Women's Hoops Guru

(Guru's note: Just like DVDs, this is an enhanced version of the print story from Saturday's editions with extra quotes and comments that were restricted by space.)

By Mel Greenberg
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

PHILADELPHIA _ Former Temple women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley, in her first comments in Philadelphia since taking the coaching job at South Carolina on May 7, said Thursday night that she had received well wishes from friends in her native city but that Temple officials probably were still “a little shocked” by her move.

Staley also endorsed Tonya Cardoza, a longtime friend and Connecticut assistant coach, to succeed her. She added, however, that the Owls could do equally well hiring “some high-power WNBA coach who will bring instant credibility.”

“They don’t need a no-name,” Staley said on the question of what would be required to keep Temple at the level she established in eight years after joining the team without any coaching experience.

She accepted the South Carolina position with an initial five-year, $650,000 deal, abandoning the $500,000 package from Temple last season — the first year of a six-year extension. The Gamecocks also are helping Staley pay her $500,000 buyout.

Staley’s comments came after the annual Dawn Staley Foundation black-tie-and-sneakers gala, at the Cescaphe Ballroom in the Northern Liberties section of the city. About 200 people attended.

The former Dobbins Tech star said she would launch a similar community effort in Columbia, S.C., based on the foundation’s work in Philadelphia. The organization aids at-risk schoolchildren living in inner-city neighborhoods such as the one she grew up in around the Raymond Rosen housing project in North Philadelphia.

“We’ll miss you,” Harrison Jay, director of Temple’s Community Education Center, said before hosting the live auction.

Kenny Gamble of Gamble-Huff music, and A. Michael Pratt, chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association, received awards for their community involvement.

Of her move and her impression of Temple’s reaction, Staley said: “I’m quite sure if the University of South Carolina came to Bill Bradshaw to be the athletic director, tell me what he would do.

“The same with the president. She left a school to come to Temple. Why? These are life decisions you have to deal with.”

(Bradshaw is Temple’s athletic director. Ann Weaver Hart is the university’s president.)

“Unfortunately, I’m not usually caught up in stuff like this because I’m pretty loyal, but my family comes first in all that.”

Staley also discussed Temple’s needs in making its next hire, noting “unfinished business” in leaving the Owls before taking them deeper into the NCAA tournament. “We were on the brink of that,” she said.

“I think Temple would be going backwards if they didn’t hire somebody that could take the program to another level,” Staley said. “Obviously, the money’s there because they paid me a chunk, so to speak, but that’s dedication to the program, making sure you are taking care of the program — not just taking care of the coach.

“I hope the impression that I left at Temple is it’s a good job and the administrators are going to do a great job supporting the program.”

Cardoza, who played with Staley at Virginia, has expressed interest, but the two sides have not been in contact. That could happen in the next few days as the search committee begins work.
“I hope Tonya gets the job, but I don’t know if me saying that is going to hurt her chances,”
Staley said, mindful that coaches leaving for other jobs rarely have influence on their successors.

Cardoza is also getting support from her current Connecticut boss, Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma, who grew up in Norristown outside Philadelphia and is believed to have phoned Bradshaw recently on her behalf, a source familiar with the Temple search said.

Neither Auriemma nor Bradshaw could be reached for comment Friday night.

“Tonya can bring credibility,” Staley said, adding that “her resume of being with a national champion, of being an intricate part of bringing in highly talented recruits to UConn — yes, I do think that (her being) a minority plays in our players’ favor” in responding to a new coach.

As for the WNBA, it was mentioned to Staley that some observers have suggested Temple might want to pursue New York Liberty coach Patty Coyle, a former West Catholic and Rutgers star.

"She'd be ok," Staley said.

However, Coyle has not commented on the Temple vacancy. She has preferred to concentrate on getting New York off to a good start in the young WNBA season after turning the Liberty around last season as a playoff participant which narrowly missed upsetting the Detroit Shock in the first round.

Atlhough Coyle was perceived on shaky ground in 2006, the improvement has been enough that Coyle's job is not considered in jeopardy. However, given New York's history that has included some turbulence involving front office and player personnel matters, the situation could change on a dime as it did for Nancy Darsch and Richie Adubato, the Liberty's two coaches prior to Coyle.

Staley said once she agreed to South Carolina’s offer, she became committed to the Gamecocks, but Philadelphia is still where her heart will reside
.
“I’m Philadelphia through and through,” Staley said despite being elsewhere at times as when she carried the American flag to lead the United States olympic delegation into the stadium in Athens, Greece, in 2004.

“It’s where my roots are,” Staley said. “Although I’m leaving, I’ve left Philadelphia before. I’ve left for college, I’ve left to play professionally -- somehow I always find my way back.

“I don’t know what capacity, but this is my home. Other places I don’t think I’ll be able to call home like I call Philadelphia.”

Although Staley’s comments about her move to the Southeastern Conference wars is perceived as a step to more rugged competition, some observers point out that she was leaving a program that was no longer the small potatoes outfit that existed in 2000 when she took the job.

Temple rewarded her growth from a rookie coach with no prior experience by increasing her contract along the way to among the top 10 in the nation in Division I women’s basketball coaching ranks.

The pay was such that a school such as UCLA was unable to lure her away. The Bruins also failed to land football coach Al Golden after last season.

Stanford was also unable to attract men’s basketball coach Fran Dunphy, although it is not known if the Cardinals made an offer.

Furthermore, despite the tradition of the Southeastern Conference led by Tennessee, these days the Big East, which houses Connecticut and Rutgers, has become higher regarded.

But Staley sees it as a new challenge to build the Gamecocks from the ground up.

“This is very similar to taking the Temple situation,” Staley noted. “They’re not one of the best teams in the SEC. They’re one of the bottom teams and it’s going to take some work. Part of it is changing the mentality a little bit.”

Staley admitted to not being familiar with her new personnel, saying her Temple staff had recruited three of the remaining Gamecocks, “but that was three, four years ago.

“I haven’t watched film yet. I have to start developing relationships with them off the court. The basketball is going to be easy. We have to somehow gain trust with them as players we never had in the recruiting process to get to know one another,” Staley said.

“We have to have faith a little bit so we can get this done as quickly as possible.”
In that regard Staley’s staff will be accentuated by two former Olympic teammates — Carla McGhee and Nikki McCray who played for Tennessee, an arch rival of Virginia when she played for the Cavaliers in the late 1980s, early 1990s.

“They’re the No. 1 team in the conference so I’m going to see if I can get some secrets of (Tennessee coach Pat Summitt’s) success,” Staley smiled.

McGhee was an assistant to Staley one year at Temple, but prefers to live in the South. McCray had been at Western Kentucky.

Lisa Boyer was Staley’s assistant at Temple and coached her in the former American Basketball League. on the Richmond and Philadelphia Rage.

“I think it’s a good fit,” Staley said. “I’ve never worked with all women before. It’s going to be a different challenge but I know them. We’ve been to war together -- all three of them.

“I’ve been to war in some capacity (with each) and its’ going to be a war trying to compete and win the SEC championship and get into the NCAA tournament.”

Cynthia Jordan, a graduate student who was Staley’s first recruit, is likely to join her as a video coordinator. She might also try to lure La Salle assistant Stacey Smalls, one of her first players at Temple, if she can get Smalls into some graduate program in Columbia.

"If our kids want to get into coaching, we have to provde ways to make them learn," Staley said. "And I think it would be a great experience for (Smalls) and C.J. to get in at the bottom level and work their way up"

Staley called the decision to leave the most difficult since she jumped from the ABL to the WNBA several months before the ABL folded in bankruptcy.

“That was a business decision that allowed me to play as long as I played,” Staley said of making a move at the time when it was not known how long the ABL would survive. “The season was just too long. Sometimes you have to make difficult decisions. I’m not afraid to. Sometimes decisions are not the popular ones, but they’re the right ones.”

-- Mel