Over the last month, The Athletic connected with more than 35 head coaches across women’s basketball to get their candid opinions on an array of topics from the changing tides in the sport to the best coaches in the game to the greatest women’s college basketball player of all time. These coaches, who hail from power conferences and high mid-majors, were granted anonymity so they could speak openly without fear of retribution from their own programs or the NCAA.
Head coaches’ jobs are all-encompassing in college basketball. They have to recruit, and in the age of the portal, re-recruit. They have to scour opposing rosters to find players who would be suitable transfers. They work with athletic departments for appropriate facilities and accommodations. There’s an entire ecosystem under their purview.
Of course, the most important part of their role is putting together the product that shows up on the court. That job is multi-faceted in and of itself. Beyond spearheading player development, coaches design the offensive schemes, the defensive game plans and make adjustments when necessary. This is the part that’s easiest for their peers to evaluate because the results speak for themselves in games. It’s hard to know what goes on behind the scenes at any programme; within those 94 feet, everything is visible.
Which coach would you pick to design an offensive game plan for you?
- Geno Auriemma, UConn: 4 votes
- Jennie Baranczyk, Oklahoma: 4 votes
- Lisa Bluder, Iowa: 3 votes
- Karl Smesko, Florida Gulf Coast: 3 votes
- Tara VanDerveer, Stanford: 3 votes
Auriemma historically has fielded some of the most talented rosters in the country, giving him a leg up when it comes to executing on the court. Over the past few seasons, even as the best players dispersed across several programs and numerous Huskies players sustained injuries, Auriemma still has put together elite offenses. UConn has done so in a variety of different ways, too.
Consider that three years ago, Paige Bueckers won national player of the year as a point guard, largely playing next to two bigs and two non-shooting wings, as UConn posted the third-best offensive rating in the country, per Her Hoop Stats. Now, as a senior, Bueckers is essentially a power forward. She plays next to two other ballhandlers, one big and one spacer, but she’s even more efficient and will be an All-American yet again as the focal point of the nation’s eighth-best offense. In 2023-24, Auriemma has had to reinvent how he uses his best player, not to mention the evolving roles of Aaliyah Edwards and Nika Mühl, but the Huskies haven’t skipped a beat.
In their words
“He has figured out how to do it from a spacing and screening standpoint that’s not complicated, but effective. He makes basketball into simple reads.”
“They execute and they score and they’re efficient. They do that at an elite level regardless of their personnel.”
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Anonymous women’s college basketball coaches dish on who’s the best at in-game adjustments, game planning
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