I agree there is the potential that women's basketball could be revenue producing. However, even during the run that we made during the early to mid 90s when we went to the Final Four, attendance never got above a few thousand except when we played Tennessee and thay brought a bunch of fans. For women's basketball to be considered a revenue producer, it will have to draw considerably more than that and it will have to make a run deep into the tournament each year. As much as I would love to see Coleman filed up for women's basketball every night, I don't think it will happen. It took Sara Patterson 15+ years and a national championship before gymnastics began to draw 10,000 on a regular basis.
That being said, I would love to see a Dawn Staley or Vivian Stringer type coach at the Capstone. What I am saying is not to count on it because of the salary that they would command. I do not see our athletic department paying that kind of money for women's basketball. With the exception of football (some times) and the hiring of Mark Gottfried, look at the University's history of hiring coaches. The closest that it has come to hiring a coach with name recognition was the hiring of Harvey Glance to coach track. Even with football, two of the last four hires were coaches with no head coaching experience and who were, outside of the Alabama family, largely unknown.
I hope that Mal Moore and his staff realize that women's basketball can be successful here and will make a commitment to it. I will support whomever is hired, whether it is Pat Summit or a third grade gym teacher. The ladies on the team deserve our support.
