Vincent intends to

instill winning attitude
By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat.com

New head women’s basketball coach Darcie Vincent has one item on her resume that few coaches at Appalachian State possess — a national championship.

Vincent, recently hired by Appalachian State to revive the women’s program, coached California (Pa.) University, a Division II program, to a national championship in 2003-04, guiding the Vulcans to a 35-1 record.

The expectations of a Division I national championship may be a bit much. But finishing over .500, something the Mountaineers have not done in over 10 years would be a great start for Vincent.

“What it is going to take initially is teaching these kids that they can do it, mentally, and having the strength and learning that whatever you overcome makes you stronger,” Vincent said. “Then let me deal with the skills. Let me deal with can you pass or can you shoot. Those are easy things.”

When Vincent speaks, she gets to the point and gets there quickly. She takes over a program that went 8-21 last year, 5-11 in the Southern Conference. Appalachian State has not finished higher than fifth place in the SoCon standings since the Linda Robinson era.

But Vincent sees the Mountaineers’ position as one that can be brought back to the Robinson standard. She likes how the athletic department is funding the program and feels that Appalachian State can be a winner in women’s basketball.
She was given a three-year contract. Details were not released.

“It’s more about the mentality of winning,” Vincent said. “I’m sure when you see the football players walk about and the men’s basketball players walk around, there is an attitude that you have and this program hasn’t felt that. Maybe this coaching change, even before the first game, you’ll see a change in the way we’re walking.”

Appalachian State athletics director Charlie Cobb said more than 100 coaches applied for the position. The search committee paired the number down to around 20 and then officially interviewed five.

“We had a great pool,” Cobb said. “It was absolutely exciting. We had a number of head coaches and top assistant coaches from some big-time programs that expressed some interested. I think it’s a tribute to the changes that are happening around the university.”

Vincent said the leadership that Cobb and senior woman administrator Debbie Richardson showed during the hiring process that swayed her to pursue the position. Vincent has had other offers, but stayed at California because those offers weren’t good enough to make her want to leave.

She said the job at Appalachian State was different.

“They did ask me that,” Vincent said. “They asked why in eight years I didn’t move on and it was because they weren’t the right situation. I could be picky and choosy about that. Coming in here, when you walk in here your heart is definitely pounding. You know that something special is going on.”

Cobb said the fact Vincent has coached a national championship team, and her overall record of 264-101 in 12 seasons, was a big reason why she was hired to lead Appalachian State’s program.

“I think that because of the success and the fact she won a national championship and to an Elite Eight on the Division II level, we were very impressed with her record,” Cobb said. “We made a couple of phone calls to people that knew her and they had great things to say about her.”

Cobb also likes Vincent’s passion for coaching and for the game.

“She has such passion for the game and for her kids,” Cobb said. “One of the things that was unique to the search was when we brought coaches to the campus, we allowed them to sit with the kids on the current team and she took to them right away.”

One of those players, rising senior center Brittany Mixon, agreed.

“I’m actually pretty excited about it,” Mixon said. “She seems really intense and really family oriented. It’s pretty exciting because it’s a change that I think we’ve all been waiting for.”