Originally Posted by
DawgGoneMad
Navigating the open waters of national supremacy can be a tough, lonely and vulnerable chore. For the 2007-2008 women's basketball campaign, Techster head coach Chris Long found the high seas of basketball immortality stormier than they have ever been.
Long is described in local and national news outlets as being on the "hot seat." The heat from a rumored potential early contract termination couldn't matter less to Long, who admits he is looking forward to next season and the tumultuous past season is exactly that - the past.
"It really was a difficult season this year," Long said. "We had to replace five starters on the team this year. Not to mention we lost two others to injuries, but I am looking forward to next season. I think we will be really competitive."
There is no off season for the coach who feels, as captain of a nationally recognized program, the results have to be better than what they have been in recent memory.
Long said experience next season will be the key for the team, which was forced to pile significant amounts of minutes on younger players.
"I think we'll be really talented offensively next season," Long said. "Six of the top eight scorers from this season are coming back."
Long will still rely on his younger players, even with the budding, previously absent, seniority on the squad.
"I expect the team to be more competitive, especially in practice," Long said. "The younger players on the team are going to be pushing the other players and competing for playing time."
Malcolm Butler, associate athletic director of media relations, said the Techster program has a bright future and individuals outside of the program have to understand there is more that goes on behind closed doors, outside of what fans see on the court.
"So much more goes into the struggles of this year's team and even last year's team than X's and O's," Butler said. "Chris Long has done a good job of getting back to recruiting and signing high school players. That is how you build a program, on high school players."
Butler said the climate of women's basketball in the country has changed dramatically since the days of consistent national powerhouses so to expect the Techsters to maintain the dominance of the past is unrealistic.
"We are in a different age of women's basketball," Butler said. "It's been nine years since Louisiana Tech made the Final Four. I think our expectations have to be a lot more realistic. There's simply too much parity in women's basketball."
The sentiments of "it will be better tomorrow" are hard to find in the minds of tenured Techster fans. Tech alum and former Tech Talk sports editor, Jason Peers, said the problems with the program began years ago, with the decisions made by the athletic department's administration. He believes the first mistake made by the administration was in letting former Techster associate head coach, Kim Mulkey, leave and take the head coaching position at Baylor University.
"Letting Kim leave was 100 percent a mistake that the administration should be faulted for. If all she wanted was a fifth year, she should have been given a fifth year. We all fail when we are not able to understand that some things are just bigger or more important than us," Peers said.
Peers said the program can, one day, return to the dominance of the past, but not without addressing and re-addressing the problems of the present, which are the results of lingering mistakes.
"The Lady Techster program was, and still can be, the most significant ambassador Louisiana Tech University has. The Techsters are the pride and glory of Tech and to allow the program to deteriorate in the fashion that it has is a terrible mistake that [Tech] President Dan Reneau must be held responsible for," Peers said. "Tech should not stand for mediocrity. It's not that coach Long is a bad person, he's just in way over his head."
However, fans showed support for Long, and the betting was at press time that Long would get another year.
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