Harper vs. Lawson

#1
H

Hooper22

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#1
Thought I’d begin a new thread here regarding two of our Lady Vol greats. I’m genuinely curious peoples thoughts on these two as coaches. I know many here wanted Kara , but quite frankly early on , it seems her tenure at Duke is not going as planned. Lots of talented transfers she’s brought in, and a coaching staff who has had great success at other stops, but as this season went along, it seemed they regressed and not gelled as much as would have been expected.

Fun topic I thought. Something different. This isn’t a bash Kara or Kellie session. It’s a convo for observations on two great Lady Vols who have begun new tenures at their respective schools.
 
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#5
#5
Alright, this comparison is just not reasonable. Kara is a first year coach versus someone who is in her 17th year. When Duke hired Kara, they had to be thinking longer term program building rather than immediate success. Unless Duke completely crashes and burns, Kara probably has a 3-5 year window to prove her merits.
 
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#9
#9
madtownvol said:
Alright, this comparison is just not reasonable. Kara is a first year coach versus someone who is in her 17th year. When Duke hired Kara, they had to be thinking longer term program building rather than immediate success. Unless Duke completely crashes and burns, Kara probably has a 3-5 year window to prove her merits.
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Technically, Kara is a second-year coach. They got some games in last year before opting out of the remainder of the season. Still got to practice, recruit, and work with players.
 
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#10
#10
creekdipper said:
Technically, Kara is a second-year coach. They got some games in last year before opting out of the remainder of the season. Still got to practice, recruit, and work with players.
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Good point but the covid season was an insane time so I am not convinced that actually counts as a legit year of experience. Even we count it, I think the point still holds. Any person with a brain realizes that Kara was a high risk/high reward hire. It takes time for such "investments" to pay off, if and when they do.
 
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#11
#11
It's risky hiring a coach with no head experience--especially if you're a P5 program that takes the sport seriously, as Duke does. Tennessee learned that lesson the hard way, and Warlick at least had some assistant coaching experience. Lawson had no coaching experience of any kind, I don't think. Still, her team/record may improve as she adjusts--we'll see.
 
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#12
#12
madtownvol said:
Good point but the covid season was an insane time so I am not convinced that actually counts as a legit year of experience. Even we count it, I think the point still holds. Any person with a brain realizes that Kara was a high risk/high reward hire. It takes time for such "investments" to pay off, if and when they do.
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Oh, I agree that it's way too early to see how Kara will do long-term. She has recruited well so far. I think she'll be successful.
 
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#13
#13
creekdipper said:
Oh, I agree that it's way too early to see how Kara will do long-term. She has recruited well so far. I think she'll be successful.
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We would know more if she weren’t a chicken who cancelled her season last year. At this point I think those coaches look pretty suspect.

Was glad to see UVA make a change. Loved TT as a player but her CEO decisions as a coach were horrible.
 
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#14
#14
Starts with recruiting. So far, Kara has made inroads to key pieces early in her career. Kara carries a celebrity like reputation with todays prospects and CKH is carrying the Tennessee name. Too early to say about Kara as he team struggled, but so did CKH in the ACC. Her first year was her best year if my memory serves me correct.
 
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#15
#15
Majors said:
Starts with recruiting. So far, Kara has made inroads to key pieces early in her career. Kara carries a celebrity like reputation with todays prospects and CKH is carrying the Tennessee name. Too early to say about Kara as he team struggled, but so did CKH in the ACC. Her first year was her best year if my memory serves me correct.
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Kellie’s issue at NC State had more to do with their athletics department and the AD than it did with Kellie.

Duke is a primo job and probably the easiest place in the country to recruit.
 
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#16
#16
VolBall09 said:
Kellie’s issue at NC State had more to do with their athletics department and the AD than it did with Kellie.

Duke is a primo job and probably the easiest place in the country to recruit.
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Primo yes if you tie it to mens basketball. I wouldn't say easiest job, benefit of high academic reward. Easiest job to me right now is South Carolina and UConn for winning reasons only.
 
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#17
#17
Lawson can, and does recruit well. Hands down in that department. Lawson also has guards that can pass, and dribble better than D1 average, Hands down here too. I love Kellie, still back here hire, but allowing her to bring her staff to the big time, and her doing so, were both bad mistakes. We went from perennial top three in national recruiting, to middle of pack in the SEC. Year after year, after year. We need a huge transfer class the next 2 yrs or we will have real problems. When Holly's recruits are gone, we will depend on the transfers, in a major way. Kellie's best 3 recruits from high school are Tess, Sarah, and....?
 
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#18
#18
Chitownvol1129 said:
Lawson can, and does recruit well. Hands down in that department. Lawson also has guards that can pass, and dribble better than D1 average, Hands down here too. I love Kellie, still back here hire, but allowing her to bring her staff to the big time, and her doing so, were both bad mistakes. We went from perennial top three in national recruiting, to middle of pack in the SEC. Year after year, after year. We need a huge transfer class the next 2 yrs or we will have real problems. When Holly's recruits are gone, we will depend on the transfers, in a major way. Kellie's best 3 recruits from high school are Tess, Sarah, and....?
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Wynn, Pissott (in coming), and I think Striplin wll become a solid contributor. I will reiterate that this distinction between transfers and recruits no longer makes sense in the age of the transfer portal. Recruiting has to work both channels.
 
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#22
#22
madtownvol said:
Wynn, Pruitt (in coming), and I think Striplin wll become a solid contributor. I will reiterate that this distinction between transfers and recruits no longer makes sense in the age of the transfer portal. Recruiting has to work both channels.
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Did you mean Pissott?
 
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#24
#24
Franklin Pierce said:
The coach who had never coached anything until this season, stunk it up bad. Many Duke fans have lost a lot of their fervor for that coach. Is there a WNIT?
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Huh? She was an assistant coach for the Celtics before going to Duke.
 
#25
#25
VolBall09 said:
Kellie’s issue at NC State had more to do with their athletics department and the AD than it did with Kellie.

Duke is a primo job and probably the easiest place in the country to recruit.
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What were the problems in the NC State athletic department when Harper was there? She was 23--39 in the ACC when the coach at NC State, which is bad, and her overall record was barely above 500. That will get you sacked, no matter what.
 
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