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Home > SECWB News & More! > SEC Teams > Vanderbilt > The Coaching Carousel (Part 3)
The Coaching Carousel (Part 3)
by LeAnne Harrington, SECWB.com
Posted: April 18th, 2007 @ 1:04am
Butler and Gardner reunited at Florida
Florida’s new head women’s basketball coach Amanda Butler today confirmed that Susie Gardner will be joining her staff in Gainesville. Butler served as an assistant coach under Gardner for 4 seasons at Austin Peay State University. Now it’s Gardner’s turn to assist Butler. Butler states: "I learned a ton from her. I knew we needed someone with a lot of on-court wisdom if we wanted to go into the SEC and make an impact." In addition to their time spent coaching together, these two coaches were both outstanding players at the same high school in Tennessee -- albeit 8 years apart. Butler was a 3 year starter at Mt. Juliet from 1987 to 1990 and scored over 1,400 points in her career. Gardner was a star player there from 1979 to 1982 and went on to play collegiately at the University of Georgia.
Gardner wasn’t even looking to return to coaching after resigning her head coaching position with Arkansas on March 2, but had ventured to UNC-Charlotte last week to see how they organized their recruiting. While pow-wowing with Butler last Wednesday, Gardner noticed Butler was distracted and wondered what was up. Butler asked, "If I take the position at Florida, will you come with me?" Gardner thought 'What just happened?' but after returning to Fayetteville, she accepted Butler’s offer Thursday night. Gardner says, "It just felt right…Amanda knew me and I knew her. We're both from Mount Juliet, Tennessee. Loyalty and trust are so important in our profession." Gardner, who earned $248,000 at Arkansas this past season, said, "I won't make that much at Florida, but I'm happy. The money we make in coaching is very nice."
Theresa Grentz resigns from Illinois
Theresa Grentz, the 10th all-time winningest coach in Division I basketball, resigned today from the University of Illinois. Grentz, who just completed her 33rd season in coaching and 12th at Illinois has a career record of 671-311 and compiled a 210-156 record with the Illini. Grentz, one of the all-time great players at Immaculata, enjoyed a stellar coaching career at Rutgers before coming to Illinois. When hired at Rutgers, Grentz became the first full-time women’s basketball coach in the nation. She won numerous coaching awards during her career, including Big Ten Coach of the Year, and is a member of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. Grentz also served as the 1992 Olympic coach and was recently selected to receive the Carol Eckman Award, the highest honor from the WBCA, for her years of service exemplified by spirit, integrity and character through sportsmanship, honesty, ethical behavior, courage and commitment to the student-athlete.
Grentz states: "I know there is still something out there for me, whether it be as a collegiate or professional coach, a position in the academic world, working with women's issues, or, possibly even politics. I feel I can make a difference in some professional way. Coaching has provided me a very broad-based horizon, insight, perception and a dynamic way of looking at things." We wish Coach Grentz all the best in whatever she chooses to pursue.
In other coaching news:
- Melanie Balcomb verified she had interviewed at Penn State earlier this month, but had pulled her name from consideration. Balcomb, who is from new Jersey, has many family members in Pennsylvania and said they would have been angry if she hadn’t at least considered the position. But Balcomb states: "They did call, I did listen, and it didn’t go further than that. I told them I wasn’t interested and took my name out." Balcomb says she also has no interest in the Duke job, another high-profile vacancy her name has been mentioned with.
- Long-time UConn assistant Jamelle Elliott was offered the head coaching job at Fairfield but declined the offer. An anonymous source told the Connecticut Post "after careful consideration she decided to decline in order to pursue other opportunities which have presented themselves." Wonder what that could be?
- Sue Guevara, assistant coach at Auburn the past 3 seasons and former coach at Michigan, will be introduced as the new head coach at Central Michigan on Wednesday. Guevara replaces Eileen Kleinfelter, whose contract was not renewed. SEC hoops buffs may recall that Kleinfelter served as an assistant coach at Vanderbilt back in the late 80s. Remember: there’s always an SEC connection…
That’s the latest turn on the coaching carousel. Stay tuned for more developments in the upcoming days.
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