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Carlene sure could use Cynthia

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hjljr

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Feb 15, 2005
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A nice piece on Cynthia Hernandez in Daily Targum today. As happy as I am for her and her part in the team's win over Wisconsin I'm sorry Cynthia didn't head up the highway from Ventura to Goleta and UCSB. Hard to believe Carlene Mitchell's Gauchoes are winless in 16 games, including thrashings in their last two games and a 90-34 thumping from Stanford. I'm wondering if Carlene and her staff, which includes assistant coach Heather Zurich, will survive.



Quite a fall for Carlene from her first season at the helm four years ago when she guided UCSB to the Big West title and NCAA berth and was one of three finalists for Maggie Dixon Coach of the Year award.



As the father of a daughter who excelled in the classroom as well as swimming her way to a couple of school records and Big West titles and a spot in the Olympic trials while enjoying life living on the beach at Isla Vista it's hard for me to understand why Carlene, touted as a top recruiter while at RU, hasn't been able to attract the talent to field a competitive team. Truly sad to see for me...



Jack
 
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redshoes

Redshirt
Oct 5, 2006
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I was a great admirer of Carlene. As she served as recruitment coordinator, many of the recruits assigned to her, found their way to the RU. I, like you am also puzzled as to why she has been so unsuccessful as a head coach. She had all the credentials, I thought, to excel in that position. I follow her season closely, as the interest in her and Heather's success remain high for me. Recruitment on the left coast is so tight. After Stanford, Cal. USC and UCLA, the rest must take what is left. I'm sure it's not her coaching ability, as she learned from one of the best., Hopefully, before its too late she can break this recruitment wall and get a couple of decent players. Then again it just might be the administration and/or restrictions on her recruitment budget. Sad, but it will be difficult for her to turn it around.
I wish her the best.
 
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BeKnighted_rivals

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Jan 15, 2003
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UCSB has a tradition of being pretty good, and she took the team to the NCAAs her first year when she was coaching somebody else's players.

I've been surprised, too, by the lack of success since then. All I can think of is that her pipelines for recruiting were to players too good to go to a UCSB, and she's had trouble adjusting to who she reasonably can expect to get.
 
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oldtimer67

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Dec 19, 2006
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I know that I will get trashed for this post because I will not post details. I am very familiar with Carlene's tenure at UCSB. I loved it when she got the job. I don't think she would be interested in returning to RU. I also do not believe she will be employed at UCSB next year.
 
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MC1974

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Nov 17, 2009
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For a very brief moment I thought that Oldman was back in action
 
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BeKnighted_rivals

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Jan 15, 2003
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Originally posted by oldtimer67:
I know that I will get trashed for this post because I will not post details. I am very familiar with Carlene's tenure at UCSB. I loved it when she got the job. I don't think she would be interested in returning to RU. I also do not believe she will be employed at UCSB next year.
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I won't be surprised if she isn't back at UCSB, either.
 
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Knight Time Fan_rivals

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Jul 26, 2001
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Originally posted by BeKnighted:

UCSB has a tradition of being pretty good, and she took the team to the NCAAs her first year when she was coaching somebody else's players.

I've been surprised, too, by the lack of success since then. All I can think of is that her pipelines for recruiting were to players too good to go to a UCSB, and she's had trouble adjusting to who she reasonably can expect to get.
Click to expand...
As I noted earlier in the season, they played at Arizona and we talked briefly with Carlene, not particularly about her team.

Two observational comments - first, they are a bad basketball team. As you would expect from a team that lost to Arizona, which is no mean team itself. Second, their problem, both at Arizona and per box scores, is they just don't score very well. Some games are close, but are often extremely low scoring (I guess she learned something about defense somewhere (humor)).

In line with BeK's thinking, I wondered if she had trouble adjusting her game plan to the players she has - I don't have any evidence of it, just wondered.

I would be surprised if she is back next year as well, although they brought Coach Butts back to AZ after last year, so anything is possible.
 
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knight82

All-American
Nov 4, 2002
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I don't think it's being to slanderous to Carlene to speculate that she won't be back at UCSB last year. Unfortunately, life as a division I coach depends on wins and losses. If you lose too often, you're going to get fired, it's just the way things are. Everyone who had any contact with Carlene when she was here knows what a terrific person she is.
 
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