SB Nation User Blog: Galen

Meet the Coach

Galen — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 12:39:51 -0000

I mentioned earlier this week Penn State introduced their new women's Basketball coach Coquese Washington, so let's take a closer look at who exactly Coquese is. Washington was a former player (1989-93), law-school grad (1997) and assistant (1999-2007) at Notre Dame. Not only did she play in the WNBA, but was founding president of the WNBA Players' Association from 1999-2001, then executive vice president of the players' union from 2001-2003 and the player rep because of her law degree.

Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw has plenty of sparkling things to say about Coquese. "I kept telling her, 'you're too smart to be in coaching,' " McGraw said, "She has a really interesting background that makes her very analytical. She is very, very calm and poised under pressure. She never has emotional flare-ups; she's incredibly steady. Her demeanor is amazing. She will step back and examine things, but she's quick on her feet, too." Washington said her "calmness" comes both from her natural personality and her law training.

She played point guard for the Irish, and McGraw will tell you that like a lot of coaches, she is hardest on her point guards. But she also respects those players, and she said she saw early on in Washington all the elements that could make her a good head coach. Washington thought coaching was just something to keep her in shape while playing in the WNBA and she felt that once her playing days were over she would be practicing law full time. But it wasn't long until she fell in love with the teaching aspect of it - sound eerily familiar to anyone else we know? The difference between Mr. Paterno and Coquese is that she HAS her law degree; yeah I'm calling you out Joe you quitter (of course I jest).

Expect to rattler her in a press conference? I think not, that law degree will serve her well when the tough questions are asked. When asked about the debacle of an ending to Portland's career Mrs. Washington answers like a seasoned veteran.

"Her history, starting from Immaculata and getting women's basketball off the ground -- I don't think you can sweep that under the rug because of the recent issues," Washington said. "I don't think it's fair to forget about the accomplishments and the things she did for the game."

Washington brings a completely different dynamic to Penn State.

"Because the two head coaches are different people. I came of age of 1980s inner city, and that's completely different than when Rene Portland came of age. So we're going to have two different personalities and perspectives, but I think we have in common the desire to be successful. And the desire to have young women come to Penn State University and leave having had the best basketball, the best social and the best academic experience they could have had."

This was the best possible fit for Penn State, she has the pedigree to be a leader and more importantly brings something the Athletic Department sorely needed: a fresh start. Instead of hiring someone with connections to the program Penn State went an entirely different direction than they usually do and it appears they hit the jackpot. Welcome to the family Coquese.

(HT: Nick) You can get the full ESPN article here.

Quick Hits

Galen — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 13:21:41 -0000

-Penn State gets New Coach

Former Notre Dame assistant Coquese Washington was introduced as Penn State's new women's basketball coach Monday. The press gave her little leeway and asked the tough questions immediately: Queried on being a black woman in a profession woefully bereft of black women, she replied, "I'm proud to be here at a university of this magnitude. I recognize I will be a role model." Later, she was asked if she felt she needed to address the charges of homophobia that rose against the program during Portland's tenure. "I'd simply say my ideals and values run in line with the university's values," Washington responded with an earnest smile. "I don't see that being a problem."

I know what you're thinking: it's pronounced "ko-KWEES." Learn it because it sounds like Penn State fans are going to be seeing a lot of Coquese for a very long time. Welcome to the family Mrs. Washington.

-Checkmate

We (BSD & TNL) along with RUTS have been using this off time to ruffle a few feathers when we unanimously agreed that Penn State doesn't need Pitt on the schedule. You can get our arguments here, here, and here. Of course we angered our in-state "rivals" when we suggested that Pitt simply wasn't a big time program and Penn State gets absolutely nothing by playing Pitt, just check out the comment section of Black Shoe Diaries' story - the trolls were out in force. Pitt fans fired back with lame arguments about alumni size, PSU's record from 2000 - 2004, and the odd Paterno's an old coot insult, but really they have nothing to back it up. Dennis of Pitt Blather put up a good argument, but again, there just isn't any substance to the argument.

Well BIG hat tip to Run at RUTS because he has found the final blow. Verbal commit Mike Cruz who once called Pitt his "dream school" is now having second thoughts after schools like Florida State and Notre Dame came calling. Cruz said his mother, Martha Bernard, "likes the closed-campus college atmosphere, not the big city" and that "everyone feels that I can go (to a program) way bigger and better" than Pitt. Cruz said the atmosphere at Pitt's Blue-Gold Game, which drew a crowd of only 2,103 to Heinz Field on April 14, caused him to reconsider and look at other programs. "It was kind of an 80-20 thing," Cruz said, "80 percent wanting to keep my options open and 20 percent seeing that they really don't have a great fan base...When I went down to another college, it opened my eyes. As of right now, I don't have a top choice."

Hey Pitt fans: checkmate.

Blue/White Redux

Galen — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 13:36:31 -0000

Do not attempt to adjust your internets The Nittany Line has taken over BSD and there's nothing you can do about it. Actually I'm just filling in for my fellow blogger Mike while he's out of town on business - you know real life stuff; the guy actually takes his job seriously. Sucker. At any rate, I'll try and fill the enormous shoes Mike has left, hopefully keep you entertained along the way and I'll try to keep the Charlie Weis fat jokes to a minimum. Mike did a good job of recapping the game yesterday but I thought I would throw in my 2 cents. I'll start by answering the questions Mike posed on Friday. Let me premise this by saying that I was actually at the game, so I wasn't relegated to watching the horrible internet feed.

10. Has Derrick Williams regained the explosive play making ability he showed in 2005? Or will he look more like the player that could never seem to get open in 2006? Yes and no. How's that for a decisive answer? Mike and I disagree on this point - he believes Derrick still doesn't get the YAC that he should but I think Derrick definitely is a step quicker this year. We need to keep in mind that the defense doesn't blitz in the Blue/white game so there just isn't the room out there with 7 defenders in mostly zone coverage. Derrick's improved quickness will manifest itself when teams blitz and leave some open space for him to catch the ball and make a move; he had problems doing just that last season. I still don't think D.W. is close to reaching the lofty goals Penn State fans have set for him, but it's a tad unfair to expect anyone to live up to the hype he generated coming out of high school. 9. How will the defensive line look sans Ed Johnson, Jay Alford, Tim and Jim Shaw? Is Maurice Evans ready to become an impact player? Is the unknown Abe Koroma as good as everyone says he is?Evans had 2 tackles with half of a TFL while Koroma had 4 total tackles, none for a loss; I would say nothing was too conclusive from any of the defensive lineman's performances. Chris Rogers probably had the best statistical day with 3 TFL and 2 sacks. It's tough to get a read on a scrimmage when starting defensive lineman may be going up against backup offensive lineman - are they blowing through because they are that good or are the offensive guys just offensive? I think we'll get a better read when things start for real in the fall, I'm not convinced yet. 8. I'm pretty confident we'll see a good game out of Morelli since he tore it up in last year's BW game. But I'm really interested to see how Daryl Clark and Pat Devlin look as his backups.Funny - we didn't see a very good game from Morelli, what little we saw. The big impact that came out of Blue/White was probably from third stringer Paul Cianciolo who was 8 of 9 on the day with 126 yards, 2 TD's throwing and one running. Paul looked sharp and decisive. Both Clark and Devlin also looked decent, I don't want to take anything away from their performances but Cianciolo turned some heads. 7. Is Austin Scott ready to be an every down running back? Has he learned to be decisive and hit the hole hard or does he still try to run around people? Has his blocking improved? (Note: Since I'm not expecting to see any blitzes, we may not get an answer to the latter question.) Scott averaged 4.1 yards per carry on 13 carries but didn't really show me anything. He looked like he got to the corner pretty quick but I think he still tends to "dance" a bit when he should be burring his head and getting the extra yard. That may be an unfair assessment since I'm used to seeing Tony Hunt, the human plow, take tacklers head on. Like Mike thought, we didn't really get a chance to see Scott's blocking ability and that is probably his biggest weakness up to this point. 6. How does Tony Davis look at safety? Does he take the right angles? Has he improved his open field tackling and run stopping support? Davis didn't even show up in the stats column, I had to check to see he was on the participation report to know if he even played. I completely forgot to watch for him so I can't answer this one. The run stopping support is going to be the biggest challenge for Tony coming from corner; Penn State relies heavily on the Safeties to help clean up on running plays. 5. Who appears to be the front runner to replace Davis at corner? A.J. Wallace or Lydell Sargeant? Without a doubt, Wallace. A.J. seemed a tad lost a couple times I watched him, but he also showed me some really good recovery speed. I think it's only a matter of experience before Wallace fulfills the potential he came to PSU with. I don't think Sargeant is the natural corner that Wallace is but I guess the coaches feel they need depth at that position. 4. Who is going to replace Poz at linebacker? Right now it's a tossup between Jerome Hayes, Navorro Bowman, and Tyrell Sales. Sales and Hayes looked pretty good and totaled 21 tackles between them, but I don't think anything will be decided until next fall. One thing is for sure; whoever gets the nod will be a lucky guy because teams aren't going to be scheming against him and he will be free to roam. Offensive coordinators will be losing sleep over Lee and Connor, not the "other guy." 3. Can Kevin Kelly hit a solid field goal from outside of 35 yards? Or are we in for another season of closing our eyes when the field goal team takes the field? He hit two field goals both 35 yards and under so we don't know yet. I think until he hits 5 or 6 in a row, Penn State fans will be nervous. 2. Has anything been added to the offensive playbook or are we destined for another season of running up the middle and throwing bubble screens and short out patterns? I'm looking for slants, comebacks and crossing patterns. If it has, it wasn't shown in the Blue/White game. I still don't think the middle of the field exists to the offensive coaches - perhaps someone should draw them a map. 1. Has the offensive line improved? Can they create some lanes for the running backs to run through and give the quarterbacks time to throw? Inconclusive - we simply don't know we won't be able to answer this question until the Notre Dame game. There's my view in a nut shell, feel free to add your opinions in the comment section and let me know what you saw.