As we get through half of December, the women's basketball nonconference is already seeing some shake-ups. While some coaches are trying their best to adapt early on, these seven couldn't help themselves out of the hot seat.

The season is still young, but most of the high-stakes basketball is still ahead.

Coquese Washington, Rutgers

Having only won 10 conference games in 3 years, the 17-point loss was the team's worst Division I loss to Stony Brook, according to Her Hoop Stats rating. But the Rutgers' decline started well before Washington came in.

C. Vivian Stringer's last years with the program set up a tough time for her to take over with the transfer portals. With a lower salary than the previous coach and all assistants on one-year deals, all signs point to a much-needed reset for Coquese and the Scarlet Knights.

Carolyn Kieger, Penn State

Kieger’s time at Penn State hasn’t brought the confidence to the team they had wished for. She now has twice as many Big Ten seasons with only one win, finishing .500 or better.

Not being able to recruit talent, a poor defensive team, along with Rutgers transfer Kyomi Miller's misconduct allegations, the Nittany Lions are still searching for a silver lining.

Sytia Messer, UCF

The Next Hoops called Messer a legendary recruiter under Kim Mulkey, but that has not translated to UCF. She has struggled with a lack of investments and staff. The staff that she does have come with troubles of their own, like Anne Marie Glibert's abuse accusations.

UCF tried allocating resources to line up with mid-tier power conference teams, but still sits outside the national conversation, with no power-conference wins. Messer's contract is also coming to an end, and clarity is now much needed.

Joni Taylor, Texas A&M

The Aggies have had rocky seasons, from a promising 2023-24 to the second-worst season in total in program history. After a breakout performance with Texas, Janiah Barker left, and everything went poorly for Taylor.

The Aggies lost the recruiting battle with four of Taylor’s top-100 recruits playing for other teams after underwhelming performances at A&M.

Tory Verdi, Pitt

Pitt's main issue is not being able to afford change. Their challenges may be related to the structure of the program running on low investments, but game results still matter.

They have had losses to Coppin State, Akro,n described as one of the most embarrassing losses in recent women’s basketball history last month. They even went to an in-state Division III opponent, raising questions about whether Verdi's contract should be renewed or not.

Joanna Bernabei-McNamee, Boston College

Boston College faces player retention problems. Their best players leave after entering transfer portals to get better compensation elsewhere. Boston College saw its last NCAA tournament birth in 2006, a feat that could be repeated in the 2019-20 season, has they have not lost their players.

Under McNamee, Boston College lost to opponents like Holy Cross, Providence, and Bryant, teams that they could have taken on easily.

Katie Gearlds, Purdue

Among all teams on this list, Purdue does not lack funding, as per Greater Lafayette Sports Report. Where Geralds lack is in talent retention, for example, Mary Ashley Stevenson and Rashunda Jones.

With only eight total Big Ten wins in the last two seasons, and steady talent leaving, the question is if Purdue is willing to spend $1.6 million to change course?

With 3 months to go till March Madness, January will have to be the month these coaches turn the tables.

Written by

Fatema Kapasi

Edited by

Joyita Das