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“This is the destination,” new USF women's basketball coach Kristy Curry says. “This isn’t the stepping stone. We’re here and we’re here for the long term, and I look forward to writing this last chapter.” ©Jefferee Woo
Since USF announced Kristy Curry as its new women’s basketball coach last week, the questions swirling around the hire have been simple yet enduring.
“Why?”
Why did Alabama’s coach, fresh off another NCAA Tournament appearance, leave the SEC?
“How?”
How did USF, a mid-major program, convince her to come to Tampa?
USF CEO of Athletics Rob Higgins, well aware of the surrounding buzz, gave his answer at Curry’s official introduction on Monday.
“Do you want to hear the behind the scenes of how we stealthily pulled this off?” Higgins teased. “It’s actually way more simple than one would assume.
“We are USF.”
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The statement was typical of a celebratory announcement. Self-congratulatory and superficial, received with raucous applause by the very people receiving praise.
Higgins, tasked with being the biggest believer in his alma mater’s athletics department, has made comparable remarks since he was hired in October.
But as he brings in the coaches to back them up, his statements are starting to hold more weight.
After losing Jose Fernandez to the WNBA’s Dallas Wings, Higgins did not settle. He set his sights on a major hire, and on Monday, that hire said “We are USF” just about summed up why she left Tuscaloosa.
“(USF) was always a special place that I really admired,” Curry said. “I think Rob said it best today. They care about women’s basketball. They’re a champion for women’s sports. It’s really special to partner with a staff and university and president that really, really truly get it on so many levels.
“I couldn’t say no.”
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Curry said she had long respected USF because of Fernandez, who led the program admirably for 25 years. Fernandez left USF in October, but Higgins waited to make his hire. The morning after Alabama was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament last Monday, Higgins was in Tuscaloosa, making his pitch to Curry. That afternoon, the announcement was made.
“We’re so fortunate to have a really strong women’s basketball program. I think the country knows that ... and so when the coaching search came about, we wanted to be really exhaustive,” Higgins said.
“To have an icon and trailblazer as great as Kristy Curry want to come here was an incredible testament to not only where we are as a program, but where we’re going as well.”
Curry, 59, is one of 10 collegiate women’s basketball coaches to record at least 100 wins at three different programs. Over 13 seasons at Alabama, she accumulated 245 wins and led the Crimson Tide to the NCAA Tournament in five of the last six seasons. She has two Elite Eight and four Sweet 16 appearances to her name, and in 2001, she led Purdue to the national championship game.
“There’s no one more proven than Kristy Curry,” Higgins said.
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Now, Curry says she’s ready to conclude a storied career with the Bulls.
“This is the destination,” she said. “This isn’t the stepping stone. We’re here and we’re here for the long term, and I look forward to writing this last chapter.”
That’s exactly what Higgins, who has had to hire a football coach, a women’s basketball coach and men’s basketball coach in less than six months, wants to hear.
“We don’t believe we deserve anything less than the best,” he said. “USF is focused on becoming a special place with relentless championship success where coaches want to come and not leave.”
“And Kristy Curry coming here is a statement addition that embodies that focus.”
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