Mean Green Blog

The UNT board of regents is scheduled to meet on Wednesday to approve a new contract for a women's basketball coach. The board has to approve contracts that include a base salary of more than $500,000 for the duration of the deal.

More and more, it is looking like UNT will name a new coach on Tuesday. The athletic department followed the same sequence of events when Todd Dodge was hired. Make the decision, introduce the coach, hammer out the final parameters of a deal, get the deal approved.

I talked on Sunday with Oklahoma State assistant coach Kenya Larkin, the last of the candidates who has not been quoted in the paper. Be sure to pick up a copy of tomorrow's paper to see what she had to say.

I spent a big chunk of Sunday on the phone trying to work the story.

After all the people I talked to, I am sticking by my hunch that Clemson associate head coach Shanice Stephens will land the job. Stephens lacks head coaching experience, but has put in a lot of time as an assistant, has shown that she can recruit Texas from her time at Rice, is a dynamic young female coach and word is she made a big impression during her interview.

Stephens seems like the best combination of all the qualities UNT is looking for in a coach, although I don't think UNT could go wrong with any of its four finalists, an opinion Lamar head coach Larry Tidwell echoed a few days ago when I called to ask if he applied for the job. Tidwell said he wasn't interested, but that UNT couldn't go wrong with any of the four coaches it was considering.

But like Dennis Miller used to say, "Of couse that is just my opinion. I could be wrong."

Post your thoughts on the blog. Would Stephens be a good pick?