[MV72018]

I met her after the Tennessee game at Tennessee at a random restaurant after their loss there.. they had finished eating their dinner and she got up first. I got the courage to say hi to her and tell her I was there from CA to see them play cause Tennessee is my husband’s favorite team. She was friendly asked if I wanted a picture.. what happened next was totally unexpected.. I thought it was just going to be the two of us only, but c to the called the entire team to the front of the restaurant and I got a picture with the entire team. All this to say, I see her differently and think she will be successful and do a great job!

I was ok with the press conference. Nothing earth shattering or proclamations that may be difficult to accomplish.

The only slightly cringe moment for me was at the beginning when KP said to Tara something like "Hey, there's more people here today than at your press conference." I thought I heard some groans from the audience.

I think she was just making a harmless joke, showing some personality and a little quirkiness. Tara has said many similar off beat comments over the years and both of them mean no harm. All good.

I'm inclined to agree, that it was Kate attempting to interject some humor. But that's something that concerns me, and always has about the prospect of Kate replacing Tara, that Kate comes across as humorless, not much personal energy. As someone noted earlier re her at chalk talks, until the last couple of years, she's not been very good at connecting with the fans. Gave off a vibe of being bored to be there, really didn't want to do it, short answers that didn't say much, etc. She improved recently, but she still my last choice for who I want to see in a chalk talk (of course, we won't see her there any more). The question is, how well does she connect with the players? This is the most important issue.

As I posted when the succession announcement was first made, while she's long worked with Tara and has strong feelings about and much experience at Stanford, while she might be I have no idea whether KP is the best person or one of the best for the head-coaching job. Apparently the succession plan had been in place for some time, presumably with Tara's and Muir's approval. But if I was in charge of replacing Tara, I'd have conducted a national search of experienced head coaches and had each finalist meet with the players before making a final decision. For better or worse, unlike searches for new Stanford faculty members, searches for head coaches of Stanford athletic teams can seem like faits accomplis or appear superficial or local, often portrayed as more open and comprehensive than they really were. I'm curious how those on this board feel about how this "selection" of a new head coach for women's basketball was handled. Was it cursory, premature, and rushed, or justifiably opportunistic, rapid, and decisive -- or something else?

[MV72018]

I met her after the Tennessee game at Tennessee at a random restaurant after their loss there.. they had finished eating their dinner and she got up first. I got the courage to say hi to her and tell her I was there from CA to see them play cause Tennessee is my husband’s favorite team. She was friendly asked if I wanted a picture.. what happened next was totally unexpected.. I thought it was just going to be the two of us only, but c to the called the entire team to the front of the restaurant and I got a picture with the entire team. All this to say, I see her differently and think she will be successful and do a great job!

I was ok with the press conference. Nothing earth shattering or proclamations that may be difficult to accomplish.

The only slightly cringe moment for me was at the beginning when KP said to Tara something like "Hey, there's more people here today than at your press conference." I thought I heard some groans from the audience.

I think she was just making a harmless joke, showing some personality and a little quirkiness. Tara has said many similar off beat comments over the years and both of them mean no harm. All good.

I'm inclined to agree, that it was Kate attempting to interject some humor. But that's something that concerns me, and always has about the prospect of Kate replacing Tara, that Kate comes across as humorless, not much personal energy. As someone noted earlier re her at chalk talks, until the last couple of years, she's not been very good at connecting with the fans. Gave off a vibe of being bored to be there, really didn't want to do it, short answers that didn't say much, etc. She improved recently, but she still my last choice for who I want to see in a chalk talk (of course, we won't see her there any more). The question is, how well does she connect with the players? This is the most important issue.

As I posted when the succession announcement was first made, while she's long worked with Tara and has strong feelings about and much experience at Stanford, while she might be I have no idea whether KP is the best person or one of the best for the head-coaching job. Apparently the succession plan had been in place for some time, presumably with Tara's and Muir's approval. But if I was in charge of replacing Tara, I'd have conducted a national search of experienced head coaches and had each finalist meet with the players before making a final decision. For better or worse, unlike searches for new Stanford faculty members, searches for head coaches of Stanford athletic teams can seem like faits accomplis or appear superficial or local, often portrayed as more open and comprehensive than they really were. I'm curious how those on this board feel about how this "selection" of a new head coach for women's basketball was handled. Was it cursory, premature, and rushed, or justifiably opportunistic, rapid, and decisive -- or something else?