Thanks to Mike for providing the (less than inspiring) list of Coquese Washington’s recruits in the top 100. Obviously, recruiting is hard, very hard.

And thanks to irishrudy for providing perspective on Beth Cunningham’s contributions to recruiting and the program. As Muffet liked to joke about Beth, “She was pregnant with twins all of last season [2013-14] and she looked like she was exhausted all the time. But we didn’t cut her any slack…, in fact, we were afraid the doctor wouldn’t let her on the plane in the NCAA tournament, …because you can’t fly in that last month. I’d say, ‘Alright, get ready, you got the next game.’ She didn’t miss a beat. She was great.”

Obviously, it is Coach Ivey’s decision, and she decided that the benefit of having Coach Washington was more than worth the hardship to Coach Cunningham. We will never know exactly if it works out that way, but we will see what Coquese Washington brings to the team and the staff.

As Muffet (and others) have said, “Life isn’t fair.” But, it can be exciting.

One of the most serious (and common) problems that people have when they are newly promoted is adjusting their responsibilities. It's very easy to say the reasons I got this job was I'm very good at certain aspects of the job and much better than anyone of my staff is at it.

I would guess that the recruiting responsibilities Niele had were very time-consuming and may have required days away from the campus. Much of it probably involved spending time at tournament or high school games and reviewing films to identify viable prospects. She'll still be the key to recruiting success, but her role has to change due to added responsibilities.

play a larger role in recruiting once candidates are identified than MM, although I have no idea how this could be compared. Therefore...it’s a guess. I say this because she seems to be very effective when it comes to getting recruits to strongly consider ND and at closing. ND takes somewhere between 3 and 5 new recruits every year. I don’t know how many main targets they would have, but it’s not a gigantic number. Having coach Ivey spend a good deal of her time on them would seem reasonable. I bet she feels that way, too. I think that’s a different issue than delegation.

Under almost any circumstances the hiring of someone with the experience, credentials and personal ties to the program and the coach would be nothing but cause for celebration. And certainly Coach Ivey owes it to herself and the program to have a staff that she feels is the best fit professionally and personally for her fledgling coaching career.

But in taking over for a HOF coach almost every decision is scrutinized - by fans that love the program and others that want to bring it down. Change is hard and often hurts. People will be effected and others will simply question whether Muffet would have done it that way.

Niele just took over her dream job. Unfortunately for her, it just happens to be under a huge microscope.

than a business decision, one that was meant for the best of the program. When you hire leaders you hire them for their decisions...staffing being one of the most important.

I think your topic sentence in the post is a good place to start:
The list of Top 100 Hoopgurlz players signed by Coquese Washington since 2010.

That brings to mind two things:
- Should Penn State been able to procure more 100 HG recruits?
- And what did she have a pipeline of players who were not but developed?

The two best players on that list were Maggie Lucas (played in Europe this winter) and Teniya Page who was Penn State's last B1G performer.

Some other thoughts:
- Even though she was based in central Pa., Coach Washington always had an eye out for players in the midwest (her native Michigan, in particular).
- Her last recruiting class was a pretty good one: besides the Top 100 recruit Makenna Marisa (started 29 of 30 games), frosh pg Shay Hagans and forward Anna Camden got a lot of floor time. The results were not necessarily good, but this was expected to be a transition year between Coach Washington and new coach Carolyn Kieger.
- Interestingly, a number of Coach Washington's non-Hoopgurlz 100 recruits have transferred to Michigan State (2), Texas and Seton Hall.
Two of those recruits are from prep powerhouse Riverdale Baptist (one each to Texas and Mich. State).

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And a point about Coach Washington and recruiting at ND.

The job posting for this AHC position had her "assisting," not coordinating. I'm guessing that HC Ivey will oversee recruiting (which she puts a premimum on, something many Benchers do, as well), with assists from all concerned, particularly Washington and Michaela Mabrey.

We'll see how all this plays out but I'll bet Niele takes advantage of Coach Washington's contacts in the Midwest and certain programs (Riverdale Baptist?) and unleashes Michaela back to her home base of the NJ shore, among many other llocales.

or would you say it is national?

I still tend to think of us getting generally whoever we want in IN and IL. Is there a real pattern beyond those two states historically? We seem to go where the talent is after those two states. Certainly more center of the country and East, though.

I assume Niele knows IL and IN very well. As noted, Mabrey no doubt knows NYC/NJ/Philly just from all the local tournaments growing up. I have to believe Niele will go national herself - wherever the talent is. She may well have that personality.

Until about 15 or so years ago, the top Indiana talent went to UT, and those who didn't usually ended up at Purdue. As Purdue, declined, it became the top talent going to UT, then ND, and finally with UT's decline, ND now has Indiana well in hand.

Don't get me wrong. ND used to get very good Indiana talent (Riley was underrated as a recruit). Most were in the top 25-30 (but not top 10) range. In fact, about 20 or so years ago ND actually had historically had (up to that point) more players from Michigan than from Indiana.

current roster. There is only one player on the roster from west of the Mississippi and that is Nicole Benz, who was not recruited. Ohio, New York, and Pennsylvania have two each on the roster. There is one New York and one New Jersey player committed for 2021.

Like you, I expect Niele to be looking for the best talent wherever she can find it.

Thanks dillon77 for all you contribute to this board and, of course, others as well. What do you see as the assistants roles? For instance, will Coquese coach the PGs and Michaela the wings/shooting guards? Does Carol coach the bigs? Was that Carol's previous role or was it Beth's? I think Ivey will be a lights out recruiter. Do you think Coquese will as well or perhaps one of the other two? I know I'm asking you to speculate but that's the fun of these kinds of boards.

- Posts/Forwards: Carol Owens (That's what she does, from Riley to Achowa to Turner/Shepard)
- Point Guard: Coquese Washington. She was a collegiate PG at ND, played it in the pro's and came back to coach at ND. During that time, she coached both Niele Ivey and Megan Duffy, both of whom went on to play pro ball as PG's and both of whom are now big-stuff D1 head coaches (as Co' was).
- Off Guard/Wing: This is the position Beth coached. I think Michaela, who worked with PG's last year, will slide into this, which is the position she played at ND.

I think the entire coaching staff will engage in some form of talent recruiting. When the AAU events return, everyone has to grab an I-Pad or notepad and head out to take notes.

But I'll bet Coquese helps out and Michaela as well. But Niele is really good at this stuff and she's enthusiastic and charismatic.

Ivey seems to like it and will utilize her staff wisely.