maryannorginger

Well, according to the Tennessee faithful, it was between Fargas and Harper. Regardless, it did show she had interest in the job.

Only a few days ago Mulkey said she'd love to coach at LSU: for the men. I would agree there's no way she's coming to LSU to rebuild a program, not at her age. And the AD would have to triple Fargas' salary to compete with Baylor.

As for Fargas, the comments in the Tweet say it all. No to Fargas because if you bring her in, why did you fire Warlick. Truthfully, Fargas is a great Xs and Os coach which has been shown many times. She will likely do well with the Burger Girls at Tennessee. That is her history. Excellence with other coaches' recruits. Her ego and personality get in the way of her recruiting. She has a bad reputation on the club circuit and although some say Tennessee recruits itself, Fargas will inhibit that. She hardly has the warm fuzzy personality that she sold herself as and has alienated many people. I don't hear former players talking good about her. That would likely continue if she goes to Tennessee, but that would be their problem.

If she goes, LSU has many choices dependent on their money offer. I agree with Niele Ivey being a top choice but they might be on the lookout for FGCU Karl Smesko. And they could get him with Nikki's current salary.

Wow, talk about trading bad for bad. Warlick had to go but it sounds like this search is beyond tragic. Early talk about Walz from Louisville expressing interest but probably a ruse to get a raise.

The other names in the tweet are Kara Lawson (no college coaching experience but LV legend and well known commentator), Fargas (nuff said), Kellie Harper (LV, current MO State coach with a lifetime .578 record), Amanda Butler (fired from long term gig with Florida, now with Clemson .588 record). Of these, Fargas has the best total .629 and two S16s to Harper's one, albeit this year. Said to be 6-8 names on the list. If this is the best on the list, I'd hate to see the others.

LINK

I'm a UCLA alum and wanted to add my thoughts.

I have no information about your AD but I thought, at the time, if he was willing to make Caldwell/Fargas one of the highest paid coaches in the nation, he must really be committed to women's basketball. The salary was double what she was paid at UCLA and was reportedly slightly above what Virginia was offering. UCLA's AD made a late push to get her to re-sign with a much more attractive financial package. But more money and being closer to home was understandable.

NC did great things at UCLA. She made it a program about basketball again. Her final two seasons, she finished second in the conference, was in the conference tournament final and made it to the second round of the tournament. Recruiting, though a problem, was picking up and her incoming class would have been the #3 in the nation. She was a tireless self promoter and even those who didn't know UCLA wbb, started knowing NC because of her appearances on TV. On the surface, she was an incredible hire. Behind the scenes was a different story. But your AD drank the Kool-Aid and IMO did not really look into what created the PR.

She and her staff were not liked at all at UCLA. Tasha Butts being an exception. Other UCLA coaches, possibly out of jealousy, did not like her and she was a poor administrator. Her recruiting was suspect in that she generally recruited combo wings who couldn't shoot. It fit into her defensive scheme but also made for some excruciatingly boring games. The players themselves were mixed. Some like her but many others really disliked her. At least four were in the process of transferring when she announced her decision to leave. Because of weak position recruiting, she left UCLA without a point guard and the cupboard would prove to be pretty empty when she left. The overall feeling in Westwood was that she was smart to leave when she did because she would have to prove herself with a much weaker roster. The irony for me is that I always felt the stronger part of her coaching is as an X's and O's manager.

Reading her problems, I can't say I'm surprised. A very precise observation from one of your posters noted her reluctance to change. The hiring of Mickie DeMoss was a great thing but I do wonder if that was something forced on her. For one reason or another, she definitely has trouble hanging on to assistant coaches and I believe she went for a portion or perhaps the entire season without replacing a departing assistant.

Her problematic recruiting has carried over from UCLA. No surprise there. Her player evaluation has always seemed suspect. At UCLA, she did not recruit WNBA's Reshanda Gray because she wanted Erica Payne, a bench player who signed with Stanford. Some suspected she wanted academic students because of the bonus she'd receive. I understand she did not recruit Moon Ursin, your Gatorade POY, currently at Baylor.

NCF will probably be allowed to finish out her contract and I believe, she should be allowed to. It's too late to get another top coach. If they just want NCF out, they could put Butts in as interim head coach and see how next season plays out. But any big moves should have been made a few weeks ago. Then again, maybe the big moves are being made behind the scenes for next year, who knows. Having essentially a lame duck coach will hurt LSU next season but at I agree there's little to be done, especially since NCF has seemingly little administrative support.

LSU is a great school and a great athletic program. You will bounce back. And I also think many fans are willing to put up with a few losing seasons if they see a strong work ethic from their team and a coach with a vision they buy into. To be perfectly honest, after a decade of watching CNCF, I still don't get what imprint she wants on her program, except one: She's the queen bee and no one else. I think that ego has hurt her more than anything else but I also think that becoming a mother might have changed her priorities.

As your program moves forward, it will be interesting to see what coaches will be considered for the job, when it opens. I think Pokey will never return. The fact that she had a relationship with a former player (reading about it, I felt it was a non-issue) would be secondary to the fact that it was a lesbian relationship. That sort of negative recruiting would be crippling. I also think that great players don't always make great coaches, although Augustus on the bench as an assistant would probably be a welcome sight. If ND wins another championship next year, it might be the time Niele Ivey moves over to HD and LSU would be huge. What about MSU's associate head coach, Johnnie Harris? Lots and lots of great choices and LSU has shown they have the money to do it.

Who would I suggest? Scott Rueck from OSU. He took a program that was literally nothing and made them Final Four bound. When Rueck took over from LaVonda Wagner, he literally had to have on-campus tryouts for walk-ons because he had no players. In 8 years, he brought OSU from a 2-16 record to National contenders. Although he has a long contract, his financial terms could be worked out as his salary is not exceptional. However, he is an Oregon guy and whether he would want to move his young family to BR might be a question.