Pace's hasty exit wasn't good for anybody, or was it?
How quickly did Lisa Pace want to put SEMO behind her?
She didn't just take a moving van out of town. She took a rocket ship. If her past month was drawn out in cartoon form, she'd play the part of the RoadRunner leaving Wile E. Coyote looking confused underneath an anvil in the shape of Kenneth Dobbins.
Pace, who lasted seven seasons under two women's basketball coaches at SEMO, didn't last two months under new coach John Ishee. By the time she said yes to the Eastern Kentucky assistant job, she already had car keys in one hand and a road map in the other. You get the feeling she would have walked from Cape Girardeau to Richmond, Ky., if she had to.
Her reward? She leaves an assistant coaching job at Southeast, where she was part of two consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, to coach at EKU, a team coming off an underwhelming 12-18 season. Sure, the Colonels have tradition, but this isn't the same powerhouse that won three OVC titles during Pace's days there as a star athlete. The past 18 months saw the OVC women's basketball balance of power shift heavily from the hills of Kentucky toward the hills of Missouri.
But EKU presented stability. Southeast, where the Redhawk logo has officially been replaced by a question mark, couldn't match it. Despite all its wins and its prized recruits that arrived before coach B.J. Smith was fired in December, SEMO's future is about as muddled and uncertain as it's ever been.
Ishee's appointment as head coach last month was a slap in the face of the players, who overwhelmingly disapproved of his hiring, and it was a slap in the face of Pace herself, who saw opportunity pulled out from underneath her. As a result, Ishee has no staff at his side, having lost Pace and assistant coach Jenni Lingor, who lasted less than a full year. Also vacant is the assistant job Ishee held before he was promoted to replace Smith during the past season.
Pace's goodbye to SEMO came in the form of an icy glare, judging from Ishee's tepid remarks Monday in the Southeast Missouri. "Coach Pace, from my understanding, is going back to Eastern Kentucky," Ishee said.
Going back? Or escaping?
3 comments:
I've heard nothing but negative things about Coach Ishee. Personally, I would've loved to see Pace take over the head coaching position. Another terrible hire by SEMO's administration.
Coach Pace was offered the tempory head coaching position when BJ left. Once she turned that down she pretty much sealed her own fate as far as being offered the permanent head coaching position was concerened. After the team had the year they had there is no way that she was going to be offered the position ahead of Ishee. I've heard and seen for myself nothing but positive things from coach Ishee. I don't agree with the administration much but if they hadn't hired Ishee for the job they would have been crucified.
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