With the women's basketball season starting Friday, there will be a few new faces on the sidelines this year. There were 26 coaching changes this offseason, none bigger than at Georgia where Andy Landers retired after 36 seasons.
Joni Taylor, who spent the last three seasons as the team's associate head coach took over becoming only the second full-time head coach in school history.
''Coach Landers recruited me in high school, and once I got into the profession, we developed a friendship and a relationship,'' Crenshaw said when she was hired in April. ''When he called and asked me to be a part of his staff, I jumped at the opportunity, never knowing I'd have this chance today. It's been an absolute privilege to stand beside him every day. The trust and responsibility he gave to me during my four years as an assistant spoke volumes to the belief he had in me, and that's what fuels me.''
A look at a few of the other changes:
LAFAYETTE: Theresa Grentz came out of retirement to be an assistant coach last season for the Leopards. Now she'll take over the team. The women's basketball Hall of Famer has 671 wins during her 33-year head coaching career that included stops at Rutgers and Illinois. She last was a head coach of the Illini in 2007. Now she'll try and get the Leopards their first winning season since 1997-98. Lafayette was 14-16 last season.
KANSAS: Brandon Schneider comes to the Jayhawks after a successful 5-year run at Stephen F. Austin, where he returned the Ladyjacks to the top of the Southland Conference. Stephen F. Austin won consecutive league titles the past two years. He replaces Bonnie Henrickson who had been at the school since 2004.
LONG ISLAND UNIVERSITY: Stephanie Oliver, an assistant at Seton Hall, moves to LIU this year for her first job as a Division I head coach. Oliver, who starred at Marist in the early 2000s, was in charge of the University of Bridgeport before becoming an assistant at Seton Hall. She inherits a team that was 9-21 last season.
FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL: Marlin Chinn takes over a program that had consecutive losing seasons under longtime coach Cindy Russo, who stepped down in the middle of last season. Chinn was an assistant at Maryland for six years before taking over the Panthers.
RICE: Tina Langley is the second former Maryland assistant to get a head coaching job this season. Langley takes over a program that was 9-21 last season and has one winning season since 2007-08. It's her first stint as a head coach.
