The Current MIAC Coaching Carousel

No doubt that many you are aware of the two changes that have taken place on the MIAC Women's Basketball front with head coaches and thought I should spotlight each situation. 

Over at Macalester, the new head coach was named earlier this month and it was a bit of a surprise - at least to me anyway - as they opted to snare another coach from another conference instead of staying local as I anticipated they would.  The new person handed the reigns at Macalester is Pamela Findlay who comes into the position after two years at Lewis & Clark out of the Northwest Conference.  Just judging from her relatively short tenure in Portland with the Pioneers, it looks to be a pretty solid hire.  In her first season at Lewis & Clark, she took a team that had won just three games the year before and managed to win 16 games and got to the NWC Playoffs; the biggest improvement in Division III that season.  This last season her squad went 14-12 and again managed to make the NWC Playoffs.  A native of the Chicago area, she actually started her coaching career as a graduate assistant at Bemidji State and also did a stint as an assistant at Washington & Lee before taking the job at Lewis & Clark.  Along with her playing career at the Air Force Academy, you would have to think that Macalester got a pretty good get in snaring Findlay.  The big question is how fast she can bring Macalester from the lower tier of the conference into the mix for a playoff berth?  Given that the MIAC is currently dominated by UST and followed by other powerhouses such as GAC, Bethel and CSB, it's going to be a tough nut to crack.  Still, I like the hire and I want to see what she can do not only on the court but on the recruiting trail as well.

Meanwhile, down the River and the Canadian Pacific River Sub mainline in Winona, I'm sure many were shocked (I know I was anyway) when I saw the news late Thursday afternoon that Brent Pollari was stepping down from his head coaching position at SMU to accept the job at Wayne State of the NSIC (Division II).  This one really took me by surprise as I just did not see this one coming given the season he had this last year and the bright promise for the 2018-19 season.  At the same time, however, you can't really blame him for taking the Wayne State job.  More money and better perks and when an opportunity like that comes along you've got to snatch it while it's there and I wish him the best there.  But what's perhaps even more shocking about this move is the timing of it - in mid-June.  It's one thing when a coach steps down at the end of a season to accept a position somewhere else but when it happens at this time of the year, it certainly shortens the window of opportunity to find a suitable replacement and that's the challenge that SMU AD Nikki Fennern who has now seen two coaches depart in the span of three years to Division II schools faces.  Given the talent that SMU has coming back for this next season, the Cardinals should be in good shape there but the recruiting that's been done up until this point now becomes a dicey item.  How many of those recruits who were originally slated to come to SMU might have second thoughts given the coaching change?  It will definitely be interesting to see what direction SMU takes wrt the search process given the relatively short time window they have to do it.