McGraw, Foster meet again with Final Four at stake
By TIM CASEY
Senior Staff Writer
DENVER
For the past few days, the two coaches, competitors and comrades have lived across the hall from one another at a local hotel. Tonight, Vanderbilt's Jim Foster and Notre Dame's Muffet McGraw, the mentor and mentee, aim for the Final Four.
So will the long-time friends ignore each other before the 9 p.m. tip-off?
That's almost as dumb as asking if the Bookstore will someday lower prices on textbooks.
"We're going to spend time together," Foster said after Vanderbilt's win over Iowa State on Saturday night. "And I'm sure Matt (Muffet's husband) will be in my room tonight. He prefers what's in my room as opposed to his sometimes."
Call it the King of the One-Liners versus the Queen of the Front-Liners.
The Irish-Commodores tilt features the best two centers in the country, two of the best point guards, and is arguably the best match-up of all the regional finals.
But the Foster-McGraw relationship is the most interesting story line of the pre-game hype.
They have known each other since the days when more people would attend a table tennis tournament than would watch a women's basketball game. Back then, in 1980, Foster was the head coach at St. Joseph's University in Pennsylvania and had recruited one of McGraw's players when she was the head coach at Archbishop Carroll High School in nearby Philadelphia. One of Foster's assistants, Geno Auriemma (the current Connecticut head coach), left to take a position at the University of Virginia.
So he offered McGraw her first college coaching job. She spent two seasons there before becoming the head coach at Lehigh University.
"I thought I was ready to be a head coach when I was an assistant," McGraw said. "I couldn't understand why he [Foster] didn't use all of my ideas. As I became a head coach I realized that I kind of missed a great opportunity to learn a little bit more from him."
Foster maintains close contact with his prized pupil. It is Foster who urged McGraw to apply for the Notre Dame job in 1987. It is Foster who McGraw says that "whenever I've had a problem he's the first person I've called." It is Foster who McGraw's entire staff met with before this season at a bed and breakfast in Parish Patch, Tenn., just outside Nashville.
"We'll get up on the board and diagram," Foster said of the annual meeting. " We'll talk about any kind of conversation you can have, relative to the sport."
Said McGraw: "It's a great time to exchange ideas."
Although they have similar philosophies and priorities, McGraw and Foster differ in their public demeanor. While McGraw is more serious, Foster takes a cue from Auriemma. Foster remembers giving Auriemma a car when both were at St. Joseph's.
"That doesn't mean anything," Foster said. "It was my $100 Volkswagon and I got a $150 Volkswagon."
Before this weekend, I assumed the Connecticut head coach had no competition for delivering memorable quotes. Now, it seems Foster may rank a close second.
Consider:
Foster on his advice to McGraw when she was named the Irish coach: "I told her to recruit Ruth Riley."
Foster on the difference between McGraw now and in the early 1980s: "Muffet's teams take care of the ball a lot better than she did."
Foster on how his players can endure playing 40 minutes per game — "Why do young people go to war and old people sit home? They are of the age where you don't feel fatigue. If I went skiing today, I would have to be brought in a wheelchair tomorrow to coach the basketball game."
Foster on his first year as St. Joseph's coach in 1978 — "I ran a group home for dependent, neglected boys. I lived there. I bartended twice a week. I was a full-time student at Temple University and I coached basketball at St. Joseph's. And oh yeah, I was married."
Foster on his prediction for tonight's game — "If I was a clairvoyant, I'd probably be doing something else for a living. And making a lot more money."
Foster has very few other close friends in the coaching ranks besides McGraw and Auriemma. McGraw says the same thing. The competitiveness of the profession, it is rare to have meaningful relationships with fellow coaches.
"This is an interesting business we're in," Foster said. "And because it's an interesting business you value very closely the friendships that you have and you cherish those, as a matter of fact."
In the middle of the 1980s, McGraw's Lehigh team faced Foster's St. Joseph's squad. Since then, McGraw, Auriemma and Foster have chosen not to schedule games against each other during the regular season.
"After the game you're just not very happy," McGraw said. "You're not happy if you lose and if you beat somebody you like, you're not very happy."
Bet McGraw will be excited if the Irish win tonight.
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
All Sports Stories for Monday, March 26, 2001
