Monday, February 9, 2009

La Tech fires women's coach

RUSTON, La. (AP) — Louisiana Tech fired coach Chris Long on Monday and promoted former WNBA star Teresa Weatherspoon to the top spot on an interim basis.Long, who was an assistant at Tech for six seasons before he became the head coach in 2005, went 71-44 with the Lady Techsters. Louisiana Tech is 12-11 this season and in danger of missing the NCAA tournament for the third straight year after a run of 25 straight appearances.“I put my heart and soul into trying to revive a program that I have been a part of for a decade,” Long said in a statement released by the school. “The landscape of women’s basketball has changed dramatically over the last eight years or so. I know as far as academics and players in the program, that I am leaving it in better shape than I inherited it.”A former Lady Techster, Weatherspoon was a member of the U.S. Olympic team that won a gold medal in 1988.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Aggies should hire him. Not much into Lady Aggie Basketball, but who would/could be with the current coach.

Anonymous said...

Funny how someone who is not in to the team could say such a thing about the coach, players, or both.

I live out west and my daughter, who plays on the team, told me I can keep up with them using this papers site. I find it difficult to do so when I read such things.

My daughter took official visits to some good schools and had several offers. She/we chose to come to NMSU and be a part of the Aggie Family for a couple reasons. The vision that Coach Spence talked about and what we thought was a suppotive community towards its students, programs and teams. Sure, some of the NMSU teams have had a rough go, but it is in those times when your character as fans should shine brightly. oh how easy it is to cast a negative light when you have zero investment in it.

The Aggies lost almost 80% of its scoring, rebounding and experience due to graduation and one kid left because she couldn't be the star. To us, that sounded as though the program was getting ready to start over and build up. We have seen several games, in person and on Aggie Vision, and that is what we see, understand and accept. This team of young girls is exciting, fun and they are working very hard to improve. Coach Spence has been a class act with us and with our daughter.

Do you really think the coach enjoys not winning games? Our experience with NMSU thus far and with the Aggie women's basketball program has been positive, even through adverse times. You can either help make it better or just leave it alone. I invite you to get involved in a positive way and help.

Good luck Aggies, we are behind you.