Olympia Scott quits her college coaching job

[StevenHW]

William Smith College (located in Geneva, New York) announced that Monarch Olympia Scott-Richardson --- BTW, she's going by her maiden name, did she divorce recently? --- has just resigned from her job as the Head Coach for their women's b-ball team. She was the coach for just one year.

I am curious about the timing of this. She wants to focus on her WNBA career, but if the Monarchs had not won the WNBA Championship, would her decision to quit her college coaching job been any different?

And what are the chances that she will back with the Monarchs (or any other WNBA team) next season?

http://www.collegesports.com/sports/w-baskbl/stories/100605aac.html

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SCOTT RESIGNS TO FOCUS ON WNBA
William Smith head coach has resigned

Oct. 6, 2005

Courtesy William Smith Athletics



GENEVA, N.Y.-- William Smith College Director of Athletics Deb Steward announced the resignation of Head Basketball Coach Olympia Scott this afternoon. Assistant Coach Lindsay Drury will lead all team operations until an interim head coach is named.

Scott, a member of the WNBA Champion Sacramento Monarchs, leaves the College after one season to focus on her playing career fulltime.

"From my phone conversation with Olympia, I know she struggled with this decision," Steward said. "She connected with the student-athletes and helped build their confidence. We appreciate the impact she has had on the Herons and we wish her the best of luck."

In her first season as head coach, Scott led William Smith to the Liberty League regular season and tournament championships, an appearance in the NCAA regional semifinals, and the program's first 20-win season (20-8) since 1999-2000. The efforts of the William Smith coaching staff, which also includes second-year assistant Charlie Evangelista, were recognized when the conference voted them the Liberty League Coaching Staff of the Year.

William Smith returns 10 letterwinners, including four starters. The team's top three scorers all return, including 2005 Liberty League Rookie of the Year Marisa Vespa (Immaculate Heart/Watertown, N.Y.), who led the team with 11.5 ppg and a William Smith first-year record 142 assists.


"While we are disappointed with the timing of this decision, we appreciate the seed that she planted," Steward said. "She provided the William Smith basketball program with much needed energy and direction, and put the Herons on a championship course."

The Herons open the season on Nov. 19, at Keuka. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m.
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[RoyalDiva]

I would think that if a woman stops using her married name, then yes, she must be divorced, but that's besides the point. Perhaps it was the workload? College coaches live, breathe, and sleep their job, maybe she got understandably burned out. Or maybe it's financial. I have no idea, all we can do is speculate.

 

[StevenHW]

Well, yes, I guess you are right; it's all speculative at this point. Perhaps the Monarchs' WNBA Championship win may have convinced her that she should keep playing, and it's hard to concentrate on playing for one team and coaching for another team. And since college coaches also have to recruit high school players during their offseason --- and recruiting is a HUGE portion of the job, and perhaps more bigger than drawing plays, practicing, and X's/O's diagramming --- the workload of playing and coaching with two different teams on both sides of the country may have been too much for her.

Still, there are WNBA players who are assistant coaches or head coaches during the college season. Example: Dawn Staley of the Houston Comets is also a head coach at Temple University. I think she recently said that 2006 might be her last season as a WNBA player.

Judging from her college team's won-loss record, I would say Olympia has a bright future as head coach. But for now, I guess she will keep playing until she really physically can't do that anymore.

 

[Purple Reign]

With all due respect, she should have kept her job.

 

[Monty'sBiggestFan]

I believe she actually stopped using her hyphenated name earlier because I remembered reading a story in the Bee during training camp that she either was divorced then or going through the process of getting divorced. I almost want to say that the broadcast team had at some point stopped using the Richardson part of her name and were just calling her Scott. I never understood why it remained on her uniform throughout the season.

I'm curious as to why she waited this long to resign. I could have sworn I had read somewhere just after the season ended that she had signed to play overseas. So I had already assumed that she was one and done at the college. I'm not sure its a bad decision on her part, and it may very well in fact be a financial decision since I believe she has a young daughter. She's likely making more money overseas and/or with her WNBA salary level than she is/was coaching at a DII or DII school. I also don't think its a bad move if Whiz had told her he planned to re-sign her or her agent had feelers from other teams in the W since she is an unrestricted FA.

Staley's situation is so unique that I wouldn't think it would be comparable to anybody and I'm not sure anybody other than someone of her stature (no pun intended) could pull it off. She may have a job at Temple for as long as she wants one no matter what she does or what her record is. I'm sure she juggles a lot, but she's got a lot more program money and program staff to help her do what she needs to do to get kids to come play and get her kids ready to play in the upcoming season than I think someone at the DIII level does.

There's something I guess to be said about how deeply connected this group of Monarchs felt to one another and what they were accomplishing throughout the season and if that's the lure for Scott, cool. I don't think keeping her on the payroll the next season or two is a bad thing at all - she had some effective minutes on the floor during DeMya's absence(s). And if Yo sticks to her word and 2006 is indeed her swan song -we're going to need someone eating a lot of backup center minutes in '07.