… another Marquette coach is pursuing opportunities. See below. …
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McCallie headed for Duke
Matthew Miller and Geoff Kimmerly
Lansing State Journal
Joanne P. McCallie is leaving as coach of the Michigan State women's basketball program to take over at Duke, less than a month after signing a new contract to coach the Spartans.
"The entire McCallie family is absolutely thrilled about the opportunity to serve at Duke," McCallie said in a release sent by Duke. "This has been a dream job of mine for many years. We cannot wait to meet and get to know a team that we are so very impressed by academically, as well as athletically, and by the way they carry themselves."
Michigan State's players were informed during a team meeting this afternoon. McCallie will be introduced at Duke at 1:30 p.m. Friday.
“I say good luck to her. God bless her,” said MSU Trustee George Perles, adding that he didn’t think MSU would have trouble attracting another top-notch coach.
“The good news is we’ve got the best facilities in the world, so we’re going to attract great players, and there’s a lot of good coaches out there.” he said.
McCallie interviewed for Duke's open coaching job earlier this week. Duke associate sports information director Lindy Brown also confirmed that Marquette coach Terri Mitchell interviewed earlier this week. A report in today's Durham Herald-Sun said McCallie and Mitchell were the finalists to replace former coach Gail Goestenkors, who left for Texas after the season.
According to a previous report, California coach Joanne Boyle last week turned down an offer from Duke.
MSU trustee Faylene Owen said she’d only found out about McCallie’s departure this morning.
“I’m very surprised,” Owen said. “She’s done wonderful things with our team.”
“I , too, will look forward to hearing some of the details,” she added.
Less than a month ago, McCallie signed a new contract with MSU that seemed to squash rumors she'd be leaving for open jobs. That contract, signed March 24, boosted her base salary by nearly $100,000 -- and made her contract worth $500,000 per year and up to $643,000 with incentives.
MSU is 149-75 in McCallie's seven seasons. She is 316-148 during her career, which has also included eight seasons at Maine. The Spartans finished 24-9 this past season and lost to eventual national runner-up Rutgers in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
