The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Friday, April 6, 2012 - 7

The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Friday, April 6, 2012 - 7

Kevin Borseth: What just happened?

n an unforeseen move yes-
terday, Michigan women's
basketball coach Kevin
Borseth resigned after five sea-
sons at the helm.
In his
final sea-
son, the
Wolverines
compiled a
20-11 record,
which was
enough to
earn their
first NCAA MICHAEL
Tournament LAURILA
bid since
2001.
The question that remains is,
why the sudden departure?
When Borseth arrived in
Ann Arbor in 2007, Michigan
had won just 35 games in the
previous four seasons. Along
with the losing mentality that
had become entrenched, the
Wolverines also hadn't made a
single postseason during this
stretch.
But in his first year, he took
Michigan to the WNIT and his
five-year tenure saw four post-
season berths.
With this season's team the
first composed of all Borseth
recruits, it looked like the Wol-
verines had made giant strides.
Going into next season, they
j were looking to stay a contend-
er, unlike the previous decade.
When senior guard Courtney
Boylan said, "Our program has
changed so much since coach
Borseth came here," she wasn't
joking.
He had sculpted the Wol-
verines into his own team, and
that didn't happen overnight.
There were growing pains -
there always are when a new
coach implements a new sys-
tem.
But it seemed the play-
ers had finally adjusted, and
the offense and defense were
developing their own identity
apart from former Michigan
teams.
That is, until Wednesday.
The world - well, the wom-
en's basketball team, at least
- came crashing down with'
the announcement of his resig-

PAUL SHtERMAN/Daily
Then-Michigan coach Kevin Borseth diagrams a play during a timeout earlier this season.
nation and return to his former here five years ago to pursue Green Bay - his and his wife's
job at Wisconsin Green-Bay. He a dream, and it was a dream families live much closer to
had spent nine seasons there of mine to go coach in the Big Green Bay than Ann Arbor. His
prior to coming to Ann Arbor Ten," he said. children were also raised there,
and advanced to the post-sea- So why is he going back? so they're practically going
son in all nine of those. In a sense, it's a demo- back home.
Why he chose to leave such tion. He left Green Bay for his But happiness and peace of
a successful program wasn't "dream job" but is now step- mind are two completely dif-
a big surprise in 2007, as the ping away from that job. In the ferent aspects, and he went into
Phoenix are a mid-major team press conference, he addressed depth on those two issues.
and the Big Ten was a step up his reasons for going back, and "Any time you lead a pro-
nationally. He reiterated this they were simple - family, gram, you put pressures on
on Thursday in his inaugural peace of mind and happiness,. yourself to do extremely well,"
press conference at Greeni Bay. A native of Bessemer, Mich. Borseth said. "I put pressures
"(My family and I) left - just three hours north of on myself to do well, and I

don't know if it's the demands,
or what the case might be, but
peace of mind is important.
"Happiness is important,
and you can never question
a person's happiness. That's
something that is unquestion-
able. From that standpoint,
health is important. I told my
players yesterday, 'If I keep
going on and am not happy, I
may not make it past tomor-
row.'"
No one's faulting him for
doing what he believes is right
- even if it means possibly
sending Michigan into women's
basketball limbo, which unfor-
tunately isn't that unfamiliar of
territory.
Though some might remem-
ber him as the coach who had
the famous "rant of 2008,"
when he blew up during a press
conference following a loss,
his legacy is deeper than that.
No one's
faulting him for
doing what he
believes is right.
He turned around a faltering
program, and that in itself is an
accomplishment.
Borseth might have left sud-
denly and unexpectedly, but
there certainly doesn't seem to
be hard feelings between the
current players and Borseth.
"I want to wish Coach Bors-
eth the best and thank him for
everything," junior forward
Sam Arnold tweeted yesterday
following his announcement.
"He's an amazing coach and an
even better person!"
What's next for the Wolver-
ines is unknown. But with the
offseason already in full swing,
they need to find a coach soon
if they're going to win at all
next season.
- Laurila can be reached
at laurilam@umich.edu
JOIN
THE
DAILY
SPORTS
STAFF
TODAY
It's almost too
easy to do.

CHECK THE
WEBSITE AND
SHOOT AN
E-MAIL OVER

Beilein
shares
thoughts
on Burke
Michigan coach
says reports of
Burke's departure
are premature
By BEN ESTES
Daily Sports Editor
After a Wednesday full of
speculation about the NBA Draft
status of freshman point guard
Trey Burke, Michigan basketball
coach John Beilein took the time
on Thursday to address the issue
in his "Beilein Weekly" section
of the Athletic Department's
website.
In the short statement on
MGoBlue.com - Beilein's first
since an entry on March 21
which focused on the Wolver-
ines' NCAA Tournament loss to
Ohio - the coach refuted reports
that Burke had decided to enter
the NBA draft, calling them
"premature."
"My coaching staff and I have
met with Trey and his parents
several times over the past two
weeks," Beilein said. "Collec-
tively, we have gathered and
shared with each of them some
necessary information that we
feel will help Trey make the
most informed decision for his
future."
No news had emerged regard-
ing Burke's decision for quite a
while until Wednesday. That's
when the situation became
something of a frenzy.
CBSSports.com, citing anon-
ymous sources, reported on
Wednesday that Burke had
decided he would enter the draft.
The Detroit Free Press soon fol-
lowed with a similar report, also
citing an anonymous source.
Soon after, Trey's father, Benji
Burke, tweeted that his son had
not declared for the NBA, and
the tweet neither confirmed nor
refuted the notion that he was
still planning to do so.
By Wednesday night, the Free
Press was instead reporting that
Burke, in the face of the media
attention and speculation of that
day, was reconsidering his deci-
sion and was still weighing his
options.
To further muddle the situ-
ation, just after midnight on
Thursday morning, the Daily
obtained a photo of Burke's
near-empty dorm room, full of
packed-up clothing and belong-
ings.
But, according to Beilein, no
decision has been made and
Burke is still taking classes and
preparing for final exams, which
are about two weeks away.
Burke has until April 29 to
declare for the NBA Draft, but
the last date to pull out of the

draft if one has declared is April
10 - that's essentially serving as
Burke's deadline.
"The Burke family has been
very receptive to our assistance
and appreciates that we have
encouraged Trey to take his time
and look at all of his options
between now and the April 10
deadline," Beilein said.

Michigan travels to Ohio State

By DANIEL FELDMAN
Daily Sports Writer
The two rival schools meet
again.
The No. 20 Michigan softball
team will conclude its six-game
road trip this weekend, taking
on Ohio State
(5-1 Big Ten, Michigan
21-11 overall)
in a matchup atOSU
of two Big Ten Matchup:
contenders. Michigan 21-11;
The three- OSU 24-10
game series When: Friday
will be the 5:30 P.M.,
only time the Saturday 2
two teams P.M., 4 P.M.
meet this sea- Where: Buck-
son, so it could eye Field
prove critical .a
TV/Radio:
for tiebreaking BTN (Fri.)
purposes later
in the season,
since each team is 5-1 in confer-
ence play.
The Wolverines (5-1, 24-10)
suffered their first conference
loss last week at the hands of
Indiana, but they remain in sec-
ond place in the Big Ten behind
Purdue.
After playing at home last
season against the Buckeyes,
Michigan has to travel to
Columbus for the entire series
this year.
The environment there is
something that the Wolverines
have not experienced this sea-
son.
"The crowd there is nasty,"
said Michigan coach Carol
Hutchins. "There's no love lost
when we walk on the field."
Though the atmosphere of
the crowd may be different,
Hutchins doesn't think that
defines how Ohio State will play.
"I never get too focused on
the other team," Hutchins said.
"I don't put red-letter marks
on teams, because every game
counts the same."
During last week's inconsis-
tent series at Indiana, the Wol-
verines scored five runs over
the first two games of the series
before scoring seven runs in the

FILE PHOTO/Daily
Senior first baseman Amanda Chidester and the Wolverines are coming off a series victory over Indiana last weekend.

finale.
A strong offensive perfor-
mance will be needed for Mich-
igan this weekend to counter
the bat of opposing first base-
man Evelyn Carrillo.
Carrillo, the reigning Big Ten
Player of the Week, hit .722 with
13 hits, 13 RBIs, two home runs
and a 1.167 slugging percentage
last week to help lead the Buck-
eyes to a three-game sweep of
Michigan State.
But Carrillo is not the only
reason Ohio State is current-
ly on an eight-game winning
streak.
Senior shortstop Alicia Her-
ron also plays a major factor.
Herron leads the Big Ten in

home runs with 10, RBIs with
40 and is also tops in slugging
percentage, on base percentage,
total bases and runs scored.
"We'll have to be careful with
her," Hutchins said.
Just as that dynamic duo has
led the Buckeyes to a hot start,
the same could be said for Mich-
igan sophomore right fielder
Lyndsay Doyle and senior first
baseman Amanda Chidester,
who have each hit .500 in Big
Ten play.
"We're going to need some
(other) people to step up in the
order to have confidence at the
plate," Hutchins said.
Chidester and junior sec-
ond baseman Ashley Lane have

played at Ohio State before,
unlike the sophomores and
freshmen, and they know the
atmosphere at Ohio State is
unlike anything the team has
experienced this year.
"I'm sure they'll say stuff and
be loud," Lane said.
"I'm expecting anything
(from the crowd) at this point."
To some teams, this type of
atmosphere might scare a team
off and affect its play in a nega-
tive way. Accordingto Chidester
and Lane, this is not the case for
the Wolverines.
"It gets us pumped,"
Chidester said.
"(There's) a lot of excite-
ment," Lane added.

I

& 4