DENVER — Kathy McConnell-Miller personally broke the news to Shae Kelley.
After officially getting the pink slip from athletic director Mike Bohn on Monday, the Colorado women’s basketball coach called the Denver East standout she had recruited to Boulder and told Kelley should would be playing for someone else in college.
“She called me the day she got fired and let me know what was going on,” Kelly said after playing in The Show high school all-star game on Saturday at the Pepsi Center. “She didn’t see it coming, but she told me to stick with it.”
McConnell-Miller struggled on the scoreboard during her five seasons at CU, posting a 65-88 record, but recently she was winning big on the recruiting trail in the Centennial State.
Two years ago, CU signed former Highlands Ranch star Alyssa Fressle. The 2009-10 Buffs featured freshmen Chucky Jeffrey (Sierra), Brenna Malcolm-Peck (Horizon) and Meagan Malcolm-Peck (Horizon).
“I’m definitely going to talk to them and see what they’re feeling about it,” said Kelley, who played with all of the above growing up. “I love the team and the players. I decided to go up there because I know they’re going to work hard and it just felt good when I went and visited.”
And now?
Despite McConnell-Miller’s dismissal, Kelley remains committed to CU. Understandably, she is a little nervous about who will be taking over the program and how that coach will fit her into his or her plans.
“I’m going to see who they’re bringing in and of course they will talk to the team and all that,” said Kelley, who had four points and five rebounds for the victorious White Team on Saturday. “But as far as I know I’m still going to CU. … It just kind of sucks that the coach you’re planning to go play for gets fired. You just have to work with it.”
Bohn and the coaching search committee would prefer to have McConnell-Miller’s replacement named by April 14, the first day of the spring signing period, but the date is not a hard deadline.
