UCF athletic director Danny White has certainly been proactive with his coaching hires early in his tenure. He has not held back going after some interesting coaching hires to fill the football and men’s basketball vacancies.
Women’s basketball has a little bit of a lower profile, but could still be a big sport and a big promoter for UCF. There is opportunity for the Knights if the program can grow — even if it ultimately means living in UConn’s shadow within the conference.
What direction the Knights will go still seems a bit uncertain. It appears by some reports White is reaching big going after some high profile assistants including Tennessee assistant Kyra Elzy-Lander.
The search though is multi-faceted though. The Knights are not just swinging for the fences for high profile assistants. There may be monetary limitations in the hire with how much the Knights want to invest in a program that has not made a postseason tournament since 2011. That was when the team was still in Conference USA.
WHoopDirt.com reports the Knights have also looked into Jacksonville coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin, Elon coach Charlotte Smith, Florida assistant Shimmy Gray-Miller and USF associated head coach Jeff Osterman. Those names do not have the same program appeal as the two names Brandon Helwig of UCFSports.com reported over the weekend.
UPDATE: Shimmy Gray-Miller has informed Orlando Sports Daily she has not nor was she ever a candidate for the UCF women’s basketball job.
It should be reminded none of these names are coming from UCF but from women’s basketball industry insiders.
Certainly it looks like UCF is looking into assistants from established programs and head coaches from up-and-coming programs.
McPhee-McCuin just finished her third year as head coach of the Dolphins, leading them to a 22-11 record and an Atlantic Suns Tournament championship with a NCAA berth. Jacksonville lost to South Carolina in the first round. This came a year after the team finished 12-17. She coached at Clemson before arriving in Jacksonville.
Smith has been with Elon since the 2012 season after spending 10 years as an assistant at North Carolina. Like many of White’s candidates, Smith has a pedigree with an established program. Elon has gone 87-69 in her time with the Phoenix. They went 18-13 this season, reaching the Women’s NIT.
Gray-Miller is a first-year assistant with the Gators after four years at Nebraska and seven years as head coach at Saint Louis.
Osterman has been with the Bulls since 2005 and spent nine years as head coach of Central Florida Community College. The Bulls went 24-10 this year, reaching the second round of the NCAA Tournament as a 6-seed and the second-place team in the American.
These all seem like very qualified candidates. Certainly ones that seem very realistic for UCF.
White said last week he hoped to begin interviews soon. They likely have begun already as the Knights try to winnow their list down and find the right fit.
There are definitely interested candidates in this position. Whether they can build a program at UCF that can win sustainably is the bigger question.
