Displaying items by tag: Women's College Basketball

The University of Akron has a new women's basketball coach.

Melissa Jackson was officially named the head coach this week,taking over for the all-time winningest coach in Zips history, Jodi Kest.

Jackson joined the Sam and Brad Show to talk about the new gig and how she plans on putting her stamp on the program. 

After 12 seasons coaching at the University of Akron, 34 overall, head women's basketball coach Jodi Kest is retiring.

She joined Sam and Brad Thursday to talk about her career and latest ventures. 

We at 1590 WAKR wish Jodi the best in all of her future endeavors. 

A titan in the coaching world passed away this morning, leaving a legacy of winning, touching lives, and making other people better.

Pat Summitt, the longtime coach of the Tennessee Lady Volunteers women's basketball team died this morning at the age of 64 after battling early onset dementia.

One of her former players, Vonda Ward joined the Sam Bourquin Show to talk about Summitt as a coach, mentor, and mother figure to numerous people throughout her remarkable life.

"It's hearbreaking," she said. "It (the disease) just takes a person's mind and they're not there anymore."

Vonda played at Tennessee from 1991-1995. As a highly recruited player in high school, she distinctly remembered Pat Summitt walking through the door as a high school senior.

"She had a way of commanding respect, but was the most caring person, you had the utmost respect for her."

Summitt won eight national titles as the coach of the Lady Vols and is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame.

For the full interview with Vonda, click here.

After a series of blowouts in the regular season and in the NCAA Women's Tournament, many people have asked the question Is UConn too good? 

Here to talk about that is Hartford Courant contributor Gabriella Levine, who joined the Sam Bourquin Show to talk about the sustained excellence from Coach Geno Auriemma's squad.

She says Geno recruits at a different level and coaches at a different level than other coaches and you can't take anything away from what he's built in Storrs.

"I think that UConn is able to separate themselves because they keep their foot on the pedal from the time they start the season to the time they finish the season," Levine says. 

She says that the argument that UConn is bad for the game is an argument that people in Storrs don't take to kindly to, but that every time UConn comes up big, that argument resurfaces time and time again.

 The Huskies are in the Final Four once again, and they are too focused to have any sort of mental letdowns in Indianapolis.

"They are too far along, they are too consistent, the team is led by three seniors with a lot of experience, and you have three newbies in the Final Four (Washington, Syracuse, and Oregon State), they don't know how to lose at this point," Levine explained.