WBB: Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference

[Riley Zayas]

Got some news from Rose-Hulman. Isn't much, but we know...

1) Non-conference schedule is finalized. They are hosting the Midwest Challenge this year

2) Head coaching search is currently underway (mostly knew that already)

3) Several newcomers are pledged to come to RHIT in the fall, which will boost roster numbers.

Generally a good report out of Terre Haute.

https://d3wbbscoop.substack.com/p/april-5-2023-looking-at-the-final

[Enginerd]

We'll see how good things are in Terre Haute. I'm afraid the women's basketball program at RHIT has been dealt a "Death Penalty" every bit as destructive and program-killing as anything the NCAA enforcement folks could perpetrate - and it is 100% self-inflicted.

Suffice to say, the school's WBB program would appear to be in a heap of trouble. From former classmates who still live in the area and are either still plugged-in or know someone who is,  I heard four to six finalists all either turned the job down outright or couldn't wait for the extraordinarily lengthy process to finally play out and had to move on and accept other jobs. That might not be exactly how things happened, but RHIT is one of the very few schools that listed a women's basketball head coaching job so far this spring, that has not filled that position. Perhaps the only school not to have filled a posted position within 30-45 days. I heard that the Men's BB hiring process last summer was a complete debacle as well - at least they managed to find a good coach at the end. I fear that won't be the case with WBB. Why the pessimism, you ask? You need look no further than the last time a basketball position at RHIT was open. Coach Loyd left for DePauw at the very end of April last year. His successor was named almost exactly 8 weeks later - which means the job had been offered and accepted at least 10-14 days prior to the announcement on August 1st. Why in the world was the men's basketball position filled in 6 weeks but the women's position has now dragged-out for six months? Why would the DePauw job be so much more desirable than the RHIT job. What isn't RHIT doing or offering that is making it difficult to retain outstanding coaches and now, apparently, difficult to find them as well?
It's a bit shocking that this job was not filled the first time around. Why? Is it the pay? Is it the location? Is STEM seen as too much of a challenge? Are potential coaches scared away by the Herculean rebuilding effort left in the wake of the past 6 months.

For the love of God, aren't there any assistants from the UAA (Carnegie Mellon, Case, Chicago, etc), the NESCAC, MIT, CalTech, Stevens, Rensselaer, Hamilton, Worcester, Rochester Tech...that want to move-up? You know, RHIT had one hell of a program as recently as 2018-19. I don't get it. What's wrong that nobody (qualified) wants that job?

RHIT is extraordinarily blessed to have a great athletic department full of coaches that understand the very delicate balancing act of academics and athletics at the institute. Is it a mere coincidence that the institute plucked the perfect candidate for its football program a decade ago? He wasn't just just any candidate, mind you, he had a lot of experience in the high-academic realm at Chicago. Look what he's accomplished since. Same with basketball - the most recent former coach that was allowed to leave played (I believe) at Chicago himself. That department has been the model of stability and achievement over the past decade plus. My greatest concern is that they wind up having to settle on someone with only scholarship (NAIA, D-2, D1) experience and no inkling what a crazy-difficult, nuanced place RHIT IS, and it could set the program back another 5 years beyond its current predicament - which might as well be forever. Perhaps they will be prescient enough and fortunate enough to find someone who can learn and adapt. I hope so.

I hope my fears are misplaced.  I've taken pride in and followed RHIT athletics since Coach Touchton called my house for the very first time in 1978, wanting to talk about some school (with a hyphenated name) I'd never even heard of - and I'm really confounded. As someone who attended the institute when it was male-only, and as the father of girls, I always had a soft spot for the women's sports at Rose, particularly basketball. I'm just having a hard time imagining how long it's going to take to rebuild after all this uncertainty around the program after literally more than  half a year with nobody at the helm.

Perhaps finding and hiring Division III basketball coaches is much more difficult than I think it is, and I'm being too harsh. The RHIT job should be desirable and should have had a multitude of quality candidates. If there weren't, why? If there were, why isn't one in place already? Perhaps I'm just blinded by my fandom, and a coaching job at RHIT sadly does not reflect the same prestige as the school's academics, as the coaching jobs at UAA schools do. Perhaps the coaching search at RHIT really shouldn't be any different from that at Adrián, or Albion, or Defiance, or Anderson. Maybe RHIT isn't special and any moderately-talented coach can be successful. Perhaps a coach with high-academic experience is t even necessary. Perhaps I'm just being (unfairly) unrealistic. When I ask myself those questions, however, I'm still left with the realization that these issues should have made it much easier to find a coach, not more difficult - which suggests the job should have been filled long-ago.

Of course congrats to Transy on their first national title. There just wasn't anyone out there this year that could defend what they do. Perfect example of a coach implementing a fantastic system and finding the perfect kids to run it. If Coach Fulks doesn't move up to Division I soon, it'll only be because she doesn't want to. I'll be intrigued, as always, to see how many non-conference road games they schedule next year after having lost so many great players to graduation. It would not shock me to see them win 20+ games and return to the NCAA Tournament - because I'm sure they replaced the departing kids with the same level of talent.

[Jester1390]

Hi Engine

I just returned from Rose and my daughters graduation.   I was told as you said. 4 people have been offered and turned down the job.  The remaining player's are concerned that there wont be enough players for next season.  As i stood in the gym beaming with pride as my daughter graduated and gratefull to the academic part of Rose that hasd secured her a six figure job I am still filled with rage and disgust knowing the inside problems that go back to the championship days and knowing the athletic director was well aware and chose to do nothing.   I know Coach Prevo personally and like him I even recruited for him but there were problems with his approach to players that gos farther back then just my daughters class that i was not aware of. 

The group who quit have been called  program killers.  What a farce. They were a group of very smart women who said enough is enough and drew a line in the sand   Make no mistake the program finds itself where it is because of Tweedy and President Coons.   

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Congrats on the graduation. While disappointing I'm sure to not have that final hurrah as a player, I'm sure she's off to do bigger and better things. Good luck to Kahlan in her future endeavors.

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

https://heartlandconf.org/news/2023/6/1/general-hcac-welcomes-berea-college-as-its-newest-member.aspx
Berea College, which is about 40 miles south of Transylvania, becomes the 11th school in the HCAC starting 2024-25.

Also, Madison Kellione becomes the first to win back to back HCAC Women's Athlete of the Year

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Rose-Hulman narrowly beat Transylvania for the Commissioner's Cup 140.16 to 140 becoming the first non-Hanover school to win since Rose in 2017-18. Hanover, Franklin, and Anderson rounded out the top 5.

Transylvania won the women's crown with 79.66 easily beating Hanover (69.67), Rose-Hulman (59.66), and Franklin (56).


Personally, I'd add 10 bonus points to Transy for a national title

[Enginerd]

Hi Engine

I just returned from Rose and my daughters graduation.   I was told as you said. 4 people have been offered and turned down the job.  The remaining player's are concerned that there wont be enough players for next season.  As i stood in the gym beaming with pride as my daughter graduated and gratefull to the academic part of Rose that hasd secured her a six figure job I am still filled with rage and disgust knowing the inside problems that go back to the championship days and knowing the athletic director was well aware and chose to do nothing.   I know Coach Prevo personally and like him I even recruited for him but there were problems with his approach to players that gos farther back then just my daughters class that i was not aware of. 

The group who quit have been called  program killers.  What a farce. They were a group of very smart women who said enough is enough and drew a line in the sand   Make no mistake the program finds itself where it is because of Tweedy and President Coons.

If that is indeed true, what you heard, Jester, that ain't good. Any idea why the job is so undesirable?

Common sense tells me that any impressive applicants haven't wanted the job so far, leaving what kind of candidates at this point? I'm unsure if I've ever heard of a job search where every single finalist, in their turn, declined it. That's a bit unseemly. If indeed that is the case - for the love of God, why?

This isn't a run of the mill typical Division III liberal arts college - this is the #1 ranked engineering college in the United States. They've recently won three HCAC titles, were a single possession away from advancing in two consecutive NCAA tournaments, defeated at least a dozen ranked teams (including #7 and #13) since 2012, and were a defensive statistical juggernaut - completing two consecutive seasons (2017 and 2018 I believe) as the #3 scoring defense team in all of D-III. RHIT's facilities are in the top-10% of D-III schools nationwide, and they have a permanent spot in the single most prestigious D-III women's basketball event other than the NCAA Tournament, the Midwest Classic with IL. Wesleyan, DePauw, and WashU - and advanced to the championship game as recently as November 2021. Other than Trine, RHIT is the only school that has even come close to defeating Transy since the pandemic  - look up the two 2021-22 games if you don't believe me.

This isn't a program with no hope of even being any good. It has a bloodline. It has a pedigree. It's not a stepping-stone job. With the cost of living in Terre Haute, it should be the kind of place a great coach could come in and build a powerhouse program and stay for 20 years, racking up wins.

I don't get it. I don't understand why this isn't a desirable job. There are better jobs out there, for sure, but the RHIT job ought to at least be in the top half of D-III jobs, at a bare minimum. RHIT shouldn't be having to settle on whomever will take the job. This is a job that should be going to someone with high-academic Division III, or comparable Division I experience (the Bucknells, Colgates, and service academies) and a thorough knowledge of and appreciation for NCAA Division III - or at least the atmosphere at great academic schools.

I'd still like to know why the men's search last year took all of six weeks, while the women's search is now in it's seventh month?

Perhaps my apprehensions will be proven misplaced, and the new AD will hit it out of the park with this hire. Fingers crossed.

Congratulations on your daughter's graduation. Wish her success and happiness!

[Enginerd]

RHIT should be announcing the new WBB head coach soon, hopefully. Fingers crossed and we'll see if the AD has figured out that the following, at a minimum, are required of Rose-Hulman coaches.

This isn't difficult.
- Don't hire a kid who was a GA last year. The last thing the program needs is someone who's barely older than the players they are coaching. Only desperate liberal arts schools do that.

- Hire someone who knows what it's like to recruit and coach high-achieving Type-A personalities who often are perfectionists and occasionally need to be talked down off a ledge (just like myself and both daughters and every teammate they ever had at RHIT) after they've just bombed a test an hour before practice or a home game. Someone who's been at a high-academic school before as a player or coach.

- Hire someone who's been around Women's basketball and understands the differences between coaching the different genders.

- Hire somebody who has experience/understanding of NCAA Division III and wants to specifically be in Division III - and who isn't applying simply because they need a job. The very last thing this program needs is someone who  will move on from RHIT the minute something they perceive as "better" at a higher division comes along.

The young ladies deserve those things at a minimum. Hopefully that's what the AD has figured out over the past 7 months that this job has been empty.

[Jester1390]

Engine sometime today the new head coach will be announced my daughter told me . He is a guy who was out of basketball for 6 years before coming back last year  the entire staff was let go after the end of the season after going 9-21 .

DEVRINN PAUL
Paul spent three years at Marshall University from 2013-16 as an assistant coach and recruiting specialist before moving into consulting for the last six years.

Prior to Marshall, Paul was at the University of Louisville for three years as the video coordinator for the women's basketball team. Prior to being named video coordinator, he was a graduate assistant for the Cardinal women's basketball team for two years and graduated with his master's (higher education in human resources) in 2010.

At Louisville, Paul was part of the first Cardinal women's basketball program to make it to the NCAA Final Four (2009). During his time at Louisville, the Cards made four NCAA Tournament appearances and advanced to the national championship game twice. Louisville advanced to the NCAA final, losing to Connecticut. Along the way to the title game, the No. 5 seed Cards defeated the No. 1 seed Baylor, and in doing so were nominated for "Best Upset" at the 2013 ESPYs.

Paul's duties as video coordinator included preparing scouting reports, producing highlight videos and game film, helping with recruiting videos and developing game plans alongside the coaching staff.

Prior to Louisville, Paul attended Kentucky State University in Frankfort, Ky., where he worked as the student manager for the men's basketball team. He graduated with his bachelor's in business marketing with a minor in journalism in 2008.

A Hempstead, N.Y., native, Paul moved to Louisville at age 11 and attended Waggener High School, where he played varsity basketball and football. He received a Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Educational Foundation scholarship award in 2003 for football, and was first team all-district in 2002 and 2003.

[Enginerd]

I wish Coach Paul the best and want to see him succeed. Hopefully he'll be able to get the numbers back up and return the program to some level of competitiveness.

Having said that, think about this for a moment if you will.

- He spent a single season, this past season, as the entry-level assistant at Cincinnati. Prior to that, he'd been completely out of college basketball for SIX seasons. Completely out of college basketball. Ask yourself this question - would the AD's at U. Of Chicago, UT-Dallas, DePauw, IL. Wesleyan, or Transy (all programs that RHIT has defeated within the past 5 years) hire someone who hadn't coached basketball at any level since 2016?

- He's never worked at, coached at, or recruited athletes to a high-academic institution.

- He's never coached in, and has no experience in Division III.

I hope it becomes a non-issue because  the new coach hits it out of the park and has great success - but it's a really, really unconventional hire.

Disagree with me about it being a strange hire? Why is RHIT's new baseball coach from WashU? Why is RHIT's football coach from U. Of Chicago? The new men's BB Coach doesn't have high-academic experience - but he DOES have Division III experience. A lot of it. A lot of success in Division III before coming to RHIT. Even the AD herself had the requisite Division III experience at both high-academic (Pomona-Pitzer) schools as well as good schools where they care about their athletics (Wabash). My question is this - Why does all that caution about having the right individual with the right experience leading a program at VERY unique and high-academic school - suddenly go out the window? Why is it suddenly ok to NOT have high-academic experience, to NOT have Division III experience, and, unlike the aforementioned coaches, who were all extremely high-functioning and successful assistant coaches at glittering D-III programs, an actual recent record of success coaching a team on the court - to say nothing of actually BEING on a court for the last several years.

With all due respect, and charitably, it is a strange hire.

[Ron Boerger]

Strange hire, indeed.  Totally perplexed at what the AD at RHIT was thinking (if the hire wasn't dictated by someone in administration which given the general cluelessness shown may be the case).  Good luck to all involved.

[Ron Boerger]

On another note, RHIT has their 2023-4 roster up; 10 young women, including four newcomers.  It appears that everyone who could return did. 

[Enginerd]

Strange hire, indeed.  Totally perplexed at what the AD at RHIT was thinking (if the hire wasn't dictated by someone in administration which given the general cluelessness shown may be the case).  Good luck to all involved.

Common sense would infer that one of two things happened here:

#1 - The search was botched because the AD has no clue how to run a candidate search at a high-academic D-III institution - to say nothing of the very different academics and demographics found at a unique school like RHIT. She's been there long enough now (18 months) that she should have some clue what she's doing. It's pretty simple. Go out there and try to find someone who's preferably coached women's basketball at the Division III level - has coached at a reasonably high academic school - and has a proven track-record of recruiting high-academic kids - or at a minimum has spent some small amount of time doing it.

#2 - It occurred to me that they might never have had any decent candidates to begin with. For whatever reason. Location? Poor pay? Poor benefits? Could it be that there's been a lot of negative talk out on the grapevine among the coaching fraternity and RHIT is now known as a place to avoid?

The more I think about this, the more bizarre this looks. There are some aspects of this that are very much open to interpretation - beginning with the fact that this "search" officially began two months ago after the position had been vacant for six months prior to that. It took TWO months for this AD to find a coach who's never coached at or recruited at a high-academic school or at the D-III level. Not only that, it took two months to find a coach who's been off the sidelines for most of the last decade.
Why was great care taken to find D-III-experienced, high-academic-experienced coaches for the other high profile programs at RHIT, but the WBB job is open to whomever will take it?

I think it's a fair question, and I'm not suggesting that experience at a high-academic school is a guarantor of future success - but for God's sake, don't you need to have some parameters for your search?

It just looks like nobody really wanted the job. Why?

[Enginerd]

On another note, RHIT has their 2023-4 roster up; 10 young women, including four newcomers.  It appears that everyone who could return did.

I believe the 6'2 girl is a nice player - undoubtedly recruited by the previous staff and decided to enroll at RHIT anyway. He'll start with a cupboard that's not completely bare - with an All-conference performer in Baum, a Freshman of the Year candidate in Roland, and nice role-players in Miller and Gallegos-Rodriguez. I think there's enough talent there that Prevo would have won at least 10-11 games with this group - we'll see what happens. What he won't have, unfortunately, will be a single soul who can handle the ball in the backcourt, other than Baum. We will find out soon enough if he can coach. It'll take a couple years to find out if he can recruit.

What WILL be interesting will be the direction of the program if there are any injuries? The standard has already been laid down and if two kids go down (if Randolph remains sidelined they only have 9 players) and they have only seven players at any point in the season, they won't be able to play. Per the AD's decision last year, it will be too hard on the kids mentally - so she won't dare allow them to play with only 7 kids next year.

[Enginerd]

Engine sometime today the new head coach will be announced my daughter told me . He is a guy who was out of basketball for 6 years before coming back last year  the entire staff was let go after the end of the season after going 9-21 .

DEVRINN PAUL
Paul spent three years at Marshall University from 2013-16 as an assistant coach and recruiting specialist before moving into consulting for the last six years.

Prior to Marshall, Paul was at the University of Louisville for three years as the video coordinator for the women's basketball team. Prior to being named video coordinator, he was a graduate assistant for the Cardinal women's basketball team for two years and graduated with his master's (higher education in human resources) in 2010.

At Louisville, Paul was part of the first Cardinal women's basketball program to make it to the NCAA Final Four (2009). During his time at Louisville, the Cards made four NCAA Tournament appearances and advanced to the national championship game twice. Louisville advanced to the NCAA final, losing to Connecticut. Along the way to the title game, the No. 5 seed Cards defeated the No. 1 seed Baylor, and in doing so were nominated for "Best Upset" at the 2013 ESPYs.

Paul's duties as video coordinator included preparing scouting reports, producing highlight videos and game film, helping with recruiting videos and developing game plans alongside the coaching staff.

Prior to Louisville, Paul attended Kentucky State University in Frankfort, Ky., where he worked as the student manager for the men's basketball team. He graduated with his bachelor's in business marketing with a minor in journalism in 2008.

A Hempstead, N.Y., native, Paul moved to Louisville at age 11 and attended Waggener High School, where he played varsity basketball and football. He received a Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Educational Foundation scholarship award in 2003 for football, and was first team all-district in 2002 and 2003.

Jester - are you aware of any goings-on in the athletic department at RHIT? My sources still around town have reported things over the past year or so but they've all culminated for me with this recent hire. With SO many talented, hard-charging, and accomplished assistants and former head coaches out there, the very fact that this arrogant and stupefying decision was made at all is all the proof an observer would need to understand that something is really, really wrong in Terre Haute.

I probably shouldn't be surprised based on a few things I'VE heard, but just wondering if I'm the only one hearing them.