Tampa this weekend despite the first-class seats down and back for the event.  Since I’ve been to numerous finals the urge to go coupled with the urgency of a bigger decision to fly down to San Antonio tomorrow along with work kept me home.  The urgency is the NCAA’s plan to devour Youth Basketball under the guise of education and skill development for the elite boy’s basketball player.

Huh, you say?  As I mentioned, while others are either ignorant of the NCAA recruiting rules or busy with self-graitifcation, you need to come here to learn what’s really going on….  Watch how fast this topic becomes news by Tuesday.

The NCAA will have a press conference on Monday with their guiding organizaitons they represent - the NABC and WBCA (coaching organizations for college coaches) along with the NBA and whom ever they can convince to come to the dias.  What’s critical with this move on Monday is the game plan for the NCAA to take over Youth Basketball from coaching certification (which they do now for multi-million dollar profit) to the creation of their own NCAA events (that means if you the best you get invited as a player and oh yes, no more summer events) and other “educational” mumbo-jumbo with the main purpose to disguise their two main purposes: (1) try to get support for a 20 year old rule from the NBA (remember Mr. Stern wants this too, the NBA Players Association is the hold up) - that means no more one-and-done freshman. Player will be forced to stay two years to the delight of the NCAA, CBS TV, associated sponsors and college admins and their fans and (2) the creation of a NCAA youth basketball “community” which means web site to give their sponsors a new avenue to reach young consumers and pull them into an NCAA version of “MySpace-FaceBook”.  Advertising dollars and consumer eyeballs are the only reason for this.  I could bore you with fact upon fact of the impact of websites, tv viewing, advertising ROI, sports fans, social networks, sinking ratings, the internet, etc.   All of this predicted by me over the past two years to select people who receive my strategic reports. 

And, if you think the Internet move by the NCAA and CBS, etc was predicted early feel free to speak to Steve Kozaki who was on the receiving end of numerious emails and discussions of all the moves being made in youth basketball since 2002.  I sat with Steve and talked about putting together a group of event operators to get ahead of the NCAA move to take away opportunities for young basketball players (read that elite players and grassroots players).  Unfortunately everyone in this business thinks the next person is trying to get over and the insular nature of this business has placed everyone, including the AAU, in a tenious and dangerous position.  Remember - you read it here - that if they don’t get together and if the AAU doesn’t take a leadership position to counter this takeover, you can say goodbye to youth basketball as we know it.  That includes event operators, shoe company travel teams and the events, AAU and all those individual small companies that have labored to help develop the athlete and the game.  There is too much money on the table for the NCAA to ignore their mission statement of “college” sports and move into high school and youth sports.  CBS and ABC-Disney are in a battle to dominate youth sports and young consumers.

I could write tons more about this.  I made my calls to about 10 people once I learned of the NCAA moves around 5:15pm today.  Tonight’s game will keep them from getting back to me until tomorrow.  That will provide the real insiders enough time to work out how the game will respond to the takeover.  Hopefully the AAU will step up and take the leadership position it has in the sport.  The last time the AAU was on the Deal or No Deal button, the AAU blinked and lost the ability to keep the “Olympic” title for its use. (Junior Olympic for one event is what they got).  This will be even bigger since the financial stability of AAU rests on the health of their boys and girls basketball progams.  If the NCAA has its way, they will crush the AAU (look at how they always term summer basketball, AAU!). 

We’ll know by the end of the Boo Williams events (boys and girls) in the next two weeks if there is a solid response or a weak wimmper.  The clock is running.  The NCAA has plans to put this into action by the fall (with a hire for their new “community” for advertising to youth).  You can easily term this entire NCAA move “athletic communism!”