Wagner Brings Optimistic Vision To OSU
May 3, 2005
Wagner brings optimistic vision to OSU
A confident new women's basketball coach gets down to the business of turning around a troubled program
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
ABBY HAIGHT
The Oregonian
CORVALLIS -- In the past three weeks, LaVonda Wagner has criss-crossed the country, recruited young basketball players, put her home up for sale and jumped into the getting-to-know-you phase of a new job and a new community.
So her formal introduction Monday as the fourth head coach in Oregon State women's basketball history was a little calm in a storm of activity since Wagner was hired April 15.
With some of her family on hand -- mother Maxine, wearing a big smile, two brothers and her toddler niece Isis -- Wagner showed why she wowed an OSU search committee on her first meeting, and how she has brought optimism and excitement to returning players.
"She captivates you," said junior Kim Butler, who transferred to Oregon State and will play for the fourth coach of her college career next season. "Already, you can sense how she's going to get down to business. And we're going to follow her."
Wagner's pedigree and credentials have Oregon State officials crowing over their hiring coup. But it is the coach's confidence that convinced athletic director Bob De Carolis that she was the one to turn a Pacific-10 Conference punching bag into a national power.
"I've started talking to the (returning) players," Wagner said. "I told them it was time to start talking and walking like champions. They need to see that in their minds' eye."
That is a leap players are happy to make after struggling through a demoralizing season, winning just six games and one Pac-10 contest. Although there were excuses -- the team had lost key players from the 2003-04 season -- coach Judy Spoelstra was fired after her 10th year with the Beavers.
"We're just looking forward to the future," said guard Ebony Young, whose season was cut short by a torn anterior cruciate ligament. "You can tell (Wagner) cared about the players, on and off the court. You can't just create greatness overnight. You have to work at it."
Wagner, a third-year assistant at national powerhouse Duke, was one of about two dozen prospects who met with a search committee led by De Carolis at the NCAA Women's Final Four. Oregon State had an offer on the table less than two days later.
"The first minute, we knew a lot about her," De Carolis said. "The way she walked through the door, the way she shook hands, the way she started the interview process. Whoa! We knew she was the one."
After a visit to Corvallis, Wagner thought the same of Oregon State.
Raised in the Southeast, where her family still lives, and after a career spent in the East and Midwest, Wagner looked West. After her only previous visit to Corvallis -- when Illinois played the Beavers a decade ago -- Wagner said she had no thoughts of someday returning as a coach.
"I was looking for something special," said Wagner, who was sought by several programs, including Saint Louis. "I really bought into the vision . . . to be in the hunt for a Pac-10 championship, in the hunt for a national championship. That's where I wanted to be."
Wagner signed a five-year contract. The first year includes a $140,000 base salary, a $60,000 media package and a series of competitive and academic incentives. By the final year of the agreement, the contract will be worth more than $300,000.
Wagner has been interviewing candidates to fill her staff. She already is well into recruiting -- a specialty that stood out at Duke, where she helped recruit the country's No. 1 (2003) and No. 2 (2005) classes, and during eight years as an assistant and associate head coach at Illinois.
"Recruiting is the bloodline of any program," Wagner said. "We're starting this from scratch, but we're laying the groundwork for years to come."
Her recruiting work at Duke and Illinois gave Wagner a familiarity with players around the country, but she said her goal this summer was to build bonds with the state's and the region's high school coaches. Oregon State should get the state's top recruits, she said -- and top players from other regions.
"If Oregon State can recruit and sign me, I can recruit here," Wagner said. "Stanford is the model at the top (of the Pac-10). Everyone wants to knock them off. . . . My dream is for everyone to be looking at Oregon State."
