Which Direction Will the Program Go?

[Cap City 7]

It seems to me the women's program is at a crossroad. The program has been so successful and dominant in the MAC that it is hard to envision anything less. However, there is some concern I have about the future of BG women's basketball. I never thought I would see the day when any BG women's team would lose a MAC game by 33 points. If it were a game against Baylor or UConn that would be understandable but to CMU it is not. I understand Central Michigan won the MAC title and defeated the best team in the league (Toledo) on the way. I also know BG blew out Central the first time they played by over 20 points. I also know BG lost games in the MAC this year to teams they have dominated in the past. I saw a BG team with enough talent to blow out Northwestern and Dayton and yet lose to Miami and Western Michigan. I wondered at the time they replaced Coach Miller why BG did not try to find a dynamic young coach with head coaching experience to replace one of the premier coaches in this league's history. The women's head coaching position at BG was a prime coaching opportunity. BG offerred a new arena, a winning legacy and great fan support. Among mid-major schools BG was an elite program and should have garnered interest from dynamic young coaches looking to take the next step. These coaches would have had head coaching experience.
Instead, BG decided to hire an assistant coach who had no head coaching experience at the college level. I'm sure it was thought the need for continuity was of prime importance. Promote the head assistant coach and keep the players happy and hopefully the tradition of excellence will live on. And, I hope it does but I have my doubts and concerns. I am concerned BG will become like Kent State in women's basketball. It was not long ago when Kent was one of if not the biggest rival BG faced in the MAC. In the past couple of years Kent has become a bottom-dweller in the MAC and it happened in a hurry. Coach Miller would never have lost to CMU 81-48. Hopefully, Coach Roos will get better in the next few seasons. Certainly, she has big shoes to fill. Since it appears we cannot hope for much from the men's team I am hoping the women's team does not follow the same path.

[BGSUE]

If you have an idea how this team is going & you want to do something about it they are taking resumes for the open position as I have said repeatedly. Throw your hat in the ring. If you get the job don't look at this site you might not like what you read.
Please realize that Jennifer had injuries to the extent Curt did not have the entire time he coached at BG. Look at his record his first two seasons 21-35 Also as I stated before BG made the league get better & pissed people off so they want to beat us. Some of this year's seniors still haven't beaten BG.
If you want to go over the ledge because of how this looks go for it. Until I see repeated results in the negative I'm all for them. The team won over 20 games.
Oh by the way Curt was an untested associate head coach at Colorado State with no head coaching experience. How soon we forget! Many fans questioned his hiring too.
Frontrunners can now exit the bus. See you when we meet your expectations.

[Rollo83]

Unfortunately, I think the program is going into a “down period” based on our prior success. How can we not be? We’ve have had an unbelievable 10 year run…maybe one of the best stretches ever in the MAC.

When you have that kind of success and dominate the conference, paybacks are going to be a bitch. We have a big bull’s eye on our backs. And, every team in the league is going to relish kicking us when we’re down.

Not saying we dead as a program or that we can’t compete. Just saying we’re just one of the better teams in the conference now and not the elite team.

[transfer2BGSU]

I wondered at the time they replaced Coach Miller why BG did not try to find a dynamic young coach with head coaching experience to replace one of the premier coaches in this league's history. The women's head coaching position at BG was a prime coaching opportunity. BG offerred a new arena, a winning legacy and great fan support. Among mid-major schools BG was an elite program and should have garnered interest from dynamic young coaches looking to take the next step. These coaches would have had head coaching experience.
Instead, BG decided to hire an assistant coach who had no head coaching experience at the college level.

You are absolutely correct when you state we hired an assistant coach with no head coaching experience. That gentleman was Curt Miller (as Sue pointed out). There was also a young assistant coach from Notre Dame who never held a coordinators position that we hired for football that has shown a little success since he left here, but that was in football.

The athletic department did conduct a national search. The department took their time in conducting the search (and some administrators took a lot of heat because we did not just name our long-term contracted Associate Head Coach to the position immediately). They contacted several prominent head coaches for names of candidates for the position. They were given several names to consider. And several of the prominent coaches in addition to naming names, said the same thing to those conducting the search - "the best person for the job is already seated on your bench."

But was that good enough for BGSU? Nope. We brought in two of those top candidates along with our long-term contracted associate Head Coach to interview on-campus. This wasn't just given to Ms. Roos. She had to interview and earn this position (which caused some administrators to take a lot of heat because we didn't just name our long-term contracted Associate Head Coach to the position).

Jen had friends asking her if she really wanted to become our head coach. Many told her to follow Curt and look for another head coaching position. Why? Because do you really want to be the coach that followed Curt Miller and all of his success? Follow a coach who wasn't a success and have an easier(?) job - you don't have to maintain such high expectations. Win three more games than he did next year and people will love you and think you're doing a great job.

Not Jen. She wanted that challenge. And for a first year head coach, she did a damn good job.

Could it have been better? By all means YES.

We didn't win the MAC East.
We didn't win the MAC regular season title.
We didn't win the MAC tournament title.
We are not going to the NCAA tournament.

This was our TENTH year in a row with 20+ wins in a season.

We suffered through numerous injuries and lost one of our starters to injury.

The current Indiana University Women's Baketball Head Coach used to ask what more could they do to please our fans when they would go off the deep-end after a season opening loss at someplace like Evansville or Dayton? Or when they would reel off 12 victories in a row and then lose a game and fans would ask why were we slumping?

This ain't Curt Miller's MAC anymore.

As the EIGHT-TIME defending MAC Champions, we had a bulls-eye on us this year just like the previous seven years. We got everyone's A+ games. That bulls-eye is going to be on our backs again next year. "The champ has been knocked off their throne, now let's keep them off it." Look no further than The School Up North. The title is ours to reclaim!

Sorry Cap City 7, but you're coming off like one of those fans of The School Up North that thinks they should be picked up by the Big East for their athletic programs. And you don't want be like that (unless you're that H2Oville Rockette and we know how nutty he is )

But then again, you could really be onto something. I don't think Coaches Miller, Roos, and Poole really became a great coaching staff until one Kevin Eckert was added to the coaching staff. Once he was on board, we started our come back. Maybe we should have hired the Eck!

[BGFalconfromCincy]

Did we go 22-10 or 10-22 this year

The craziness from the men's forum is starting to spew over here again

[BGFalconfromCincy]

I never thought I would see the day when any BG women's team would lose a MAC game by 33 points.

I saw a Curt Miller led team lose at Ball State by 25, sure its not 33 but lets not act like Curt never got blown out in MAC play once we started our run

[Hockey John]

The final Curt Miller team started the season by getting killed at Dayton.

Coach Miller was special, but Coach Roos was part of that. I, for one, am very willing to give her time to help us continue to do well. We still went 22-10 with lots of injuries, bumps, and bruises.

[BGFalconfromCincy]

The final Curt Miller team started the season by getting killed at Dayton.

Coach Miller was special, but Coach Roos was part of that. I, for one, am very willing to give her time to help us continue to do well. We still went 22-10 with lots of injuries, bumps, and bruises.

And with not having a full roster of players. We lost three transfers, brought in two, but only one was a JUCO who could play right away

[HoopsFan]

Wow, just wow. This board is getting loonier by the minute. Is it off-season yet? My only concern is whether BG women get a post season bid and how far they can go. I'm not going to jump out a second story window because we *only* went 22-10 with 9.75 players.
Our team's GPA is still near the top of the league, Erica becomes eligible next year, Salinas has another year of growth, and we have a new post player to learn the BG way and one of our best shooters should have a healthy right foot. As long as the coach's philosophy is to recruit good students and take a chance on one or two "projects" we'll get the same kind of players that Curt Miller got.

Oh yeah, I saw Noelle Yoder's sister or cousin playing in the state girl's basketball tourney, but she's about 5'3".

When you stop to think we lost 4 players from last year's team and had a key injury and Lex's deal, to go 22-10 wasn't all that bad. Aren't we allowed time to rebuild?

Now if we could just draft Bradford and Luburgh, or find two players of that calibre, we'd be reloaded in a hurry Here's hoping for Donovan to be battle ready and no more injuries!

[BGSUE]

don't want the attitude of Bradford or Luburg Erica is ready to play sitting there watching not what she wants. Jas will be 100% no other way will she play Carinduff & Justinger played good minutes learned what's expected lose 4 Seniors when did they get so old?
Jill stepped up big time bad hands/fingers and all Lex and the nose have time to heal bringing in new blood with work ethic & character

Wait wait hope to have experienced ones & all playing several more games in WNIT still want to hear squeek of soles on floor bounce of ball cheers of fans flash of orange down court to basket

[transfer2BGSU]

The best thing about freshmen like Miriam and Bailey?

They become sophomores next year!!!

[HoopsFan]

Yeah, I think the medical staff scared the BeJeezus out of Jas when they suggested she would do SERIOUS damage to her foot if she didn't wait for it to heal completely. Missing 17 games was a small price to pay.

Justinger was probably in the right place at the right time, or played marginally better than Bailes in the beginning. I didn't see them practice and I'm not a coach, etc. so I don't know what was up with that, but I liked Bailey a bit better as a shooter and Miriam better as a defender. Miriam just seemed to lose her shooting touch then became tenative. I also like how Bailes folowed her shots, but she MISSED TWO FREE THROWS this season LOL. Now, if we could have just had her have 46 more attempts......

Let's get a few more games out of this season and celebrate some success!

[Flipper]

Hate to dredge up the unfortunate issues of this season...but the issue we had was a tough one. The fact that the players came to the coach and the problem was dealt with immediately shows that Coach Roos has established an atmosphere of trust, openess and accountability. I think that bodes well for the future

[factman]

The best thing about freshmen like Miriam and Bailey?

They become sophomores next year!!!

.........and they gain about 15 pounds!

[elmrfudd]

I, for one, feel we did very well considering the roster and injuries. I will taking coaching out of the equation, as I feel Roos & Co. did very well with the ladies this year. I believe our biggest issues were mental preparation and overall inconsistency in execution on the court. We definitely had a good enough team to do some serious damage when you look at the Dayton, Northwestern, and the first Central Michigan game. And then we have games when our FG% falls way below 30%. We had a GOOD shooting team this season, but not a great one. I would have had a hard time choosing the player to take a last second shot if we were down by a point or two, as we lacked a reliable "go-to" player this season. I truly believe we will be a better team next season though, providing injuries can be kept at bay. When we can once again regain the capacity to put 3 or 4 players a game into double figures with regularity, we will see an increase in our consistency, and the wins and losses will take care of themselves. Falcons, I wish you all the best next season! GO FALCONS!