Tuesday was a day Buffalo sports fans will never forget. While many of the headlines went to the Buffalo Bills announcing their move to Toronto and the Bulls becoming the first Division-I school to instituting a figure skating team, a major change at the top of both the men's and women's basketball teams occurred to very little fanfare.
Starting with the 2008-09 season, current women's basketball coach Linda Hill-MacDonald will attempt to turn around a men's basketball team that has had two consecutive losing seasons, while Reggie Witherspoon will try his hand as coach of the women's basketball squad.
Buffalo Athletic Director Warde Manuel is prepared to face the criticism that the unprecedented switch will surely receive, but he wants people to reserve judgment of the decision until they see the plan in action.
"I understand that the decision to install a figure skating team and promote Linda Hill-MacDonald to men's basketball head coach, while moving Reggie to the women's side, will most likely be my legacy, and that excites me," Manuel said. "Without change, things remain the same, without moving forward, people tend to stand still, and I refuse to let that happen at the University at Buffalo."
Hill-MacDonald will be the first woman to be the full-time coach of a Division-I men's basketball team, and despite her strong resume, which includes head coaching stints at the University of Minnesota and the WNBA, was shocked when Manuel came to her with the idea in late February.
"I was flabbergasted when Warde came to me about it last month," Hill-MacDonald said. "I never once thought about coaching men. I'm not a pioneer or anything along those lines. I would have been happy coaching the women's team and leading them to victories. However, when you get an opportunity like this, you take it and run. Period. Without a doubt. Simple decision. Period."
Witherspoon, as can be expected, was less than enthused about the decision, especially the aspect that Manuel and Hill-MacDonald had been talking about the switch while he was still trying to win games for the men's team. Witherspoon was not informed of the decision until late last week.
"I have always been a team player, so I will make the best of this awkward situation. But I ask you, has Linda ever had a winning season at Buffalo? Has Linda ever won a tournament game at Buffalo? Has Linda ever come .6 seconds away from winning a conference tournament? Has Linda ever recruited players of Turner Battle's caliber?" he said. "I mean, come on, I recruited Turner Battle. All I can say right now is that I look forward to the day when this publicity stunt will end, and trust me, that's all it is, a publicity stunt, and I take my rightful place back at the top of the men's basketball team."
Hill-MacDonald's past of coaching at both the professional level as well as a Big Ten school, seems to fit in better than Witherspoon's resume, whose experience before Buffalo consisted of coaching at Sweet Home High school and Erie Community College. While Manuel denied that their pedigree had anything to do with the decision, he did say that Witherspoon's experiences as a head coach made him very qualified to be the women's leader.
"Not only do we expect Linda and Reggie to succeed, we expect them to thrive," Manuel said. "I'm here to help in any way possible, but this is on them. That's what's great about being the athletic director, I made this big decision and I could fall flat on my ass, but so what, I tried. I made an effort, I didn't stand still, I threw my hat into the ring, I took the Bull by the horns. And that's all I ask that both Reggie and Linda do."
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