The Bobcat Nation

Geise looks at the event around "Potera, not rehiring" follow the link:

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/news/s ... 17153.html

I'm glad to see the positive achievements of Potera-Haskins mentioned. It was amazing how quickly the team achieved success in the conference. She had to be doing something right.

It is a funny thing that happens when a coach quits. Potera, Joe Glenn, Holst
and all. Fans love up until the day the leave and then it is they were no good any way. Glenn was especially interesting. He was one of the best coaches the Griz ever had and yet the minute he left he was give no credit for what he had done , by some Griz faithful, and even critisized in some ways by the newly hired coach.

It is a funny thing that happens when a coach quits. Potera, Joe Glenn, Holst
and all. Fans love up until the day the leave and then it is they were no good any way.

Who loved Potera??? I wanted her out from the first day I met her, and I think that most of her players will echo that sentiment. She has left our program in shambles....the only thing keeping us above water is Jana and Katie....both of which are McCarthy's recruits. It took Potera 3 years to destroy what McCarthy did in one year.

Also, how did Kudrna get the head job? Kellog got HOSED. Kellog has been there since potera started, and would be MUCH better than Kudrna. The only reason that Kudrna got hired as an assistant in the first place is because he is Potera's "yes man".

I will say this for Potera she could coach. She took teams , her first two teams, that were
not overly rich in talent and won her share of the Big Sky Championship. If you go back
and look at those teams preseason expectations by the coaches and media you will see
teams that over performed. She has to be given credit for that. The other thing that I did
not mind was the energy she brought to the position, it is what I also like about Kramer.
That said I was critical of her from day one when she ran off some of McCarthy's recruits
(in particular a 6-3 highschool center Minie ). I have also thought her "energy" also got
her mouth into overdrive sometimes which go a little too, far. The biggest problem,
though, I had was her relationship with the players. Players were leaving and they were
not happy. In my way of thinking that is not good for the program and for the University.

The biggest problem I have with the alumni reaction to her is the complaints about her
brashness. Somehow this is looked upon positively for a male football coach and
negatively for a womans basketball coach. I am not saying that her brashness is what got
her fired, but simply my observation on reaction to her.

Potera needs to be given credit for the thing she did do well, but also take responsibility
for her mistakes.

I tend to think that the Women's hoop teams under potera won in spite of her coaching, not because of it. However, it's also reasonable to assume that if "you" didn't quit, then you probably became very mentally tough - which, not coincidentally, is probably the biggest determiner for whether "you" become a successful college athlete, or not.

Would it be too cynical to start a pool guessing how many games the next women's coach lasts? Maybe if we did, knowing my woeful gambling skills, I could pick a really low number to assure a long, long tenure for the next coach.

BAC: OUCH! But you are correct that MSU has really blown it for some time now on the women's BB coach. (Although, I don't blame MSU for the McCarthy debacle-that was his own stupidity.) Lets hope they get it right this time.

Anyone else notice how Geise of the Tribune also got a few digs in on MSU and some praise for um?? grizzly George at his best. He is correct about Selvig at um who is a great coach. But we need to do better competing against him for recruits in state. Heck, even some of the best recently have gone out of state (Mandi carver and Molly Hays at ISU come to mind right away), so we need to have someone who can recruit in this state, as well as out of state.

I guess I have to go on record as likeing Robin Potera-Haskins personally. She was real freindly to boosters. I have no idea of how she was with the players. I know she had big visions of what she wanted to do and I don't think anyone thought that she could really accomplish it, but you had to give her credit for her "cohunes". I think she did a hell of a job with Jessica Blake and Isabel Stubbs. They both were marginal post players when she got there and they both were co-MVP's their senior year. With good post players her offense opened up and allowed the guards and especially Katie burrows to be effective.

Unfortunately her one big drawback, as I see it, was that she had no recruiting base except Ricks (which dried up). Her southern contacts didn't seem to want to come up here and she didn't establish anything around here. I think she thought that she didn't need Montana if she had Texas and Arkansas. Unfortunately, again, was the fact that she didn't recruit one decent post player like Blake or Stubbs (including Belinda) who were already here when hse got here. To sum it up, she had D-1 credentials in coaching with NAIA credentials in recruiting. A few of the girls remaining on the team may have some potential, but look at the Griz! They have established players at least two deep and at every position not just guards. I hope coach "K" has some ideas of how to get some good post players into MSU or he will die on the vine too!