Not surprised it is a great job and as mentioned earlier we have the best facilities. I am sure the AD already has a short list but you never know who may be interested. The above list is a good one. I am sure whoever comes in will want to bring their own kids as well, which will be a bonus as it will improve things quickly.

So what happens to National Letter of Intents and verbal commitments in these situations? Are they still honored? Up to the new coach? What about the current players? Are their scholarships in jeopardy? Are they automatically released to pursue other schools?

I can't speak to golf specifically, but usually the current players are/or signed players are "safe", but coaches may " encourage" them to look elsewhere, but coaches have to be careful, as they don't want to build a bad reputation for future recruits. Natural attrition usually takes place, as some players will move on on their own.

Again, not knowing how scholarship monies work and/or the rules with transferring, I'm just going off what usually happens in other collegiate sports.

VegasT said:

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So what happens to National Letter of Intents and verbal commitments in these situations? Are they still honored? Up to the new coach? What about the current players? Are their scholarships in jeopardy? Are they automatically released to pursue other schools?

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• The NLIs are between the school and the recruit, not the recruit and the coach. Coaching changes don't have any effect on these. There's typically a lot of drama each year in football over this topic. Once a kid signs an NLI they are bound to the school and would lose eligibility if they chose to go somewhere else.
• Verbal commitments aren't binding in any way. Completely up to the new coaching staff to determine whether or not they still want to offer kids that are only verbally committed.
• Scholarships can have different terms, so it really just depends on each scholarship. If someone's scholarship is good for multiple years, a coach can't just come in and cancel it. Scholarships are guaranteed until whatever the specified ending period was. Scholarships that are year to year are potentially in jeopardy.
• There's no automatic release to pursue other schools. If someone wants to transfer, they still have to get officially released.

Most verbals in wonen's golf are made a couple years in advance for elite players and schools. So the 2019 commits are in a proverbial "pickle" if the new coach wants to go in a different direction, which is 100% his/her prerogative. However, that coach must weigh alienating kids/programs who committed to the school and might find it difficult to find a school of the same caliber. Stated simply most school have their scholarships locked up for 2019. So the kids who are committed might have difficulty finding an adequate replacement.

If a coach brought their own kids from their current team, wouldn't they have to sit out a year? or are you saying they will extend their current verbals to the new school?

That rule has been challenged over the years it seems. I know there are golfers that have switched conferences that have played right away when going to a new school. It seems to be an issue if you transfer within the conference. Some other folks on here probably know the exact rule but I do know it has been challenged because coaches have been able to jump schools without having the penalty of not coaching for a year...yet the student/athletes get penalized.

We need Andrew Crabtree to come back to help with recruiting.

Yep, everybody liked him and he connected well with the parents. He got some really nice players to commit then he left and recruiting just fell off.

Wish we could get Alan Bratton to come back to his hometown and coach the lady Aggies.

Coach Bratton is one of the best and there is no way he leaves Oklahoma State but I think we all know that. The reality is that there are coaches out there that can make an immediate difference from recruiting to hiring the right assistant coach. Some great coaches on the market right now and the assistant at Arizona is really good and is interested...he can bring players with him...No head coaching experience but he is a high impact coach and his team just won the Natty. He personal one on one coaching is the reason why. We will see...he is also a great person.

I remember hearing one of the Az players credit him with helping her win her match in the final. He walked with her and kept her calm throughout the round.

_lefraud_ said:

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In any collegiate sport, an assistant is hired to recruit and/or maybe develop players; it doesn't sound like the husband was doing either.

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I'm golf, generally the assistant is the main recruiter and then the head coach backs up when needed. Usually, the assistant does all of the day to day recruiting, finding players, travel to junior tournaments, etc and then gets the head coach involved for offers and high profile visits.

Any word on new coach?

None, other than we want a current head coach versus a top assistant...and we are burning up the phones to make it happen. However, some of the best coaches for the women's team appear to be men which are complicating things.

Why is that complicating things?

Mic Potter has taken the Alabama women to the national championship tournament 14 years in a row. Doesn't seem to complicate it for them to have a man coach.

aggiefan1988 said:

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None, other than we want a current head coach versus a top assistant...and we are burning up the phones to make it happen. However, some of the best coaches for the women's team appear to be men which are complicating things.

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So we are more interested in hiring a woman than the best person for the job?

It would be nice to know the short list. Golf isn't like football where there are people stalking FlightAware following private jet visits to TAMU from other schools/areas trying to get the inside on who the next coach may be.

Sucks that Derek Radley isn't in the running as indicated in earlier posts. He and his wife could have a big impact on golf in our area.

Title IX issues?

Yes, title 9 issues. Think about it. We have male head coaches for Swimming and Diving, Women's Soccer, Women's Basketball...Female head coaches for Volleyball, Softball, and Equestrian. It is lopsided anyway you look at it. If you ask Murphy at Texas the coach he is scared of the most to take this job it is Derek Radley...not even close. But the administration needs to balance things out...Radley is basically the co-head coach at Arizona and runs the program, which just won the National Championship over Alabama.

Ryan Murphy at Texas had a window when Trelle was the head coach and he drove a truck right through it from a recruiting and coaching standpoint. The prior head coach at Texas (Martha) was easy to recruit against...Ryan took over and it changed the landscape.

Looking at the current top head coaches that are female, most are alums coaching at their former school. I do not see us luring one of them away.

Men's basketball just announced an opening for an Assistant Coach. Maybe they should hire a women so we can hire Derek Radley.

aggiefan1988 said:

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Yes, title 9 issues. Think about it. We have male head coaches for Swimming and Diving, Women's Soccer, Women's Basketball...Female head coaches for Volleyball, Softball, and Equestrian. It is lopsided anyway you look at it. If you ask Murphy at Texas the coach he is scared of the most to take this job it is Derek Radley...not even close. But the administration needs to balance things out...Radley is basically the co-head coach at Arizona and runs the program, which just won the National Championship over Alabama.

Ryan Murphy at Texas had a window when Trelle was the head coach and he drove a truck right through it from a recruiting and coaching standpoint. The prior head coach at Texas (Martha) was easy to recruit against...Ryan took over and it changed the landscape.

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That part of title 9 deals with coaching hires?

Did some research and found a few articles.

NCAA Women Coaching

Drop in Women Coaches

There is nothing in Title IX saying there has to be equal numbers of coaches (male and female). It seems to be the trend that less women are coaching as proportional to the opportunity for coaching.

As Title IX has increased the number of women's athletic teams, men have crossed over into those coaching opportunities where the reverse is not happening (women coaching men's sports).

Additionally, the hours and work doesn't leave much time for work life balance; especially for coaches who have families.

One of the articles said that some colleges are choosing to achieve greater gender equity in their coaching ranks. I can see this being a positive for A&M if this is what is happening with the golf vacancy.

Derek Radley would change our trajectory in women's golf. He has a magnetic personality and is well liked by players and parents and alumni. Recruiting top talent would be much easier with him at the top.
I asked an LPGA tour pro I know who she would hire and immediately she responded Derek Radley.

Do you think he applied for the open position? Not sure how A&M could pass him up. The defense of 'we just need to hire a female coach' as opposed to the best candidate for the job is opposite of everything we have done in the past several years with athletic coaching hires.

The rumor mill has it that they told him that we were looking for a head coach...reality is that he acts as the head coach at AZ.

That sucks.

Also, the rumor mill says that we want the USC womens' head coach...and we promised her a ton and she can clean house...her call.

Andrea Gaston?

Best Schools for Women's Golf

That would be a big hire.

aggiefan1988 said:

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Also, the rumor mill says that we want the USC womens' head coach...and we promised her a ton and she can clean house...her call.

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Clean house? I would not support such a move. I recognize the coach is here to win. However, these kids have pledged to A&M and have banked their future on the school. Cleaning house is essentially kicking the kids out of A&M. Bad bull (IMO).

powerbelly said:

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Bobaloo said:

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aggiefan1988 said:

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Also, the rumor mill says that we want the USC womens' head coach...and we promised her a ton and she can clean house...her call.

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Clean house? I would not support such a move. I recognize the coach is here to win. However, these kids have pledged to A&M and have banked their future on the school. Cleaning house is essentially kicking the kids out of A&M. Bad bull (IMO).

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I interpreted that as cleaning out any support staff and bringing in who she wants. Not the players.

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That makes sense. If there are some kids not working then that is completely different. I will say that you can't go to Traditions and not see most of the boys practicing and playing. I don't see as many of the girls. Obviously that is not a scientific observation.