Women's basketball: Greg Kudrna remove the interm tag?

mslacat · Post by **mslacat** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 1:50 pm

The womens basketball season is about to come to a close, with the chances of making the play-off looking out of the picture. Kudrna did not inherit much talent when Potera left to say the least, so he has tried to make the best out of a bad situation, did he do enough? What do you womens' BB fans think about the direction the program should take?

wbtfg · Post by **wbtfg** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 2:05 pm

mslacat wrote:The womens basketball season is about to come to a close, with the chances of making the play-off looking out of the picture. Kudrna did not inherit much talent when Potera left to say the least, so he has tried to make the best out of a bad situation, did he do enough? What do you womens' BB fans think about the direction the program should take?

This is a great question. First of all Kudrna is a GREAT guy. One of the nicest guys you'll ever have the pleasure to meet. That being said, I'm not sure how much of a basketball guy he is. One of the areas that MSU is really lacking is recruiting talent, and I think that we need to have a coach that has multiple recruiting connections.

Also, it seems like coach Kellog is dominating the instruction during timeouts. Kellog may be the offensive or defensive specialist, and is diagraming something for that particular point, but I rarely see an assistant coach take over as many time outs as Kellog has done this year.

Part of me would like to see Kudrna stick around because he is such a great guy, and I don't necessarily want to see these poor girls have to adapt to yet another coach (4 coaches in the last 6 or 7 years). BUT another part of me would like to see a proven winner. Someone who has a very high IQ, as well as recruiting ties throughout Montana and around the country.

Here are MY top choices for the job. (In no particular order)

Greg Kudrna (Current Head Coach)
Mark Kellogg (Current ast. coach)
Brian Orr (ast. under McCarthy, and current head coach at Lewis and Clark)
Kevin Engellant (Current coach for UM-Western)

I'd like to put a couple of females in here, but can't think of any off the top of my head.

mslacat · Post by **mslacat** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 2:09 pm

wbtfg wrote:
mslacat wrote:The womens basketball season is about to come to a close, with the chances of making the play-off looking out of the picture. Kudrna did not inherit much talent when Potera left to say the least, so he has tried to make the best out of a bad situation, did he do enough? What do you womens' BB fans think about the direction the program should take?
This is a great question. First of all Kudrna is a GREAT guy. One of the nicest guys you'll ever have the pleasure to meet. That being said, I'm not sure how much of a basketball guy he is. One of the areas that MSU is really lacking is recruiting talent, and I think that we need to have a coach that has multiple recruiting connections.

Also, it seems like coach Kellog is dominating the instruction during timeouts. Kellog may be the offensive or defensive specialist, and is diagraming something for that particular point, but I rarely see an assistant coach take over as many time outs as Kellog has done this year.

Part of me would like to see Kudrna stick around because he is such a great guy, and I don't necessarily want to see these poor girls have to adapt to yet another coach (4 coaches in the last 6 or 7 years). BUT another part of me would like to see a proven winner. Someone who has a very high IQ, as well as recruiting ties throughout Montana and around the country.

Here are MY top choices for the job. (In no particular order)

Greg Kudrna (Current Head Coach)
Mark Kellogg (Current ast. coach)
Brian Orr (ast. under McCarthy, and current head coach at Lewis and Clark)
Kevin Engellant (Current coach for UM-Western)

I'd like to put a couple of females in here, but can't think of any off the top of my head.

How about former MSU-B Coach Karyn Ridgeway

wbtfg · Post by **wbtfg** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 2:32 pm

From the very little that I know about her, she sounds like a great candidate! Is she coaching anywhere currently?

I remember quite a controversy about her leaving. What was the deal with that. I remember that she had really good teams, but for some reason was asked to resign, or resigned because of a conflict with the athletic director or something.......What was "the rest of the story?"

mslacat · Post by **mslacat** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 2:41 pm

I talked to Karyn's sister about a month ago, and asked her if Karyn was looking to get into coaching again, and she said that Karyn was pretty burned out on the Coaching gig, but it would depend on the situation. Karyn is also a Hellgate Alum, played ball and was a band mate with my "little" sister so I would love to have her @ MSU.

Helcat72 · Post by **Helcat72** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 3:05 pm

So what is going on with Erin Goodman? I've heard from family and freinds that she is just about ready to transfer. She says she works as hard as anyone on the team but gets ignored. Does any one know if maybe she just isn't good enough? If she is, then the coach has to talk with her because she's very unhappy. Maybe unhappiness runs in the family!

wbtfg · Post by **wbtfg** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 3:16 pm

She played well saturday night. Quite a few big rebounds, and a couple of big threes towards the end of the game. She and Buckless played probably their best games of the year.

hokeyfine · Post by **hokeyfine** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 3:40 pm

seems to me that kudrna has brought a better attitude to the program. the last couple of coaches were hell bent on driving the players to unhappiness. things seem to be more relaxed, but the players are working hard. give him another year. see what he can recruit. maybe goodman is unhappy playing on a sub .500 team.

wbtfg · Post by **wbtfg** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 3:57 pm

I agree that coach K has done a great job of changing the general attitude of the team to a more positive one, but I am not sold that he can take our program to a level where we are consistently challenging for a conference title.

There has to be a balance of positive attitude and winning games. Frank McCarthy did this better than just about anyone....(wise crack here).

thetruth3 · Post by **thetruth3** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 3:58 pm

Shaun Nelson at carroll is doing great things with their women's program and i think that he would be a great fit for the lady cats. he is a young coach who does a great job with recruiting. he has had a lot of success the last couple of years there.

Helcat72 · Post by **Helcat72** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 5:03 pm

wbtfg wrote:She played well saturday night. Quite a few big rebounds, and a couple of big threes towards the end of the game. She and Buckless played probably their best games of the year.

I wasn't there, but she hasn't played much up till then....maybe he finally gave her a chance and she proved something.

MSU01 · Post by **MSU01** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 5:17 pm

After seeing Goodman play well in significant minutes down the stretch on Saturday, I was shocked that she has been getting literally no playing time in the majority of the previous games. It would be a big loss if she transferred. As for the coaching situation, I like both Kudrna and Kellogg but don't consider either to be a "slam-dunk" to get the permanent job. I think they should do a national search (which, of course, they have to do anyway!) and pick the best candidate, whether it be a current coach or someone else.

mslacat · Post by **mslacat** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 5:31 pm

MSU01 wrote:After seeing Goodman play well in significant minutes down the stretch on Saturday, I was shocked that she has been getting literally no playing time in the majority of the previous games. It would be a big loss if she transferred. As for the coaching situation, I like both Kudrna and Kellogg but don't consider either to be a "slam-dunk" to get the permanent job. I think they should do a national search (which, of course, they have to do anyway!) and pick the best candidate, whether it be a current coach or someone else.

Since Kudrna was an assistant, when the opening came open, MSU I think maybe able to skip the national search if they choose to. I think?

How about this for a new coach....... Jerry Olson!!

He knows the state of Montana and MSU and has experiance as a women's head coach!!

wbtfg · Post by **wbtfg** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 5:37 pm

How about this for a new coach....... Jerry Olson!!

He would be a great coach. I like Jerry a lot. I think he brings both toughness, as well as a positive attitude and a very strong knowledge of the game and strong recruiting ties. Although, didn't he just leave Bozeman to take a coaching job in Oklahoma? Would he leave and come back after only one year? I know that he would be in familiar surroundings, and would do an outstanding job. That being said, unless he's really hating life in Oklahoma, I doubt he'll apply.

mslacat · Post by **mslacat** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 5:40 pm

wbtfg wrote:
How about this for a new coach....... Jerry Olson!!
He would be a great coach. I like Jerry a lot. I think he brings both toughness, as well as a positive attitude and a very strong knowledge of the game and strong recruiting ties. Although, didn't he just leave Bozeman to take a coaching job in Oklahoma? Would he leave and come back after only one year? I know that he would be in familiar surroundings, and would do an outstanding job. That being said, unless he's really hating life in Oklahoma, I doubt he'll apply.

I have no Idea whether he would apply, but he left MSU to become a head coach for this University once before and then returned to MSU only to return to Oklahoma. Has he got one more yoyo swing left!

mslacat · Post by **mslacat** » Wed Feb 23, 2005 9:37 am

I have heard that Fields has started the proccess of a national search for a new women's basketball coach, from what I hear, though, any thing short of a undefeated conference season by Kundra, and MSU would have gone through with a national search.

Bobcat4Ever · Post by **Bobcat4Ever** » Wed Mar 02, 2005 2:19 pm

Greg Kudrna does bring a great deal of personal integrity to a program that has been deeply wounded. I would love to see him be very, very successful.

He did inherit a team with a lot of missing parts -- no size, no juniors. But they've been too up and and down even considering that.

The lack of quality big people have doomed the 'Cats in the no-hold-barred physicality of the Big Sky Conference. I cannot speak to Shannon Bosley (only scoring about 10 points this year) and Whittney Ash is injured and might not be able to play. The lack of size raises recruiting questions.

Erin Goodman should have been playing a lot more and someone else should have been playing a lot less.

I don't think the team has shown much emotion on the court -- highs or lows. I'd love to see more spirit and more smiles and more competitive fire when things are tough.

I've really questioned their ability to dictate anything or respond to the other team especially on offense. They seem to run a lot of the same plays against man or zone defenses. I guess the jury is out on the actual coaching of the team.

mslacat · Post by **mslacat** » Wed Mar 02, 2005 3:23 pm

I don't know what it was this season but, I had very little interest in the ladies program. There seemed to be not a lot of energy involved with the program. That is really sad I can not remember a time since I was first asked to go to a womans game in 1980 that I seemed to have cared less. What ever we do this year for a coach we really need to come up with an outstanding recruiting class this year if we hope to change this trend.

SteelheadBum · Post by **SteelheadBum** » Wed Mar 02, 2005 9:21 pm

I don't have a problem with Coach Kudrna as long as he doesn't hit (are you listening Frank?) on the student-athletes, treats them with dignity and respect (are you listening Robin?), beats the jizz every now and then (not in geological terms but at least one out of three games) (oh, yeah I hear you Robin) and achieves the highest overall team academic GPA and graduation rate in the league. Anything less would not only be uncivilized but should cost him his job. Give credit to and tip my hat to the lady jizz coach (what's his name? just kidding) he has built a true Big Sky dynasty.

Shaun Nelson at Carroll College deserves an in-depth look. He is a great guy, a good coach, and is married to a former track Bobcat (Bennett was her maiden name). Besides, Bruce Parker would understand Coach Nelson leaving Carroll College for MSU Lacy Cat basketball moreso than Coach Van Diest leaving Carroll College for MSU football.

BTW, how is Coach K (the big unit) doing these days? I was in Spokane a couple of weeks ago and several people at the Davenport and the Steam Plant spoke very highly of him. Also, I stopped in Helena this week and a member of the Legislature (he is a Democrat, I'm a Republican) said he didn't attend MSU or UM but told me, "MSU wins hands down, not even close when it comes to academics." GO CATS!! Give credit to Coach Hysell and Coach Kramer for reserecting the good Bobcat ship after Earle destroyed it along with some other idiots called the University president and some hillbilly Alumni. MSU Football will continue to get better and better. GO CATS!!

DoggyDo · Post by **DoggyDo** » Thu Mar 03, 2005 11:40 am

It is time for the Lady Cats to get a good Montana guy in at the helm of the program. The guy for the job is Kevin Engellant. He has had unmatched success at UM-Western and built a top notch program in Dillon. He is a great guy and an excellent coach with a tremendous track record. He should be the next Lady Cat coach.

Women's basketball: Greg Kudrna remove the interm tag?

Women's basketball: Greg Kudrna remove the interm tag?

Re: Women's basketball: Greg Kudrna remove the interm tag?

Re: Women's basketball: Greg Kudrna remove the interm tag?

Coach Kudra