Guzzardo hired to lead Lady Dawgs

· Yahoo Sports

Southeastern Louisiana head coach Ayla Guzzardo talks to a ref during the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Friday, March 17, 2023. The Hawkeyes defeated the Lady Lions, 95-43. | Margaret Kispert/The Register / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Within the span of a weekend, Georgia’s women’s basketball program saw one coach exit and found their replacement.

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After Saturday morning’s announcement that the school had mutually agreed to a parting of ways with Katie Abramson-Henderson after a four-year Mark of 69-59 with two NCAA Tournament berths, Ayla Guzzardo was announced as the fourth full-time head coach in program history.

If it’s a coach on an upward trajectory that Georgia desires, it certainly has that in Guzzardo. She’s coming off a season in which she guided McNeese State to a school-record 29 wins. But there’s more to it than that for Guzzardo, as it also stood as the greatest single-season turnaround in the history of NCAA women’s basketball.

The Cowgirls were 10-21 the year before her arrival a season ago. Before that, Guzzardo guided Southeast Louisiana to a 47-9 record over her final three seasons there, a run that included an average of 22 wins and an NCAA Tournament berth.

Given her ties to Louisiana, it’s not a shock that one of her contemporaries is that of current LSU head coach Kim Mulkey.

Guzzardo isn’t exactly having to take on a massive rebuild for Georgia. Yes, it has some portal losses, as is the case in the current NIL landscape, but this team is coming off a season in which it went 22-10, its most wins since 20171-8. But the other sentiment is that just getting to the NCAAs should not be the ceiling.

For sure, there is portal work to do with Trinity Turner, Mia Woolfolk, Zhen Craft, and Angie Gonzalez having announced plans to transfer.

Even if players do not stay put as long, there are way too many good players in-state for a program to just be happy to be postseason-bound, and the last part of the quote from Georgia Athletic Director Josh Brooks on Saturday morning may be telling:

“We have an outstanding group of alumni and a dedicated fan base. Our search for a new head coach will focus on someone who will carry on this legacy and connect with our student-athletes, alumni and supporters in an impactful way.” 

Is Guzzardo the right person to elevate the level of this program to that?

Time will tell.

Go Dawgs!

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