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Post by southsidevbfan on Mar 7, 2012 19:57:06 GMT -5
I believe Lauren has just recently started making college visits. She will have tough decisions to make.
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Post by 332flyer on Mar 7, 2012 20:41:37 GMT -5
I have followed the program very closely this year. I have justed started following the posts, and they make my blood boil. I know that Northern played alot of challenging tournaments in the beginning of the year which really helped their RPI. In the past, their RPI hasn't been that high. My point is, I don't think these players left because their team wasn't good enough. I also know that these families are true-blue NIU Huskie fans. I am sure this is a difficult decision, but these girls had to have been very unhappy with the team situation. I think their are others, beside the young ladies, to rake over the coals. As for the Coley situation, since she has accepted the job, without Lauren having committed or even visited Wisconsin, I would say the package deal has no validity. Let's let the young lady evaluate her many options make her own decisions. Coach Waite and Coach Gooden have another link: both are/were involved with the same jrs club. Waite as Technical Advisor & Gooden as a former coach. Yes they were, but I know that ties with Pete were severed a number of years ago, on not such good terms. I am unsure how long it has been since Ray coached a team there, but I think it has been a couple years now, I may be incorrect on that though. Last girl recruited there by UW was 5-6 years ago. This whole thing just stinks, and if it all goes down as suggested here, I sure hope the people at UW don't think people will respect them in any type of a positive manner, regardless of success. Just really a sad situation IMO. I do agree with the comment about Toon, I would find it hard to believe they dropped her from scholarship, but who knows.
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Post by Wiswell on Mar 7, 2012 21:40:54 GMT -5
Toon came to the team as a preferred walk-on. She was in fact recruited by other schools, but wanted to play at UW. Whether she got a scholarship for her sophomore (and ultimately, medically red-shirted season), I don't know. I would kind of doubt it. After the beginning of the 2010 campaign, she did tail off a bit. I don't think she has recovered from the ACL injury.
My question is, if the ties with NIU were "severed" why would Coach Waite go down to NIU to play back in 2010? But yet he did. Seems like that would make for an uncomfortable situation.
As for the Bayer move, I observed in the write-up that in her role with Georgia, she will not be handling recruiting. To me that means her travel WILL be cut down significantly. With small children, maybe this was an opportunity that worked that allowed her to stay in the business. Who has facts to support that her move to Georgia was precipitated by the Asst hiring? Maybe with the loss of Heffernan she realized she might have to take over more significant recruiting and travel duties, or maybe her old teammate called her out of the blue and she had an opening.
Without knowing anything about NIU, I am not completely buying into the conspiracy theory. UW had an opening. One of his old recruits was available, and had recognized coaching experience. Seems like a logical place to go on that basis. Similarly, this assistant was instrumental in coaching and recruiting Wicinski, and perhaps she was the link to keeping her on the team rather than leaving.
I would however agree that bringing Wicinski in would look bad, whether it was handled legitimately or not. Even if she is an impact player, I don't see UW in the next 2 years returning to the top of the conference, as NIU has in their respective conference. Playing .500 ball in a "better" conference may feel like more of drag than playing .750 ball in the MAC.
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Post by sizzlincatfish on Mar 7, 2012 21:56:30 GMT -5
Toon came to the team as a preferred walk-on. She was in fact recruited by other schools, but wanted to play at UW. Whether she got a scholarship for her sophomore (and ultimately, medically red-shirted season), I don't know. I would kind of doubt it. After the beginning of the 2010 campaign, she did tail off a bit. I don't think she has recovered from the ACL injury. My question is, if the ties with NIU were "severed" why would Coach Waite go down to NIU to play back in 2010? But yet he did. Seems like that would make for an uncomfortable situation. As for the Bayer move, I observed in the write-up that in her role with Georgia, she will not be handling recruiting. To me that means her travel WILL be cut down significantly. With small children, maybe this was an opportunity that worked that allowed her to stay in the business. Who has facts to support that her move to Georgia was precipitated by the Asst hiring? Maybe with the loss of Heffernan she realized she might have to take over more significant recruiting and travel duties, or maybe her old teammate called her out of the blue and she had an opening. Without knowing anything about NIU, I am not completely buying into the conspiracy theory. UW had an opening. One of his old recruits was available, and had recognized coaching experience. Seems like a logical place to go on that basis. Similarly, this assistant was instrumental in coaching and recruiting Wicinski, and perhaps she was the link to keeping her on the team rather than leaving. I would however agree that bringing Wicinski in would look bad, whether it was handled legitimately or not. Even if she is an impact player, I don't see UW in the next 2 years returning to the top of the conference, as NIU has in their respective conference. Playing .500 ball in a "better" conference may feel like more of drag than playing .750 ball in the MAC. You can spin it any way you want, but Colleen didn't leave because of travel. And it's not because of the assistant hire.
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Post by postitagain2 on Mar 7, 2012 22:03:38 GMT -5
Since we are all speculating here, if LW goes to Wisconsin, does that make them an NCAA team next year or the following year?
Also, yes she would get to compete against some of the best teams in the country every week, but if you're team isn't that solid around you how are you going to pass, serve receive or set well enough to really give LW a shot at terminating the ball on a consistant basis against great defenders?
And I wonder how much "greater" her development will be when she'll probably be coached by 2 out of 3 of the same coaches? I follow Wisconsin on the fringe, not up close, but from what I've heard, player development is an issue at Wisconsin. They seem to recruit well, but have fallen behind in player development with the top of the Big 10.
Hopefully some of you that are closer to the program can fill in some details. Adding LW to the mix for the next 2 years -- will it make Wisconsin a NCAA team? And if not, would she be better off going to another team and/or going ahead and sitting out a year to build for a run in 2-3 years?
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Post by bucky415 on Mar 8, 2012 0:37:56 GMT -5
Assuming no further player defections, I think Wisconsin will be an NCAA tournament team this fall even without Wicinski. If they had managed to get the match point that they had at NC State early in the season, they would have probably made it last year or at least have been one of the very first teams out. The biggest losses will be not always being in a three player hitting rotation with the 6-2 and Gabrielsen's serving and defensive ability in the back row, but I think that having a more experienced squad overall will help offset that. All in all, I think they will be in the group fighting it out in the middle of the league standings, and if Wicinski did come to Wisconsin, that would probably give them a better shot at emerging at or near the top of that group and ending up back in the national rankings.
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Post by spikerthemovie on Mar 8, 2012 0:53:12 GMT -5
Maybe one of the first ten or so left out, but Wisconsin's 57 RPI was not exactly on the bubble. Isn't the cutoff generally around 40 or 43?
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Post by badgerphan4 on Mar 8, 2012 13:29:26 GMT -5
I have already been told that Coley is trying to influence Pete into hiring one of her friends for the other coaching position at Wisconsin while Pete wants someone else.
Drama just follows Coley wherever she goes and she just can't keep her opinions to herself!
What has Pete gotten himself into?
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Post by dorothymantooth on Mar 8, 2012 13:45:22 GMT -5
I have already been told that Coley is trying to influence Pete into hiring one of her friends for the other coaching position at Wisconsin while Pete wants someone else. Drama just follows Coley wherever she goes and she just can't keep her opinions to herself! What has Pete gotten himself into? I would imagine she wasnt hired to keep her opinions to herself. Is it odd for someone on staff to suggest potential candidates to their boss?
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Post by mythoughts on Mar 8, 2012 13:51:39 GMT -5
Oh, the drama is just beginning for UW my friend. Coley just can't help herself. I think Coley leaving NIU is the best thing that could of happened for the program. Of course, her taking Lauren with her is unfortunate for the program. But Lauren has not been happy since she set foot on the court at NIU, so maybe her being gone won't turn out to be as big of a loss as we all think. NIU can finally get down to the business of volleyball and quit dealing with the drama that Coley drums up or dealing with trying to keep Lauren happy so she doesn't leave.
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Post by dorothymantooth on Mar 8, 2012 14:00:21 GMT -5
Oh, the drama is just beginning for UW my friend. Coley just can't help herself. I think Coley leaving NIU is the best thing that could of happened for the program. Of course, her taking Lauren with her is unfortunate for the program. But Lauren has not been happy since she set foot on the court at NIU, so maybe her being gone won't turn out to be as big of a loss as we all think. NIU can finally get down to the business of volleyball and quit dealing with the drama that Coley drums up or dealing with trying to keep Lauren happy so she doesn't leave. spoken like someone who just registered to jump all over this!
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Post by mythoughts on Mar 8, 2012 14:08:00 GMT -5
Been following this thread since it began, but more importantly been following the drama at NIU for 3 years.
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Post by luvmesomevball on Mar 8, 2012 15:02:41 GMT -5
It's really very sad that those of us who have experienced Coley as a coach know how true the remarks are in this thread, including the post from niualum2222. Not surprising she is starting trouble in Wisconsin already, it'll be fun to sit back & watch it all play out so people stop defending her or thinking it was an issue with NIU or Ray. Notice that nobody from NIU is upset that Coley and Lauren are gone, only worried Badger fans.
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Post by karellen on Mar 8, 2012 15:04:40 GMT -5
"mythoughts" and "luvmesomevball" - same person?
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Post by luvmesomevball on Mar 8, 2012 15:08:33 GMT -5
Nope.
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