Why ? do you post like you have good sense . most poster want too fire coaches . I have been a member of this site for years . other than the mods. there is only a hand full of posters that make good sensible post.
I actually think a lot of them mean well and want the program to succeed... just not sure they really follow the sport that close or know how frustrating a program it has been at UF. WBB world is a whole different animal than the men, though the talent is starting to spread out a little more of late.
Just an observation, but no Faith Dut pictured. The rest of the team is... could be nothing but thought it was curious
got word last week no access to practice, thought it was a strange decision, if I was anywhere near the PR department at WBK I would push for open access (like we had prior to covid) particularly after the debacle with Cam's departure Faith is still on the roster
I checked the roster too when I saw the pic. Just thought it strange that she was the only one not there. I agree that they should probably be pretty open right now. Maybe Kelly is changing things up a bit and doesn't want to show anything? I am curious to see what is different versus Cam in terms of offense and defense. If Kelly had input in the Plank hire that tells me she probably wants to push tempo and get up and down the court. That was Plank's style, and considering Kelly stated last year she was more the defensive minded coach and Cam handled more of the offense, I think we will press A LOT. The bulk of our talent and depth is our guards and the twins can get up and down the floor as well so it would make a lot of sense. I do wonder what sort of system we run in the half court though. I am excited to see what we look like the first few games. Kelly probably needs to have a big year to keep the job, but it's possible. We could definitely use some good publicity and a great season would generate that for us considering the off-season events. Just something else I learned while doing a bit of searching... Kelly and Julian coached together at Colorado a few years back. Had no idea.
The fact that they are closing practices shows just how tone deaf people can be. If this is Kelly's decision, Stricklin needs to overrule it. If it's Stricklin's, then ... I don't even know what to say. It's been a long time since a UF program NEEDED to be in the sunlight. Kelly needs to let the public see she's doing things differently than Newbauer did, and Stricklin needs to make sure that happens. It's crazy that doing so is not a given, but they certainly need to get some PR experts working over there.
I personally think the girls are grateful for the time away from the outside world. They have been ogled enough. Spoke to one of the players and she said they are trying to concentrate and get back to business. Kelly may be just trying to protect their interests instead of worrying about everyone else's.
It's a public school and a public program. The allegations made were public and serious, and Kelly was a part of the staff who tolerated it. Not everything is about making sure everyone is comfortable.
Or we could just ignore everything and just take UAA's word that things are peachy. And if someone complains later, we can shrug it off and say it's because of the lack of playing time. A few malcontents bitching. Kids today being too soft, because back in my day my drill instructor made us eat mud and thank him for it. Or maybe someone complaining will have social media that we disapprove of, so we can dismiss it even more. After all, bitches be loco. The world needs to see what is going on, but more importantly, the coaching staff -- some of whom were involved in the previous problems -- needs to KNOW the world is seeing what is going on.
My main concern is for the girls.. quite frankly a lot of the people who were watching the practices before SAW what was happening and didn't think anything was wrong. Everyone's barometer to gauge is different. Allowing people in to "see" sounds like more of an interest in saying people were there to watch. It begs the question if people even know the indicators to look for when watching. So, to appease people to just saying they were there seems counterproductive for the moment, IMO. I do believe eventually opening it up might be a good thing at some point.
And while eating dirt was an acceptable form of training perhaps in your day, it is not acceptable in today's climate. I know you think it is soft, and you don't agree, but abuse is abuse. All of these were tactics used in the previous regime.
I think you could make the case that the people who saw what was going on had a stake in there not being anything wrong. The fact that people were there and saw Newbauer treat girls the way he reportedly did and said nothing makes the case that they need other people watching. Or at least the threat that other people -- people not employed or affiliated with UAA -- could be watching. Reporters aren't there to ogle players -- most teams have limits as to athlete access. Most practices wouldn't be attended by anyone except maybe an Alligator reporter, but the staff would have to be aware that they COULD be. And that might be important.
