Staley criticizes, then retracts criticism of, Maria Hickman (Sr. Assoc. AD)
- Thread starter MowerDave
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Dawn Staley has only had a total of 4 different white players on her rosters here in 12 years. Two of those were on last year's team one of which was a walk-on I believe.
I don't have the time to try to research what TN and Miss St rosters have looked like over that time period, but Staley's rosters have been almost entirely black.
And I disagree with your assertion that 'any elite basketball team, men or women' is basically all black like our women's teams. I think that is proveably false.
I would think playing experience would be helpful but there have been successful coaches who did not play the sport they coach.
Just like the makeup of our athletic department staff is only an issue if you want to make it one.
Something tells me you would not take the same stand for these folks. Or maybe you would. I certainly hope so.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.la...sions-ivy-league-affirmative-action?_amp=true
Have you paid much attention to the Hoopgurlz Top 100 players each year? Perhaps our squad is roughly reflective of the racial mix of the top players in the country and the geographical areas of emphasis our coaches recruit.
Suggesting that our ONLY university’s consistently high performing coach chooses players because of anything other than their ability to facilitate winning is absurd and is, itself, thinly veiled race baiting.
And a couple of quick fact checks: First, Ms. Hickman has been employed by the university for 13 years and spent seven of those years overseeing the academic support staff at the Dodie. Her latest appointment is merely a promotion, so although what CDS said may’ve been ill informed or advised, she absolutely did not advocate for Ms. Hickman’s termination like a number of you are saying. She merely questioned her goodness of fit for the role to which she had just been appointed, not for the important role she previously had in the athletic department or any number of other potential roles she might play if not in the one to which she was just appointed. Saying that CDS advocated for Ms. Hickman’s losing her employment is adding 2+2 and ending up with 7.
Second, for the considerable number of apparent race baiters in the crowd (“speaking of lack of diversity and inclusion,” statements regarding Staley having antipathy toward white folks etc.,, you do realize Ms. Hickman is a minority, right?
I realize you can only ask questions and write just so many letters in a post. I find the sarcastic inquisitive style of posting that you and many others use (must be a strategy, or more likely, lack of anything to add) to be not worth my time.
So you’ve made assertions about my position, assumed my tone, and insulted me all based on limited letters and questions.
Have not looked at TN but Schaeffer had a total of 3 white girls on his teams during his tenure and 1 of the 3 was his daughter
I cannot insult you. I can assess what I read on a sports board, and what I read is you don't want to share your opinion, you want to goad others to your opinion. Your tone is, well your tone. And, you have provided limited letters and asked a bunch of questions. It's just not a style I want to engage with. I'm sure you are a fine, kind person caught up in using whatever tools you have to make your point. So no, not insulting you. Telling you your style does not appeal to me enough to participate in a substantive discussion. You probably feel the same way about me. Whatever......
Which leads to my point, you don’t hire someone on just the principle of them being BLACK OR WHITE!!!
If you're going to imply Dawn is purposely passing over elite players based on race, there needs to be some type of comparisons to back up your claim. I can save you the trouble of looking because it doesn't exist. All the rosters in the SEC looks pretty much like ours. Since you don't have time to validate your point, look at Frank's roster. Maybe he and Dawn has a secret agreement to exclude all those elite white players wanting to play for South Carolina.
Agree but likewise you don't dismiss someone from consideration based on their skin color.
I will refer you to my original post on this topic in which I listed the makeup of Staley's rosters over the last 12 years since she was named the coach here. I did not imply anything or make a comparison to the makeup of other SEC teams.
I made the point that while she is out clamoring for diversity that maybe she should lead by example and show a little diversity on her roster which featured 100% black players for 6 straight years and 94.3% black players over a 12-year period.
or... just hear me out..orrrr you can say “i don’t know enough about the situation to apply any criticism at this time. next question.” but no. it was an opportunity for rage and selfishness to boil up from within. understandable for sure, but ignorance prevailed, thus we have this situation played out on social media and web forums, not to mention the person who had to go home after a day of hard ass work, get the kids and husband standing still long enough for dinner, little bit of laundry, get ready for work tomorrow, pick a show or movie, grab some sheets, BAAAAAAM!!!! wrestling all night, tossing and turning, about some bullshit at the work place. I’d sue. that’s technically slander. dawn needed to be a little more scrupulous during the pre interview and interview process. no reason for this.
wont speak for @radcock but I have my own thoughts cause I was going to post it as well. So, I will highlight my reason...
“Under Hickman's leadership the athletics department has experienced record-setting grade-point averages for its student-athletes and continues to lead the SEC with the number of student-athletes named to the SEC Fall Academic Honor Roll. Student-athlete participation in community service has increased significantly.”
That’s all I need to know. She does her job well! Ok so CDS admitted that she didn’t know all that she did and now she does. Lesson learned. Who hasn’t put their foot in their mouth on social media?With criticism there is always a grain of truth. Tanner should search for that and make it right.
Also, for everyone making this about race. Just stop! Who among you really care about the race of players on our WBB team?
No I don’t pay attention to Hoopgurlz top 100. Do not know you but you sure read a lot into my comment. Sounds to me as if you may be the one race baiting as you say. Anyway thanks for the lecture.
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Overzealous much? “I’d sue”. She made a mistake and apologized. We do not know the nature of their relationship but your going to throw out something this inflammatory. Come on!! You are criticizing her for making the remarks and now this from you? Really??
White Girls in the ESPN College Hoops 2020:
Ranking in America:
#1 Paige Bueckers
#3 Cameron Brink
#4 Caitlin Clark
#7 Haley Van Lith
#8 Sidney Parrish
this is as far as I'm going...5 of the TOP 10 are white and one is hispanic...so please spare me there is not enough white talent...Paige Beuckers may be one of the best of all time...
My guess is, white girls would feel uncomfortable coming to Carolina.
The girl that transferred to Mizzou is a white girl.
Let's just face it, Dawn is not recruiting white girls and the my guess is white girls probably would not consider playing for her...IMO
Ranking in America:
#1 Paige Bueckers
#3 Cameron Brink
#4 Caitlin Clark
#7 Haley Van Lith
#8 Sidney Parrish
this is as far as I'm going...5 of the TOP 10 are white and one is hispanic...so please spare me there is not enough white talent...Paige Beuckers may be one of the best of all time...
My guess is, white girls would feel uncomfortable coming to Carolina.
The girl that transferred to Mizzou is a white girl.
Let's just face it, Dawn is not recruiting white girls and the my guess is white girls probably would not consider playing for her...IMO
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No SEC team signed any of those players. Does that mean none of them recruit white players?
No, it means that WHITE girls can play with the best of them in America...so it 50% of the espn girls top 10 are white...and it more or less be the same in 2021, why no white players on Carolina's team from the top 10 or top 100 for the last 7-8 years...i think it's common knowledge why there are have been no white girls on the team...does not take a rocket scientist....
I would suggest that you might not be so faux surprised by the ethnic makeup of our women’s basketball team if you spent even a little time examining the pool of players comprising the top 50 or 100 players in each recruiting class (I.e., the players a top 5 team is going to recruit if they want to stay in the top 5). Wonder of wonders: a majority of them are Black, and in many years, that majority is rather substantial.
I read nothing into your post (much of my post was addressing other comments in the thread... just quoted your post as a starting point), but since I’ve been accused of the crime, let me go ahead and commit it. I’m pretty sure, if your post that I quoted had any purpose beyond trolling, that it was intended to convey one or more of the following:
1) Staley lacks credibility to speak on diversity issues because a substantial majority of her team is Black;
2) Staley shouldn’t speak of someone else’s qualifications to speak about diversity because most of her players are Black; and/or
3) The racial composition of Staley’s roster implies some sort of prejudice or hypocrisy on her part.
By all means, enlighten me because I’m not too quick on the uptake: what were you getting at when you took the time to pull a picture of our predominantly Black women’s basketball roster with the caption, “Definitely not much diversity in this picture“? Please don’t cop out and say, “I was just making an observation that her team doesn’t have much diversity.”
And? In a thread discussing Coach Staley’s statement and subsequent retraction about Ms. Hickman’s appointment as the athletic department’s diversity czar, you had to have a point. Right?
So does this mean that Staley doesn’t recruit white players/generally disfavors them, or could it mean that white players generally tend to commit to schools with white coaches? Which do you believe to be the case? I sincerely don’t know the answer to the question and am not asking to be rhetorical or snide. How many of the aforementioned white players went to schools whose coaches were Black? I think less than 20% of D1 women’s head coaches last year were minorities... would be interesting to see whether our rosters look like the rosters of minority coaches at other top echelon programs. If so, that would suggest to me that the issue is less with coaches and more with the recruits who, in the end, choose where they play. Once again, I don’t know the answer... the rosters of other minority women’s coaches may be chock full of white players.
The one thing I would say is that i would be absolutely shocked if Coach Staley or any other coach turned away an interested bluechip player because of race. Every elite coach’s first, second and third goal is winning, and recruiting’s only goal for winners is to serve that end.
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My question is how can DS criticize anyone for not doing enough for one group merely because of those people's skin color and without regard to qualification while seemingly doing the exact same thing with her team?
If you follow her reasoning, then she should have white players on the team just because of skin color without regard to talent.
I disagree on both. You get the best person for the position.... period.
Seems all this only matters when it fits the narrative
If you follow her reasoning, then she should have white players on the team just because of skin color without regard to talent.
I disagree on both. You get the best person for the position.... period.
Seems all this only matters when it fits the narrative
Should we make a rule that all programs have at least 3 white players on scholarship?
That is not what i said.
My point was that skin color should play no role in the makeup of any organization.
The job should go to the best qualified individual.
If the entire team is "pick a color," who cares as long as they were the best players that were available.
If the entire athletic department and coaches are green or blue, does it matter if they are all the best for the job.
As long as people continue to see skin color, we will never get past this.
Ironically, it appears that some who preach we need to get past it cant seem to let it go.
I know that isn’t what you said. It’s a ridiculous idea. Try to keep follow along.
Not in favor of qoutas.
Goals don't do much better.
Earlier development and training is the key to expanding talent pools.
Oh so maybe we should start some government programs to help fund training programs for white girls.
I was a little tough this afternoon when I commented on your posting style. My last post was an attempt to reach back out to you a bit. To engage civilly. Oh well.....
But I will respond to your question.
No. No qoutas, no goals, and coaches who default to selecting players on race at early ages should be encouraged to be more open minded to what everyone can bring to the game.
So what is your opinion about a qouta for scholarship players?
Well stated. Staley is concerned about the makeup of the USC athletics department saying it needs more people 'who look like me'. At the same time, she finds no problem with a 12 year history of her basketball roster being almost exclusively black.
She is the one who seems a little too concerned about the race of people. Some of her recent quotes reveal this including her 'apology' in regards to the initial topic of this thread.
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