A couple of day ago, I picked up a Duke media guide on my desk and went to put it on a stack of guides on the floor that need to be put away (whenever I get around to that). Then, I looked down and exclaimed, "Whoops, not there!" and put the Duke guide on the other side of the desk. Why?
Because the guide on the top of the stack was Texas.
It was a few seconds before I even recognized the absurdity of what I'd done. What -- was I afraid the Duke and Texas media guides were going to get into a fight if they were next to each other?
Then again, with everything that has gone on in recent months in women's hoops, books "coming to life" might not even surprise me that much. I'd probably just think I had finally overdosed on Mountain Dew.
Especially because of the still-ongoing coaching drama, it doesn't even seem like the 2006-07 season has ended. And, folks, that means this has been one l-o-o-o-o-o-n-g season.
I feel like I'm keeping score at a baseball game that has gone about 20 innings. I've run out of room on my scorecard and have to look at it again and again to remind myself what has happened up to this point. And the game's not even over yet.
In December, Bo Overton left UMKC to take over the WNBA's Chicago Sky. He'd been telling me just a couple of days before about how his Kangaroos team would not start rounding into form until January, so that's when I should come see them. He didn't mention, of course, "By the way, I won't be there "
No surprise. Coaches generally aren't going to tell reporters when they are interviewing for jobs. But, anyway, that was the first coach exit, to the best of my recollection, of this landmark 2006-07 season/postseason.
The first major-conference coaching news came on Feb. 12, when Florida announced Carolyn Peck was being let go but would finish out the season. The assumption was that Florida was going after a big name -- and thus would have plenty of time to get such a coach.
That didn't happen, however. It wasn't until April that Florida picked a former Gator, Amanda Butler, to take over the program. In between the Peck firing and the Butler hiring, something along the lines of "all hell broke loose" began to happen in women's hoops.
Even the Amazing Kreskin could not have predicted that by the end of April, we'd have more than 30 changes in Division I. And that includes:
• The powerful SEC has five new coaches. Nearing what used to be considered mandatory retirement age, LSU's Van Chancellor is in his second tour of duty in the league. But the school appears to have a legal battle on its hands as the situation with former coach Pokey Chatman remains unresolved. I'm reminded of one of cartoon "philosopher" Daria's great wry one-liners, "Gee, I bet this won't end badly."
Butler returns to her alma mater, hoping to prove she's an ascending talent in the coaching ranks. Arkansas' Tom Collen probably had his résumé quadruple-checked this time before applying for an SEC job, with Louisville having been a successful weigh station between what-might-have-been in Nashville and what's-hoped-for in Fayetteville.
Kentucky's Matthew Mitchell went from being a graduate assistant at Tennessee in 1999-2000 to getting the chance to run an SEC program seven years later. And Renee Ladner takes over at her alma mater, Mississippi, having been an assistant to her former teammate Carol Ross the last four years.
In the latter two, there were resignations that surprised people, with Mickie DeMoss leaving Kentucky despite a contract extension last summer, and Ross exiting after an Elite Eight appearance. DeMoss said she needed to re-evaluate her life, and Ross said she had accomplished her goal of returning Ole Miss to NCAA Tournament success.
We have no reason to not take them at their word, but any time people leave jobs unexpectedly, there will be questions.
• The Big Ten's two former Immaculata stars -- Rene Portland and Theresa Grentz, both known for their "my-way-or-the-highway" personalities -- (not so voluntarily) stepped down at Penn State and Illinois.
These resignations were also surprises, but very different situations than DeMoss and Ross. Portland's program had struggled the past two years as the Jennifer Harris lawsuit brought a focus back to unresolved issues at Penn State and how Portland dealt with lesbian or perceived-to-be lesbian student-athletes. Portland had a ton of power at Penn State for a long time, but that's over.
Grentz's Illini also had taken a downward turn as she had problems retaining in-state talent and there were undercurrents of player dissatisfaction for quite a while. Patricia Babcock McGraw, a columnist with the "Daily Herald" of suburban Chicago, wrote a piece summoning up in no uncertain terms her view of Grentz's departure:
"Grentz alienated the people who should have been among her best friends -- girls' high school basketball coaches in Illinois and the sportswriters in this state who actually give a hoot about women's college basketball and were willing and ready to give positive coverage and publicity to her program."
• The architect of one of the most consistent powerhouses of the past decade relocated to the Lone Star State. Gail Goestenkors wrestled with the decision to leave Duke, after 15 seasons, for Texas.
She might not have even been in the position of making such a decision if there had been more foresight in the previous year or two by Duke's leadership. Instead, Duke took for granted a coach who has won 80 percent of her games, made the Final Four four times and led the program to an NCAA Tournament No. 1 seed six times in the past seven years.
It wasn't until Texas went all-out to get Goestenkors that Duke's administration seemed to fully realize what was at stake and really react to it. The Duke fans knew all along, but apparently nobody in charge was listening to them.
• Meanwhile, other programs watched what was going on and moved to "lock up" their coaches. Or they at least tried to. Joanne P. McCallie got to say how "thrilled" she and her family were that she would continue working at Michigan State that is until less than a month later, when she was "thrilled" to be going to Duke.
Coaches agreeing to long-term deals, as McCallie did on March 24, and then leaving almost before the proverbial ink is dry that has become old news in football and men's basketball. It hasn't happened much in women's hoops, but it's likely now to become more common.
McCallie and a lot of her peers will defend that, saying it's just about looking out for their financial interest. But for many fans, it's about coming to an uncomfortable realization that Division I coaching really is a business.
• In the "weirdest" of the coaching moves, we have a tie between two situations.
June Daugherty was fired at Washington then hired at Washington State. If Daugherty can win with the Cougars, we'll next expect her to levitate or something. Success for Washington State women's hoops has seemed that impossible.
The other most-weird thing was Aaron Johnston leaving South Dakota State for Wisconsin-Green Bay one day then changing his mind the next. Of course, what makes that especially strange is that it was the reverse scenario for the Phoenix in 2005, when Kevin Borseth took the Colorado job and then decided it wasn't the right move.
Borseth did feel, however, that Michigan would be good for him and his family, so that's where he went this spring. Johnston seemed a logical replacement, but as they say, sometimes you don't know what you've got until it's gone. Johnston apparently figured that out in time. So for now, he's staying put.
• We've now heard from several coaches that it "isn't about the money" and that they have taken their "dream job."
I'm still holding out hope -- although it will never happen -- that someday one coach will smirk and say, "Um, yeah, sure. You could call this my 'dream job.' As in, it's always been my dream to make a heckuva lot of money at my job."
Seriously, though, why has it all this happened? And what does it mean for the future of the game?
As for the first question, it's a combination of things. All these comings and goings obviously are not all connected. But there has been an overall atmosphere of "movement" and "change" that has undoubtedly made some coaches open to possibilities that they might not have seriously considered in a different climate.
Athletic departments have been on a gradual path toward really valuing their women's basketball programs -- if not necessarily all their women's sports teams. And one of the results has been coaching salary spikes that raise some questions even among coaches themselves and ardent supporters of the sport.
Nobody is ever going to say, "Well, I think you're offering me too much money." Still, in my conversations with coaches, there's an unmistakable air of, "Do we know for sure what we're getting into?"
More money means more pressure, more scrutiny and higher expectations. Most coaches will say that no amount of money motivates them to want to win more. Basically, I believe that. However, higher salaries will make the external demands on them greater.
Another aspect to the so-called "coaching carousel" is that some longtimers have already reached or are on the verge of reaching an age when they take a harder look than ever before at their priorities and also their personal lives. Coaching, especially at the Division I level, is a very demanding and time-consuming occupation with a relentless calendar that must be followed, lest you fall behind.
Some are tired of recruiting, and the elaborate song-and-dance that has become. Some want away from the pressure of having their occupational "worth" be decided by wins and losses. Some have decided there are different ways to use their talents. For others, it might be a mixture of these and other things.
And, as mentioned, some have left against their will. They might look to come back.
For the coaches who are stepping into new or bigger roles, there is more money and support, but also related challenges. Some of these coaches are going to blossom; some are not.
It remains to be seen, when all the dust has settled, whether there have been any clear hiring "trends." Certainly, African-American women have made gains in coaching this spring.
But there are also questions about whether having a wedding ring ended up being an important factor on coaches' résumés. It's impossible to prove or disprove that, and some people will be irritated by even the mention of whether unmarried coaches might be discriminated against. Yet it is still an issue that schools' administrations need to be cognizant of. As is the ever-present tension among those in the coaching ranks about how many men get women's basketball jobs.
It will take some time -- a few seasons at least -- to even try to accurately gauge the overall effect on the sport of this spring's coaching movement. But in terms of a whole lot going on, the 2006-07 season -- whenever it "ends" -- will always be remembered.
Mechelle Voepel of The Kansas City Star is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. She can be reached at mvoepel123@yahoo.com.