WBB assistant Katy Steding takes head coach position at Boston University

If you're going to lose a coach, the best way is when they leave for an obvious promotion. That's exactly what Boston University has offered Katy Steding, who accepted their offer to coach the Terriers. Steding was with the Cal program for two years, and saw plenty of success in her role working primarily with post players. Gennifer Brandon, Talia Caldwell and Reshanda Gray all played at all-conference levels under her coaching.

Steding is inheriting a tough situation at Boston. Remember when Scott Rueck took over Oregon State, and the Beavers had only 2 or 3 players left because the previous head coach chased everybody away with bullying and verbal abuse? That's basically what seems to have happened at Boston last year under former head coach Kelly Greenberg. Four players have already transferred, and more could choose to leave with the head coaching change. Boston had been one of the better mid-major WBB programs in the Northeast with six straight top 3 finishes in the American East conference before last year's controversial season. Hopefully Steding can rebuild the Terriers back to that level in time.

It's tough to say how this will impact Cal in the short and long term. It's good that Coach Gottlieb is pulling in strong coaches who are attractive to other schools. Frankly, if you had asked me to guess which Cal coach was going to leave first, I'd have put big money on Charmin Smith getting a well deserved chance to be head coach somewhere. On the other hand, Steding's Olympic pedigree probably made her an attractive candidate, while Smith has seemingly rebuffed previous feelers from other programs, so what do I know?

For now we can wait and see what kind of coach Cal brings in to fill the vacancy. You can never have enough ace recruiters, and you would think the chance to work with Reshanda Gray for a year would be enticing for any coach with a specialty in post players.

Meanwhile, we've all got a new team to cheer for back East. Go Terriers! Beat Colgate! You can never trust a school that has so completely sold out to the dental industry.