Thinking about it overnight (stewing about it would be a more accurate description), I narrowed the possibilities (in my mind) to one of two. Pure speculation, of course, but it seems to me that either McCutcheon is taking an administrative/leadership position with USA Volleyball, or he will be coaching D1 Women’s volleyball next fall – for someone else. I’d be surprised to learn that he is tired of coaching, but maybe he has a grander vision for promoting the sport of volleyball. But if it’s the latter, then where?
His penchant for lining up the toughest pre-season schedules possible tells us he isn’t likely looking for a softer conference. So if he coaches somewhere else, it will likely be in the Big Ten. But where? Which jobs that McCutcheon might want are opening? My guess: UCLA.
UCLA & Southern Cal are joining the Big Ten for the 2024 Season (and there are hints of further expansion to come). More likely UCLA because the Spartans have a 3rd-yr coach and an increasingly competitive team, but the Bruins are are having a terrible year. Moving at the end of this season would give McCutcheon time to get the Bruins ready for the Big Ten. The Bruins (like the Spartans) have a proud women’s volleyball tradition, with 3 National Championships in the 1980s & 90s. If I was the UCLA A.D., I’d be shopping for a marquee coach to recover that past glory.
Why would McCutcheon want the UCLA job?
- He’s an Aussie; maybe he hates cold weather?
- Maybe UCLA (or somebody) made him an offer he can’t refuse?
- Maybe he wasn’t happy with his recent contract extension with the Gophers. Despite his success, he doesn’t make that much, nowhere near what P.J. Fleck, Ben Johnson, or even Lindsey Whelan make. Maybe McCutcheon doesn’t think that A.D. Mark Coyle gives him the respect he deserves?
Why wouldn’t McCutcheon want the UCLA job?
- It wouldn’t make recruiting any easier. There was a time when all the best college prospects came from California, but not anymore. McCutcheon landed the #1 recruit in the country in 2 of the last 3 years, one from Illinois and one from Wisconsin.
- A salary twice what the Gophers pay him would be a wash, because the cost of living in L.A. is twice that of the Twin Cities, and UCLA is not in a neighborhood you’d want to raise kids in.
- I continue to believe that his current core-group of players (Landfair, Wenaas, Shaffmaster, Wooker, Booth) have (or had) the potential to win a National Championship, if not this year then next year or the year after. Who walks away from that?
WORST CASE SCENARIO
Let’s say McCutcheon jumps to UCLA, or somewhere like that. Under the current Transfer Portal Rules – he could take Landfair, Wenaas, Shaffmaster, Wooker, and Booth with him. (Reader R.A. comments on this below) And he could take our upcoming recruits besides! The story in this morning’s Strib reveals that McCutcheon called Mother Swenson to give her the news prior to the press release.
READER R.A. writes: It will be a victory if less than half the returning starters don’t enter the portal. Players have all talked about McCutcheon as reason they came here.
JOHN: “Losing McCutcheon would be bad enough. I don’t even want to think about losing our current stars and incoming recruits.”
In other news, READER J.S. provides additional info re the family names in the Swenson household, and READER R.N. fills us in on Laura Kasey.
J.S.: “The sister of SSS’s mom was murdered in West Lakeland by an abusive boyfriend. https://www.mprnews.org/story/2006/09/24/domestic
The sister’s husband had died a few years early, they had four kids. After the sister was killed then the families were blended together. Our daughter was playing volleyball with one of the Lee kids at Oakland Jr High School when the estranged boyfriend showed up. There was a scene, he left and then showed up at the house in the middle of the night. The mother/sister was shot and killed along with a friend who was staying to help keep watch. The children hid in the house and one of them was able to call 911 and to get the younger ones out.
Here’s an article with more detail on the actual crime. https://www.republicaneagle.com/news/update-murder-charges-against-river-falls-man-in-west-lakeland-double-murder/article_686ca5b9-6c0e-537b-bc51-988694b35030.html
The two sisters were close and the blended family has something like 7 kids. One of those reality TV shows built them a house a year or two after the killing. Few families deserved it more.
I think you can see the quality of the parenting of both sisters and their husbands. To excel as they have and be as close as they are is something not often seen in the face of so much tragedy. Everyone in the family is a hero right down to the youngest kids.
I would think of them every time I saw Samantha play. Hopefully we get that opportunity again with her siblings – so much good both on and off the court and it’s an inspirational reminder in every set of how good people can rise above tragedy and succeed in spite of it all. “
JOHN: Thanks, J.S.
R.N.: “John, a close Gopher volleyball friend of mine, P. M., discovered where Laura Kasey landed following her departure from the Gophers. Kasey is now involved with Shine Athletics based in Ft. Myers, FL. I think P.M. found this on Facebook.”
JOHN: Not familiar with this “Facebook?” of which you speak. And I doubt that there are any athletics in Ft. Myers since the hurricane. But thanks, R.N. & P.M.
R.A. says I have UCLA and Southern Cal mixed up, UCLA is in a nice area.