(WBK) Kelly Rae Finley: Time to Drop the "Interim"

Tend to agree. I get all the feel good now, but heaven forbid SS hire her and then the team go in the tank....then we have all the Monday morning QB's losing their minds that he made a knee jerk (and cheap) hire when he could have let the season play out before making the move.
IMO you let the season play out, you get into talks with her about the future now, and if everything stays positive you make a splash with the hire as the season ends

 

I have followed this program long enough to know it can get ugly fast...lol. I don't think it will BUT you never know. Carol just never could quite get to the top, Peck and Butler were rollercoasters that ended badly. Cam built a great team then scandal hits. Again, you just never know.

Speaking of roller coasters...Amanda has gone from ACC Coach of the Year in 2018 to 1-10 in ACC play this season. Hard to see her making it past this season... and apparently Delicia is still playing. Seems like she and Westbrook both played 10 seasons of ball.

 

Kim Mulkey agrees with OP

 

Thanks @G2MGA that was a great find. I suspect Kim knows more about WBB than most.

 

Starts talking about UF around 4:54

From the youtube auto-generated transcript:

"I don't understand why that girl
hadn't been named the head coach yet
what else does she have to do to be named the head coach
what are you waiting on for somebody else to hire
and that's not taking up for a friend
I don't know her but I know what i see
I know how hard it is to be an interim
and you lose your best player in the middle of the year
and you're still doing what you're doing"

 

I hope that our AD has already told her the job is hers and is waiting to make it public. Anything else is hopeless.

I’ve been a GATOR and a Gator Fan for almost 50 years and I have never seen anything like this groundswell among the most dedicated fan base to hire someone who is ALREADY ON STAFF!

 

When you watch her with her players, they REALLY respond to her. If Kelly Rae isn't given the job, there will be mass defections.
I'm not recommending her for non-basketball reasons. She ticks off the boxes: players like her, good recruiter, team is getting better over the course of the season, team is playing team ball, team is winning.

 

Wait, both Washington and Westbrook are still at Clemson ? I can see Washington but Westbrook ?????

 

My only concern is her recruiting skill/prowess, she doesn't have to be great maybe, but solid. As long as her assistants are great at it.

 

From what I hear, she was the primary recruiter for most of the current roster.

Next question.

 

If a high school player saw her two interviews after the Tennessee and Georgia games who wouldn't want to play for her?

 

No... just Delicia but Westbrook played 6 or 7 years I think.

 

She was also the recruiting coordinator at her last 3 schools. Probably wouldn't be given that role unless she was good at it. Had good recruiting classes at every school including signing the first ever McDonald's All American to an Ivy League school when she was at Harvard.

 

Academically, UF is the Harvard of the SEC (Vandy doesn't count. Because they're Vandy).

 

After TN and UGA I would like to think this is just a matter of "processing the paper work".

 

Impressive talk by Mulkey, raises my opinion of her.

 

Good God, man. Did he pull your dog out of a fire or something? Are you really going to give him credit for a great team?

If Newbauer was coaching this team they'd have five more losses. His style was horrible. The team hated him. They didn't play hard for him. He was an abusive prick who COULD NOT COACH.

Pleased, for the love of God, stop defending and sugarcoating his tenure. He was the worst coach the program has ever had. By a lot.

Finley's success this year is despite Newbauer, not because of him.

 

She has done more for the Lady Gator program in a half a season than all of the 3 previous coaches combined. She deserves a contract!!!!!!!!