UK Hoops' Offseason Up To Now
[caption id="attachment_159649" align="alignnone" width="530"]
Britney Howard | UK Athletics.com[/caption]
The UK Hoops’ 2013-2014 regular season was a rollercoaster that had a few more lows than most expected, topped off by the team failing to reach the elite 8 for the fifth time in six seasons. Coach Matthew Mitchell was not satisfied with the results in his seventh season at the University of Kentucky and decided it was time for a change. And this offseason has been full of it. Let’s take a look at what has happened so far.
For perspective: 72 days since Kentucky lost. 130 days until Big Blue Madness.
March 29: Baylor defeats the Cats in the Sweet Sixteen, 90-72
The loss to Baylor (I feel like that sentence has been typed too many times in the past 5 years) marked the fifth time in the past six seasons that the UK Hoops team has failed to reach the elite 8.
April 4: Assistant coaches Pillow and House fired
Shalon Pillow, a former Lady Volunteer star, had been apart of the team since 2009 working with post players. Jeff House, a former WNBA assistant, was brought in last July as Matt Insell’s replacement after he took the head-coaching job at Ole Miss.
April 14: Stallworth taken 25th overall in WNBA Draft
DeNesha Stallworth, the rock to this year’s team, was taken by the Connecticut Sun in the third round of the WNBA Draft. The former McDonald’s All-American transferred to UK following two seasons at California, and in her final year led the team in field goals made, field goal percentage, and steals, while finishing second on the team in blocks, points per game, and rebounding. She was voted to the second team all-SEC this past season by the league’s coaches.
[caption id="attachment_159650" align="alignnone" width="300"]
Britney Howard | UK Athletics.com[/caption]
May 1: Goodin-Rogers cleared to return
After missing her freshman season due to a pulmonary embolism, the former Marion County star (high school teammate of Makayla Epps on the Sweet 16 championship team) is set to return to the court this summer at full strength.
May 1: Christian Stefanopoulos named assistant coach
After serving as an assistant coach under Matthew Mitchell at Morehead State for two seasons, she followed him to UK to take the position as video coordinator, which she held for three seasons up until 2011. From 2011-2014 she has been a coach with Bucknell, playing a major role in turning the program around.
“With Christian, knowing her for a very long time and having that comfort level is good, but it won’t be enough to get the job done.” —Mitchell
May 6: Amy Tilley promoted to assistant athletics director
After Ukari Figgs, stepped down in November to take an engineering gig at Toyota, Tilley has been filling the role. The UK graduate has worked with coach Mitchell from 2008-2010, after taking time off to be the head coach at Paul Laurence Dunbar in the 2010-2011 season.
May 8: Morgan Rich commits
The Allen County-Scottsville junior guard commits her four years of college basketball to the University of Kentucky, starting in the 2015-2016 season. She is considered a top 100 prospect and will join Bell County’s Maci Morris, as the second 2015 commitment to Matthew Mitchell. Despite tearing her ACL in February, Rich was named second-team all-state in 2014 by the Herald Leader.
May 10: Five seniors graduate
Kastine Evans, Bernisha Pinkett, DeNesha Stallworth, Samarie Walker, and Brittany Henderson all received there degrees from the University of Kentucky. Every player in Mitchell’s seven years at UK has obtained their degree in their final season of eligibility.
May 12: Corsaro commits
Kentucky picks up its first commitment in the class of 2016 from sophomore Lindsey Corasaro out of Indianapolis.
June 2: Amadou named assistant coach
Adeniyi Amadou joins Mitchell’s staff to fill the second of three coaching vacancies. Amadou has spent the last three seasons at Dayton University focusing mainly on recruiting domestically and internationally.
[caption id="attachment_159652" align="alignnone" width="105"]
UK athletics.com[/caption]
June 6: Matthew Mitchell hosts KSR
Coach Mitchell isn’t on the level of the Sklar Brothers, but I loved every minute of his two hours on the air last Friday. If you didn’t have a chance to listen, check out the podcast here. He brought on new men’s basketball assistant coach “Slice” Rohrssen along with athletic director Mitch Barnhart as special guest. While Barnhart was on the line, he announced that Mitchell was donating 1 million dollars over the next 10 years to the University of Kentucky athletics, the largest donation ever to the athletics department by a UK athletics employee.
In a press conference later that morning, Mitchell said “…we’re just unbelievably greatful for the opportunity to be at Kentucky and we want to be here a long time. This is our home. We hope our family can be of service to this community and university for a long time."
June 3: Santos leaves Kentucky
Danielle Santos, a former assistant coach, decides to take a job with Florida State, leaving yet another coaching position empty. She coached under Mitchell from 2012-2014, and played at Florida while he was an assistant coach there.
It's hard to imagine the rest of the offseason being more eventful than what we've seen so far, but who knows? Despite all the instability, the program is in the hands of the winningest coach in UK Hoops' history, and I think it will be just fine.
Britney Howard | UK Athletics.com[/caption]
The UK Hoops’ 2013-2014 regular season was a rollercoaster that had a few more lows than most expected, topped off by the team failing to reach the elite 8 for the fifth time in six seasons. Coach Matthew Mitchell was not satisfied with the results in his seventh season at the University of Kentucky and decided it was time for a change. And this offseason has been full of it. Let’s take a look at what has happened so far.
For perspective: 72 days since Kentucky lost. 130 days until Big Blue Madness.
March 29: Baylor defeats the Cats in the Sweet Sixteen, 90-72
The loss to Baylor (I feel like that sentence has been typed too many times in the past 5 years) marked the fifth time in the past six seasons that the UK Hoops team has failed to reach the elite 8.
April 4: Assistant coaches Pillow and House fired
Shalon Pillow, a former Lady Volunteer star, had been apart of the team since 2009 working with post players. Jeff House, a former WNBA assistant, was brought in last July as Matt Insell’s replacement after he took the head-coaching job at Ole Miss.
April 14: Stallworth taken 25th overall in WNBA Draft
DeNesha Stallworth, the rock to this year’s team, was taken by the Connecticut Sun in the third round of the WNBA Draft. The former McDonald’s All-American transferred to UK following two seasons at California, and in her final year led the team in field goals made, field goal percentage, and steals, while finishing second on the team in blocks, points per game, and rebounding. She was voted to the second team all-SEC this past season by the league’s coaches.
[caption id="attachment_159650" align="alignnone" width="300"]
Britney Howard | UK Athletics.com[/caption]
May 1: Goodin-Rogers cleared to return
After missing her freshman season due to a pulmonary embolism, the former Marion County star (high school teammate of Makayla Epps on the Sweet 16 championship team) is set to return to the court this summer at full strength.
May 1: Christian Stefanopoulos named assistant coach
After serving as an assistant coach under Matthew Mitchell at Morehead State for two seasons, she followed him to UK to take the position as video coordinator, which she held for three seasons up until 2011. From 2011-2014 she has been a coach with Bucknell, playing a major role in turning the program around.
“With Christian, knowing her for a very long time and having that comfort level is good, but it won’t be enough to get the job done.” —Mitchell
May 6: Amy Tilley promoted to assistant athletics director
After Ukari Figgs, stepped down in November to take an engineering gig at Toyota, Tilley has been filling the role. The UK graduate has worked with coach Mitchell from 2008-2010, after taking time off to be the head coach at Paul Laurence Dunbar in the 2010-2011 season.
May 8: Morgan Rich commits
The Allen County-Scottsville junior guard commits her four years of college basketball to the University of Kentucky, starting in the 2015-2016 season. She is considered a top 100 prospect and will join Bell County’s Maci Morris, as the second 2015 commitment to Matthew Mitchell. Despite tearing her ACL in February, Rich was named second-team all-state in 2014 by the Herald Leader.
May 10: Five seniors graduate
Kastine Evans, Bernisha Pinkett, DeNesha Stallworth, Samarie Walker, and Brittany Henderson all received there degrees from the University of Kentucky. Every player in Mitchell’s seven years at UK has obtained their degree in their final season of eligibility.
May 12: Corsaro commits
Kentucky picks up its first commitment in the class of 2016 from sophomore Lindsey Corasaro out of Indianapolis.
June 2: Amadou named assistant coach
Adeniyi Amadou joins Mitchell’s staff to fill the second of three coaching vacancies. Amadou has spent the last three seasons at Dayton University focusing mainly on recruiting domestically and internationally.
[caption id="attachment_159652" align="alignnone" width="105"] UK athletics.com[/caption]
June 6: Matthew Mitchell hosts KSR
Coach Mitchell isn’t on the level of the Sklar Brothers, but I loved every minute of his two hours on the air last Friday. If you didn’t have a chance to listen, check out the podcast here. He brought on new men’s basketball assistant coach “Slice” Rohrssen along with athletic director Mitch Barnhart as special guest. While Barnhart was on the line, he announced that Mitchell was donating 1 million dollars over the next 10 years to the University of Kentucky athletics, the largest donation ever to the athletics department by a UK athletics employee.
In a press conference later that morning, Mitchell said “…we’re just unbelievably greatful for the opportunity to be at Kentucky and we want to be here a long time. This is our home. We hope our family can be of service to this community and university for a long time."
June 3: Santos leaves Kentucky
Danielle Santos, a former assistant coach, decides to take a job with Florida State, leaving yet another coaching position empty. She coached under Mitchell from 2012-2014, and played at Florida while he was an assistant coach there.
It's hard to imagine the rest of the offseason being more eventful than what we've seen so far, but who knows? Despite all the instability, the program is in the hands of the winningest coach in UK Hoops' history, and I think it will be just fine.
Discuss This Article
Comments have moved.
Join the conversation and talk about this article and all things Kentucky Sports in the new KSR Message Board.
KSBoard