Coaching trees are often discussed in sports. The branches stretch back to the past and have matured and endured while passing along leaves of wisdom.
Ohio’s women’s basketball coaching tree has legendary roots, roots that have been watered by heroes of the game.
Ohio assistant coach Elaine Powell earned three WNBA championships playing for Bill Laimbeer, the backbone of the late 1980s “Bad Boy” Detroit Pistons.
Head coach Semeka Randall played for the winningest coach in college basketball history in Pat Summitt at the University of Tennessee. She helped the Volunteers to a perfect 39-0 season and national championship in 1998.
However, as sports legends such as Chicago Bear linebacker Mike Singletary and former Detroit Piston point guard Isiah Thomas can attest to, success as a player does not always translate to success as a coach. Ohio has struggled in recent seasons; since Randall was hired in 2008, the Bobcats have been 49-89. Powell was hired at the beginning of this season.
“It’s kind of hard to relate the professional game to the college game; the pro game is a lot quicker. It’s a different type of athlete,” Powell said. “In the WNBA, your one through five players can play, but in college, there are two or three players here or there.”
Randall echoed Powell’s sentiments and explained the difference in the motivational aspects of the pro and college game.
“It’s totally different,” Randall said. “You get paid to play in the WNBA; oftentimes I think that students, since they don’t directly see the money, have trouble getting motivated sometimes. When you actually get to see that green money … things become a little different.”
Even though the program has been struggling, Randall and Powell are able to inspire their players with talks of their championship experience.
“They bring (the championships) up and tell us how they want us to experience the same thing,” Ohio senior forward Tina Fisher said. “It helps us to remember to keep working hard so we can get to that point, because they tell us how amazing of a feeling it is to win a championship.”
Powell has three rings from her time playing for the Detroit Shock. That’s something very few athletes can say, but she stays humble and helps her players out whenever she can.
“(Powell) is a player’s coach because she’s able to connect with us on another level,” Ohio senior guard Symone Lyles said. “She’s been in the league, and she tells it like it is. She just comes to the locker room and tells us what we need to hear.”
Powell developed her coaching style by combining the things she learned from previous coaches at every level, especially Laimbeer.
“Bill (Laimbeer) isn’t the tough guy everybody thinks he is; he was a great coach and good guy,” she said. “We were very fresh for the playoffs because he knew how to balance the workload in practice and keep us going.”
Randall, who also has ample experience in the professional realm, can relate to the physical style of play that earned Powell’s former coach his notoriety.
Randall played overseas in Israel and Greece from 2001-2003, and it helped develop her resilient coaching style while also giving her an opportunity to see the world.
“Overseas was just really physical and nasty, somewhat dirty basketball. But it creates that toughness that you have to play with; it’s a great experience,” she said. “I had the opportunity to play all over the country at Tennessee, but to be able to play in different countries and different cultures was a blessing.”
Randall’s experience in the tenacious game overseas translates to perseverance as Ohio’s coach. Even though the Bobcats have struggled during her tenure as head coach, her devotion to the game has never been in question.
“(Randall’s) passion for the game is very evident,” Fisher said. “She puts it into the way she coaches.”
Ohio’s coaching tree stands tall, and even though the championship experience hasn’t led to much success, the players said they appreciate the opportunity they have to play under proven winners.
“It helps inspire us, because they know what it feels like to be a champion,” Fisher said. “They tell us how their teams made it and try to relate it to us to help us get to that point too.”
jm296009@ohiou.edu
