‘We’ve got to change the perception’: Illini HC Shauna Green talks about rebuild at Media Days

Illinois head coach Shauna Green answered questions at Big Ten Basketball Media Days about how she views her new program and the path forward to success.

The Illini women’s basketball program has struggled for decades now, and Fahey’s track record at Washington University — five national championships — wasn’t able to spark the program. 

After a 42-99 tenure under Nancy Fahey, the Illinois women’s basketball team will be going in a different direction with Shauna Green, the former Dayton Flyers head coach. Green will be tasked with rebuilding a program that has seen a lack of excitement as well seeing multiple players leaving the program this offseason. 

Green spoke at the Big Ten Basketball Media Days on Tuesday, and she shared her thoughts on the program as well as answering questions surrounding her program. 

How to get people to buy into Green’s program 

“I think that just getting our vision out there, getting to know our past success of the blueprint of how we’ve been able to win (at Dayton University) and get people to buy into that.

And then you get a couple people (to buy into the program). So now (other recruits will say about their first class that) they signed a really good class. Now people believe in it even more, they believe in the vision even more, and they see that other kids are doing it.”

Transfer portal 

“I think the transfer portal is extremely important. You know, it already has been for us, we’ve been able to get some high level players to transfer that have experience. And, you know, we’re always going to recruit, we want to recruit high school players. But I also think there’s a ton of value in transfers, just because of the experience piece.”

Fan attendance: 

“We got to do the right things in terms of the in game experience, you know, to get the place loud to try to get our fans involved and we need to do is really up the the marketing to get more students.

If we can fill that lower bowl (of the State Farm Center) and get the place rockin and get a good environment and do really good in-game promotions, where the fans are involved, then I think it’d be a good environment. 

But yeah, it’s tough when we got a huge arena like that … I know, we’re not going to fill it and I’m fine with that. I don’t I’m not asking for 16,000 a night. I’m asking, ‘Can we get to three, four, five thousand a night?’” 

How to improve the Illini defense 

You know, it’s not this crazy uptight, like pressure defense. But we just want to really force tough contested shots. And I think you see that in our defensive field goal percentage for what we really look at, you know, in defensive rebounding for the past six years where we’ve been really top-25

Analysis:

It appears that Green believes that rebuilding Illinois will not be a quick fix, and it seems like she thinks the recruiting has not performed up to acceptable standards.

At Dayton, Green took over a program that made the NCAA tournament six out of the last seven seasons under Jim Jabir. Green kept the program humming along, adding four tournament appearances of her own in six seasons. 

Green’s calling card at Dayton was the defensive turnaround. Under Green, she improved the defense’s rating into the top-60 in the nation in every season, and now her job will be turning around the Illini’s defense. 

The Illini finished 13th in the conference in scoring defense last season, a regular struggle under former head coach Nancy Fahey. 

A lot of coaches regularly state that the goal every season is to win a conference championship. However, Green has kept expectations more realistic for a program that hasn’t reached the Big Dance since 2003. Green has been more focused on having her team “improve every possession” and craft the program in the image she desires. 

Green has brought in multiple players from the Dayton program to try to jumpstart her program. However, hoping that the Dayton blueprint will spark in-state recruiting could be a tough sell. The Big Ten conference is a strong women’s league, with programs like Maryland, Ohio State, Iowa and Michigan being able to offer the same academic standing and winning programs could be tough for an 18-year-old to pass up. 

Green should focus heavily on junior and senior transfers. These types of players are more focused on earning playing time as quickly as possible as graduation nears, and playing a junior with previous experience is a safer bet than playing a low-rated freshman who’s not used to the physicality of collegiate ball. 

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