From today's Marty Mac's World column

[StevenHW]

From today's (Dec. 6, 2005) "Marty Mac's World" (Martin McNeal) column in the sports pages of the Sacramento Bee:

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Women coaching in the NBA?

There are all types of men coaching women in the WNBA and on the college level, but never even a hint of talk about a woman coaching men, even as an assistant.


Will it ever happen?

Monarchs guard Kara Lawson played for one of the best coaches in history, man or woman - the University of Tennessee's Pat Summitt.

"I don't know," Lawson said. "I'd like to think that there will be (a woman coach) eventually. But it would have to be the right person, and it would have to be someone that comes up through the pipeline."

Unfortunately, right now, there is no pipeline. No female scouts in the NBA or advance scouting.

"Yeah," Lawson said, "and in my opinion, that's how long it's going to take."


Hmmmmmm
OK, I put nothing past anybody, but was it strange to see Monarchs coach John Whisenant sitting courtside and in the media room at halftime? The dude almost had a sign on that read, "I'll coach the Kings, too."

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[Monty'sBiggestFan]

When I saw him during one of the shots Sunday night, he seemed to me to be relieved he wasn't having to go through what Adelman is going through. Although I think he has gone through his own head scratching frustrations with his team in the beginning of 2004.

I do remember tho, before Maura got the ax, Whiz was traveling with the team and being much more visable as she made that death march road trip.

 

[Purple Reign]

John Whisenant New Sacramento Kings Coach?

I think "Whiz" could coach the Kings and I think that the Maloofs would strongly consider it. He is a great "people" guy, and the Kings need a people guy right now. I don't think he would do it though because of his health.

It would not be good for our beloved WNBA Champions, especially if they promote Coach T or any of the bench coaches. Some possible replacements anybody?

 

[Monty'sBiggestFan]

I think he could do it, but I don't think he wants to. He barely wants to continue coaching the M's.

If the Kings ax Adelman they'd be mo' better off finishing the season with Elston Turner as an interim than moving Whiz over to that chair. I know how much the Maloof family trusts him and his basketball knowhow, but that move make zero sense unless Whiz has been studying up on the 29 other teams in the NBA since the W season ended.

If they did do something crazy like that tho, they should slide Abetamarco up He'd probably need to be moved up to GM too, or the Maloofs would have to open their wallets to hire a GM and probably another assistant coach to fill out the staff. Because there's no way Abetamarco could be working the post game show and scouting and getting prepared for player signings and trying to make moves to fill needs.

 

[Purple Reign]

MBF - Do you like Abatemarco? I do not think he is wired to coach in the WNBA. He may be a good assistant, but he has never had prolonged success anywhere he has been as a head coach. If it went down with Whiz and the Kings, I would wish for him to hand pick someone outside of the organization, like he was picked.

 

[RoyalDiva]

It would be an unbearable workload for anyone to have to coach in two pro leagues, especially consecutively. That's just plain crazy. I would rather have Whiz remain coaching and giving his all to the M's, don't mess with success.

 

[Monty'sBiggestFan]

Abetamarco has grown on me. You're the 2nd person I've known say that he's not the answer for the Monarchs -someone mentioned that when we were talking after Whiz finished the 03 season saying he didn't know if he'd take the head job full time or not. T strikes me as sorta Larry Brown-ish in the sense that he tends to float around (A LOT). But he brings a lot of skills and teaching ability which I do think is a valuable trait in the W and he not so subtlely floated the idea that he wants to a head coaching gig (or expects to get a head coaching gig) through his finals broadcast mouthpiece Terry Gannon.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

I think he could do it, but I don't think he wants to. He barely wants to continue coaching the M's.

I disagree. Not only do I get the sense that he wants to coach the Kings, but there's something about this whole thing that makes me very uneasy; I'm getting this uncomfortable stab-him-in-the-back vibe out of the whole deal.

 

[Monty'sBiggestFan]

Has Rick even taken the knife out of his back from what happened over the summer?

I do take Whiz at his word and that coaching is not his gig right now and next year is probably it for him on the M's side. He maybe would take it on the interim, but he wouldn't take it long term. Having said that, I was extremely surprised to see him sitting intently taking in the Kings game on Sunday since he had to haul it to get there from Stanford. I don't remember seeing him leave that game before it ended. And during our trip to Stanford, I believe 6th was mentioning that all of the Maloof family members were in town and courtside for the game on Friday.

I just think it would be a goofy move on the Maloof's part, it reeks of something on the faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar side of desperation.

 

[MamaBristow]

Personally....I don't think the Kings deserve him. Whiz is an excellent coach, he has an eye for talent, and makes use of his whole roster. Not to mention his whole concept of defense winning games. He's probably the kind of guy they need.

The Maloofs love him, and...why wouldn't they? He brought them a championship. I just hope they don't want to steal him from the M's in order to turn the Kings around.

Whiz has enough to do....planning for a repeat.

 

[Sirius]

Well what Whiz did was assemble a team of athletes and defensive players and that's why they were winning, which is the exact opposite of what the Kings are right now. I think he's a great coach, but I don't think he is compatible with the current Kings roster.

 

[Purple Reign]

If Whisnant is offered the job to coach the Kings, he would be a fool for turning it down, unless health wise he can not deal with it.

You just can not turn down that kind of money. And it is a low risk proposition for him. If it doesn't go well, he can either go back to the WNBA or retire with a lot of money. If it does go well, which i do believe it would, he is a national phenomenon.

As a Monarchs fan i would hate to see him go, but as a Kings fan, i would love to see it happen.

 

[Monty'sBiggestFan]

I agree with Sirius, I don't think he's the defensive savior because at least he stepped into a situation with one of the WNBA's top defensive players (and probably best help defender) and a few very good complementary pieces around her. The Kings have none of that. The Kings simply have a roster problem, not an Adelman problem which is why I think its so goofy they'd consider yanking Whiz over other than their tendency to be knee jerk about things.

He modeled the M's in the image of the Spurs - do the Kings have adequate pieces to do what the Spurs do?

 

[MamaBristow]

I completely agree. But the obvious reaction when any team is under-performing is to axe the coach. Even when it's not the coach's fault that the team isn't winning.

The Kings don't have the "horses" for Whiz's system, which is a good thing for us. I don't think that the current Kings roster would thrive under his system. But it is his "system" that would make them win...he just needs a different roster.

When he took over for Maura, he didn't change much. He just let them play, and the Monarchs thrived with that. The next season was when he tried implementing his system...and they struggled with it for awhile. But the NBA season is much longer with a much longer training camp. Then it was this 2005 season where he cleaned house, kept the players that he knew would work and went out and got the rest.

The man is a winner. Doesn't matter what level he is coaching at. His first stab at coaching women and it only took him 2-1/2 seasons to make them champions. I like him too much to see him go to the Kings though. I think he has a perfect situation right where he's at. Why take over an underacheiving team when he can take a nearly intact Championship team for another Championship drive?

I don't see Whiz wanting to be a coach long-term anyways. He even talked about settling into his GM role after the Monarchs won it all this year. I think he'll give it a go for Yo's last season and then seek his replacement.

 

[KLAW20]

In the recent edition of Sports Illustrated, there's a little "gossip" section saying:
" 'The way things are going in Sacramento, coach Rick Adelman might not make it through the season. I'm hearing that a surprise -- but credible -- replacement could be John Whisenant, who recently led the Sacramento Monarchs to the WNBA championship. Whisenant is a former men's college coach and a low-key guy who has a longstanding relationship with the Maloof family.' "

I hope not!

 

[kennadog]

And the "gossip" in my last ESPN mag is that it might be Elston Turner. And Terry Porter has been seen at games. So who knows. *shrug* All is just sheer media speculation at this point.