USF women's basketball is ready to carry program legacy under Michele Woods-Baxter
TAMPA, Fla. - For the first time this century, USF women's basketball will not have Jose Fernandez roaming courtside. He is off to the WNBA to become the head coach of the Dallas Wings.
What they're saying:
"Everything was pretty quick," USF Bulls interim women's basketball coach Michele Woods-Baxter said. "It all happened pretty quickly."
The new leader in charge is his longtime assistant Michele Woods-Baxter.
"Now I am the one that gets to stand up [on game day]," Woods-Baxter said.
After 17 seasons on the bench for the Bulls, she will now be the one standing up on gamedays and keeping up the winning tradition.
"It is kind of the same," USF senior forward Carla Brito said. "I am really happy for Coach B because she deserves to be in this position too. She's a really good coach. She really supports us outside of the court. We have the same goals with her or Coach Jose."
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While the goals remain the same, there are a couple of changes Woods-Baxter plans on implementing.
New Mentality:
"The only difference is I may be a little defensive minded," Woods-Baxter said. "I would like a little bit more pressure to create some easy turnover opportunities."
She believes the team can handle that and the turnover on the coaching staff without any problems.
"If you know our team and our culture, they are ready for this," Woods-Baxter said. "Nothing changes for them. The goals, the expectations. We have always won here."
Woods-Baxter certainly hopes she can win the hearts at USF so they can remove the interim tag in her title so she can just become the head coach of the women's basketball program. However, at this moment, she says she is solely focused on the players.
"I try not to think of that," Woods-Baxter said. "I think the big thing right now is giving a lot of love and support to our players. It's very important to make sure we are staying on task and getting them where they want to go in basketball."
And right now, they are just ready for basketball to begin.
"Everything has been coming 100 miles per hour, but we are super excited," Woods-Baxter said. "We've got a great bunch of girls. We've got a mixture of young people, returners, transfers, but the locker room is just incredible."
What's next:
USF opened up the season with a win on Monday night against Florida International.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered by FOX 13's Mark Skol, Jr. during an interview with Michele Woods-Baxter ahead of the basketball season.