Three Big Ten coaches set
goals to improve programs
By Paul Trembacki
Sports
Editor
Finding success early is
hard, but three women are looking to do just that this year as first-year
coaches in the Big Ten.
Indiana's Kathi Bennett,
Iowa's Lisa Bluder and Michigan State's Joanne McCallie have different
styles of coaching but they have a common goal — making their programs
as good as possible as fast as possible.
"With a new team, I think
you always have to have that sense of urgency," said Bennett.
The daughter of Wisconsin
men's basketball coach Dick Bennett, Bennett wants the Hoosiers to improve
their teamwork, stop playing zone defense and improve their transition
offense.
The players are willing to
accept Bennett's style. She replaces Jim Izard, who was 188-159 over
12 seasons but coached the team to a paltry 10-18 record last season.
"She is a breath of fresh
air," senior guard Rachael Honegger said. "She is very passionate about
basketball. She is very passionate about life. She just exudes passion
and exudes joy."
Honegger said Bennett has
the same upbeat attitude at practice, film sessions and off the court.
"I think when she brings
that to us, that just makes us feel more stable and more confident with
ourselves," Honegger said.
The 37-year-old Bennett contacts
her father once in a while for confidence. She talked to him soon after
accepting the Indiana job March 29 after her four seasons as the head
coach at Evansville.
"When I first took the job,
he just said, 'The Big Ten's everything it's cracked up to be and then
some,'" she said. "I guess I'm going to find that out pretty quick once
we start competing."
Bennett said it's nice to
have a family member who can empathize with any problems she might encounter.
However, Dick Bennett isn't the only person close to Kathi Bennett who
can sympathize with the woes of being a Big Ten coach.
Mike Davis, the replacement
for the legendary but volatile Bob Knight, will also be in his first
season as a head coach.
"My relationship with Coach
Davis is wonderful," Bennett said.
"I know what he's going through.
He knows what I'm going through."
Another person who knows
what the two are going through is Bluder, who takes over an Iowa team
that won just nine games last season.
The former Drake coach is
both optimistic and realistic about the Hawkeyes' improvement chances
for next season.
"I don't think you're going
to see any overnight magic happen," Bluder said. "Our expectations this
year revolve around improving and seeing our team getting back to enjoying
themselves and working hard."
Iowa was known for its guard
play last season as current seniors Lindsey Meder and Cara Consuegra
combined to average 33.7 points per game. The rest of the team combined
for just 33.6.
Getting the team to balance
its scoring and improve its inside play are two of Bluder's main priorities.
So far, so good.
"I've been so pleased with
the way we've made that adjustment," Bluder said. "The players have
been very open to change. They want to be coached. They're soaking it
all in. They're not questioning our decisions on how to make changes."
Meder and Consuegra, the
team's leaders, have accepted the changes and the rest of the team has
followed. Meder said it just makes sense to listen to Bluder, who spent
10 years at Drake, where she went 187-106 and six years at St. Ambrose,
where she was 169-36.
"We know that in order to
get better and in order to improve as a team, we need to be open to
those changes and I think people have been very open-minded along the
way," Meder said.
With all five starters returning,
Meder is confident.
"I think we're very capable
of surprising people," she said.
Another team that could surprise
people is Michigan State, which will have a new coach for the first
time in 24 years.
Karen Langeland retired after
last season. Her replacement, McCallie, hopes to revamp the Spartans.
"For our trademark, I want
us to be a high-energy, feisty, blue-collar team that works really hard,"
McCallie said.
McCallie played at Northwestern
and was an assistant at Auburn before becoming the head coach at Maine,
where she spent eight years.
"I've had teams that scored
a lot of points. I've had teams that haven't scored many points at all,"
McCallie said. "But I think the common denominator has been a willingness
to fight like crazy, play defense, be tough and work together as a team."
McCallie doesn't have any
specific goals for the Spartans, who went 19-12 and advanced to the
quarterfinals of the WNIT for the second year in a row last year. She
said she will know success when she sees it.
"It's about a level of intensity
that we need to find as a unit," McCallie said. "As a coaching staff
we're gonna do whatever it takes to get the team to that level and get
the players to understand that.
"I tell the truth; I tell
it like it is," McCallie said. "I believe in this team, but they've
got to get to the level."
McCallie, Bennett and Bluder
enter the season full of hope — hope that they will get to the
level.
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