The Post sits down with Bob Boldon and talk about what he has in plan for the upcoming season after coaching the most winningest women’s basketball team in school history.
The women’s basketball team had the best story in Ohio Athletics this past season.
The Bobcats went from their worst season in program history in 2012-13 to their winningest season in 2014-15, in just two years with coach Bob Boldon at the helm.
During the offseason, the Bobcats will only lose one player — Mariah Byard — as 12 players will return for Boldon’s third season.
Ohio made its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1995 and won the Mid-American Conference outright for the first time since 1985-86.
The Post sat down with Boldon and discussed his long term goals for the program.
The Post: Coming off of an outstanding season, what are you going to do to capitalize on that going into this upcoming season?
Bob Boldon: When we start our summer workouts, we are back to ground zero. This team that was this year was really good, but that team is done. Next year will be a completely different team. There will be some similar faces, but there will be a lot of new faces. We’ll run some new stuff. It will be a new team and some new obstacles. We’ll start from scratch when we start our summer workouts in June. We have five freshmen coming in, and that is a big challenge for them to try and learn and for us to try and teach.
The Post: What is it like having your first complete recruiting class, not just Kelly Karlis or whomever came along from Youngstown State, like Hannah Boesinger?
BB: I think it’s exciting because we really got to know these kids. With Kelly, we recruited her, but we recruited her in a short time period. With these kids, we recruited them for almost two years. So you get to know them and know their family. I think it makes it a little bit easier to coach them because you have a better relationship with them the very first day.
The Post: What aspects make you believe this is going to be a different team?
BB: Just that it’s a different year. Last year’s team, there was a lot of questions of whether last year’s team could make open shots at the beginning of the year. Nobody would have expected us to put up the numbers we did offensively — well, I shouldn’t say nobody. I didn’t expect us to put up the numbers we did offensively. The way the schedule worked out, we played well early. We scored a bunch of points against Murray State and that set the tone for that season. I don’t know what’s going to set the tone for this season.
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