topiarydan
Active member
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2018
- Messages
- 788
Noticed both have HC openings?
Does Illinois or Okie State come calling?
- Thread starter topiarydan
- Start date
I don't think so. Kristen has been GREAT for the program and really built it up to be something. However, getting hot one year in March which led to a 15 seed probably won't qualify her for a P5 job. Admin will look at more than just conference tournament results. This season was a pretty poor noncon followed with a great conference start and then fell from the 1 to the 4 in a matter of a couple weeks. To get one of those jobs, I think she'll have to show sustained success for 2-3 seasons before she gets picked off. A conference championship mixed in with a couple tournament championships should get her phone ringing.
MadBird
Well-known member
Agreed. She hasn't had a 20 win season yet in 5 tries. We're moving in the right direction, but not sure she's done enough to hit the radar yet.
I spose if there were some connection along the way, someone she knew from her playing days or something, possible she'd get a call. But she needs a couple more "better" years to really draw attention.
She's probably showing up on "possible choices" for some ADs though for the future.
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2017
- Messages
- 11,919
Even with a few years of sustained success, it'll take winning games in the Dance to really catch someone's eye.
Seems like Illinois picked up a very good coach from Dayton (cue Gillespie to Dayton rumors). Shauna Green is a 3 time A-10 coach of the year and made 4 NCAA tournaments in 6 years as coach. Started her HC career at Loras College in Dubuque. While Gillespie has done an awesome job turning the program around, she does not have close to the same resume at this point as Green. There are obviously HC positions that will/have opened up outside P5 that are better jobs than ISU, but I don't think we have to worry about Gillespie being picked up in this cycle. Will be interesting to see what she can accomplish next year with Juju gone.
I hate to say it, but it could make sense for Gillespie to move now vs. risk a set back without Juju next year. Green’s resume may not have been as good in some ways before getting the Dayton job, except she was known commodity to Dayton- Asst. 3 years at Dayton before 1 year to Northwestern. Honestly Gillespie resume very similar to Ok. St. hire from UMo-Kansas city
Last edited:
topiarydan
Active member
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2018
- Messages
- 788
- Thread starter
- #8
Missouri State coach to Virginia
Didn't want to start a new thread. Found one with a similar topic. Illinois' new coach Shauna Green has the program in really good shape, off to a 10-2 start. One of my friends is a leader of Orange Crush and he has been working very hard at getting students and Illini fans out to the WBB games. The team is averaging roughly 1,600 at their games (outside of field trip day/free admission). This number is a slight increase from roughly 1,200 at this point last season. Not a huge increase, but the reason I bring their attendance situation up is because they sell their tickets for 5 bucks a pop (contrast this with $70+ for a sold out SFC for the men's team).
I bring up the men's team because their marketing department does not have to worry about selling tickets for men's games. They have created a culture where that is of little concern. While they are capable of promoting both, our marketing department should realistically be devoting more resources to increasing men's attendance than women's as the situation currently stands.
Our men's team is averaging 3,400 per game in an arena that seats ~9,500 (they still need to update the official capacity post-renovation on many sites) while the women's team is averaging about 1,000 (excluding education day crowd). This means our women are averaging 30% of what our men are while for U of I this number is 11%.
I wanted to include all of this data and gibberish because it is important context to discussing the two different situations. Obviously U of I brings in a ton of revenue from their men's basketball program. They are taking a major loss on ticket sales for women's basketball in order to increase interest.
My main point is that I believe we should consider selling $5 tickets to the women's games. I would absolutely be more likely to attend a women's game with a $5 ticket as opposed to a $10 ticket. I am not sure the effect this has on families with children -- not sure what age the $10 ticket is required for, but I'd imagine this is a barrier for some families. Given the loyal followers we seem to have who come despite the $10 ticket price (whom we should be very grateful for), we would probably lose a chunk of the WBB team's total revenue (I would estimate $10,000-20,000 over the course of the season). However, we could improve attendance and realistically achieve the top fan base in the state of Illinois for women's basketball.
I bring up the men's team because their marketing department does not have to worry about selling tickets for men's games. They have created a culture where that is of little concern. While they are capable of promoting both, our marketing department should realistically be devoting more resources to increasing men's attendance than women's as the situation currently stands.
Our men's team is averaging 3,400 per game in an arena that seats ~9,500 (they still need to update the official capacity post-renovation on many sites) while the women's team is averaging about 1,000 (excluding education day crowd). This means our women are averaging 30% of what our men are while for U of I this number is 11%.
I wanted to include all of this data and gibberish because it is important context to discussing the two different situations. Obviously U of I brings in a ton of revenue from their men's basketball program. They are taking a major loss on ticket sales for women's basketball in order to increase interest.
My main point is that I believe we should consider selling $5 tickets to the women's games. I would absolutely be more likely to attend a women's game with a $5 ticket as opposed to a $10 ticket. I am not sure the effect this has on families with children -- not sure what age the $10 ticket is required for, but I'd imagine this is a barrier for some families. Given the loyal followers we seem to have who come despite the $10 ticket price (whom we should be very grateful for), we would probably lose a chunk of the WBB team's total revenue (I would estimate $10,000-20,000 over the course of the season). However, we could improve attendance and realistically achieve the top fan base in the state of Illinois for women's basketball.
Like I alluded to, our support is very good! This is a number to be proud of and there is definitely room to improve which is an amazing thing!
I assume it's pure financials. If you cut the price in half, do you think they can double the current attendance? For WBB on a consistent basis, I don't know if that is possible. Can ISU afford to take that financial hit while trying to increase attendance?
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2017
- Messages
- 11,919
Exactly . . . and the Illini don’t need WBB to make $$. They could afford to make the games free if they really wanted.
MadBird
Well-known member
Oh crap. Minnesota parted ways with HC Lindsay Whalen yesterday. Today, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune puts out the names of 4 potential candidates. Sure enough, Coach Gillespie is one of them. Also listed - HC's at Harvard, Marquette and S. Dakota State. I didn't think anyone would find her yet.
Not sure you can get to this article behind the paywall, but I'll post the link.
www.startribune.com
Not sure you can get to this article behind the paywall, but I'll post the link.
Four of the potential candidates to replace Lindsay Whalen as Gophers women's basketball coach
Marquette's Megan Duffy and Illinois State's Kristen Gillespie are among the possibilities for Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle.
www.startribune.com
Redbird222
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2017
- Messages
- 4,735
It the Marquette coach gets the Minnesota job, I would think Gillespie could be a candidate there too
SlackBooDom
Active member
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2022
- Messages
- 126
Would be very surprising if she didn’t end up at Minnesota or Marquette.
Reggie Redbird
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2017
- Messages
- 1,538
I think Minnesota will make a play for Marquette’s coach, which would open up the job in Milwaukee.
Probably a better job taking over Marquette, if it is a significant raise, than a P5 that is going to pay well but not give you the resources to compete against your peers.
With KG, you have to think we’ll come up with an extension offer to try and keep her, but if that raise isn’t $50k per year, it would be hard to pass up an offer making $150-200k more per year.
Probably a better job taking over Marquette, if it is a significant raise, than a P5 that is going to pay well but not give you the resources to compete against your peers.
With KG, you have to think we’ll come up with an extension offer to try and keep her, but if that raise isn’t $50k per year, it would be hard to pass up an offer making $150-200k more per year.
MadBird
Well-known member
Well, good news for us, at least in the short run. Minnesota filled their job with West Virginia's HC. So for now, no opening in Minny or at Marquette.
Paywall maybe?
www.startribune.com
Paywall maybe?
Gophers hire West Virginia coach Dawn Plitzuweit to replace Lindsay Whalen
Plitzuweit is a Wisconsin native who coached South Dakota to the Sweet 16 last season before spending one year as West Virginia's coach.
www.startribune.com