CLK wrote:

Ron Musselman‏@ronmusselman81mGood move for Suzie. RT @theduke_sports: Coach McConnell-Serio is leaving Duquesne to take the head coaching job at Pitt

MSA Sports‏@MSASports3mMultiple reports that #Pitt will hire #Duquesne's Suzie McConnell-Serio as next Women's basketball coach
 

 
The ACC is really a step up, wish her good luck.

Bad luck to you, Susie!

Nothing personal, if you were headed to Penn State or Vanderbilt or Tennessee or Arizona or even WVU I'd say good luck, but since it's Pitt I wish you the worst.

I hope Darcie Vincent will agree to take your place.

I knew this was happening last night and I should have posted it.  I saw that last night at around ten SMS started had EJ Borghetti, Pitt's SID following here on twitter and then a bunch of other Pitt people shortly their after.

Sorry, but this is a punch in the stomach to lose her to Pitt.  I am done with the McConnell family at Duquesne for a while.   Just the way I feel.  Petty as it is.

Last edited by duqkurt (4/12/2013 11:42 am)

Congrats to Dejan K of the Trib, as always on having his pulse on all things DU related.  

Now all the Pittsburgh media is following SMS on twitter.  Jim Colony, the Fan morning show......I can't wait to see her crocodile tears when leaving.  

Noose further tightening around Amodio neck.    Still can't get a team into the NCAA tournament and now the only realistic shot they had took a significant hit.

Last edited by duqkurt (4/12/2013 12:06 pm)

ElDuque wrote:

As for Suzie, thanks! Maybe at Pitt, with all of that money, you'll be able to win against ranked teams.

Or win a game against a non ranked team to get your team into the NCAA tournament.  She was 0-3 in that regard.

And we are getting obilerated in Twitter.   Sorry, but I don't have any of the "Thanks" and "Wish you well"  sentiment here.   She is effectively putting the ax in Duquesne's women basketball for the future.   We will lose the any attention in the local media and any hope of local quality players.  

She could have stayed, gotten DU into the tournament, have her kids graduate high school, and had her pick of any position she wanted.   She left and it feels like a knife in the back for this DU fan. 
 

We are getting used to the McConnell family knife in the back.   That is for sure. 

Steve Miller Band has a song with this...."go on, take the money and run".

Hey, pitt couldnt beat her, so they bought her.

 

if you did, so what?  Am i missing something?  Would she have stayed?  

Pitt raids Duquesne
Nice Headlines on Line

I'm sure the money was too much for her to pass up.  Any of us that work for a living, would take a large bump in pay to move to a competitor. 
Granted it was nice to have a celebrity coach, but it didn't help us beat Dayton, or St. Joe in order to make the NCAA tourney.  It would have been nice if she could have made the tourney one time before jumping ship, but timing is everything, and where else could she go without uprooting her family?  I think the TJ transfer made it a little uncomfortable for her at Duquesne, so it was just a matter of time.  As others have said, I would wish her well had she gone to any other school; but not Pitt.
 
In terms of building the program; she deserves a lot of credit, Duquesne has somewhat of a respected name in women's basketball thanks to Suzie, her assistants and her players.  In terms of performance; especially this year, the defense was outstanding, but I found the offense to be disorganized and showing little or no improvement throughout the season.  When I saw St Joe's play Duquesne I walked away saying that St Joe's was a much better coached offensive team, with certainly more offensive weapons than Duquesne.  Suzie's teams fell short in some critical areas in my opinion:  
1. Offensive execution,
2. Offensive weapons,
3. Size: they were usually much smaller on the front line than opponents,
4. Depth: The teams rarely had enough quality depth to deal with injuries or foul problems to front line players,
5. Recruiting: some may scoff at this; but I don't think Suzie maximized her fame and cashed in with enough top flight recruits.  Did she work hard enough at recruiting?  I don't know the answer; but something was lacking.

  My point is, that you don't need a celebrity coach; just a quality coach.  I doubt that many of us could name the coach at St, Joe's but she does and excellent job.

Last edited by levon1975 (4/12/2013 1:18 pm)

So what happens now?   Does the whole recuiting class get released because she left?    I am not used to someone leaving DU on terms like these.

townsonkid wrote:

she never had any real ties to DU, there was nothing that would have kept her here, DU cant pay the same rate as an ACC school.  

I think she sold herself short foing to pitt.  she could have stayed 2 more years at DU, got to a NCAA, and then picked where she wanted to go.  

What about that Vincent girl?  You think our clown AD will even consider her?

http://www.goasu.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=21500&ATCLID=1549349

I don't think Suzie had any desire to leave Pittsburgh at this point. She's getting some years on her, and I'm sure her husband is tired of moving around, as well as her kids.

As for Darcie Vincent, by all indications, it may be a case of her not wanting to coach in a big city. Apparently, she's a country girl at heart, and would prefer to be in a small town.