TheKnightReport - Rutgers Women's Basketball G Kaylene Smikle enters the transfer portal
Rutgers women's basketball guard Kaylene Smikle announced she will enter the transfer portal after two seasons.
rutgers.rivals.com
Basketball Rutgers Women's Basketball G Kaylene Smikle enters the transfer portal
- Thread starter Alec Crouthamel
- Start date
rutgers.rivals.com
Injury my you know what that was so blatantly obvious that she was not injured the silence was deafening
Great player, but not a leader and quit on the team. See ya!
This program is a dumpster fire. I said it at the time: should’ve went in a completely different direction when hiring a new coach after Stringer.
yep.....the problem was this the least desired major conference coaching job in the country...let that one seep in
Isn't that what they did in hiring a coach from outside the program?
I noticed something strange at the start of the last game she played in (Northwestern). It looked to me like there may have been some kind of blowup involving Kaylene (and maybe Antonia). They both ended up not suiting up for the next game.
I just didn't want to speculate on what actually happened. We still don't know, but it was clear if you go back and watch the tape. At the very beginning of the Northwestern away game, look at the team as they huddle around the foul line warming up.
She's gone now, so I guess it's alright to speculate. I took it as probably some kind of disagreement with coach or a teammate and CW decided Kaylene needed a time out. Antoinia accepted the discipline while Kaylene may have begun to think that the grass is greener somewhere else(especially as our team was still struggling). Might be a money thing(NIL). Who knows???
Although unfortunate, we have too good of a group of young ladies, character-wise, and potential-wise, to be down about this news. The train must chug onward toward our ultimate goal.
I just didn't want to speculate on what actually happened. We still don't know, but it was clear if you go back and watch the tape. At the very beginning of the Northwestern away game, look at the team as they huddle around the foul line warming up.
She's gone now, so I guess it's alright to speculate. I took it as probably some kind of disagreement with coach or a teammate and CW decided Kaylene needed a time out. Antoinia accepted the discipline while Kaylene may have begun to think that the grass is greener somewhere else(especially as our team was still struggling). Might be a money thing(NIL). Who knows???
Although unfortunate, we have too good of a group of young ladies, character-wise, and potential-wise, to be down about this news. The train must chug onward toward our ultimate goal.
Yeah, I was out in Evanston covering that game and noticed the same. Very strange the two of them played limited minutes that day and then did not play against Purdue.
Cvs left the program as the worst of the major conferences
Any reasonable hot coach didn't want to touch this mess
We got a coach who tanked at psu..
My we never saw that coming… Smikle was not hurt? Wow… you mean nobody knew that fact?… Everybody who follows basketball knew that was some kinda booolshat.
I don't know about that one.
I would think that a hot coach would love to step into the situation that was here at RU at the time we hired Coquese and right now also. If the spot were open right now, I'll bet the Fairfield coach would get a speeding ticket getting down here to New Brunswick. Any other mid major coaches looking to enter the elite ranks would easily take a serious look at Rutgers.
You gotta understand,.. It's not about Viv! Give it up! It's about the institution and what it has to offer. And by the way, although Viv's latter years weren't great, her overall effect laid by her best years here, provide a boost to selling the RUWBB program today. Partnered with Grentz, they laid a rich history/tradition.
Facilities and basketball rich region with basketball fan base playing in, arguably, the best conference(B1G stage), are the things that make the Rutgers HC job attractive. Period.
When Coquese got hired, other hot coaches had already been snapped up. Name one that was available and passed on the job.
Wait a minute isn’t this the coach who many of the women’s board thought could replace and mend the CViv fiasco? Yes very sorry …we will be paying dearly for how she allowed the Jewel of the East in ladies basketball to lose it’s glitter and glow.
Looks bad now, let's wait till the end of next season to get the rope.
Being 20-44 in her two seasons doesn't bode confidence, but lets see if
Quese can right the ship in her third and anything less than a winning season isn't righting the ship.
If not a winning season ,replacement must be hired .
Rutgers was once a good program, a good HC should be had if RU wants to pay what it takes.
Washington was 209-169 (98-106) at Penn State, that isn't a great record but not as bad as some might think when wondering why she was hired.
Coquese isn't a proven winner so no slack should be given her if she doesn't win next year.
The 8-24 record this year gives cause to fire, but Rutgers looks at the buyout more than record.
Being 20-44 in her two seasons doesn't bode confidence, but lets see if
Quese can right the ship in her third and anything less than a winning season isn't righting the ship.
If not a winning season ,replacement must be hired .
Rutgers was once a good program, a good HC should be had if RU wants to pay what it takes.
Washington was 209-169 (98-106) at Penn State, that isn't a great record but not as bad as some might think when wondering why she was hired.
Coquese isn't a proven winner so no slack should be given her if she doesn't win next year.
The 8-24 record this year gives cause to fire, but Rutgers looks at the buyout more than record.
This is a disaster waiting to happen and you are correct no slack .
but any big name wasnt coming and more telling was that Hobbs was not going to pony up and spend big bucks to hire RU's only 3rd coach of all time
Rutgers used to compete with UConn, ND, The Ville, and UT. We we were far better than just good. We were a solid top women's program.
you're exactly right
Washington signed on for six years that guarantees total compensation at $4.625 million with additional performance incentives..
Rutgers wasn't going to pull in a good coach for that price with the mess the program looked like then and seems the same now.
Running a program on the cheap only leads to hiring gambles and most gambles don't work out
There were no other big names/hot coaches out there by the time we picked Coquese. That's why you couldn't list one. I considered Coquese to be a big name, whether you liked her or not, as a coach.
C. Banghart and S Green were the dream choices floated on here. They both were already taken at the point of our coaching vacancy. We needed a coach quickly so we could have a season last year. Coquese is just building very slowly. But she is building.
I don't know what happened to everyone talking "patience" and "it's gonna be a slow rebuild", "it's gonna take time", "it's gonna take a few years to build it back up". I was the one pushing for an instant reset via the portal. People replied that she was going to take her time and do it right. Well! That's, hopefully, what's happening.
Hobbs also expressed this sentiment, so I'm sure he's not looking to give up on his choice after just year 2.
Lastly, ......If the RU job was so bad that no good coach wanted it, then what is the difference now if Coquese was to be let go? Most good/hot coaches usually take over a program when it is down or has underperformed. What makes our situation different??
Shauna Green took over Illinois at a time when we and everyone else in the conf. used to beat them on a regular. She was a hot coach who took over a down program. Why can't the same scenario play out here at RU?!
Because she hasn't even had a full roster since she's been here and apparently ran off our best player in Kaylene Smikle. My confidence in her and in the program is at an all time low. She really needs to get some great players from the portal or her days are truly numbered here. Last year was notably better than this year, so that's not a good trend.
it is complicated, actually. We were - for a period of time - a good deal better than good, about the 9th best team in the country over a stretch that included the 2007 Final Four. However, that was a long time ago, as they say. We were not quite as good as those programs - by quite a bit - because in that era they - and Duke, in particular, as well, were among the group we were behind, nor does our history compare to those programs, because after that era we were simply good. Up until the end of the CVS era we had avoided mediocre or worse, but the luster was off.
I would suggest that Rutgers needs to play up their history - but, it is history and it wasn't under the current coach so - largely - its a big sell.
We beat UConn 5 out of 8 times from '05 to '08
We beat ND 5 straight times from 05 to 09
We were 2-2 vs. LVille from '05 to '08 with our two losses by combined 4 pts and 2 wins by 38. 4-5 up until 2012.
Duke 1-2 in the three games we played '06 - '08
Vs. UT now THAT was the big issue where we folded before stepping on the court 1-11 overall.
For a period of 5 years we were every bit as good as them (x-UT). Now afterwards and extended that is a different story and what some are talking about.
Exactly and thats when the slow decline started and then finally ended up with CVS leaving us in an abyss!!
and thats the slow decline after that I mentioned for a decade in posts here but got shouted down because everyone was so enthralled with the CVS history....it was the Cheney decline and the game had passed her by. Not about defense, its about offense...and good lord if CVS was still here she would never be able to handle the whole NIL stuff.
you would have thought that CVS would have been smarter about her transitition but she was stubborn to the end and unfortunately health problems...perhaps a touch of dementia played a role...messy situation but Hobbs needed to sit down with her when he was hired and talk about a transition plan and what did she want for the program...im thinking cvs was more concerned about herself rather than the program and now we see the program is in tatters how is that possible considering our success under Grentz and Stringer
The timing of her hire didn't allow time to get a full roster. Hiw did she run off Smikle?
She just completed here second year so she definitely gets a pass on year 1 because she was put in an impossible situation but going into year 3 she definitely needs to show some improvement and start turning things around and to me the minimum is she needs to have close to a full roster so she needs to hit the portal hard!!!
Agree.
Show progress or be terminated.
Progress might not be a tourney team, but a program you can see is definitely improving and bringing the talent that will make the team a winning one while retaining the better players.
Just to be clear, I looked at a 10 year stretch, I don't remember if it was the seasons ending in 2000 through 2009 or 2001 through 2010. Those 5 years beginning around 2005 were the best of it, although no matter what metric I looked at - total wins, regular season finish, NCAA tournament seed, NCAA tournament finish - for the period I looked at, we consistently in almost every metric were top 10, but barely, and then it declined. All those teams were - for the period - top 10 and higher than we were.
The largest point is that we were not really first rate long enough to establish Rutgers as an elite program. Very good, yes, but before that decade and after it (as we read ad infinitum on here) we just were not.
Those years you mention were years when UConn for one reason or another did not win a championship - but they did before and after. Tennessee has slipped a lot since those days as well - but neither as far as Rutgers and with a far more notable history.
I am very pleased with Rutgers success over the years, but it just is what it is.
Here again is what I said. "Rutgers used to compete with UConn, ND, The Ville, and UT. We we were far better than just good. We were a solid top women's program."
I don't disagree with what you are saying overall (except that very last part). And Yes for those 5 years were were just as good or better. What you said yourself supports my comment. Being in the top 10 for a decade with those teams and beating them for half those years sure sounds like "we used to compete".
100% agree, this coach was a terrible hire and a disaster from day one. She can't even put together a full roster.
Coach has shown she can’t even get players to compete. She needs to go. Hobbs needs to wake up fast and hire a big time coach NOW. A Candace PArker typer name that kids can relate to. Someone in Rutgers past (Cappy? Essence? Type that can bring in the recruits) My 2 cents !
Your post while correct that the results need to improve still has nothing to do with my question. How is hiring someone from outside the program not going in another direction?
If CW is terminated after next season, she will be owed $2,475,000.
*Edited to correct amount, had typed $2,750,000
Last edited:
in today's buyout world that's very reasonable.
But for Rutgers buyouts are avoid at all cost and coaches are kept, even if they deserve to go, until their expatriation date no matter how bad the program smells.
When firing for cause, Rutgers finds a way to mess that up and still have to pay.
