Was Ajax extended too soon?

[Tony]

Did Darg screw up again and prematurely extend a coach who quite frankly was horrible her first two years at Siena- she had one decent year, Darg extends her and Lady Saints are currently 0-4 and well on way to 5th straight loss at Navy- I'm not a big fan of womans game-- but man you have to have results.. the women's program has been black hole of losses the last decade or so - bad reflection on Darg IMHO

[greenblood]

Well it certainly isn't starting out very well. I do question all the staff shake-ups in her tenure, and believe that Stephanie McCormick was a huge loss.

[SIENA1971]

Was at game tonight ... Very sloppy game ... Lots of miscues along with missed layups, put backs and free throws ... Scoring in 2nd qtr was only one 3 pointer ... Only bright spot was coming back from an 11 pt deficit and going up by 5

[diamonddog]

Losing Stephanie McCormick, Emia Willingham (injury- Coles replacement), Ida Krogh, and Teresa Coles hurts this team very much.

Very young team- only one senior. Surprised that Symone Kelly didn't play.

[SIENA1971]

Nov 27, 2015 21:07:26 GMT -5 diamonddog said:

Losing Stephanie McCormick, Emia Willingham (injury- Coles replacement), Ida Krogh, and Teresa Coles hurts this team very much.

Very young team- only one senior. Surprised that Symone Kelly didn't play.

Simone is injured ... Probably back next weekend

[IndianSaint]

Nov 27, 2015 19:05:25 GMT -5 Tony said:

Did Darg screw up again and prematurely extend a coach who quite frankly was horrible her first two years at Siena- she had one decent year, Darg extends her and Lady Saints are currently 0-4 and well on way to 5th straight loss at Navy- I'm not a big fan of womans game-- but man you have to have results.. the women's program has been black hole of losses the last decade or so - bad reflection on Darg IMHO

That one decent year was with 6 or 7 players. If Mitch won that many games with 6-7 players he would have gotten an extension too.

They're extremely young this year but I for one still like the girls she's recruiting. I'm still holding out hope they'll turn it around.

I'm not looking for anyone's head just yet.

[Tony]

You guys follow women’s hoop- but I’ll throw this out. This is Ali- 4th season- so if team is young it’s her fault. Looks like she is well on her way to 3rd losing season in 4 years. Guess my point was why the hurry to renew Ali’s contract. It’s not like she was in danger of being stolen. Or is it acceptable to lose 3 out of every 4 years? Win 37% of your MAAC games, lose every year to UA. Guess it’s a moot point since she is extended through 2020 season. I just don’t see rush to extend Ali thru 2020 season after 1 good season. The women’s program is a sleeping giant, woman’s hoop in capital district is pretty big, a lot of lost revenue left on table with bad year after bad year

Like I said, not saying Ali should be fired, but the rush to extend her is a bit bewildering and just another in long line of mistakes by current AD IMHO

[CellarRat]

More importantly what was the rush to fire Gina, her record although not great, is pretty solid compared to Ali's.

[gorvy]

I really hope Siena is done with the four year extensions. Some of the big programs don't even do that. With the high rate of transfers there is absolutely no reason to do business that way --- do the four year deals in the final year of the existing one.

[mrsiena]

Better yet do the two year deal with the option for a third. That way your hands aren't tied.

[CellarRat]

I believe Ali demanded a 5 year deal, just like JP.

[Deleted]

Early in the season with a team that had a huge turnover from last year outside of three returning players. Three of the players had not played a real game in a year, including the point guard position. Agree coach Mac was a big loss but that will happen when you win, just different if your losing and making staff changes. Hopefully they will be a different team come middle of the MAAC season. They at least competed with a pretty solid Navy program last night.

[IndianSaint]

Nov 28, 2015 5:08:37 GMT -5 Tony said:

You guys follow women’s hoop- but I’ll throw this out. This is Ali- 4th season- so if team is young it’s her fault. Looks like she is well on her way to 3rd losing season in 4 years. Guess my point was why the hurry to renew Ali’s contract. It’s not like she was in danger of being stolen. Or is it acceptable to lose 3 out of every 4 years? Win 37% of your MAAC games, lose every year to UA. Guess it’s a moot point since she is extended through 2020 season. I just don’t see rush to extend Ali thru 2020 season after 1 good season. The women’s program is a sleeping giant, woman’s hoop in capital district is pretty big, a lot of lost revenue left on table with bad year after bad year

Like I said, not saying Ali should be fired, but the rush to extend her is a bit bewildering and just another in long line of mistakes by current AD IMHO

I guess I thought it's common practice to reward coaches who make it to post season play or in this case the championship game of a post season tournament (even if it's a lower true tournament). Just because they extended her contract doesn't necessarily mean they can't fire her.

Look, all I'm saying is I don't know if it was a good idea or not but I'm not surprised she was rewarded after a hell of a season with only 6-7 players.

It was Siena's first winning season in like 10 years. Look I'm not saying Ali's the best coach ever, I'm just not against her either.

[IndianSaint]

Nov 28, 2015 5:08:37 GMT -5 Tony said:

You guys follow women’s hoop- but I’ll throw this out. This is Ali- 4th season- so if team is young it’s her fault.

... .

Here's why I believe the team is young after 3 full seasons entering her 4th (5 games into it):

Yr 1 - she used 100% Gina's players, 1 Sr Lilly 1 Fr Simone.

Yr 2 - still playing with all Gina's recruits. Added Fr: Bri, Emma, Meg & then lost a very good player to career ending injury in Kate Z (Gina's recruit).

Yr 3 - Add Fr Collins, Margot, Jo & Ella. Ali's best yr but yr with most adversity. Lose Bri, Booth & Fr Ella to season ending injuries. Back up PG Jo RS for academics. Fr. from PN inj then leaves (unless I'm confusing her with yr 2). Walk on Côte leaves (first Gina recruit leaving). Add Denisha transfer from Ruchmond.

Margot wins MAAC ROY.

Up till now Ali has kept all Gina's recruits.

End of yr 3 two Gina recruits with eligibility left transfer for possible masters. Did she "run them off" or did they see an opportunity to better their education?

Some believe Ali is getting rid of Gina's recruits. I for one don't believe that's the case but hey if she is why did she wait until after 3 full seasons when she could have run them all off after 1 yr??

Now Yr 4 add one of the best recruiting classes in her 4 yrs 4 Fr, 1 transfer eligible to play, Bri & Ella now healthy enough to play. That's 7 players that didn't play the year before.

That's how Siena is so young in yr 4.

Is that Ali's fault, probable because she didn't get rid of Gina's recruits faster and actually allowed them to continue playing. That's me being sarcastic for all those who really believe Ali "ran off Gina's recruits.

Tony, I'm not saying you're one that believes she is running players off, but I just wanted to add my opinion of that in responding to why we're so young. Gina left Siena with lots of young players that Ali kept. Now the roster has more Ali recruits than Gina recruits but they're mostly Fr & So = young.

[SIENA1971]

Talent is there ... Watched half-time warm ups @navy and only two practice shots didn't go in the basket ... Team probably just needs a few sessions with a sports psychologist ... During the game they seemed to overplay and overthink too many times ... Let's hope it was just anxiety building trying to get the first win ... Now that they got it let's believe things will change for the bettet