Warlick was the 2nd assistant for many years. I'm not sure when she became to the top assistant but I think it was late in PS's tenure. She and PS became close friends over the years. Warlick had no coaching chops other than being an assistant here for a long time. There is a big difference between being an assistant and being a head--a big difference. You don't generally turn a major revenue program with our history over to an unproven coach. He does happen, however. UNC men have done it twice in the last 20 years or so. The first time they did it was a major failure. Now they've done it again with Hubert Davis and he had a good first year, bad second year and this year the Heels are good again, so we'll see. After the first failure with an assistant, UNC hired a very experienced head coach who was at another major program, and he won 2 national titles with the Heels. Mighty Duke hired an assistant to take over for coach K. It's risky--we'll see how he does.
One thing to note: When Warlick took over, the women's game had changed a lot. The game had evolved dramatically from the time PS started and when she finished, and she was struggling the last 10+ years. Save for the Parker years, her teams really struggled offensively. That was not a PS strength. By the time Warlick got the head job, the sport was far more competitive and teams were better offensively--and so coaches had to be good in all phases of the game. These days there are a ton of good coaches in every sport, all the sports are highly competitive, and you have to be good to succeed. And you'd better have a good staff as well. All that said, hiring coaches at the collegiate or pro level is a crap shoot. Nobody knows who will succeed or fail--it's wait, hope and see.