University of Wisconsin head women’s basketball coach Bobbie Kelsey will not be retained, UW Director of Athletics Barry Alvarez announced Friday. A national search to find a new head coach will begin immediately.
Kelsey’s teams compiled a 47-100 record, including a 19-65 mark in Big Ten play, in her five seasons at the helm.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alvarez: Decision on women’s basketball was necessary
Kelsey let go after five seasons as Badgers’ head coach
MADISON, Wis. – When Bobbie Kelsey was introduced as the Wisconsin women’s basketball coach in April of 2011, her new boss spoke glowingly of her presence and plan.
“Her record of success everywhere she has been speaks for itself,” UW Director of Athletics Barry Alvarez said.
Kelsey was a two-time captain and won an NCAA title at perennial powerhouse Stanford. She subsequently worked as an assistant coach at four schools before returning to her alma mater to help the Cardinal, and Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer, reach four consecutive Final Fours.
“I was obviously very impressed with her resume and was convinced she was the right person for the job,” Alvarez said.
But Kelsey’s dynamic background didn’t translate the way anyone at UW hoped.
The school terminated her multi-year contract on Friday and a national search for a replacement, led by Alvarez and senior women’s administrator Terry Gawlik, is underway.
“It’s my job and the sports administrator’s job to see the programs progress and that they’re being run properly and that things are being done the right way,” Alvarez said.
“Bobbie has a lot of good qualities. Her assistants have a lot of good qualities. They put a lot of hard work in.
“But in the end you have to have some results, and we just didn’t have the results and the progress that we needed. We felt at that point we needed a change and shake things up and try and get the program back on track.”
Kelsey had a positive impact on the program in key areas. All 16 of her players earned degrees and 11 student-athletes received 21 Academic All-Big Ten honors. During the current school year, women’s basketball players have accumulated 117 1/2 hours of community service.
But the Badgers were 47-100 (.320) on her watch overall, including a 19-65 (.226) record in the Big Ten. They never finished higher than ninth in league play, and that was in Kelsey’s debut season.
UW was 30-40 at the Kohl Center overall during the Kelsey era. The only winning season at home came in 2012-13 (9-6).
The Badgers finished the latest regular season 7-21 overall, 3-15 in the Big Ten, which left them in 13th place.
“I never say you have to win ‘X’ amount of games or you have to win a championship,” Alvarez said. “But I have to see improvement and I have to feel that progress is going the right way.”
The ever-gracious Kelsey expressed gratitude to Alvarez and Gawlik for providing her with her first crack at being a Division I head coach.
“They’ve been great to work for,” Kelsey said. “I’ve enjoyed my time at Wisconsin and I won’t regret anything going forward because they did not have to give me an opportunity and they did. I will always be appreciative of that.
“Obviously it didn’t work out the way we planned. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t. But I felt like we did all the things that were asked of us to try and make the program better. It just fell short, and it does sometimes, but that doesn’t negate anything I feel about Coach Alvarez, Terry and all the other coaches. They were very supportive.
“I can’t say enough about my first experience as a collegiate head coach at this level. Until you do something you don’t know how tough it is, but I learned so much.”
Kelsey said UW fans were “A-plus” and she hoped to land another coaching job because “it’s what I’ve been called to do.”
What now for the Badgers?
“I’d like to have somebody that has a background of success,” Alvarez said. “Someone that has been mentored by a long-term successful coach.
“Ideally I’d like to find a head coach who has done it – who has a plan on how they recruit and how they coach and the system they run. I want someone to really excite the women’s basketball community in Wisconsin.
“I want someone I feel confident will build a relationship with the high school coaches in this state and make that a top priority in recruiting.”
Alvarez sees the women’s basketball program in the same light as he once viewed UW football.
“A sleeping giant,” he said.
From 1990 to 2005, Alvarez turned Badgers football into a championship-winning outfit and became a Hall of Fame coach in the process.
“I see a lot of players from Wisconsin starting at a lot of other places and (being) successful,” he said. “You have a lot to sell here and I don’t see why this shouldn’t garner the interest of a number of coaches.”
The decision to make a coaching change like this is extremely difficult.
“It’s never easy to let someone go because it’s not one person,” Alvarez said. “It’s a family. It’s staff. It’s change.
“You’re talking about good people. You wouldn’t have hired them if you didn’t think they were good people.
“But in this profession, everybody understands the profession. It’s the way it works. You hear it time after time after time: You have to win. You have to put people in the seats or you can’t survive.
“Yes, there’s a personal side where you feel terrible for the people, but you have a responsibility to get it right.”
-- #Badgers --
Kelsey’s teams compiled a 47-100 record, including a 19-65 mark in Big Ten play, in her five seasons at the helm.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alvarez: Decision on women’s basketball was necessary
Kelsey let go after five seasons as Badgers’ head coach
MADISON, Wis. – When Bobbie Kelsey was introduced as the Wisconsin women’s basketball coach in April of 2011, her new boss spoke glowingly of her presence and plan.
“Her record of success everywhere she has been speaks for itself,” UW Director of Athletics Barry Alvarez said.
Kelsey was a two-time captain and won an NCAA title at perennial powerhouse Stanford. She subsequently worked as an assistant coach at four schools before returning to her alma mater to help the Cardinal, and Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer, reach four consecutive Final Fours.
“I was obviously very impressed with her resume and was convinced she was the right person for the job,” Alvarez said.
But Kelsey’s dynamic background didn’t translate the way anyone at UW hoped.
The school terminated her multi-year contract on Friday and a national search for a replacement, led by Alvarez and senior women’s administrator Terry Gawlik, is underway.
“It’s my job and the sports administrator’s job to see the programs progress and that they’re being run properly and that things are being done the right way,” Alvarez said.
“Bobbie has a lot of good qualities. Her assistants have a lot of good qualities. They put a lot of hard work in.
“But in the end you have to have some results, and we just didn’t have the results and the progress that we needed. We felt at that point we needed a change and shake things up and try and get the program back on track.”
Kelsey had a positive impact on the program in key areas. All 16 of her players earned degrees and 11 student-athletes received 21 Academic All-Big Ten honors. During the current school year, women’s basketball players have accumulated 117 1/2 hours of community service.
But the Badgers were 47-100 (.320) on her watch overall, including a 19-65 (.226) record in the Big Ten. They never finished higher than ninth in league play, and that was in Kelsey’s debut season.
UW was 30-40 at the Kohl Center overall during the Kelsey era. The only winning season at home came in 2012-13 (9-6).
The Badgers finished the latest regular season 7-21 overall, 3-15 in the Big Ten, which left them in 13th place.
“I never say you have to win ‘X’ amount of games or you have to win a championship,” Alvarez said. “But I have to see improvement and I have to feel that progress is going the right way.”
The ever-gracious Kelsey expressed gratitude to Alvarez and Gawlik for providing her with her first crack at being a Division I head coach.
“They’ve been great to work for,” Kelsey said. “I’ve enjoyed my time at Wisconsin and I won’t regret anything going forward because they did not have to give me an opportunity and they did. I will always be appreciative of that.
“Obviously it didn’t work out the way we planned. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t. But I felt like we did all the things that were asked of us to try and make the program better. It just fell short, and it does sometimes, but that doesn’t negate anything I feel about Coach Alvarez, Terry and all the other coaches. They were very supportive.
“I can’t say enough about my first experience as a collegiate head coach at this level. Until you do something you don’t know how tough it is, but I learned so much.”
Kelsey said UW fans were “A-plus” and she hoped to land another coaching job because “it’s what I’ve been called to do.”
What now for the Badgers?
“I’d like to have somebody that has a background of success,” Alvarez said. “Someone that has been mentored by a long-term successful coach.
“Ideally I’d like to find a head coach who has done it – who has a plan on how they recruit and how they coach and the system they run. I want someone to really excite the women’s basketball community in Wisconsin.
“I want someone I feel confident will build a relationship with the high school coaches in this state and make that a top priority in recruiting.”
Alvarez sees the women’s basketball program in the same light as he once viewed UW football.
“A sleeping giant,” he said.
From 1990 to 2005, Alvarez turned Badgers football into a championship-winning outfit and became a Hall of Fame coach in the process.
“I see a lot of players from Wisconsin starting at a lot of other places and (being) successful,” he said. “You have a lot to sell here and I don’t see why this shouldn’t garner the interest of a number of coaches.”
The decision to make a coaching change like this is extremely difficult.
“It’s never easy to let someone go because it’s not one person,” Alvarez said. “It’s a family. It’s staff. It’s change.
“You’re talking about good people. You wouldn’t have hired them if you didn’t think they were good people.
“But in this profession, everybody understands the profession. It’s the way it works. You hear it time after time after time: You have to win. You have to put people in the seats or you can’t survive.
“Yes, there’s a personal side where you feel terrible for the people, but you have a responsibility to get it right.”
-- #Badgers --
