About a month ago, Michele Woods-Baxter was going through her normal preparations for the upcoming season of USF women's basketball. After spending 18 years with the program, including the last 11 as the associate head coach, she had the routine down pat.
Little did she know then that her world was about to change in ways she would not have imagined. The word broke on October 23 that after 25 years as the Bulls head coach, Jose Fernandez was leaving to coach the Dallas Wings of the WNBA. And Woods-Baxter -- or Coach B as she is affectionately known -- was named the interim head coach of a team expected to compete for the American Conference championship.
"Everything was pretty quick. You know, the WNBA. It's just not your traditional season like college basketball. So it was just a quick turnaround, you know, even for him, but he kept me in the loop. He's been wonderful about everything and saying, 'This may happen, it may not happen,'" she said.
Well, it happened, and when the Bulls open the season at 6 p.m. Monday at the Yuengling Center against Fairfield, Coach B will be calling the shots. While there might be a few butterflies on that first night, she said the team's makeup and her experience with Fernandez should make things go smoothly,
That became clear when she was asked about the challenge of taking over so close to the start of the season.
"For most people, I would say it's a huge challenge, but if you know our team, in our culture, they're they're ready for this," she said. "Like nothing changes for them, like the goals, the expectations. We've always won here. I've been here for nine of our 10 NCAA tournaments.
"I've been here for our WNIT championships. There's great expectations for us, but when you have great leaders and great locker room, it makes it much easier to transition into this."
Carla Brito, the preseason American Player of the Year, is one of those leaders.
"She deserves this," Brito said. "She is a really good coach and she supports us outside of the court. So, we have the same goal."
However, there will be a few changes in the playing style. The Bulls appear to have a deeper bench than a year ago, so Coach B is likely to take advantage of that with more substitutions -- including, she said, some five-for-five subs. And fans may notice some differences in how USF attacks on defense.
"We've already put down our offense principles and all that stuff, because (Fernandez) was here long enough to do all that. I'm not gonna change that," she said.
"The only difference is maybe I may be a little bit more defensive minded. I would like a little bit more pressure to try to create some easy turnover opportunities to not always have to rely on a half court offense into play fast. But the defense would probably be the only thing that I may tweak."
Oh, and the good news -- she can stand now during the games. Assistant coaches are supposed to stay planted on the bench while the teams are playing. Being a little excitable is side of her personality she is now free to unleash. That's consistent with the advice Fernandez gave her.
"He's wonderful. He's been with me, and he's like, 'Michele, you can call me anytime you need to.' The only advice he really gave me is, be myself," she said. "I've always had great relationships with all our players, with the community, with boosters," she said.
"The big thing with him is just be myself and coach who I am. And that was probably the best advice he could give me, because it just sort of calmed me down. Don't try to be him."