Yolanda Griffith May Still Retire!!
According to the Bee on Friday or Saturday, Griffith says she has no decided whether she is coming back for 2007. Read the first local insight into new Coach Jenny, and then you will see quotes from Coach Whisnant.
New Monarchs coach seek path to success
Jenny Boucek's own basketball odyssey hasn't always been easy, but as the Monarchs' new coach, it's her duty to keep the team focused
By Melody Gutierrez - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PST Saturday, February 10, 2007
Jenny Boucek squints at the sunlight, her bright blue eyes illuminated against a purple Monarchs polo shirt she just put on. Posing for a photographer, Boucek straightens the shirt and steadies a basketball under her left arm.
She arches her back, then holds her smile.
Snap. Snap. Snap. Snap.
Boucek relaxes with each frame, through each pose. But behind the relaxed demeanor, the new Monarchs coach knows she is preparing for the biggest challenge of her professional career.
At 33, she's the youngest coach in the WNBA and will lead a team that has made it to the Finals the last two seasons and won the 2005 league championship.
Feel any pressure, Ms. Boucek?
"I've never felt more ready," she answers without hesitation.
But that hasn't always been the case. Detours, injuries and setbacks have been part of her journey from prominent player to up-and-coming coach. That journey took a surprising turn two years ago when Boucek abruptly walked away from it all. Setting her own course
If WNBA coaches have a stereotype, Boucek isn't it. For starters, she's one of just three women -- and the only former WNBA player -- coaching in the league.
Her Southern drawl and even temperament make it hard to imagine her scowling at referees and yelling at players to perform. Rouge and mascara highlight her delicate features. The white tips of a French manicure punctuate her hands.
She's a self-proclaimed gym rat who habitually has chosen the less conventional path. While she excelled at volleyball and tennis at her Tennessee high school, she fell in love with basketball. When college coaches promised her starring roles on their basketball teams, Boucek chose Virginia because head coach Debbie Ryan said there was a chance Boucek wouldn't play at all.
Boucek doesn't set long-term goals, instead trusting that she will end up where she should be. Now, in her first stint as a head coach, Boucek again is navigating unfamiliar territory.
Her coaching style?
"It's a little yet to be determined," Boucek said.
Expectations?
"Our goal is for this team to reach its full potential," she said. "Whatever happens after that is what happens."
OK, so maybe it's too early to talk about specifics, considering that training camp is two months away. Boucek understands her mantra will be to stay the course, which for the Monarchs has been the way to success. Sacramento finished one win shy of earning back-to-back WNBA championships, losing the deciding Game Five to Detroit in September.
It's less about change than it is about evolution and identifying how the Monarchs can improve, Boucek said.
Never too young
From a hotel room in New York, Monarchs general manager John Whisenant was preparing to scout potential players for the April 4 WNBA draft. His weeks have been consumed by calling agents, attempting to secure much of the same roster he led as the team's previous head coach.
"My goal is to make Jenny's first year no more traumatic of an experience than it would be for any young head coach," Whisenant said.
To get the players he wants, Whisenant has to manage a hard salary cap, deal with retirement talk by a key player and negotiate the free-agent market.
Whisenant said restricted free agent Kara Lawson has signed with the team, while he expects unrestricted free agent Ticha Penicheiro to sign soon. He said talks with unrestricted free agent Yolanda Griffith, currently playing in South Korea, have been encouraging, but the 36-year-old still might retire. "I don't think she has said yes or no to anyone," Whisenant said Friday. "But I do believe she will play."
Whisenant said he understands why Griffith hesitates accepting a new coach, especially one three years her junior. He says, however, Boucek's age is a non-factor.
Hiring young coaches is no longer unusual in professional sports. The Raiders hired 31-year-old Lane Kiffin on Jan. 22, and the Kings opted for youth when they picked 42-year-old Eric Musselman in June. Nets coach Lawrence Frank and Cavaliers coach Mike Brown, both 36, are the NBA's youngest coaches.
"We may be setting a precedent in hiring that young of a female coach," Whisenant said. "All the great coaches were first-time coaches somewhere. There is always some uncertainty until they prove themselves."
Making acquaintances
Lawson doesn't talk much while working out one-on-one, but these days she's had to open up. The fifth-year guard is learning Boucek's drills and terminology.
In between traveling the country as an ESPN commentator, Lawson's recent trip to Sacramento included a few workouts with her new coach.
"I think it's definitely an advantage for me that I get a chance to learn what she is going to expect from me as an individual, and as a team," Lawson said. "Getting to know her personality can only help me in the transition from changing coaches."
Introductions to the new coach aren't necessary for DeMya Walker and Penicheiro. Walker -- in Samara, Russia, playing for CSKA -- and Boucek were teammates at Virginia during the 1995-96 season.
"There is comfort there," Boucek said. "I know her heart. I understand DeMya, and I know what her makeup is."
Penicheiro played against Boucek while attending Old Dominion. Over the years, Penicheiro's team leadership has impressed Boucek.
"I told Ticha point-blank on the phone that she is one of the players I am most excited about coaching," Boucek said. "I believe her best basketball -- and I've told her this -- is ahead of her."
Preparing to lead
Walking into the practice facility, Boucek crosses the court emblazoned with a Monarchs logo to take a few more photographs. When finished, she grabs the basketball she used as a prop and sends it sailing toward the hoop.
It sinks, barely disturbing the net.
Boucek looks comfortable on the hardwood. She appears eager for her players to join her here, having thought through what she can bring to an already successful franchise.
"I hope that it will be an advantage for the team and the players that I have had a lot of experiences in this league," she said.
Her WNBA career began in 1997 in Cleveland with the now-defunct Rockers during the league's inaugural season, a pairing that almost didn't happen. Boucek quit playing the previous year and had pretty much given up on the sport.
When she heard of open tryouts, she allowed herself to dream.
"I knew I couldn't live with myself if I didn't try," she said. "It was a huge cattle call. Anyone who had ever dreamed of playing basketball showed up. Everyone was trying to get noticed, so people wore fluorescent headbands."
Boucek made the roster, earning a $10,000 contract. She played two seasons before suffering a career-ending back injury in 1998.
In 1999, she began her WNBA coaching career as an assistant with the Washington Mystics. A year later, she started a three-year run with the now-defunct Miami Sol as an assistant coach. Then it was on to Seattle, where she was a Storm assistant under coach Anne Donovan and helped guide the team to the 2004 WNBA championship.
"It was a blessing," Boucek said.
But something was missing in a career that seemed to be on track, and Boucek surprised people around her by leaving the WNBA in 2005.
She had nothing else lined up, just some money saved and soul-searching on her mind.
"I knew I needed a break," Boucek said.
So she took a year off, traveled, wrote in journals and took church classes. She asked herself some introspective questions.
"I really allowed myself to dream," she said. "If I could have anything in the world, what would it be? I didn't set limits or allow rules. What would it be? It became clear, my calling is coaching."
And two phone calls made it official. The first sent her back to Seattle as an advance scout for the NBA's SuperSonics for one season. Whisenant was on the line during the second call in November.
"It was out of the blue for me," Boucek said. "But I didn't feel I had ever been so ready."
