Wichita State turns to trusted friend Linda Hargrove

Linda Hargrove was rehabbing a house in Peck when she got a call from Wichita State athletic director Darron Boatright about taking over the women’s basketball team for the rest of the season.

“I’ve always loved physical labor, always liked doing really hard stuff,” the 66-year-old Hargrove said.

Well, then, this new challenge should be right up her alley.

Hargrove, who was Wichita State’s coach from 1989-98, replaces Jody Adams-Birch, who was relieved of her duties over the weekend.

Boatright called it an amicable parting of the ways. Adams-Birch, 161-115 in eight-plus seasons, has not confirmed how amicable the parting was.

Despite success under Adams-Birch, who coached three Shocker teams into the NCAA Tournament, her tenure will be as much remembered for discord and complaints from players about her method of discipline.

Hargrove, meanwhile, is regarded highly for her soothing demeanor. She said she has relied on her ability to connect with players as one of the staples of her coaching success.

A Udall native and resident of Derby, she has coached in the junior-college ranks (Cowley), professionally and internationally while compiling a 429-248 record over 26 years as a coach.

She is not — she repeats, not — interested in taking on the WSU job after this season, when she will be eager to get back to working in the dust and disarray of fixing up houses.

“Since I retired (as general manager of the WNBA’s Washington Mystics in 2008), we’ve probably rehabbed 15 or 16 houses,” Hargrove said. “I really like the feeling of going into something that’s a piece of junk and in two months having some new.”

Her work with the Shockers won’t be as extensive, but this is a team that could use some TLC.

Adams-Birch is a hard-driving coach with big demands, and her style often conflicted with players. Two Shockers left the team this season and Adams-Birch’s issues with some players has been longstanding. After the 2014-15 season, four players left the program and interviews with 38 people associated with the program resulted in Adams-Birch agreeing to make changes in how she ran her program.

Hargrove sees herself as someone who can mend some wounds. She said the players she talked with Monday, as she prepares to take the Shockers on a road trip this weekend to Indiana State and Loyola, were feeling sad.

“They were caught up in something I don’t think they really wanted to be caught up in,” Hargrove said. “For the most part, they’re all trying now to put this behind them and trying to look forward. They’re doing what they can academically and on the court to get everything back together. It’s definitely been a distraction, no question about that.”

Hargrove said she watched the Shockers play for the first time Sunday, a 67-45 win over Illinois State at Koch Arena. It was the second of a two-game suspension for Adams-Birch, replaced temporarily by assistant Kirk Crawford.

“I liked what I saw,” Hargrove said. “I thought they played hard and that the coaches had done a great job of getting ready.”

Hargrove said she never completely got basketball out of her blood and for the past several years has been helping with a WNBA combine at the Women’s Final Four, where professional prospects can showcase their skills in front of WNBA coaches and scouts.

She hasn’t been a head coach in a game, though, since her last game with the Portland Fire in 2002.

“I hadn’t dug out basketball plays, defenses, schemes for years and years,” she said. “So I’ve been digging out all of that stuff and taking a look at things.”

Hargrove, though, said she’s not going to implement a bunch of new offensive sets and defensive schemes during her short time. She wants the players to continue to run the same plays they’ve been running, although maybe with a new wrinkle here and there after she’s had a chance to coach them.

“I thing the thing for me to do is to get on the same page that they’re on and have the coaches help me get up to speed with how they’re running everything,” Hargrove said. “Then maybe to pick and choose some things I can put in and what they’re going to feel comfortable with.”

Hargrove said the biggest concern she had before agreeing to coach the Shockers was the possibility of missing some of her grandson’s basketball games. Jacob Wilson is a senior at Andover who was born just as Hargrove was completing her first go-round at Wichita State.

“I was so excited for his senior year of basketball,” Hargrove said. “And now I’m probably going to miss half of his remaining games. But he was like, ‘Don’t worry about it, Grandma. It’s not a problem.’ It’s a much bigger deal for me than it is for him, I’m sure.”

Hargrove said her love for Wichita State helped convince her that taking over the team was the right thing to do.

She’s not going to try and perform miracles. She hopes she can fix a few leaks, create some fun and help the Shockers win a few more games.

This story was originally published January 23, 2017 at 3:20 PM with the headline "Wichita State turns to trusted friend Linda Hargrove."