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I'll have to agree with Cal&Ken on her coaching abilities. You take the talent she had on her teams since she took over and put Kim Mulkey, Pat Summit or Leon Barmore in as coach and they would have had multiple national championships. Talent took them a long way, but poor coaching sealed the deal against them in the end.Originally Posted by fanfromafar
The TP is reporting she settled for $85,000 now.
I agree it is hard to argue with her record. However, upon closer examination, it's not hard to see that she benefitted in the same way Jack Bicknell did in his first couple of years at Tech. She won off of someone else's talents and assistant coaches.
She WAS the assistant coach. She WAS the recruiter. She was a good coach, doesn't matter to me what partisan opinions are stated. She made terrible choices that affected not only her career, and LSU, but most importantly the players with whom she had alleged inappropriate relationships.
And upon closer examination, look at how many final fours Sue Gunter (may she rest in peace) made it to and after Pokey took over, look at how many she took them to.
Tech fans can hate on her all day long, but the reality is that she won big games (not the biggest, of course), got big names, and raised the profile of LSU women's basketball. Sadly, that is not the legacy she leaves behind.
I won't deny that Pokey was a great recruiter, but Gunter didn't actually start winning the big games until Starkey joined her staff from the men's program. Pokey was with Gunter before Starkey when they weren't winning the big games.
Simone Augustus was every bit as important to the LSU program as Cheryl Miller was to the USC program back in that time. Perhaps she attended LSU because of Pokey, but she's also the reason she left LSU without a NC
She was a good coach. You disagree. I give credit where I think it is due. That said, I stand by my opinion that she made terrible choices (alleged) that will forever overshadow her abilities and accomplishments.
Was she of the caliber of Sonja? No. Leon, hell no! But, she took over for Sue and raised the bar a bit and whether or not you agree with the next statement is irrelevant: She took away from Tech the banner of top women's program in the state. I think (and hope) that is only a temporary setback, but she helped LSU get the recruits that Tech wanted but could not get. If she isn't/wasn't that good, then that means our program is far worse off than I thought it was.
I'm waiting for this next season to see how good OUR coach and OUR team will be. There is much to prove in Ruston and I'm hoping they are up for the task.
I think our administration allowed our program to deteriorate. We'll see if the same reverse of direction starts positively impacting our women's program. I hope it does.
The alleged you mention above cannot really be "alleged" or she wouldn't have resigned. There's no question there was impropriety when you resign is disgrace in that way. If there's no truth to it, anybody with any pride stays, says its not true, states their case, and prepares to move on.
I don't think anyone who watched her coach the NC game against Baylor could ever think she was a good coach- even if they had been drinking heavily. Did she recruit well - absolutely - and she benefited alot from having the money and the "LSU" to recruit with. She so clearly had the best talent when Agustus was there - she coached the most important game of her life like crap. Kim, Leon, and Pat would have loved to have had the team she did - and they would have killed the other team. She is not the worst coach - but if I was picking a list of good coaches she would not even be a consideration. I don't think the WNBA will care one way or another about her sexual preferences. I think she will probably end up as an assistant someone one day. If I was her I would spend my $85,000 wisely - it may be a very long time before she has another opportunity like the one she threw away with her stupidity.
I just have two comments.
1. I agree with you that she was not one of the top coaches. She had the most talented team in the country and could not win a NC. You are exactly right about if those other coaches would have had that team.
2. This had nothing to do with sexual preference. It had everything to do with an inappropriate relationship between coach and player. Would have been the same if it had of been opposite sexes. The WNBA wouldn't and shouldn't discriminate against a Gay person, but should care about inappropriate relationships between coaches and players.
I agree with you. At least in the WNBA it would be more of an equal footing. The players are not in a school setting. Yes, the players are adults in college, but it is still pretty creepy to have the college coach or professor sleeping with the players or students. At the professional level I guess they can pretty much do what they want, but sleeping with the boss can be a very dangerous career move for the subordinate and the boss.
I do believe that the sexual preference thing would keep her out of most coaching situations as well as sleeping with a player thing though. Right or wrong, people wouldn't touch her with a ten ft. pole in many schools - even if it was discovered that she was innocent - which will not happen.
Totally agree.
There are far more people who think Pokey was a good coach than bad. That, in and of itself, does not mean we are right and you are wrong, it's just that according to your thinking most of us had to be drunk to come to that conclusion.
One could argue that when Tech lost the NC to North Carolina because the three point line was not covered that our coach made a poor choice and didn't win. I don't think that, but using the logic mentioned above, that argument could EASILY be made.
On to "preference." If sexuality is a "preference" then that means we've each sampled both sides and made a choice as to which one we prefer. You can't say you have a "preference" for steak over pork chops if you've not tried both. It's called "orientation" for a reason, and Pokey's orientation had NOTHING to do with choosing to engage in inappropriate relationships with student athletes no more than if a straight man had done the same with female student athletes. It would not have been about his "preference" it would have been about his behavior.
Pokey made some bad choices. She's paying for those choices now. NC or not, I still stand by my statement that I thought she was a good coach.
Let's start with the coaching- I somehow don't think you have the opinion poll to back up what you say as fact - and I really don't care.
The NC game- miss call by the referee- should have been called walking- Leon himself said he made a mistake there-one call does not a game make.
Preference- I don't need to sample both sides to determine if there is an attraction there - there is or there isn't- don't buy the orientation and once again I don't care about your hair splitting.
If you read you will see that I agree with you- but said the sexual preference would keep people from hiring her at most schools.
Your last statement- people are all entitled to their opinion- even if it is wrong.
1. You "don't care" but you respond. Wrongly, but it is your opinion.Let's start with the coaching- I somehow don't think you have the opinion poll to back up what you say as fact - and I really don't care.
The NC game- miss call by the referee- should have been called walking- Leon himself said he made a mistake there-one call does not a game make.
Preference- I don't need to sample both sides to determine if there is an attraction there - there is or there isn't- don't buy the orientation and once again I don't care about your hair splitting.
If you read you will see that I agree with you- but said the sexual preference would keep people from hiring her at most schools.
Your last statement- people are all entitled to their opinion- even if it is wrong.
2. Missed the point about the NC game. Missed it by a mile.
3. No one was talking about attraction, the issue was the choice of the word "preference." Missed that one too.
4. Thankfully, you can be as wrong as you are (imo) and still have valid points. I just didn't read one in the last post.
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