Stephens Fired

[SUMG]

Just got word.....will post the Vito link as soon as he puts it up.

[untbowler]

interested to see how this will play out. This is RV's 2nd Straight major sport coach failure. Will Rawlins take control of this next hire? Do we have Donna Capps on speed dial?

Edited March 17, 2011 by untbowler

[SUMG]

Posting the link from Brett (which he's posted as well):

http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/archives/2011/03/north-texas-fires-womens-baske.html

[Mean Green Matt]

I got to talk to Shanice a few times, and she is a very, very nice lady. There was just no sign of life in her basketball team, and they got progressively worse year after year. This move had to be made. I wish her the best wherever she ends up.

It is encouraging that we have the money to make the move. It will be interesting to see who we end up going after.

[Brett Vito]

DRC story

[KRAM1]

This is good news for the team. I had head that up to 8 players were thinking of leaving the team if Coach Stephens remained the HC. Like Matt said...every time I spoke with Coach Stephens she was very nice, but she was definitely in over her head with he first HC job here at UNT. I wish her well and hope that her experience here will be a learning one for her in her next job. BUT, this is a move that really did need to be made at this time and RV once again stepped up and did what he had to do for the players on the team and for the athletic program at UNT.

Thank you RV. I wish Coach Stephens well, and I am now anxious to see who UNT gets to be the next HC. If it is anywhere near as good as the selection of Dan McCarney and Coach Chico to lead the football program we are in for a real positive move for the ladies! WOW...great news. It';s a great GREEN DAY at UNT. Time to celebrate the green.

By this I do not mean to dance on Coach Stephens misfortune, but I am very excited to see that the ladies will be getting a new HC and can move forward from here.....GO MEAN GREEN! GREAT NEWS!

[Army of Dad]

I got to talk to Shanice a few times, and she is a very, very nice lady. There was just no sign of life in her basketball team, and they got progressively worse year after year. This move had to be made. I wish her the best wherever she ends up.

It is encouraging that we have the money to make the move. It will be interesting to see who we end up going after.

I hope we were able to lower the buyout for all of the embarassment she caused UNT. I wonder if there was a clause the AD can use to reduce her compensation for incidents like where she went running after officials...

Edited March 17, 2011 by Army of Dad

[FirefightnRick]

Do we have Donna Capps on speed dial?

Rick

[KRAM1]

interested to see how this will play out. This is RV's 2nd Straight major sport coach failure. Will Rawlins take control of this next hire? Do we have Donna Capps on speed dial?

This was NOT RV's hire. He was pressured to make this hire by then President Batille. Coach V had another candidate ready to select, but was told "no" and that he needed to make this hire! Sorry, but that is the word I have been given by more than one source over a fairly long period of time. I really don't think this gets laid at the doorstep of Coach V. Yes, he is the AD and maybe could or should have said "no" to Prez B, but word was that you just didn't say "no" to Prez B if you wanted to keep your job or not have life made fairly miserable for you along the way and have every decision made questioned and approvals stalled.

Now, do I know this to be 100% true...no, as I was not involved in the process. I am only repeating what I have been told by numerous sources within and outside the athletic dept. and around the UNT campus and will admit to such here and now. So, yes, call it rumor as I cannot confirm as 100% factual. But, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...well....and if several folks you trust tell you the same thing at different times.......just sayin'

Either way, this is a good day for the women's basketball team and opens up the very real possibility that women's basketball at UNT will start seeing much better days, bigger crowds, more interest from recruits and many more wins. Can't wait.

GO MEAN GREEN!

[CMJ]

I've also heard Stephens was more of a Dr. Bataille hire than a RV one.

[Quoner]

Do we have Donna Capps on speed dial?

Have we worked up a matrix of her free periods and whether she works A or D lunch? I'd hate to miss the opportunity to talk live while Texas or Houston have her on the phone.

I know she's popular with a group of folks and I respect what she did at UTA, but being the better choice than what we had shouldn't be the only qualification.

[Baby Arm!]

interested to see how this will play out. This is RV's 2nd Straight major sport coach failure. Will Rawlins take control of this next hire? Do we have Donna Capps on speed dial?

major sport???? Really?.....You do realize we're talking about WOMEN'S basketball here right?

[Mean Green Matt]

How about Vic Shaeffer at Texas A&M. He was a finalist last time.

[SUMG]

This was NOT RV's hire. He was pressured to make this hire by then President Batille. Coach V had another candidate ready to select, but was told "no" and that he needed to make this hire! Sorry, but that is the word I have been given by more than one source over a fairly long period of time. I really don't think this gets laid at the doorstep of Coach V. Yes, he is the AD and maybe could or should have said "no" to Prez B, but word was that you just didn't say "no" to Prez B if you wanted to keep your job or not have life made fairly miserable for you along the way and have every decision made questioned and approvals stalled.

Now, do I know this to be 100% true...no, as I was not involved in the process. I am only repeating what I have been told by numerous sources within and outside the athletic dept. and around the UNT campus and will admit to such here and now. So, yes, call it rumor as I cannot confirm as 100% factual. But, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...well....and if several folks you trust tell you the same thing at different times.......just sayin'

Either way, this is a good day for the women's basketball team and opens up the very real possibility that women's basketball at UNT will start seeing much better days, bigger crowds, more interest from recruits and many more wins. Can't wait.

GO MEAN GREEN!

Then how come the week of the interviews for the job....the Vito blog reported that RV and the committee were "wowed" by Stephens. Stephens interviewed on a Tuesday....and the word got out in Vito's blog that the committee was blown away ("wowed was the exact word he used). I told someone when I heard that....that the search was over. This was three days before Capps interviewed.

Revisionist history is a great thing.....especially when the one being blamed (Bataille) is no longer here to defend herself.

[Censored by Laurie]

Have we worked up a matrix of her free periods and whether she works A or D lunch? I'd hate to miss the opportunity to talk live while Texas or Houston have her on the phone.

I know she's popular with a group of folks and I respect what she did at UTA, but being the better choice than what we had shouldn't be the only qualification.

Think we could re-issue the same slogan used last time we hired a high school coach?

[foutsrouts]

major sport???? Really?.....You do realize we're talking about WOMEN'S basketball here right?

It can be major if you're good. The big programs pack 'em in. Guess it was time for a change to see if we can finally get that program up and running.. Angry RV strikes again.

[All About UNT]

Call Nancy Lieberman ....post haste. The buzz around her alone would surely spark this team back to life and produce one hell of a recruiting class.

[MeanGreenTeeth]

[SUMG]

This past football season, a good friend asked RV about Stephens. His first response was that Bataille demanded that the new women's b-ball coach be a woman. So my friend then says, "Well why didn't you hire Donna Capps?" RV says "you wouldn't believe the demands that Capps made."

Really? Capps was an administrator for the Mesquite ISD. Demands? Anyway, if Stephens was forced on RV....why wasn't that the first thing he said.

They really should get one story and stick to it. I guess they think we're idiots.

Edited March 17, 2011 by SUMG

[Censored by Laurie]

Really? Capps was an administrator for the Mesquite ISD.

Dude, don't you realize how posh a lifestyle those in the education field live? Don't you watch the news?

[Cooley]

I think I posted this once before but we actually told this guy "No". (We wanted a female coach)

http://www.aggieathletics.com/sports/w-baskbl/mtt/blair_gary00.html

[Army of Dad]

This past football season, a good friend asked RV about Stephens. His first response was that Bataille demanded that the new women's b-ball coach be a woman. So my friend then says, "Well why didn't you hire Donna Capps?" RV says "you wouldn't believe the demands that Capps made."

Really? Capps was an administrator for the Mesquite ISD. Demands? Anyway, if Stephens was forced on RV....why wasn't that the first thing he said.

They really should get one story and stick to it. I guess they think we're idiots.

We do know that RV reads this board...

/self-deprecation

[MeanGreenATO]

Hopefully UNT can find a good replacement. The new coach better not get blown out by 68 to anybody.

[EagleMBA]

She talked a good game, but we never saw results. You could expect some personnel turmoil in the first year of any new coach, but after that you need positive results and a discernable upward trend. I think the opposite was apparent and she was obviously losing her team. She had to go.

Re: the Capps deal, good basketball resume but think twice before you hire a primaDonna, RV. Maybe a man is the way to go this time.

JMO

[SUMG]

Back before they all had nothing to do with the Stephens' hire:

http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/drc/sports/stories/DRC_Vito_Column_0418.74c87134.html