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Article in the Bee on Maura McHugh:
http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/story/14227244p-15051012c.html
Back in the game again
Maura McHugh has found success in basketball at the college level
By Debbie Arrington -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Wednesday, March 8,
Story appeared in Sports section, Page C1
With a continuous assist from the team that fired her, former Monarchs coach Maura McHugh is back in her element, coaching and winning with college women.
Her assistant coach for the Stony Brook Seawolves is former Monarchs assistant Michele Cherry. McHugh says she still calls Kings video coordinator and Monarchs assistant coach Steve Shuman for game video, "to show my players how the game should be played."
With such help, McHugh has her team reaching for an invite to the NCAA Tournament, making for a Cinderella-type story for the Seawolves as well as McHugh.
"It was a ways in coming," said McHugh, who took over the Division I team on the eve of its first practice last season. "When I came in, the kids had no direction and no coach. They were just floundering around, out of shape and very young. I had to break it down from scratch and start from there. We're teaching them how to be winners."
After being fired by the Monarchs, McHugh took a year off and then returned to her roots in college basketball in eastern Long Island, N.Y., far from her home in Phoenix. In two seasons, she's helped Stony Brook jump from 8-20 in 2004-05 to 19-8 this season. That 11-win improvement ties the record for biggest turnaround in America East Conference history. The Seawolves finished their regular season against Maine with an 84-70 victory, their eighth in the last nine games. The victory pushed them to 12-4 in the America East and gave the Seawolves the second seed behind No. 1 Hartford in their conference tournament, where they will face Vermont in the quarterfinals Friday.
McHugh thinks her club has a good shot at making the NCAA Tournament. This season, the Seawolves knocked off then-No. 19 Temple and conference leader Hartford. The latter victory was her 250th as a college coach. "We're No. 9 on strength of schedule," she said of her team, rated No. 29 in the country, according to the Rating Percentage Index (RPI). "But we still need to do well in our tournament."
McHugh, known for colorful suits with a rainbow of matching pumps, says she still has the clothes but added: "I had to buy some boots and heavy wool coats. I never needed those in California or Arizona."
That's where McHugh has lived and coached for 20 years, first at Arizona State, then Long Beach in the American Basketball League and Sacramento in the WNBA. She joined the Monarchs as an assistant in 1999, the same year her Long Beach star, Yolanda Griffith, joined the team.
McHugh, who took over as Sacramento's head coach in 2001, said she always felt the Monarchs were capable of great things, but she was long gone when the team won the 2005 championship. On July 9, 2003, team owners Joe and Gavin Maloof fired McHugh in midseason after the Monarchs slipped to 7-11 and replaced her with John Whisenant. The timing was particularly stressful for McHugh; her father-in-law had died the day before. "I went from that to a funeral," she recalled. "I never heard from the Maloofs at all. We had injuries and issues that needed to be resolved. But that's history."
Although happy for Griffith and her former players, McHugh doesn't look back. "I moved on with my life," she said. "Most of the summer, I didn't even follow (the WNBA)."
Before taking the job at Stony Brook, McHugh spent a year visiting family and enjoying some free time. Although she's been considered for other jobs, McHugh said she took the Stony Brook post as a favor to athletic director and longtime friend James Fiore. "I was only going to stay one season to help them out; that's it," she said. "It was a no-risk situation. But right now, I'm having so much fun and the players have really stepped up. And they keep getting better."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm glad to hear she's doing well.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/story/14227244p-15051012c.html
Back in the game again
Maura McHugh has found success in basketball at the college level
By Debbie Arrington -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Wednesday, March 8,
Story appeared in Sports section, Page C1
With a continuous assist from the team that fired her, former Monarchs coach Maura McHugh is back in her element, coaching and winning with college women.
Her assistant coach for the Stony Brook Seawolves is former Monarchs assistant Michele Cherry. McHugh says she still calls Kings video coordinator and Monarchs assistant coach Steve Shuman for game video, "to show my players how the game should be played."
With such help, McHugh has her team reaching for an invite to the NCAA Tournament, making for a Cinderella-type story for the Seawolves as well as McHugh.
"It was a ways in coming," said McHugh, who took over the Division I team on the eve of its first practice last season. "When I came in, the kids had no direction and no coach. They were just floundering around, out of shape and very young. I had to break it down from scratch and start from there. We're teaching them how to be winners."
After being fired by the Monarchs, McHugh took a year off and then returned to her roots in college basketball in eastern Long Island, N.Y., far from her home in Phoenix. In two seasons, she's helped Stony Brook jump from 8-20 in 2004-05 to 19-8 this season. That 11-win improvement ties the record for biggest turnaround in America East Conference history. The Seawolves finished their regular season against Maine with an 84-70 victory, their eighth in the last nine games. The victory pushed them to 12-4 in the America East and gave the Seawolves the second seed behind No. 1 Hartford in their conference tournament, where they will face Vermont in the quarterfinals Friday.
McHugh thinks her club has a good shot at making the NCAA Tournament. This season, the Seawolves knocked off then-No. 19 Temple and conference leader Hartford. The latter victory was her 250th as a college coach. "We're No. 9 on strength of schedule," she said of her team, rated No. 29 in the country, according to the Rating Percentage Index (RPI). "But we still need to do well in our tournament."
McHugh, known for colorful suits with a rainbow of matching pumps, says she still has the clothes but added: "I had to buy some boots and heavy wool coats. I never needed those in California or Arizona."
That's where McHugh has lived and coached for 20 years, first at Arizona State, then Long Beach in the American Basketball League and Sacramento in the WNBA. She joined the Monarchs as an assistant in 1999, the same year her Long Beach star, Yolanda Griffith, joined the team.
McHugh, who took over as Sacramento's head coach in 2001, said she always felt the Monarchs were capable of great things, but she was long gone when the team won the 2005 championship. On July 9, 2003, team owners Joe and Gavin Maloof fired McHugh in midseason after the Monarchs slipped to 7-11 and replaced her with John Whisenant. The timing was particularly stressful for McHugh; her father-in-law had died the day before. "I went from that to a funeral," she recalled. "I never heard from the Maloofs at all. We had injuries and issues that needed to be resolved. But that's history."
Although happy for Griffith and her former players, McHugh doesn't look back. "I moved on with my life," she said. "Most of the summer, I didn't even follow (the WNBA)."
Before taking the job at Stony Brook, McHugh spent a year visiting family and enjoying some free time. Although she's been considered for other jobs, McHugh said she took the Stony Brook post as a favor to athletic director and longtime friend James Fiore. "I was only going to stay one season to help them out; that's it," she said. "It was a no-risk situation. But right now, I'm having so much fun and the players have really stepped up. And they keep getting better."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm glad to hear she's doing well.
