UConn women's basketball

UConn freshman point guard Caroline Doty has been playing phone tag with Elena Delle Donne recently. That has been the extent of the contact between the two long-time friends.
With Delle Donne at home in Delaware sorting out some personal issues, Doty and the rest of the Huskies have given her some space to get herself together.
“She went home to be with her family and I just wanted to respect that,’’ Doty said. “I just want her to relax at home and have her summer. I think she’s doing well from what I’ve heard. I know she’s going to be fine. I have faith in her and everything’s going to work out in the long run.’’
Doty, who was cleared to play in mid-June and hopes to see Delle Donne next week while vacationing at the Jersey Shore, admitted that she was surprised by the sudden departure of her former roommate. Though, Doty was not shocked. She has seen students in her English and psychology classes this summer fail to attend because of matters that have surfaced at home.
“Things pop up,’’ Doty said. “You just don’t know. There’s reasons for everything. I’m surprised, but I’m not really worried because I know there’s a reasonable reason. She’s a great person and she does things for herself.’’
Delle Donne, a 6-foot-5 guard and the nation’s top ranked recruit, arrived on campus June 1 before returning home just two days later. She is not expected to attend the second session of summer school, which begins Monday. The fall semester begins Aug. 25.
Doty said today that she expects Delle Donne to return to UConn.
“I believe that she’s going to come back,’’ Doty said. “I have faith. Anything can really happen. So you never really know, but she’s still assigned here. She’s still part of the team. We still think of her as a teammate.’’

Rich

UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma has not had to fill a vacancy in his coaching staff since Jamelle Elliott was hired in 1997. In the wake of seeing Tonya Cardoza move on to become the head coach at Temple last week, it did not take him long to find a qualified candidate to join his staff. And it’s another former player that is returning.
Former Huskies All-American Shea Ralph has been hired as the new assistant coach at UConn, joining associate head coach Chris Dailey and Elliott on Auriemma’s staff. Auriemma contacted Ralph last Thursday. She was interviewed for the position in Storrs Monday and she will begin her recruiting duties Wednesday.
“I am really excited about the opportunity to return to my home and to further my career at the University of Connecticut,’’ Ralph said in a statement. “As a player and a student, I invested everything I had into the program and I am honored to have the chance to continue that as a member of the coaching staff.’’
Since the opening was made public potential applicants besieged the Huskies. On the first day, alone, they had roughly 200 resumes overnighted to them.
Ralph, 30, had spent the previous five seasons as an assistant coach at Big East rival Pittsburgh, where she primarily worked with the guards and also played a large role in developing the Panthers into a Top 25 program.
“When you lose someone like Tonya, who has been here for 14 years and has meant so much to our players, staff and program, it is not an easy role to fill,’’ Auriemma said in a statement. “I know that Shea is the one person who can come in that will know exactly what UConn basketball is, what the expectation is, what type of player we want to recruit and how to coach and treat them once they are here.
“I am excited for our players and program, but most of all for Shea. I am thrilled and looking forward to her bringing the same passion to the coaching staff that she brought as a player. Her intensity is unmatched. I can’t wait to get started.’’
The Panthers were a combined 70-31 over the last three seasons, reaching the NCAA tournament in 2007 and 2008 (Sweet 16). They had never been to the NCAA tournament before 2007.
Pittsburgh rising senior Shavonte Zellous was named to the All-Big East first team in each of the last two seasons and was the conference Most Improved Player in 2006-07 under Ralph’s tutelage. Point guard Mallorie Winn earned all-conference second team honors in each of the last two seasons, while point guard Jania Sims was named to the conference All-Freshman Team in 2006-07.
“Surely I knew that Shea would move on, absolutely,’’ Pittsburgh coach Agnus Berenato said. “Your goal as a head coach is to have your assistants move on to be head coaches. Shea had a real opportunity to be a head coach and she turned it down. So I feel like the only place Shea would leave us for was Connecticut.’’
The hiring of Ralph brings her back to the place where she became a national star as a player. She is currently ranked eighth all-time in UConn history in scoring (1,678), ninth in assists (456), fifth in steals (252) and fourth in field-goal percentage (.579).
Ralph enjoyed her finest season as a junior in 1999-00 when she served as a captain in leading the Huskies to the national championship in Philadelphia. She was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four that season, a Kodak and Associated Press first team All-American, the Big East Player of the Year and was the recipient of the Honda Award.
“It makes perfect sense,’’ said Kara Wolters, a former UConn All-American and a teammate of Ralph in 1996-97. “She’s tough as nails. She’s brings an attitude that not many people have and a work ethic that not many people have. She’s just going to be awesome. I just think it couldn’t be any more perfect of a fit.’’

Rich

The opportunities presented themselves almost annually. It seemed once a head coaching position opened up Tonya Cardoza was on that school’s list.
Cardoza had entertained offers in the past. In the end, though, they just weren’t appealing enough for her to leave UConn, a perennial national championship contender and a place where Hall of Famer Geno Auriemma regularly put her in situations that helped her grow as a coach.
Once the vacancy at Temple surfaced last month things changed. Here was a school that was rich in academics, had a fine campus located in Philadelphia and featured a program that longtime friend and former Virginia teammate Dawn Staley had put on the national landscape. Temple was the place Cardoza could envision herself as a head coach for the first time.
“When you’re at UConn and you’re winning the way that we win sometimes it’s hard,’’ Cardoza said. “The grass is not always greener they always say and sometimes you get comfortable with that. But I just felt like it was time for me to move on, and this opportunity just presented itself. Maybe if it wasn’t Temple I might still be there. But when Temple opened up I was just excited about it and so honored that they chose me to be their next head coach.’’
Cardoza, 39, was officially introduced as Temple’s head coach during a press conference this afternoon in the Fox-Gittis Room at the Licourias Center. Among those on hand were Auriemma, who was in Tampa, Fla. Monday to witness Rebecca Lobo’s induction into the College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-America Hall of Fame, and UConn assistant coach Jamelle Elliott.
The search for a new coach spanned 56 days since Staley phoned Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw May 6 to inform him that she had accepted the same position at South Carolina. The day that the news reached Cardoza she contacted Staley, whom she spoke with often during the process, to be certain that it was true and then she asked Staley to put in a good word for her.
Auriemma also contacted Bradshaw on behalf of Cardoza. But once she interviewed for the job she became an instant favorite.
“When we met her she told us how much she wanted to be the head coach at Temple University,’’ Bradshaw said. “But her eyes and smile were even more convincing that she wanted to be the head coach at Temple. And then we knew this was the right place, the right fit for Temple University and for Tonya Cardoza.’’
Cardoza spent 14 seasons as an assistant coach at UConn. The Huskies were a combined 465-41 with five national championships, eight Final Four appearances, 12 Big East regular season championships and 11 conference tournament championships during her tenure.
Cardoza, a confidant for the UConn players, worked primarily with the guards and was a keen, effective recruiter. She played a key role in the development of Olympians and former UConn National Player of the Year award winners Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi and current State Farm/WBCA All-American Renee Montgomery. She also had a knack for molding less heralded players, such as 2008 first round pick Ketia Swanier and Maria Conlon, into steady contributors.
“I have always said that we have the best staff in the country and Tonya has been a big part of that,’’ Auriemma said. “Tonya has been here 14 years, long enough to have contributed to all the championships and to develop some of the best players ever to play at this level. Tonya will be a great head coach and the staff at Temple are going to love her.’’
Cardoza said she told the UConn players of her decision last Wednesday, calling it “one of the hardest things that I probably had to do.’’
She said she hopes to have a coaching staff in place by the end of this week. She has already spoken to the prospective recruits, with two visiting campus today.
Cardoza will bring an uptempo style to Temple. She, too, hopes to bring success. The Owls made six NCAA tournament appearances and won four Atlantic 10 championships in eight seasons under Staley.
“At Connecticut we strive to be the best and I’m trying to do it right away,’’ Cardoza said. “I know that there’s a foundation there. The players are willing to work. I’m willing to work and we’re going to try to do this as quickly as possible. Dawn has done some great things here at Temple and I’m just looking to run with it.’’

Rich