ASK OLE MISS: Ladner Answers Your Questions

ASK OLE MISS provides Rebel fans interactive opportunities with some of the key figures in Ole Miss athletics. The latest installment features head women's basketball coach Renee Ladner. Questions were sent in by fans through OleMissSports.com over the past week, and Ladner has addressed many of those in the following Q&A.

Q: How do you and your coaching staff develop the bond between players?

One of the things we do is bring them in early in the month of July to help acclimate them into our campus, our program and each other. We hope that will be a time of bonding, where they are doing volunteer conditioning and going to class together.  We even assign our upper classmen responsibilities with our younger kids so they can learn a little bit about Oxford and Ole Miss.  The second thing we do in our preseason is team building.  We always try to work on one common goal, whatever the goal is for that year.

Q: What is the biggest challenge the team will have this year (personnel wise, schedule wise, and just in general)?

Pretty much it’s just playing together as a unit and the players understanding their roles. This is the first time in a very long time that we’ve had a post game and that’s something we continually have to work on because we’ve been so guard oriented. Then we have five new players that have to adjust to our system, so that will be a challenge in itself.

Q: How do you think the new practice facility will impact our recruiting efforts?

It’s going to take our recruiting to a whole new level. Everybody in the country has one and recruits expect everyone to have one when they come and visit.  It’s going to be a very impressive facility, but it will also be a useful tool to help the players with their basketball game as well as giving them classroom time.

Q: Would you like to see athletic dorms make a come back?

Yes I would, because I’m old school. But I would want it to be more of an athletic village.  It would be a place where you have a cafeteria and other venues where my players have the opportunity to mingle with other Ole Miss athletes from other sports.  It would serve as a place where they all would get to know each other and support each other a little bit more.

Q: Do you think it’s fair that the women have to play the first few rounds of the NCAA Tournament on campus sites, and would you like to see that change?

No I don’t think its fair, and yes I would like to see it changed. I think all the games should be played on a neutral site.

Q: As a coach and player, what has been your most memorable moment at Ole Miss?

I think there are a lot of memorable moments because I had the opportunity to play here a long time ago.  My most memorable moments as a player were living in Miller Hall with my teammates, and of course beating Delta State as a state champion. As a coach, it was making the Elite Eight run two years ago. 

Q: Why in your opinion has Tennessee been able to sustain their success, and what can Ole Miss do to reach that level?

Well first and foremost, they have an exceptional coach in Coach Summit.  She is a pioneer in women’s sports. She was at the inception of the game on the collegiate level. I’m not sure anyone can sustain a run like that now due to parody and expectations. Now as a coach you have one bad season and you’re gone. Pat is just very good at what she does, and I think Tennessee was ahead of the eight ball by making it important and growing it with her. Everybody now is growing their program, and it will be hard for anyone to achieve as much success as Tennessee has.  However, here at Ole Miss we always strive to be the best that we can be, and I think we are showing that by our success and by building a practice facility. 

Q: What can be done to improve attendance to women’s basketball games?

That is a very sore subject with me.  The first thing everyone says to me is winning will bring more people. Well, when we went to the Elite Eight we still didn’t bring in big crowds. People call and say when are ya’ll playing Tennessee?’ That’s when they tend to come out and support the Rebels. I go all over the country and play in smaller venues, and I’ll use Missoula, Montana as an example.  They are averaging 7,000 people in a little bitty bowl in a town where people really support the women’s basketball program. On the other hand, they don’t really support the men. I don’t really understand the entire picture. The biggest thing I’ve noticed after playing and coaching here is that we don’t have enough student support.  Across the board women’s programs are not being attended.  This year I’ve talked to student groups, alumni, Greeks and the student spirit committee, and I’m just appalled by the lack of attendance and maybe the lack of interest because we’ve got a good product. You can always market better, but if it is always about the people instead of our students, we’re never going to grow.  It’s almost as if the players are there for the people in the bleachers, and it should be the other way around.  Everyone should be there for the student-athlete.  As an Ole Miss alumni, I do know that the community needs to get involved and get behind our players.

Q: What is the biggest difference between your coaching style and that of Carol Ross?

Not a lot philosophically. The biggest difference between Carol and I are our personalities. I’m a little more warm and fuzzy than Carol. Even as a player I was always loving, hanging and talking, and Carol was the pink panther kind of deal. Our philosophies are kind of the same. We play hard, and we love defense.  We were both defensive players, and I learned a great deal from her. She and I both played for Van (Chancellor) so philosophically we are a lot the same, just not personality wise.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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