Aug. 5, 2003
Former USC assistant women’s basketball coach Shell Dailey had two hours to make one of the toughest decisions of her coaching career. On July 26th, the San Antonio Silver Stars relieved Head Coach Candi Harvey of her duties and gave Assistant Coach Dailey only two hours to make the call if she wanted the promotion to become the Silver Stars’ Interim Head Coach.
Excited about the opportunity to return to the head coaching ranks, Dailey realized that her promotion came at the expense of her longtime friend, Candi Harvey. The two had been friends since their coaching days at Texas A&M in the 1997-98 season and during the inaugural 1998-99 ABL season when Harvey, the head coach of the Nashville Noise, asked Dailey to join her Noise coaching staff.
Earlier this spring, Harvey made the call to her Texas A&M/Nashville Noise buddy and asked her to come to San Antonio when she took over the Silver Stars program. Dailey left USC after four seasons and helping the Gamecocks rebuild the women’s basketball program.
Dailey used her 120 minutes wisely as she called Harvey and told her of the situation. After receiving Harvey’s support, Dailey accepted the position as San Antonio’s Interim Head Coach. Entering the Tuesday night game at New York, the Silver Stars are 3-1 under Dailey’s leadership after starting the season 6-16 under Harvey.
“I’m sad that it had to happen to my friend, Candi Harvey,” said Dailey. “It was a tough day for me. After I found out the news, I had only two hours to make the decision of whether to accept the job or not. I called Candi and she gave me her support so I took the head coaching position and haven’t looked back.
“I met with the team first thing and told them my expectations. I saw some things to work on and improve and we started from there. The players say that I’m more demanding and vocal as a head coach than I was an assistant.
“Being a head coach after serving as one of the assistants is not too much of an adjustment. The game preparation and teaching is about the same. As an asssistant coach, I watched the game tape and helped prepare the game plan. During the game, I would suggest calls but it was up to the head coach whether to take the play or not.
“I’m more aggressive and demanding as a head coach. And, I’ve surrounded myself with staff members who have the same mentality as me.
“Sometimes, players attempt to pick and choose when they want to practice and they want to play. I’ve told them that we are not going to allow to fail. We demand the results that we want.”
San Antonio is currently sixth in the Western Division with the 9-17 record. With only eight games remaining in their 2003 schedule, the Silver Stars will need some help from other teams, in addition to continuing their winning streak, if they have hopes of making the playoffs.
“We are thankful for everything Candi has done for the franchise this season,” said Chief Operating Officer Clarissa Davis-Wrightsil. “Coming into this season, we expected great things from this team and unfortunately these expectations have not been met. We felt it was time to make a change and I am confident that Shell Dailey can lead the team in a new direction.”
USC fans can watch Dailey in action twice in the next couple of weeks as the Silver Stars have two televised games coming up. On Thursday, August 7th, San Antonio hosts Sacramento on ESPN2 at 7:00 p.m. ET. On Tuesday, August 12th, the Stars visit Seattle in a game televised by the Oxygen Network.
