And The Winner Is...

[flyeater]

Startlegram fast breaks.

[emmitt01]

Could I please, pretty please, get on one of these hiring committees?

[DeepGreen]

Way to go RV! You da man!

[Green Mean]

Shanice Stephens has not had a chance to coach here yet so lets give her a shot....I know Capps was most people's favorite but oh well....I am sure he saw something in Stephens. He did see something in high school head coach Todd Dodge.

[Eagle1855]

I personally like we're not just picking up a metroplex retread. Give someone new a chance!

[UNTLifer]

Shanice Stephens has not had a chance to coach here yet so lets give her a shot....I know Capps was most people's favorite but oh well....I am sure he saw something in Stephens. He did see something in high school head coach Todd Dodge.

I agree, we should all give Coach Stephens a chance, but the Todge hire was an easy decision. Taking Stephens over Capps is a risk that I hope is rewarded.

Welcome aboard Coach Stephens.

[NT80]

I personally like we're not just picking up a metroplex retread. Give someone new a chance!

Capps is not a retread. She is a head coach that took UTA to two NCAA Touorneys, two more than Slinker ever did at UNT. How long before Stephens does that at UNT????

[Mean Green Matt]

Little bit disappointing.

[greenjoe]

I was asked by a friend that is a high school women's bb coach as to how much the NT job paid. I guessed that Tina was making about $125,000. How much did she make ? How much will Coach Stephens make ?

Welcome abord Coach Stephens

GO MEAN GREEN

Edited April 15, 2008 by greenjoe

[FirefightnRick]

My expectations with this hire is the same as the expectations that would have naturally come had a proven Donna Capps gotten the nod: Two NCAA trips within 7 years. Anything less spells huge disappointment for me with the leadership of this university. Sure, the Sunbelt isn't the Southland. But the University of North Texas and the Super Pit isn't UTA and the stage either.

Rick McKinney

My post under comments.

And gee whiz 1855? Are you serious? You wipe away Coach Capps accomplishments under such incredible conditions as was/is the case at UTA as a retread?

Rick

[filmerj]

Shanice Stephens has not had a chance to coach here yet so lets give her a shot....I know Capps was most people's favorite but oh well....I am sure he saw something in Stephens. He did see something in high school head coach Todd Dodge.

It's called a smaller contract. But I will give her a shot, hey it could be worse right? Lets hope she does good things here.

Edited April 15, 2008 by filmerj

[bstnsportsfan3]

I for one, wanted capps to be our coach, but Stephens did a good job helping to build rice. i think she can be successful here also. i say lets give her a chance before we all jump all over her. i mean she has got to be better then Slinker right??????

[GreenBat]

BIG mistake, but what do you expect from a pizza man.

[CMJ]

BIG mistake, but what do you expect from a pizza man.

How about giving her a chance? Thanks.

[EagleMBA]

TOUGH call for RV; glad I didn't have to make it! Stephens obviously has something but being picked above that group will put lots of pressure on her to produce quickly. Another ho-hum season next year and the natives will be restless.

[Censored by Laurie]

How about giving her a chance? Thanks.

He wouldn't have been happy with anyone but Pat Summit...just let him stew in his self-impossed depression and un-realistic expectations.

Oh my God, I just commented on Womens Basketball...gross

[UNTLifer]

BIG mistake, but what do you expect from a pizza man.

Really? Please explain.

[Eagle-96]

http://clemsontigers.cstv.com/sports/w-bas..._shanice00.html

Can we PLEASE just give her a chance. She has not even coached one game at NT yet and people are already acting like it was the worst hire NT has ever made. Plenty of people complained(me being one of them) about hiring JJ as an assistant out of Alabama a few years ago but that has turned out pretty well.

Welcome aboard Coach Stephens. I, for one, am excited that you are now part of the Mean Green family.

Edited April 15, 2008 by Eagle-96

[drex]

Unless you interviewed the four candidates, how can you make an intelligent comment on the new hire? As to Capps, while I do not deminish her accomplishments at UTA, it was the Southland. I think that most would agree that the Belt is a bit better than the Southland. Even put the UTA men's team up against five or six Belt opponents and I imagine the Belt would dominate. Just my opinion....but I think that is what this board is all about...opinions.

[Eagle1855]

And gee whiz 1855? Are you serious? You wipe away Coach Capps accomplishments under such incredible conditions as was/is the case at UTA as a retread?

Rick

I didn't wipe away the accomplishments. I think it's great she did all that and I think she would have been fine here. BUT... she isn't.

It's just so typical of this board to automatically call a hire a failure or a mistake when most don't even know what they are talking about. Maybe everyone on this board doesn't know as much about the situation as the AD who does the hiring? Or the board and president that approve it? Or how the interviews went? Or if Capps really wanted the job?

Last I heard we weren't exactly hemorrhaging money, so Im guessing maybe salary was a consideration. Either way, let's see what she does.

[GreenBat]

Really? Please explain.

You pass a proven local coach, who has taken a program that uses a high school auditourium for an arena, to the NCAA tournament, not once, but twice. And she wanted to come to NT.

NT hires an unproven assistant.

Edited for wrong information, but my opinion is still it was still the wrong hire.

Edited April 15, 2008 by GreenBat

[Green Mean]

You pass a proven local coach, who has taken a program that uses a high school auditourium for an arena, to the NCAA tournament, not once, but twice. And she wanted to come to NT.

We hire an unproven assistant, who is going to birth another baby in November, the start of the basketball season. What if she has complications in her pregnancy, God forbide, who is going to run the program? Even if there are no problems, who is going to be in charge for the first two months of the season?

Anybody can have complications during a pregnancy...someone close to me has had multiple ones the last couple of years. With that attitude lets just totally forget hiring a female then.

[GreenBat]

I'm sorry, her son has already been born, but I still believe she was hired for other reasons than her coaching ability.

[Green Mean]

I'm sorry, her son has already been born, but I still believe she was hired for other reasons than her coaching ability.

That may true but blame that on the administration and not on Stephens or any of the candidates. Despite all of this I am still happy with thie Stephens hire. Welcome aboard Coach Stephens!

[emmitt01]

Look, this hire has nothing to do with her having a child...though if anyone can try to tell me honestly that family concerns don't weigh on your mind in your free time (and yes your work time) then they are crazy.

This hire has to do with three simple things:

1)Donna Capps was already a college head coach in DFW. (Stephens' biggest "plus" is her recruiting...think Capps never recruited around here?)

2)Donna Capps was the proven commodity. She's taken a team to the NCAA tournament TWICE. (You can argue, foolishly, that we're talking about the Southland vs. Sunbelt all you want...UTA plays in a hole that can't come close to recruiting to the Super Pit if you recruit correctly)

3)Shanice Stephens hasn't been a part of big time winning anywhere that she has been. (Clemson has won 12 games each of the last two seasons)

This screams "low budget" like everything we do around here. The kinds of programs that we always say we aspire to be like go out and find the proven commodities, the coaches that others want, the "sure things". Coach Stephens may not turn out to be a reach...she may go down as the winningest coach in NT history...but just like how we always hope our rivals 2* players outperform the 4* and 5* ones we're forcing ourselves to be giddy over the choice that doesn't have the pedigree.

Edited April 15, 2008 by emmitt01