New WBB Coach: Nell Fortner

[dtm1997]

There's been several on the mbb side who entered the mysterious portal only to return to their original school after the hire was made. A couple came back to Bama and UNLV, off the top of my head.

Factual & correct. Well done.

 

[slugboy]

There's been several on the mbb side who entered the mysterious portal only to return to their original school after the hire was made. A couple came back to Bama and UNLV, off the top of my head.

I'd think if there's a coach that could coax a player back, Nell Fortner would be that coach. Still a big job, and if we get 1 or 2 back, that's awesome.

 

[kurtinatlanta]

I'm hoping she retains all 4 of our starters who are currently in the portal.

 

[Rammy]

Who is the 4th? I may have missed it

 

[YellowJacketFan2018]

WELCOME COACH FORTNER!

 

[g0lftime]

I have been told that coaches will continue to contact players at other schools just to stay in touch in case they may want to make a change. The girls that are in the portal may be looking for a team that has championship possibility and don't see it at Tech right now with a big coaching change. Pan and Fletcher must have decided they were done and not coming back. I hope I am wrong but they stayed away from the team after MJ was removed when they could have played. Turned their backs on their teammates when had a shot at the tournament. Time to reset and move on.

 

[kurtinatlanta]

Pan, Fletcher, Balogun, and Dixon are all in the transfer portal. All four can return or leave, at their choice. In her press conference, Fortner says she wants to keep the team intact.

I won't ever characterize Pan and/or Fletcher as having "abandoned" or "turned their backs" on the team as we don't know what the full situation was while Joseph was suspended. I hope they return.

 

[Rammy]

I didn’t realize Balogun entered. Dang.

 

[Gold1]

Watched the press conference. She seemed hopeful in getting those players to stay

 

[g0lftime]

Pan, Fletcher, Balogun, and Dixon are all in the transfer portal. All four can return or leave, at their choice. In her press conference, Fortner says she wants to keep the team intact.

I won't ever characterize Pan and/or Fletcher as having "abandoned" or "turned their backs" on the team as we don't know what the full situation was while Joseph was suspended. I hope they return.

Well they sure took away opportunity to get into the nit or ncaa for the rest of the team.

 

[Buzzbomb]

Well they sure took away opportunity to get into the nit or ncaa for the rest of the team.

They also were our only two players on the ACC Honor-Roll Team, 3.2 and up.
BTW, we don’t know what happened after that UVA road game, however we know the rest of the squad welcomed them back for workouts recently.

 

[ncjacket79]

Well they sure took away opportunity to get into the nit or ncaa for the rest of the team.

As others have said we don’t really know what happened. Some things are more important than basketball and since their teammates seem to have welcomed them back I don’t feel there is any cause to criticize them.

 

[kurtinatlanta]

Well they sure took away opportunity to get into the nit or ncaa for the rest of the team.

They did no such thing. They weren't going to the NCAA Tournament after the Virginia loss unless they won the ACC tournament. They weren't part of the decision to not take a bid from the WNIT.

 

[Buzzbomb]

They did no such thing. They weren't going to the NCAA Tournament after the Virginia loss unless they won the ACC tournament. They weren't part of the decision to not take a bid from the WNIT.

We still had a chance at the NCAA after UVA. because we played super well vs. ranked Miami, FSU. Those two players might have made a difference, we just don’t know? The ACC Tourney could have possibly got us to 20 wins or more with a victory or two, but without them not enough depth and zero wins. Not that I’m blaming either of them or the rest of the team for the decline. Team played hard for CMS and staff. It certainly was a bad environment after the suspension of CMJ, maybe before that. Shame, because we had so much talent just waiting to blend together.

 

[dtm1997]

Seems like she's a great hire.

Also, not that the video board behind her seems to clearly be gold.

@Supersizethatorder-mutt

 

[YlJacket]

Other site says all the players in the portal showed up for the presser today.
Small step forward. Ray of hope.

 

[kurtinatlanta]

We still had a chance at the NCAA after UVA. because we played super well vs. ranked Miami, FSU. Those two players might have made a difference, we just don’t know? The ACC Tourney could have possibly got us to 20 wins or more with a victory or two, but without them not enough depth and zero wins. Not that I’m blaming either of them or the rest of the team for the decline. Team played hard for CMS and staff. It certainly was a bad environment after the suspension of CMJ, maybe before that. Shame, because we had so much talent just waiting to blend together.

It is the height of wishful thinking to assert we had a shot at the NCAA after the Virginia loss (unless we won the ACC Tournament). We were not going to beat both Miami and FSU, much less one of them, even at full strength. Was there a non-zero probability of that happening? Yes, but small enough to not blame Pan and Fletcher for anything.

I'm hoping now that Fortner can pick up the pieces and make basketball fun again.

 

[MWBATL]

It is the height of wishful thinking to assert we had a shot at the NCAA after the Virginia loss (unless we won the ACC Tournament). We were not going to beat both Miami and FSU, much less one of them, even at full strength. Was there a non-zero probability of that happening? Yes, but small enough to not blame Pan and Fletcher for anything.

I'm hoping now that Fortner can pick up the pieces and make basketball fun again.

I certainly think it is inappropriate to blame our post-season on the actions of these two young women....how about blaming the actions of the coach who caused them to react the way they did instead?

 

[Buzzbomb]

It is the height of wishful thinking to assert we had a shot at the NCAA after the Virginia loss (unless we won the ACC Tournament). We were not going to beat both Miami and FSU, much less one of them, even at full strength. Was there a non-zero probability of that happening? Yes, but small enough to not blame Pan and Fletcher for anything.

I'm hoping now that Fortner can pick up the pieces and make basketball fun again.

I’m not sure you were watching the games down the stretch or those last 4 games that ended the season? We were playing great basketball at 17 wins, had the lead in all those games in the second half. Exception of Va., which in retrospect was probably our most damaging loss of the season. I didn’t blame Pan or Fletcher. If anything I’ve been taking their side. If you can find one statement where I cast blame, point it out?Common sense tells you we would have been stronger with both of them playing, as each had been going good. It’s in retrospect and no reason to attack the student athletes. Some of us watch all the games, even over Volleyball when they intersect.

 

[GT_EE78]

her sec record at auburn was 53–65 about 45% ,maybe poor performance could have been the reason she left auburn. do we know why she stayed out of coaching for 7 years? i'm not sold on this one yet