Terri Mitchell out as Head Coach

[keefe]

While we can't begin to understand the decision-making process behind the gossamer veil we can appreciate that Marquette can do the right thing, finally, and that is to bring in a coach who will substantially upgrade the profile of its athletic programs. I submit that Stacy Johnson-Klein has the attributes needed at this critical juncture in the university's history.

[4everwarriors]

Heard she loves that Beatle's oldie but goodie, "Twist and Shout" while on the hardwood.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Wojo was a statement hire in some sense, I think this women is perhaps a Sports Center worthy hire that should be the lede.  Definitely will raise the profile among some. 

This is the third head coach leaving Marquette this academic year.  Volleyball coach, men's ball, womens ball.  Coincidence or something going on?

Nah. Bond left for his dream job. Nobody can really blame him there. Brent is still kind of head scratching and Terri wasnt getting it done. All separate situations.

[wildbill sb]

Missed in all this, Coach Mitchell served our university for 23 years.  Is the all time winningest coach, over 300 wins in 18 years.  Very fine person.  Wishing her only the best

Agreed.

I agree, as well, and frankly, I think it sends the absolutely wrong message to the world at large.  I can think of no better personification of "cura personalis" than Coach Terri Mitchell.  

[keefe]

I agree, as well, and frankly, I think it sends the absolutely wrong message to the world at large.  I can think of no better personification of "cura personalis" than Coach Terri Mitchell. 

That's a great concept but her primary job description is to win basketball games. Counselors and such can support in the molding of young women. You don't pay guidance counselors Half a Big Mile. If Terri Mitchell wanted that to be her primary deliverable then she needed to adjust her pay to reflect her very much diminished responsibilities.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

That's a great concept but her primary job description is to win basketball games. Counselors and such can support in the molding of young women. You don't pay guidance counselors Half a Big Mile. If Terri Mitchell wanted that to be her primary deliverable then she needed to adjust her pay to reflect her very much diminished responsibilities.

And shes the winningest coach in Marquette history. Whats your point?

[wildbill sb]

That's a great concept but her primary job description is to win basketball games. Counselors and such can support in the molding of young women. You don't pay guidance counselors Half a Big Mile. If Terri Mitchell wanted that to be her primary deliverable then she needed to adjust her pay to reflect her very much diminished responsibilities.

I read the "great concept" less as pie-in-sky and more as a practical guide for MU's institutional direction, which Terri embodies.  I don't know what her salary is, but in dollar and cents parlance, Terri was worth every penny...and then some.

[keefe]

And shes the winningest coach in Marquette history. Whats your point?

Longevity is a wonderful thing. And clearly she wasn't winning enough for her employer's liking. I met her briefly once and she seems like a very nice person.

But she isn't being paid $500M a year to be nice. She is the CEO of an IBU at Marquette, Inc. Her numbers are off and I'm sure she was told she needed to improve her performance or else. She didn't so her shareholders will try to find someone else who can deliver a better ROI.

When you get the big bucks you also get the spotlight. Perform or else. I would say that she her performance over the past decade has been wanting.

If you are genuinely concerned I would say you shouldn't be. I doubt she has blown her stash on hookers, Dom, and designer pharmaceuticals so she likely doesn't have to work ever again. Unless you become a professional athlete, get in on an early stage IT company, or go into I-banking your lifetime comp will not come close to what Terri Mitchell socked away.

Tell you what - find her on the street, tell her you pay tuition at MU, and ask her to float you a dozen or so Benjamins. If she whips out her wallet then I will stand corrected. But I will bet she no more gives you the time of day than she would a stranger in a Turkish Bath.

[keefe]

I read the "great concept" less as pie-in-sky and more as a practical guide for MU's institutional direction, which Terri embodies.  I don't know what her salary is, but in dollar and cents parlance, Terri was worth every penny...and then some.

I guess her employer would disagree with you. I doubt she was let go because of any moral turpitude issues. And I rather doubt she was bending if not breaking compliance laws. She was dismissed for performance issues. I have seen her comp numbers and they approximate what senior people make at an MNC like PepsiCo or GE, And like those executives, Terri Mitchell was expected to deliver a return.

I think her deliverables were: Win. Do so ethically. Prepare your student athletes for life after Marquette. Develop your staff. .750 would be a great BA for a Mariner but it is failure for a role that expects 1.000. 

[ChicosBailBonds]

She was awarded $6M in her lawsuit, doubt she will be coaching any time soon

[wildbill sb]

I guess her employer would disagree with you. I doubt she was let go because of any moral turpitude issues. And I rather doubt she was bending if not breaking compliance laws. She was dismissed for performance issues. I have seen her comp numbers and they approximate what senior people make at an MNC like PepsiCo or GE, And like those executives, Terri Mitchell was expected to deliver a return.

I think her deliverables were: Win. Do so ethically. Prepare your student athletes for life after Marquette. Develop your staff. .750 would be a great BA for a Mariner but it is failure for a role that expects 1.000. 

Is it merely a $ and ¢ issue?  Or does MU embody more than that?  

Methinks Johnny Rev said it best:

Terri personified Marquette's Catholic and Jesuit mission about as well as anyone else in the university, and that over 23 years. I know she was amazing in helping players in trouble or need, and she always played by the rules. She also had a bad streak of terrible luck the last several years, with multiple ACL injuries to her star players and to several star recruits who never saw the court their first year because of injuries. Regardless, non-negotiables in coaching are recruiting and winning, and those did not work out for her as much later in her career. I'm guessing that if Terri saved her money, she might not take any other coaching rat-race job but spend her energy helping the less fortunate in some capacity. She will be missed, certainly by me.

[keefe]

Is it merely a $ and ¢ issue?  Or does MU embody more than that?  

Methinks Johnny Rev said it best:

Terri personified Marquette's Catholic and Jesuit mission about as well as anyone else in the university, and that over 23 years. I know she was amazing in helping players in trouble or need, and she always played by the rules. She also had a bad streak of terrible luck the last several years, with multiple ACL injuries to her star players and to several star recruits who never saw the court their first year because of injuries. Regardless, non-negotiables in coaching are recruiting and winning, and those did not work out for her as much later in her career. I'm guessing that if Terri saved her money, she might not take any other coaching rat-race job but spend her energy helping the less fortunate in some capacity. She will be missed, certainly by me.

You cannot dismiss the business dimension of major college athletics. The reality is she was paid a prince's ransom to deliver a return on that investment. I am certain her major deliverables were as I stated before:

Win
Do so ethically
Prepare your students for life after MU
Develop your staff

If she cannot meet all four of these MU needs to find someone who can and will.

Do I feel bad she lost her job? Not at all. She is financially secure. She is physically safe, has access to clean water, and worries about eating too much rather than wondering if she will eat that day. There are many more far more in need of compassion - Kirat girls being sex trafficked, Isaaq girls starving to death because their parents have to choose, Quechua kids dying from dysentery, etc...

I have known guys in the corporate world who have taken a bullet and every one landed on his feet. Each one went home to a beautiful house and surrounded himself with loved ones and possibly splashed out a couple fingers of single malt to numb some of the insult. My only regret in these cases was selfish - I felt bad that I would miss their daily fellowship.

Should Marquette not have expectations of performance from its employees any less than what it expects from its students?

[ChicosBailBonds]

What does MU expect form its students?

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

What does MU expect form its students?

To get above a 2.0 and even then you can get below that for 2 semesters before you get tossed.

[keefe]

What does MU expect form its students?

Jams

You know damn well Marquette has terms of engagement. I don't have a list in front of me but you have to maintain a certain GPA, pay your bills, go to class (I assume they still take attendance,) no weed in dorms, no cheating or abiding those who do, etc... Failure to comply means you leave.

Since when do you, of all people on Scoop, not have expectations of  accountability and personal responsibility? Terri Mitchell was expected to win and she didn't. I am not saying she should have been fired but I do understand why she was.

People on GeoCities were screaming for Mike Deane's head for very similar performance - let's be happy with the NIT and be thrilled with the occasional NCAA.  I will allow that Deane's lifestyle was probably less in keeping with the Marquette ideal than Mitchell's, but a fondness for indulging nocturnal hungers is not an employer's concern. So does Mitchell get a pass on mediocre performance because she's a nice person? Not at half a million dollars a year she doesn't.

[MUBillsTil2017]

What does MU expect form its students?

Well for  Marquette student athletes, To win the Big East.

That is the primary goal.  Academics is secondary at best. 
This is the message I've gotten from my kid playing D1 at Marquette.
I have no bitch about that.  It's D1 for crying out loud.  It is up to parents to refocus their kids goals. 

[Avenue Commons]

She was awarded $6M in her lawsuit, doubt she will be coaching any time soon

I lost track. Who got $6M and for what lawsuit? Thanks.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Jams

You know damn well Marquette has terms of engagement. I don't have a list in front of me but you have to maintain a certain GPA, pay your bills, go to class (I assume they still take attendance,) no weed in dorms, no cheating or abiding those who do, etc... Failure to comply means you leave.

Since when do you, of all people on Scoop, not have expectations of  accountability and personal responsibility? Terri Mitchell was expected to win and she didn't. I am not saying she should have been fired but I do understand why she was.

People on GeoCities were screaming for Mike Deane's head for very similar performance - let's be happy with the NIT and be thrilled with the occasional NCAA.  I will allow that Deane's lifestyle was probably less in keeping with the Marquette ideal than Mitchell's, but a fondness for indulging nocturnal hungers is not an employer's concern. So does Mitchell get a pass on mediocre performance because she's a nice person? Not at half a million dollars a year she doesn't.

I merely asked a question.  I thought you made a compelling argument until the last two sentences when you mentioned the demands of students.  You lost me there.  MU has eligibility requirements for the student body, but those requirements are loose and not very hard IMO.  I don't see how that comparison holds up with your greater argument that the women's basketball coach has to be better, certainly better than a C student that is required of MU.  Thus the question.

Nothing more

[keefe]

I merely asked a question.  I thought you made a compelling argument until the last two sentences when you mentioned the demands of students.  You lost me there.  MU has eligibility requirements for the student body, but those requirements are loose and not very hard IMO.  I don't see how that comparison holds up with your greater argument that the women's basketball coach has to be better, certainly better than a C student that is required of MU.  Thus the question.

Nothing more

Marquette must have accountability for all of its employees and students. But this, in turn, begs the question who holds Marquette accountable?

I am going way back to when we were students but my wife was close with a faculty member in the College of Liberal Arts. He has a PhD from one of best Ivies and was extremely well liked by the students. Through my wife I got to know this professor socially. He is urbane, sophisticated, witty, and has an intellectual depth that is both fascinating and frightening.

He was dismissed by Marquette for unspecified reasons but everyone knew it was all about his orientation. This gent asked me to speak on his behalf - I was one of several students, faculty members, and community members who did so.

As part of the process I met with the Dean of Liberal Arts and an appeal committee of some sort. Of course the appeal went nowhere and our friend left Marquette, wounded and questioning the Faith of his family. Interestingly, he entered a religious order and remains active in apostolic work through this day. He is gay though celibate.

We were married by Corbett Walsh, then the Assistant Dean of Liberal Arts, who was close with my wife. I had a beer with Fr Walsh later and I asked him about that whole matter. He essentially related that Marquette is not the warm loving place they want everyone to see them as. Corbett knew I had made a statement in support of the faculty member and he did say that it was likely ok since I was in my last semester in a different school.

I relate this story as many seem to think MU somehow transcends the vulgar politics of the rest of the world. There is ample evidence that the Church and the Ivory Tower are both cynical, ruthless worlds hardly immune from the profanity of the secular. Anyone who thinks otherwise is naïve.

[Texas Western]

Well for  Marquette student athletes, To win the Big East.

That is the primary goal.  Academics is secondary at best. 
This is the message I've gotten from my kid playing D1 at Marquette.
I have no bitch about that.  It's D1 for crying out loud.  It is up to parents to refocus their kids goals. 

You are absolutely correct. Marquette does not care about the student athletes other than what they can do on the playing field. The kids are nothing more than a commodity that comes and goes. Academics only matter to the extent that the kid remains eligible and graduate to the extent required. It forces the kids into the real world before graduation, which may or may not be a good thing.

[ChicosBailBonds]

I lost track. Who got $6M and for what lawsuit? Thanks.

The Fresno State ex-women's hoop coach

[ChicosBailBonds]

You are absolutely correct. Marquette does not care about the student athletes other than what they can do on the playing field. The kids are nothing more than a commodity that comes and goes. Academics only matter to the extent that the kid remains eligible and graduate to the extent required. It forces the kids into the real world before graduation, which may or may not be a good thing.

As a former member of the athletic department for 5+ years, I can tell you are full of crap.  No doubt success on the fields of play is critical, that's why you are there on a scholarship.  When you say Marquette does not care about the student athletes other than what they do on the field, you're just wrong.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Crash...MU is part of the real world like any other entity.  It is an institution made up of human beings, and thus rides at the whims of human actions.

[keefe]

Crash...MU is part of the real world like any other entity.  It is an institution made up of human beings, and thus rides at the whims of human actions.

Concur. And for those who may harbor doubt one need only read through the history of the Society. It was not merely a fondness for black uniforms that caused Heinrich Himmler to model the SS on the Society.

[MUgrad80]

So if they knew they were going to let Mitchell go, how did they let Tyler Summit get away? Sure he is 23 but I think they will regret not giving him the chance