I'm on record as hoping Shannon gets another year. She's got a solid building block in Jamie Pickens, some quality returning talent, and a couple of exciting recruits coming in. If we can avoid the injury jinx, we should have a good year next year.
At the same time, Kent Haslam needs to factor in two major concerns about the program.
--A rising coaching star at rival Montana State. Tricia Binford took on a legend in Robin Selvig but is now creating her own legend as the Lady Bobs replace Montana as the class of the Big Sky. Her incoming recruiting class is dynamite. And she just got an early commitment from 6'6" Lindsy Hein out of Forsythe who had several D1 offers, including us. She's slight but has great low-post moves, and looks to me to be a potential star.
--Last year's Lady Bobcats had three African-American players--as many as we've had in the entire HISTORY of our program. Plus they have an African-American assistant coach. I was hoping Shannon would change this situation when she took over, but she has not. If Haslam doesn't address this deficiency it will doom us to middle-of-the-conference mediocrity--in other words, where we are right now.
At the same time, Kent Haslam needs to factor in two major concerns about the program.
--A rising coaching star at rival Montana State. Tricia Binford took on a legend in Robin Selvig but is now creating her own legend as the Lady Bobs replace Montana as the class of the Big Sky. Her incoming recruiting class is dynamite. And she just got an early commitment from 6'6" Lindsy Hein out of Forsythe who had several D1 offers, including us. She's slight but has great low-post moves, and looks to me to be a potential star.
--Last year's Lady Bobcats had three African-American players--as many as we've had in the entire HISTORY of our program. Plus they have an African-American assistant coach. I was hoping Shannon would change this situation when she took over, but she has not. If Haslam doesn't address this deficiency it will doom us to middle-of-the-conference mediocrity--in other words, where we are right now.