Saturday

Wish I Was In St. Louis!

After watching Michigan State and North Carolina win today in the men's Final Four, I wish I had gone to St. Louis for the women's Final Four. When we beat SWOCC in early January my career win total reached 600 and I received an invitation to be recognized at the National Coach of the Year Luncheon in St. Louis on Monday, April 6th. But to attend the award ceremony, you have to register for the national convention which costs upwards of $300. Add that fee to airfare, hotel, rental car, and food and the total is well over $1000. I was hoping to get some money from UCC to help defray the cost but it didn't work out and that is way too much money for me to spend on myself just so I can get a public pat on the back! It would have been fun though being involved in the same ceremony as Pat Summitt of Tennessee (1000 wins) and Sylvia Hatchell of North Carolina (800 wins). We would've taken a great picture!! I hope they're not too disappointed that I won't be there!!

It's kind of ironic though that the majority of D1 coaches, many who make great salaries, have their Final Four and national convention expenses paid for by their schools, while those of us at much smaller schools with much, much, much, much, much, much smaller salaries have to pay our own way to attend. (That's one "much" for every extra 0 some of them have in their yearly salary!)
I stumbled onto a new blog today that is very interesting and definitely worth reading. Alysa Auriemma, the 23 year old daughter of UCONN's Geno Auriemma, has started a blog called Life in the Postseason and gives some great insight into the daily activities of the UCONN women as they compete in the NCAA Tournament. Hopefully next year she'll decide to do it all season!

1 comment:

Sue Favor said...

Dave, that's lame they don't provide you with any tickets. I know D1 coaches always have extras. Do you have any friends in those ranks you could ask?