Musical Chairs

The about to be Pac 12 has had the Head Coaches version of musical chairs and it has reached some of our Assistants also.

Closest to home Bobbie Kelsey is the new Head Coach at the University of Wisconsin. Barry Alvarez was the long time Football Coach at Wisconsin then became the Athletic Director and he has graded A+ with his hiring of his replacement as Football Coach. Now another A for hiring Bobbie and a surprise over the presumed front runner from Wisconsin-Green Bay. Bobbie will be hiring all three Assistants so stay tuned here for more.

Over at Cal Joanne Boyle bolted from the last 3 years of her contract for the University of Virginia. This seems like a fairly lateral move pay wise so it’s interesting. The only names to replace Boyle that have surfaced are Charmin Smith, who we all know and former Cal assistant and present UCSB Coach Lindsay Gottlieb. Before Boyle left, Cal assistant coach Kevin Morrison was let go and leading scorer DeNesha Stallworth announced she would be transferring.

Down at UCLA Nikki Caldwell has left UCLA after 3 years and replaced Van Chancellor who was let go by LSU. This is a shame for the Pac 12, UCLA really advanced as a team under Caldwell. However her compensation nearly triples with the move to the Bayou Country.

Up at Washington Head Coach Tia Jackson resigned and Xavier Head Coach Kevin McGuff replaced her. McGuff spent 9 years at Xavier, the last two he was 58-7, two of the losses to Stanford. McGuff’s salary was announced as $ 475K vs Jackson’s $ 180K. Washington’s assistants were also let go and McGuff’s first move was to hire former Cal assistant Kevin Morrison.

Finally the University of Utah made it official that interim Head Coach Anthony Levrets was named the Head Coach as long time former Coach Elaine Elliot announced her retirement. Elliot had been on a leave of absence the past season. The Levrets led Utah team went 18-17 and won their league tournament to get into the NCAA tournament.

Lots of changes, stay tuned for more.