Buffalo coach true to herself
The Associated Press
AMHERST, N.Y. — Once her coaching career collapsed at Indiana, and Felisha Legette-Jack considered walking away from basketball entirely, she made one promise if another opportunityever arose.
Legette-Jack vowed she was going to be her bold, brash, boisterous self upon being hired to take over Buffalo’s flagging women’s programin 2012.
“I was afraid to be me,” Legette-Jack said, referring to a six-year tenure at Indiana that ended after a 6-24 finish in 2011. “When I came here, I said, ‘This is the only thing I know. I’m going to give you all of just me. And if that’s not good enough, I’m going to walkaway a second time.’”
The only place LegetteJack and her upstart MidAmerican Conference team is headed is Albany, N.Y., where the 11th-seeded Bulls will attempt to continue their stunning NCAA tournament run. Having already knocked off sixth-seeded South Florida and third-seeded Florida State on the Seminoles’ home court, no less, Buffalo faces No. 2 seed and defending national champion South CarolinaSaturday.
Bring it on, said LegetteJack.
“We’retoo silly and quirky to be afraid,” she said.
Quirks are something Legette-Jack has embraced on a senior-laden team whose players come from around the globe. There are four Australians, including unquestioned leader and point guard Stephanie Reid; two Canadians; a Nigerian; and a mix of U.S.-born players, including Buffalo-area locals.
How else, Legette-Jack figured, could she be herself if she didn’t allow the same for herplayers?
So if guard Autumn Jones wants to skip down the court after hitting a 3-point basket, that’s fine. If the players want to share a joke at a news conference,smile away.
Crying’s OK at practice. And screaming. Even walking out. So is hugging and, especially, laughing.
“I think the way this team’s been constructed is a masterpiece,” Reid said. “We’re so knowledgeable of each other and this quirkiness that we have, it’s something that we love. It’s something that we’ll embrace to the day we stop playing as a group. We just want to keep this story going for as long as we possibly can.”
The Bulls (29-5) have eclipsed the school record for victories — the former mark was 23, set twice in the 1990s before Buffalo joined the MAC in 1998. They went 12-0 at home, and two of their losses came against MAC champion Central Michigan, whichalso is in the Sweet 16.
In beating South Florida, 102-79, Buffalo became the first tournament team seeded 10th or higher to score that many points. And 21 of the Bulls victories, including an 86-65 win against Florida State, have been decided by 10or more points.
To think, the Bulls were among the final four teams to earn an at-large berth in making the school’s second tournamentappearance after a first-round exit two years ago.
Reid can’t wait to face the Gamecocks.
“We’re not scared of anyone. We respect our opponents, but it’s not about them. We’re about us,” she said. “Wewon’t be intimidated.”
Legette-Jack draws her confidence from being fired at Indiana, and the experience of failing for the first time as a player or coach, which, she says, nearly broke her. She intended to move to North Carolina to become a life coach, perhaps, before interviewing for the Buffalo job.
“The best thing that happened to me was failing at Indiana, so I could get to the coreof who I really was.”