Women's Hoops Guru

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA _ Dawn Staley may have departed for South Carolina, but is it possible the next Temple women's coach who will succeed her will also have a national reputation as a past All-Star point guard in the WNBA?

An individual who fits that description and also has local ties to Philadelphia is one Debbie Black, the former St. Joseph's and WNBA defensive specialist and playmaker who is currently an assistant to her Hawks coach Jim Foster at Ohio State.

"Since the word got out about Dawn, I've been getting a lot of calls from friends in Philadelphia asking if I'd be interested," Black said Wednesday.

"I'm really happy working with Jim at Ohio State, but I also think I'm ready to take that next step and be a head coach," the former Archbishop Wood star added.

"Is Temple that situation? I can't say either way right now, but it's intriguing and I'll have to learn more about where they're heading and what their expectations are," Black continued.

"But I think it's a tremendous opportunity for someone while at the same time it will definitely be a challenge to follow Dawn after all she did to raise the program's profile."

Temple athletic department officials are wrapping up details of the job internally with Temple's human resources department personnel and are expected to formally advertise the vacant position some time Thursday.

They are also completing spots on the search committee, which will be diverse in representation, said Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw. He has also been an AD at DePaul in Chicago and at La Salle.

This is the third time in the last several years Bradshaw has had to fill a major coaching position. The other two involved the hiring of Al Golden to succeed Bobby Wallace in football as well as former Penn coach Fran Dunphy to succeed Hall of Famer and legend John Chaney in men's basketball.

"Each of those spots were different in terms of how we had to make the hire," Bradshaw said, noting Dunphy's success as a head coach of the Quakers and Golden's rising reputation while serving as a youthful assistant at the University of Virginia.

In the early going, Temple officials do not have a particular candidate targeted considering that Staley's exit caught most by surprise because of South Carolina's ability in Columbia to top Staley's substantial Temple salary by $150,000 to $650,000.

Susan Walvius, the Gamecocks' previous women's coach in the Southeastern Conference, was estimated to be making around $280,000, which was well below Staley's Temple deal that was in the first of a six-year extension agreed to in April a year ago. That contract also had a $500,000 buyout, which South Carolina officials said they will help Staley pay.

Two members of Staley's former staff remain -- assistant Fred Chmiel and operations director Mary Wooley, who was scheduled to depart sometime this summer, without regard to Staley's move, to pursue her post-graduate education.

It's not known if Chmiel has interest in the job himself -- he was away for a few days this week and couldn't be reached for comment -- but as an individual popular with the Temple players, he might be kept by the new coach to provide continuity from the Staley era.

Many schools and new coaches have gone that direction in the past, especially in situations of sudden exits by the previous head coach.

When it comes to offering the best type of candidate for the Temple vacancy, there is not a clear consensus among the Temple faithful, as well as coaches elsewhere, in terms of the qualities needed to succeed Staley. The three-time Olympic gold medalist recently turned 38 but was only 30 when she joined the Owls.

Given the recent public revelation of Temple's available financial resources to pay Staley, a salary considered to be in the top ten of Division I women's coaches, some believe that a head coach with extensive experience would be best to fill the spot.

But that person should also be able to relate to today's youth, that even Staley, herself, conceded at times is quite different than in her collegiate days when she starred at Virginia in the early 1990s.

In that regard, others, noting the ties after Staley that have to be rebuilt within the community and among the Temple alumni base, believe an assistant from a national program with a record of recruiting success could quickly generate the same excitment Staley brought with her hire in April, 2000.

However, it is also conceded that a first-time head coach, even with that aforementioned background, would be in a different situation than recruiting for an existing top 10 power such as Connecticut, Tennessee, or Rutgers, for example.

Rhode Island assistant Ervin Monier, a former Temple assistant who plans to apply and landed all-American Candice Dupree in 2002, said he already has experience in the Temple dynamic, "because I already have done all of it under Dawn."

Although Temple officials will be attending Atlantic Ten Conference annual spring meetings this weekend, it's possible Bradshaw, while away, could begin preliminary talks with key candidates who are known to be interested or others who have been suggested.

Bradshaw and associate athletic director Kristen Foley are likely to hear other suggestions from Atlantic Ten colleagues, if they haven't already done so.,

The Temple AD noted that in his past experience involving hires, such as those at Temple, e, the search doesn't really narrow until the interviews get under way.

Bradshaw mentioned how frontrunners have fallen by the wayside after meeting with the committee.

"I've seen it both ways over the years," Bradshaw said. "There are candidates that might be real high on different lists but then go through the motions during their interviews.

"On the other hand, there have been candidates that you initially might consider strongly, but maybe not ranked as high on the list as other candidates. Then those individuals come in and really express a strong passion about wanting the job and being part of the university community."

-- Mel