Rollins Fired, Kenlaw Interim Head Coach (Update)
The Mystics just announced that that Tree Rollins has been fired as head coach and that assistant coach Jessie Kenlaw has been named interim head coach.
I have to be brief at the moment because I was on my way out the door to Verizon when I got the news. Here is the team's release.
Update: Just got off the phone with Rollins and here are a few excerpts from my conversation with him.
On his firing: "I've always been able to finish whatever I've started. No matter how bad it's got, I always finished it. I'm not really concerned about winning or losing the game so much I want to go out and compete. I just wanted five people to go out and compete, earn your trip.You're getting paid to do a job. You go out and do that job the best that you can do that job. And the one thing that I'm feeling now is that I'm giving up on my team."
On the losses to New York and Detroit: "We had other games where we didn't look like a basketball team but we came back and competed. Last night no one wanted to be near that court. At the end of the first quarter against New York we stopped competing. And we didn't compete for the next seven quarters...I never felt that [the odds] were stacked against me. We just didn't have personnel to do the job. We started the year off with our share of problems, but we convinced this team that they could still compete."
On what the biggest problems were: "You've got to have a good point [guard] and a good center and you build around those two positions and right now the Washington Mystics just don't have that going for them. Other teams took advantage of that."
On how he thinks Kenlaw will fare: "I don't know what Jessie can do different from what we did as a staff. I'm not saying she won't find something to do differently, but now you still have the same staff just like last year. I knew what we had to do last year when [former head coach] Richie [Adubato] decided to leave [in 2007] when our starting [center] was traded. We didn't miss [Chasity Melvin] as much as we thought we were going to miss her because Nakia stepped up to the plate. It still boils down to the players, who have to step up to the plate and play."
Update: The thing that surprised me most about my discussions with various people today about the coaching change was General Manager Linda Hargrove telling me that if these two recent losses had been regular losses not drubbings, that the coaching change might not have happened.
"It probably wouldn't have happened had we lost those two games, just lost them," Hargrove said. "But the way we lost them and the way we didn't compete...was very much a part of the decision."Whenever you are going through a bad stretch sometimes you can keep everybody together on the same page and continue to work toward a common goal," Hargrove added. "I don't think I really felt the connectiveness with our team and Tree for awhile. I think we won some games in spite of maybe not having a real together feeling with everybody."
--My observations from the first Jessie Kenlaw led practice are that she's a completely different style of coach than Rollins. That much was apparent even during his practices, because Kenlaw has a much more fiery directional style. I'm curious to see if she lets it show in the games. According to Hargrove, Kenlaw's "a motivator. She's a disciplinarian. She's a lot of things this team needs."
Kenlaw on what she and Crystal Robinson tried to accomplish today: "The biggest thing is to change their mindsets and that's we talked about and worked on. Today it was all about us. It wasn't about Seattle. It was more about getting our team in the right frame of mind that they need to be in, working hard and making a couple of adjustments and trying to change some habits."
--Alana Beard said the move definitely sent an urgent message to the players, that in many ways responds to the comments Rollins has made over the past few days about the players being accountable. "We're the players. We have to go out there and play the game," Beard said. "We have to come and do our job... Tomorrow's not guaranteed if you want to be here you have to work your butt off to stay here."
By
Katie Carrera
|
July 19, 2008; 6:52 PM ET
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Posted by: Mystix4evr | July 19, 2008 1:11 PM
Does Ted care about the Mystics AT ALL? It sure doesn't seem like he does.....
Posted by: Mysticsfan | July 19, 2008 1:40 PM
It's about time! I agree, perhaps it's time to get rid of Linda too. Maybe now the talent on this team will be able to show itself.
Posted by: vayooper | July 19, 2008 2:00 PM
Maybe now the talent on this team will be able to show itself.
Posted by: vayooper | July 19, 2008 2:00 PM
From your mouth, to God's ears!
Posted by: Mystix4evr | July 19, 2008 3:00 PM
I think it was a move that was past due to relieve Tree Rollins. Anytime your team commits as many turnovers as they do and the coach publicly state that he doesn't know how to correct it they should be sent on to another endeaver. Even on the sidelines during the games he looked overwelmed and clueless.
Posted by: getate | July 19, 2008 3:01 PM
Anybody know anything about Kenlaw? She seems to be connected to Hargrove through the Portland Fire. (Not a great reference.)
Posted by: nsw43 | July 19, 2008 3:14 PM
Last night's game was just pitiful. They didn't look like a team at all, and you couldn't tell if they had practiced. I don't know what this team needs, but it seems like Mystics have gone through almost as many coaches as the Redskins... Is Danny running this team too???
Posted by: amw | July 19, 2008 4:06 PM
Thanks for the update. At first I was getting disgusted because it sounded like Tree was throwing the players under the bus, but then it looked like he was shifting to Linda. Unfortunately he turned back to the players. Ugh.
Posted by: John | July 19, 2008 4:38 PM
Katie, appreciate your getting Tree's reaction. I agree with him he wasn't the only problem. It will be interesting to see what Jessie can do with this team, but I think this is just an interim step. Right now, my impression is that before next season, some serious house cleaning is needed.
Posted by: Original Fan | July 19, 2008 4:42 PM
Don't anybody get their hopes up too soon. Sorry to be so negative, but 1) Tree's right that we still don't have a decent point guard or center (Taj is not a center, but a power forward, and Nakia stinks), and 2) I haven't seen Kenlaw get up out of the chair during a game this year (and I sit right behind the bench). So, I don't know what the Mystics organization is talking about when they talk about her "high energy." Hopefully, she's just been saving it up.
Anybody got a count of how many times in the last 11 years that the Mystics have fired the coach mid-season without changing the rest of the staff and players but still expected things to change on the court?
Posted by: devooshka | July 19, 2008 4:43 PM
Alfie -- Just how many lesbians are on the Mystics team? How do you know this? Not that I'm calling you a BIGOT or anything... . Oh, and by the way, before you assume that I'm a lesbian protecting my "peeps", I'm a happily married heterosexual woman.
Posted by: devooshka | July 19, 2008 4:47 PM
Sounds like Tree is saying Hargrove didn't give him the players needed to be competitive. Maybe he gave up a long time ago.
Posted by: nsw43 | July 19, 2008 5:14 PM
Shaking up the staff just may work. If New York beats Indiana outdoors tonight, the Mystics will be just 2 games behind a playoff spot.
That said,the Mystics do have LA's 1st round pick next year from the Milton/McWilliams-Franklin deal.
The Mystics can draft a Center and a Point Guard and if they draft well the future is bright.
The team has to rally around the new coach and go out and grab that last playoff spot.
Posted by: Jeremy Bauserman | July 19, 2008 6:07 PM
I don't want to see this team sneak into the 4th playoff spot again, only to be blown out in the first round, again, by the Shock. Been there, done that. Let's get in when we get there not because another team is in freefall but because we are actually good enough to be competitive in the post season. Rather have the lottery balls than one and done in the playoffs.
Posted by: Not Again | July 19, 2008 6:12 PM
This team will never win, as long as coaches are fired after one or two years, and Linda Hargrove is still around. She has to be the worst GM in the WNBA, it's overdue time for the owners to get rid of her. Just look at the trades and draft picks she's made.
Posted by: Skyerocket1969 | July 19, 2008 6:15 PM
The firing was well deserved - Tree never seem to grasp a logical rotation patters and the game plan often seemed lacking - but all the blame cannot lie with him.
The notion that this team has a lot of talent is off target. Beard is obviously a stud and Langhorne looks like she could be a solid option, but there is little else left to work with and that has to fall on the GM.
Posted by: Booka70 | July 19, 2008 6:55 PM
Ok Sheila, now fire Linda and find someone who knows how to draft and make good trades..
Posted by: DD | July 19, 2008 7:23 PM
As others have said, one down and one to go.
I hate the coaching carousel we seem to have here in Washington, but this needed to happen. It will be interesting to see what happens against Seattle.
Posted by: Kande | July 19, 2008 7:53 PM
Yes, after these two last losses, a change had to be made. I don't know what the Mystics can hope to accomplish for the rest of the year but I do know that next year some major housekeeping has to occur.I think that Taj and Crystal Langhorne are the only two who are playing up to their potential and I only see Crystal as an untouchable next year. Alana has been disappointing and while I like Taj, she is up in age. It will be an interesting off season.
Posted by: RV | July 19, 2008 9:26 PM
I just read Katie's article that will appear in the Sunday paper. Very telling stat on Beard only scoring more than 10 pts once in the past 5 games. Yet her quote isn't about being disappointed in herself or even using the first person in terms of who has to step up, but rather "we." News flash to AB: you are the franchise player. How about taking some personal responsibility and start earning your pay check.
Posted by: Original Fan | July 19, 2008 9:29 PM
The Mystics Ownership should fire Linda Hargrove immediately, the team wont be doing any trading right now, what's the need for a GM until after the season.
I'm tired of the Mystics Organization settling for losing, that's the impression Linda Hargrove gives when she says Tree wouldn't been fired if the losses weren't so large. Give me a break Linda, pack your bags for Kansas or Missouri.
I wont be returning for a 12th yr as a Mystics Season Ticket Holder if Linda Hargrove is retained as GM.
Posted by: 11 Years Of Mystics Excuses | July 19, 2008 10:00 PM
Let's start Taj, Sanford, Langhorn and bring Mo in off the bench.
RV, What makes you think Taj will be a Mystic next year? I predict AB will ask to be traded as well as Taj.
Posted by: Suggestion | July 20, 2008 12:08 AM
Maybe the Mystics ownership should look into hiring Pokey Champman as GM and Coach for next season. She is a great coach and motivator, always encouraging her team not only in the locker room but on the sidelines as well. Might be something for Shiela to think about.
Posted by: LMA | July 20, 2008 12:09 AM
Alana needs to look inward a little more often, rather than always talking about what her team-mates need to do. She's not a floor leader, and she never will be -- and that's not Tree's fault. He may not have blazed new trails as a coach, but that team's problems reach from the lowest level person on the team all the way to the front office.
Posted by: devooshka | July 20, 2008 9:58 AM
I so agree with Skyerocket - Hargrove should have been gone the second she made that stupid Chastity Melvin for Currie swap. The real questions has to be whether or not Sheila Johnson is conscious! She'd better take the reigns of this Mystics team or DC will be without a WNBA franchise within 2 years, (or maybe Dr. Johnson has already given up on this team, too - sure seems like it).
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One down, one to go. You're next, Linda! Good luck, Jessie.