There is a problem on this campus, and that problem is a coach.
This coach has turned in the same kind of results season after season after season, making basketball fans ashamed of their teams, and yet we stand idly by. With every passing year, this coach's actions have made the Welsh-Ryan faithful re-evaluate the standard by which they determine success, and no longer can we allow such mental anguish to prosper.
It's time to make a stand. It's time to fire Kelly Amonte Hiller.
This so-called "champion" has done nothing but raise hopes and expectations since arriving in Evanston seven years ago. With the athletic department standing pat as the basketball teams' records continued to worsen, I assumed it would take action when a coach started winning.
Northwestern must be looking for a way to oust the four-time American Lacrosse Conference coach of the year, if only to restore the natural order that basketball fans have come to expect.
But when I asked Amonte Hiller about this, she said, "I think that the reception by people around the university has been really positive. I've never really heard that (I should be fired)."
Things started out right for Amonte Hiller's Wildcats, posting a 13-18 record over their first two years as a Division I squad. But then something terrifying happened: They started getting better.
In 2004, Amonte Hiller's third season, NU went 15-3 and made the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament. Such "improvement" was new and confusing for Cats hoops fans. The low point came in year four, when Amonte Hiller led NU to a perfect 21-0 season and won the national championship.
She has since captured two more crowns, bringing the total to three-straight, while compiling a 73-2 record since 2005. Now, the Cats are 11-0, ranked No. 1 in the country and the overwhelming favorite to earn their fourth title in as many years.
"We do expect to win every time we step out on the field," Amonte Hiller said.
2008 Woodie Awards
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Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
carmody sucks
posted 4/09/08 @ 2:48 PM CST
word. keep up the good work, bienen!
NU Fan
posted 4/10/08 @ 1:01 PM CST
Larry Benison, you really should take this issue to Bienen, the Womens LAX team is getting too good. It's not fair to the rest of the athletes on this campus. (Continued…)
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