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WBB: Associate Head Coach Jonas Chatterton to Oregon State

Interesting indeed. Buffgal, wouldn't LaTonya Watson's departure have been considered a lateral move as well? Leaving for an assistant gig at Bucknell of all places, though admittedly I know nothing of their program. If Carey replaced Watson, then that leaves another opening on the staff with Chatterton now leaving.

Is Randie Wirt still coaching anywhere? I know we shouldn't constantly be putting former players at the top of the list for coaching replacements just because they're in the family but she could fill the void Chatterton leaves for coaching the frontcourt players.
 
Hmmm. These moves are both neutral AT BEST, and that's wishful thinking.
 
aik said:
Interesting indeed. Buffgal, wouldn't LaTonya Watson's departure have been considered a lateral move as well? Leaving for an assistant gig at Bucknell of all places, though admittedly I know nothing of their program. If Carey replaced Watson, then that leaves another opening on the staff with Chatterton now leaving.

Is Randie Wirt still coaching anywhere? I know we shouldn't constantly be putting former players at the top of the list for coaching replacements just because they're in the family but she could fill the void Chatterton leaves for coaching the frontcourt players.
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IIRC she left to be closer to her family on the east coast, is there some Oregon connection with Chatterton. Seems a little more odd to make this move in-conference.
 
Why is this concerning to anyone? It isn't unusual for assistants to make lateral moves every few years in order to build resumes and connections. Is it just because this is the second one this year?
 
I had no problem with the move by LaTonya Watson. As I understand it, it was basically part of the deal when she came here to work for Linda that she would be here for a few years, helping Linda get the atmosphere, attitudes, work ethics etc. that they wanted established in the post-KMM CU program. Then LaTonya would return to the east to be around family. She came here from American U in Washington DC and has now gone to Bucknell, in central PA. Coach Watson also was very focused on the academic side of the student athletes. She was WBB academic liaison. Bucknell is a perfect fit in that respect for her as they have the highest student athlete graduation rate in all of D1.

As for Coach Chatterton, he has been here since the first season of Lappe's coaching tenure. I was expecting that he would be leaving but not on a lateral move, rather into a head coaching position. I do find a few things about this move curious.
First the timing ...why so late in the off-season? Maybe (and I'm purely speculating here) he had agreed with Linda that he would stay until she had the other assistant position filled and through this coming season if need be if that position were not filled soon enough.
Second, the job he took is actually, at least in title, a step down. Last season he was promoted to associate head coach. I know that he has been interviewing for head coaching positions but, obviously, he had not gotten one. They stated last year that they felt that the additional responsibilities of the assoc hc would help in his quest for an hc job. Again pure speculation on my part but maybe one of the things that he heard in the interviewing that he did was that he needed to have some more variety in his resume, or some exposure to other parts on the country, not just Utah & Colorado.
Thirdly... why Oregon State? He has no family ties in the area that I know of. Grew up in Utah and did most of his previous coaching in Utah. Maybe OSU was what he could get that met his requirements this late in the hiring season???
 
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How do head coaches handle a situation where you know one of your assistants is actively looking for a new coaching job and at the same time they are playing an active role in building relationships with future recruits. Coach Chatterton seems like a well respected and liked guy, but I was never really impressed with the post play since he took over coaching the front court players. Lots of 15 ft jump shots and no real back to the basket, demanding the ball type post players. I would always cringe whenever Hargis would kick the ball out instead of looking to attack. You're 6'3" being guarded by a 5'11" wing player!!! What I wouldn't give for a Tera Bjorklund coached by a Jim Jabir situation again. I wonder who finished second to Jamie Carey in the interview process. Does Coach Lappe conduct another search for a new coach?
 
MObuff said:
How do head coaches handle a situation where you know one of your assistants is actively looking for a new coaching job and at the same time they are playing an active role in building relationships with future recruits. Coach Chatterton seems like a well respected and liked guy, but I was never really impressed with the post play since he took over coaching the front court players. Lots of 15 ft jump shots and no real back to the basket, demanding the ball type post players. I would always cringe whenever Hargis would kick the ball out instead of looking to attack. You're 6'3" being guarded by a 5'11" wing player!!! What I wouldn't give for a Tera Bjorklund coached by a Jim Jabir situation again. I wonder who finished second to Jamie Carey in the interview process. Does Coach Lappe conduct another search for a new coach?
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Like ADs, coaches probably have a short-list of potential assistant coaches in case a vacancy opens. You are working in your current job until you aren't any more. Your assistant coaches are need-based, so good chance, they're looking for another skill set. I don't know the situation that well at all though.
 
I also know that LaTonya had an agreement with Coach Lappe about coming to CU for some time to help her get the problem established and then she was returning back east to be near her family. That did not surprise me at all.

Yes, going from Associate Head Coach to Assistant Coach is not a lateral position, which makes no sense to me, an outsider in the hiring process these days. Coach Watson had been a loyal assistant to Coach Barry and then to Coach Lappe.

As for Rachel Hargis, she did not have the skill set of a Tera Bjorklund or a Jackie McFarland. Jonas was also the coach the players went to with their problems. Players usually have a go to coach for one to talk to. That means he counseled all of the players. Chucky thanked him at her senior speech. He must have talked sense in to her when she and Lappe butted heads, which we do know happened.

We need now need a coach at an entirely different position than what Jamie Carey will be coaching, so the runner-up is probably not in contention. We need somebody who can coach the post players.

I just find it unusual that two coaches are leaving in the same year and that Kelly's 3rd season will make her the coach with the most experience.

I do think this could be a problem in recruiting, having a coaching carousel within your own staff. In the videos of the little kids camp, I didn't see Jonas.

I would ask the same question if this was happening to Tad Boyle's staff. I know coaches are always looking for better positions/schools/jobs but this one seemed to come out of nowhere. Had he got somewhere as a head coach, I would not have been surprised in the least.

I have no idea of Randie Wirt is still coaching.
 
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And it's really unexpected that the kid from Wyo who's coaching WBB up the road in Ft. Collins has progressed really fast with a scorched earth policy of Scandanavian imports, leading to domestic transfers. Not suggesting this is the way to go, but it's noticeable, and 180 degrees different than what Linda is trying to do. BTW, I met LaTanya W at a public generic AD event in the Skippy/Ceal/Tharp era and and you couldn't meet a nicer or smarter human being. Also a math whiz. Best of luck to her wherever her career takes her.
 
This article makes it sound like Oregon State pursued Jonas, not the other way around. http://bit.ly/1nvTqKi

"I don't know how it really came about," Chatterton said. "(Rueck) just kind of reached out and said that he would be interested in talking to me, and we kind of went from there. It was the right situation and the right timing and the right situation for me and my family."
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Pure speculation on my part but I'm thinking OSU has a bigger budget, which means higher pay for Jonas.
 
PAHIBuff said:
And it's really unexpected that the kid from Wyo who's coaching WBB up the road in Ft. Collins has progressed really fast with a scorched earth policy of Scandanavian imports, leading to domestic transfers. Not suggesting this is the way to go, but it's noticeable, and 180 degrees different than what Linda is trying to do. BTW, I met LaTanya W at a public generic AD event in the Skippy/Ceal/Tharp era and and you couldn't meet a nicer or smarter human being. Also a math whiz. Best of luck to her wherever her career takes her.
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I do not like that way of winning so I hope Linda doesn't go that direction. I prefer watching kids that are from the US and are going to use their education in the US. Yes, I know what that sounds like.

Ceal did that in the 1994-95 season with Isabelle Fijalkowksi, who only had one year of eligibility upon her arrival at CU. However, she was a pivotal player in that team's 30-3 record. We didn't have a center and Isabelle was not only tall she had a good skill set.

LaTanya is a lovely woman IMO and I liked her during Ceal's tenure and during her time at CU with Linda. She coached Linda so it was nice to see Linda reach out to a former coach for her own staff.
 
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Makes the most sense this late into the offseason, plus Coach Benningfield was a pretty good post player herself and should bring good ideas to help coach the position. She has also had multiple stops coaching HS basketball in Colorado which will be a benefit for her scouting in-state talent in the next year.
 
I like having 2 WNBA players with CO roots on the staff.

Winning trumps all, of course. If we won a national title, I wouldn't care if the entire coaching staff was from Mars. But all things being equal, it does a lot for the program with building a larger fan base with more media interest if it has those in-state connections with coaches (and players).
 
Agree that two WNBA players on the coaching staff should help. Now we need a director of basketball operations.
 
When this position opened up I did some digging into Benningfield's background and concluded she might be a good fit for the position, especially given how late in the offseason it was. Getting a new DOBO should not be too hard.
 
Not as difficult as a good assistant coach. Either Jenni or Rosie got me my tickets at the away games. Hope I still have that contact for the Iowa game in December. :gobuffs:
 
It shouldn't be too hard to fill this DOBO position, even though it is almost midsummer. In fact, I think it is already filled(just an opinion). However, there seems to be another vacancy for a new Video CO., at least that's what the Coaches Roster shows. I think both of these will be filled from the ranks of present assistants from lower tier division schools, since at the Pac12 level, they would not be considered initial level jobs.
 
I think the posting of the assistant position was only done because it was required and that is just my opinion also.
 
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