Friday, June 10, 2011

Karen Barefoot gets new coaching job

Karen Barefoot, referenced in this post last December, was recently named as the new head coach at Old Dominion University. It has one of the proudest traditions in women's college basketball, with past superstars like Nancy Lieberman, Anne Donovan, and Ticha Penichiero, and three national championships (AIAW, 1979 and '80 and NCAA, 1985). However, the Lady Monarchs has missed the last three NCAA tournaments after playing in 17 in a row. School officials hope that Barefoot's record of turning around programs and her many ties to the Hampton Roads region where the campus is located will help restart the program's success. Last season, Elon was 20-13 under Barefoot's coaching.

And Karen is not the only real-life bearer of B.W.'s last name that has ties to sports in the commonwealth of Virginia:
  • Bartley "Pretty Boy" Barefoot is co-host of a sports talk radio show in Norfolk with John "Johnny D" DeCandido. The 757 Club is an afternoon drive-time show.
  • Ken Barefoot was a star tight end at Virginia Tech and played briefly in the NFL. In fact, Bob Boyles and Paul Guido listed him at the only tight end when compiling their all-time Hokies roster in their book The USA Today Encyclopedia of College Football.
All three Barefoots are originally from the Hampton Roads area, which include Chesapeake, Norfolk, Hampton, and Virginia Beach. However, none are directly related to each other.