Tom Suiter: Deep in Her Heart, She Found Texas

I just got through watching tapes of Gail Goestenkors’ introductory news conference at Texas, and I must say it was quite a festive occasion. No question that they rolled out the red, or maybe it’s the orange, carpet for her. Cheerleaders were there, the Longhorns mascot was there, and a large cheering crowd. Goestenkors said she felt like she was home.

The coach was dressed for the occasion as well, wearing a burnt orange Texas blouse. She was personable, sincere, and from this news conference you could tell why she is one of the top coaches in the country. She was impressive. She spoke from the heart and with passion.

She said that, without question, her decision to leave a Duke program that she built into a national power was tough—but she said it was the right decision at the right time. She said she has always been intrigued by Texas and it just took a visit to validate what she thought she knew.

“I knew deep in my heart that this is the place I wanted to be,” a happy and, it seemed, relieved Goestenkors said. “There is greatness here. The one common thread that I felt like with everybody I met. There is greatness here. It’s not just the facilities, and this is certainly not just about money. This is about people. This is about a challenge.”

Goestenkors also said she now knows why football coach Mack Brown is such a great recruiter. She laughingly said, “He put on the full court press,” with text messages, etc.

Goestenkors took over a Duke program that was going nowhere 15 years ago and painstakingly, season by season, made it one of the top three or four in the country. She admitted leaving her Duke team was tough. She talked of telling her former players of her decision and the tears that were shed. But she also told her Duke team this was a decision about human growth.

“I told my team, it’s about accepting new challenges, being willing to get out of your comfort zone, sometimes doing things that are a little scary, knowing that you’re going to grow a great deal. So I talked with them about that and I said, ‘I’d be a hypocrite if I didn’t do the same things I’d been talking to you about.’”

Goestenkors did wonders at Duke. Nobody can argue that. I would expect she will do the same thing at Texas, a school with all the resources anyone would want. She won big at Duke, and she’ll do the same at Texas.

I will say that I’ve been very impressed with the way the Duke players she left behind have responded to all this. There’s no question that they didn’t want Gail Goestenkors to leave. But the returning players have been calling recruits, telling them that none of them are leaving and that the Blue Devil program, ranked No. 1 at the end of the season, will continue to move forward.

“The biggest challenge is making sure we do move forward, and the most important thing to keep in mind is that while Coach G built this program from the bottom up, it’s the players and the team that will ultimately decide if we’re successful or not,” says rising junior guard Abby Waner, who has emerged as a leader.

“I can understand what it’s like to see something that’s a challenge to you, and that’s a little bit scary,” Waner said. “You need to put yourself out there in order to grow.”

Goestenkors also wanted to set the record straight on Thursday that Duke did everything they could to keep her as their coach.

“Over the past few weeks, it has been disheartening to hear misinformation regarding Duke’s support of me and our program, specifically from Duke’s athletic administration,” Goestenkors said in a statement released by Duke. “Before I entered into discussions with the University of Texas, Athletic Director Joe Alleva and Duke’s administration approached me with a contract that was more than fair and addressed all of the issues I felt were important for the continued success of the women’s basketball program.”

The bottom line is that Gail Goestenkors wanted something different. At her news conference, she talked a great deal about how she had felt the University of Texas to be a special place, and I think that there was nothing Duke could really do to keep her. She just wanted a new challenge, I think, personally and professionally. There’s always something fresh about a new beginning.

So now Duke looks to find someone who can keep building on what Goestenkors started. The players are of course apprehensive—the unknown can be scary no matter if it’s business or athletics. Change can be tough.

“We want a coach that can bring many characteristics that she had,” says rising senior guard Wanisha Smith. “We want them to show a lot of passion about the game, we want them to know the game, we want them to learn from coaching through the years…. We just want someone easy to talk to, just a great person.”

Yes, the Duke players hope the school will find someone just like Gail Goestenkors.

The search begins.