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Hmm. Couple of Thoughts on the Possible Analogy, et al by dillon77
It's interesting to note the respective situations that Megan and Niele entered upon taking the jobs:
- Megan found the top five starters had all graduated, yet virtually all of a very large incoming freshmen class chose to still come. And there was a fair amount of returning players -- underplayed, yet talented as it turned out -- returning.
She was also late in the recruiting cycle for the Class of 2020.
- So, it bode her well to keep members of the current staff to help acquaint her with both the returning players and the prospects.
From all accounts, that worked: both on the performance side -- where Marquette finished 2nd to DePaul in the Big East and was sure to make the NCAA's with a 20+ win season -- and the 2020 recruiting cycle.
- So, after the season, maybe the other two assistants wanted to move on (for money?) or was the segue period over, deemed successful and both sides deicded to look for other things and people?
- BTW, the assistant she did bring from Miami -- Justine Raterman -- looks like a star assistant coach in the making:
-- She is the Dayton Flyers' second all-time leading scorer and all time-time leading rebounder of the modern era with 1,832 points and 915 rebounds.
-- As a management consultant at Dayton Air Force base for 3 years, she helped create files that formed tools that parse, organize and visualize large data sets so clients were better able to use the data.
-- She was the video coordinator when Duffy got to Miami. Duffy kept her in that role and moved her up to assistant coach when one Michaela Mabrey went to LSU. Duffy has cited Raterman's ability to synthesize and present material as a major plus.
- For 2020-21, Duffy hired Tony Greene from Ole Miss, but probably knew him from his days at Toledo. He's a top recruiter. Itoro Coleman,the other new hire, was a HC for a few years at Clemson and very intertwined with Coquese Washington at Penn State. Seems to specialize in defense.
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So, is there any parallel to Niele?
- The similarity is that Niele is coming back to a team that has both a solid group of returnees and a large incoming class of freshmen.
The difference is that Niele knows virtually all of them save, perhaps, Abdur.
While she might not have actively recruited Maddy Westbeld, she sure as heck knows her....
- Niele has talked actively about continuing much of what MM instituted, while sprinkling in some things from the NBA. Given that MM and she know what all these players can do, it's safe to say a lot will remain the same...at least initially.
- Which is why I'd expect some member(s) of the current group of assistant coaches to be retained (if they want to be). Duffy brought and kept the youngest assistant coach she had at Marquette. MM has raved about Mike being up to speed on all aspects of coaching, from game planning to recruiting. Will there be a similar thought process here?
- Beth Morgan Cunningham is an interesting person to watch here...she's set down roots here with her husband and family. Is she ready to go back to HC'ing again?
- And Carol has so long been Sundance to MM's Butch that it would seem odd not having then in the same frame.
Stay tuned.