After some down time, a busy Air Force news day yesterday.
The academy fired women’s basketball coach Ardie McInelly after nine seasons. It will be interesting to see what the new coach – whoever that is – does with the program. Perhaps this is one of those jobs where you just can’t win.
On the other hand, Air Force has set program records for losses in each of the last two seasons and has lost 37 games in a row to Mountain West Conference opponents – 23 by 20 or more points. And that just can’t be acceptable – even for an athletic department that has a great tolerance for losing.
Speaking of, however, maybe that’s changing. Gazette columnist David Ramsey writes in his blog (http://daveramseysez.freedomblogging.com/) that the McInelly firing signals a change in how the academy is dealing with its cellar-dwelling programs.
Also, the Air Force football schedule became complete yesterday when the MWC announced its league schedule. I had some initial thoughts about the schedule in a post below. Just scroll down.
It’s always seemed to me that women’s programs at service academies should be able to do as well or better than men’s programs. I think far fewer high school girls than boys harbor the delusion of a career as a professional athlete. Thus, wouldn’t it follow that a top female recruit would be more open to a college path that would lead to a career as a military officer/pilot?
Of course that wouldn’t be the case unless you have a coaching staff who can sell that message and build the sort of successful program that would attract quality recruits.
MKL -
Those are good points. I’m definitely interested to see what a new coach can do for AFA women’s hoops. On the one hand, I understand that it’s hard to recruit to an academy. But on the other hand, you just can’t throw your hands up and say you can’t win. People used to say that about the men’s program. But we found that with the right coach and the right system (and the recruiting of the right players) you can.
Jake,
Before you came to the Gazette the infamous “they” said that Air Force would NEVER win in men’s basketball and for all the same excuses that are made for women’s hoops today.
You’ve seen that myth debunked with your own eyes.