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stever
Joined: 16 Nov 2004
Posts: 6918
Location: https://womensbasketballdaily.net
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 Posted: 04/03/08 9:03 pm ::: Mark French steps down at Santa Barbara. |
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http://www.independent.com/news/2008/apr/03/ucsb-coach-mark-french-retiring/
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| For years, French preached “habits of excellence” as the guiding principle of his program. “I don’t want to be a coach who gets after the kids to do all they can, and not do it myself,” he concluded. “These women deserve a head coach who lives up to habits of excellence.” |
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CamrnCrz1974
Joined: 18 Nov 2004
Posts: 18371
Location: Phoenix
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| Posted: 04/03/08 9:04 pm ::: |
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I did an interview with Coach French for Full Court Press back in 2003 (http://66.117.151.21/subs/people/french03.html)
I found him to be incredibly engaging and willing to answer tough questions (recruiting African-American players to a university that is 3 percent African-American, whether religion is a visible component of the team, what he looks for in recruiting, scheduling issues, etc.)...and not just provide "coach speak" answers. He was a great ambassador for the sport and a terrific coach. He will be missed not just by UCSB, but by the entire sport of women's basketball.
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hoopfan24
Joined: 09 Oct 2006
Posts: 896
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| Posted: 04/03/08 10:01 pm ::: |
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wow, this is a surprise. Sbjules= did you see this coming?
Mark is definitely a quality coach and good guy that will be missed in the women's game.
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Gaucho Don
Joined: 07 Nov 2004
Posts: 339
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cattekin
Joined: 26 Apr 2007
Posts: 252
Location: San Mateo, Calif.
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| Posted: 04/03/08 10:58 pm ::: |
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I'm more than surprised.
At the press conference following UCSB's Big West tournament win three weeks ago, French's eyes *gleamed* when he talked about reuniting all-conference Kat Suderman with player of the year candidate Jenna Green.
However, he is going out on top, and the BWC road ahead figures to be more uphill than before, considering that Riverside is getting player of the year Kemie Nkele back, and Pacific will improve greatly with the arrivals of Div. II All-American Amber Simmons and Miss Iowa Basketball Jenn Jorgensen.
I liked French. He was very patient with reporters who didn't know zone defense from zucchini.
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BlueLiner
Joined: 10 Dec 2007
Posts: 26
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| Posted: 04/04/08 12:07 am ::: |
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| ESPN still hasn't put up a story about French retiring. I guess they limit updating their WBB page to one story a day, and Arizona hiring Butts met their quota.
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fancy_daniel
Joined: 12 Oct 2005
Posts: 4489
Location: Los Angeles
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| Posted: 04/04/08 1:10 pm ::: |
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| A friend of mine used to do the student radio coverage at UCSB and the games were really an event at the school that doesn't really have much going on outside of school other than partying. It was great to see that type of atmosphere at a "non-traditional" basketball school. For a while, they were the best UC women's basketball school before the emergence of Cal. I'm sure Mark just needed a break from running the whole program. Here's hoping that Cori Close comes back to coach her alma mater.
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sbjules
Joined: 22 Dec 2004
Posts: 3476
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| Posted: 04/04/08 2:11 pm ::: |
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| hoopfan24 wrote: |
wow, this is a surprise. Sbjules= did you see this coming?
Mark is definitely a quality coach and good guy that will be missed in the women's game. |
No. I don't think anyone did.
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Youth Coach
Joined: 23 Mar 2008
Posts: 4760
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| Posted: 04/04/08 3:10 pm ::: |
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| It's too bad to see a coach going through burnout. |
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