She will do well!!! Believe It!!! She is known & respected in the State, and around the country as a quality coach!!! She has done better, and has been more consistent than the last High School Coach we had, named Claudette Farmer. We are moving into a new arena, & She will have support both physically , and financially. Ammons will give her everything she needs to be successful.

As the self appointed MEAC basketball guru I must say this is a surprising hire. No doubt, she's an excellent tactician but can she recruit? That's usually the area where great high school coaches struggle when they don't make it at D-I. This does appear to be a budget hire since this will chop about $30,000 off of salaries. The one thing you rattlers can take comfort in is Bill Hayes eye for talent. Weather it's coaches or players he has a solid track record of making good hires.

quote:

Originally posted by FAMUVenom:
"What are ANY of us/y'all talking about?"

The MEAC/HBCU's collectively is not even a solid notch above what most of the HS programs some of the kids we want to consider coming to our schools come from and are accustomed to.

In some cases it's even a step BACK ... Which is also a reason why a lot of us can't keep most of the ones we DO con-vince into coming long enough to even graduate!

She can't be any worse than any of these other rejects and retreads that are out here ... so let's give the woman a chance to show what she can do!

I hope this time next year, you'll all be saying it was "unreal" ... That her squad kicked y'all's @sses so bad!

Not likely. She has yet to recruit anyone!

congrats to Ms. Gibson. She has a bangin' HS resume and to be so young (shade under 40).

She comes in with nice credentials and will have a sparkling new gym, to boot. No doubt, by virtue of her HS connections and scouting opponents, she probably has a good bead (as good as any current college coach) on the HS classes of 2009-2011 in the state of FL. I would assume she has the respect of her peers, so I hope there won't be any hesitation from her former HS coaching counterparts recommending or sending kids up to FAMU.

Give her a shot.

Congrat's FAMU on your Hire!

Glad Bibbs is staying at A&T for now!

quote:

Originally posted by decatur g:
congrats to Ms. Gibson. She has a bangin' HS resume and to be so young (shade under 40).

She comes in with nice credentials and will have a sparkling new gym, to boot. No doubt, by virtue of her HS connections and scouting opponents, she probably has a good bead (as good as any current college coach) on the HS classes of 2009-2011 in the state of FL. I would assume she has the respect of her peers, so I hope there won't be any hesitation from her former HS coaching counterparts recommending or sending kids up to FAMU.

Give her a shot.

Good luck to FAMU but, a HS coach is really risky IMHO.

Really???

three years $90,000?????

How do you sign a contract for such little money?

That's three years at $90,000 per year or $270,000 in value

I too stretched my eyes at this hire until I read up on her. I am wishing her well!!!!

B cubed,
yeah.......ther may be a huge learning curve, but I think she has the wisdom to hire assistants who have collegiate experience.

quote:

Really???

three years $90,000?????

How do you sign a contract for such little money?

quote:

The one thing you rattlers can take comfort in is Bill Hayes eye for talent. Weather it's coaches or players he has a solid track record of making good hires.

I like the young phenom hire. It will be a stretch assignment for her, but you often find your stars by putting them in stretch assignments.

quote:

Originally posted by hampton blueblood:

quote:

Originally posted by FAMUVenom:
"What are ANY of us/y'all talking about?"

The MEAC/HBCU's collectively is not even a solid notch above what most of the HS programs some of the kids we want to consider coming to our schools come from and are accustomed to.

In some cases it's even a step BACK ... Which is also a reason why a lot of us can't keep most of the ones we DO con-vince into coming long enough to even graduate!

She can't be any worse than any of these other rejects and retreads that are out here ... so let's give the woman a chance to show what she can do!

I hope this time next year, you'll all be saying it was "unreal" ... That her squad kicked y'all's @sses so bad!

Not likely. She has yet to recruit anyone!

She's also not likely to be any worse than anyone else who the rest of y'all have coaching your squads either!

quote:

I like the young phenom hire. It will be a stretch assignment for her, but you often find your stars by putting them in stretch assignments.

I'm diggin' the hire too!

Muggz keep woofin' about HBCU's/MEAC not ever thinking outside the box, but when one does it's considered "unreal" ...

Well - By some of you all's comments, since she has absolutely nothing to lose ... The Challenge is gonna be on all of YOU muggz - to not fall victim to the "kid".

oh ok that is good money. Guess I read it wrong

As previously stated, she can't do no worse than the previous coaching staff. I wish her the best and I hope she can turn our women's program around. She'll get my support as well as all new hires at FAMU.

Go Rattlers!!!!!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by hampton blueblood:
Let's be real. This is a shock and if I'm one of the players I'm transferring. FAMU officially said they don't care about women's basketball. Running a high school program is vastly different from running a college program. The time, the committment, the academics, the fundraising, the training it's a whole other animal. How would you guys feel if this hire was coming to your program. Would you be as optimistic? Hell no. This sounds like a budget hire. She can't be making that much coming from a high school program and you can't tell me there aren't other qualified coaches at the collegiate level. What happened to the Cynthia Cooper rumor? Just asking?

I wish her success but i don't think this will be a good experiment.

i wouldn't say famu doesn't care about women's basketball, otherwise they wouldn't have gone after bibbs (and cooper if the rumor's true). i agree that high school coaching is far different than college, but you left out the biggest difference and probably the most important which is "recruiting". its hard to measure how good a high school coach is at college recruiting if they've never done it before, but that doesn't mean they won't be good at it. bibbs went directly from high school coaching to college coaching and was very successful on the court and at recruiting as well. who knows, this lady could turn out to be the next bibbs. hayes is no dummy, he's been in this business a long time. unless someone put a piston to his head, you've got believe he saw something in this young lady that impressed him and i don't mean just her win/loss record. i'm sure he could have hired plenty of applicants who had college experience which leads me to believe he saw something special about this young lady…

quote:

Originally posted by decatur g:
but I think she has the wisdom to hire assistants who have collegiate experience.

true

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

FROM HIGH SCHOOL TO DIVISION-I COLLEGE
Winter Haven's Gibson Will Coach at Florida A&M
Former Blue Devil coach signs a 3-year contract for $90,000 a year.
By Roy Fuoco
Lakeland Ledger
Former Winter Haven girls basketball coach LeDawn Gibson didn’t stay out of coaching long. Today, Gibson accepted the women's basketball head coaching position at Florida A&M, making the rare move from high school coaching to Division I coaching.




Winter Haven coach Ledawn Gibson hugs Amber Smith after their victory over Clearwater in the Class 5A girls FHSAA basketball championship game at The Lakeland Center in 2007. Gibson is making the rare jump from high school to Division I college basketball after leading the Blue Devils to eight state title games and two championships.
"I’m so excited,’’ she said. “This has brought life back to me. I’m very excited. I get to keep doing what what I like to do.’’

Gibson, 39, replaces Debra Clark, who was informed in March that her contract would not be renewed after compiling a 100-109 record in seven years, including 14-17 this past season. She has signed a three-year contract at $90,000 a year.

Rumors surfaced in March that Gibson was headed to FAMU because the school’s president, James Ammons, is from Winter Haven. Gibson, however, was at the McDonald’s All-American game with Tiffany Hayes when the job opened and put in an application. She said she never spoke with Ammons until just before today’s news conference in Tallahassee.

“They never approached me," she said. “I put in my application like everyone else and went for it. I still had passion for the job."

Gibson was among one of 40 applicants for the position, and one of four finalists who were interviewed by William Hayes, FAMU’s athletic director.

Hayes said he didn’t think the school was taking a chance on Gibson’s lack of college coaching experience.

"She is well-connected in the state," Hayes said. “I got recommendations from the Florida coach, the Florida State coach, the Central Florida coach. She has a great pipeline in the state. All she needs is a chance."

Hayes added that Gibson’s passion stood out among the other finalists.’
"I knew she was a great fit,’’ he said.

Gibson acknowledged the difference between coaching at the college level and the high school level.

“I look at as a challenge," she said. “I never looked at it as there was pressure to win. It was always a challenge. I like to get challenged."

Gibson stepped down as the Blue Devils head coach in March after 12 years and a 315-57. During that time, she built one of the top girls basketball programs in the state, leading the Blue Devils to the state tournament eight times and winning state titles in 2005 and 2007. She also coached two players who were named Florida’s Miss Basketball, LaQwesha Gamble and Tiffany Hayes, who was also a Parade All-American and McDonald’s All-American.

Twenty-eight of her players, which could increase to 29 soon, signed out of high school to play college basketball.

“People don’t realize how rare it is to go from coaching high school to coaching college as a head coach, especially in Division I," said Tony Longa, former Florida Southern coach and current Lakeland High School athletic director. "It’s like winning the lottery."

When she resigned as Winter Haven's coach, she said she was burned out coaching at the high school level.

“I did everything in high school that I wanted to do," she said.

Gibson was looking to do something different, whether it was coaching in the college level or as a school administrator. She looked around to see if there were college coaching opportunities, but if nothing came about, she was excited about becoming an assistant principal and taking that career path.

A 1986 graduate of Winter Haven, she holds an associate degree in elementary education from Polk Community College, a bachelor's degree in organizational management from Warner Southern and a master's in educational leadership from Argosy University in Tampa.

Gibson is spending a few days in Tallahassee to iron our details about the job, including when she will go up to Tallahassee to stay. She plans to finish out the school year at Winter Haven before leaving.

Among her first duties will be to put together a coaching staff. Although she and long-time assistant Johnnie Lawson, who was named her replacement as Winter Haven’s girls coach last month, talked about the possibility of teaming up again, both agreed that now wasn’t the right time. Gibson is looking for assistants with college experience who know NCAA rules and regulations.

Lawson wants to stay in Polk County to be close to his adopted daughter and follow through with his commitment at Winter Haven.

“I’m real happy for her," he said. “I think she’s going to be very successful. It’s going to be bittersweet. I’m going to miss having her around."

[Roy Fuoco can be reached at 863-802-7508 or roy.fuoco@theledger.com. ]

quote:

Gibson stepped down as the Blue Devils head coach in March after 12 years and a 315-57. During that time, she built one of the top girls basketball programs in the state, leading the Blue Devils to the state tournament eight times and winning state titles in 2005 and 2007. She also coached two players who were named Florida’s Miss Basketball, LaQwesha Gamble and Tiffany Hayes, who was also a Parade All-American and McDonald’s All-American.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: THE DREAMER,

quote:

Well - By some of you all's comments, since she has absolutely nothing to lose ... The Challenge is gonna be on all of YOU muggz - to not fall victim to the "kid".

quote:

Originally posted by Da Seer:
She will do well!!! Believe It!!! She is known & respected in the State, and around the country as a quality coach!!! She has done better, and has been more consistent than the last High School Coach we had, named Claudette Farmer. We are moving into a new arena, & She will have support both physically , and financially. Ammons will give her everything she needs to be successful.

Claudettte Farmer recruited Natalie White.