Baylor Women's Basketball Adds Tez Dumars as Assistant Coach

Was hired by Grand Canyon U WBB in April 2025, moves to Baylor WBB six weeks later.

Money?
Definitely closer to home.
Definitely a more prestigious job.

Somewhat a bridge burning move six weeks into new job.

This is very strange, not sure what to think about this. Hired at Grand Canyon a month ago, then Coach N hires him at Baylor. It takes a lot of work to bring someone into your organization, start the new employment/integration process, only for that person to leave a month later. This is very rare.

blueeyedbear said:

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What is so strange about it.
You think Scott and Tang didn't talk about this coach and then pitch him to Nicki ?
GCC to BU is an upward career move not a lateral move !!
There are a multitude of reasons for the decision to move over to Baylor.
1. More Money ?
2. More Responsibility ?
3. More say in a player development program ?
4. Back in Texas - closer to family ?
5. Higher visibility for future career aspirations ?
6. GCC is a lot like BU in some areas but different in other areas - maybe the fit just wasn't there - It happens !

I do not know - I do not care - what I do know is he fits EXACTLY with what BU WBB needs at this time.
1. Youth, Passion per Tang
2. Very well known in the Club basketball circuit - especially in Texas. BU WBB needs to get back into the club scene.
3. High character individual
4. Played both college and pro basketball
5. If Tang says he is: "elite in his player development skill work" that is exactly what BU WBB needs !!
If anybody knows about player development - it would be Tang.

I say WELCOME to BU Tez Dumars !!
GCC's loss is BU WBB gain !!

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It isn't strange from Baylor's position. It is noteworthy from his position.
The new HC at GCU was an Assistant for Dawn Staley [who has a growing coaching tree].
In all likelihood, Dumars burned bridges with everyone in that circle by leaving mere weeks into the job.

World ending? No.
Unusual? Yes.
Noteworthy? Yes.

The coaching community & its interconnectivity are a weird pathway to navigate.
CNC likely has a PhD on navigating burned bridges given the Summer Team relationship mess she inherited when she took the Baylor job.
But the situation does bear (pun intended) watching.

Exactly. Also, it's not like he was the head coach. He's was one of four assistants. A upward move? Your home state?…take it every time. Development coach, club connections…great hire

A little touchy and angry aren't we? I just commented this was strange and unusual, and get a book response with multiple lists.

Adriacus Peratuun said:

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blueeyedbear said:

---

What is so strange about it.
You think Scott and Tang didn't talk about this coach and then pitch him to Nicki ?
GCC to BU is an upward career move not a lateral move !!
There are a multitude of reasons for the decision to move over to Baylor.
1. More Money ?
2. More Responsibility ?
3. More say in a player development program ?
4. Back in Texas - closer to family ?
5. Higher visibility for future career aspirations ?
6. GCC is a lot like BU in some areas but different in other areas - maybe the fit just wasn't there - It happens !

I do not know - I do not care - what I do know is he fits EXACTLY with what BU WBB needs at this time.
1. Youth, Passion per Tang
2. Very well known in the Club basketball circuit - especially in Texas. BU WBB needs to get back into the club scene.
3. High character individual
4. Played both college and pro basketball
5. If Tang says he is: "elite in his player development skill work" that is exactly what BU WBB needs !!
If anybody knows about player development - it would be Tang.

I say WELCOME to BU Tez Dumars !!
GCC's loss is BU WBB gain !!

---

It isn't strange from Baylor's position. It is noteworthy from his position.
The new HC at GCU was an Assistant for Dawn Staley [who has a growing coaching tree].
In all likelihood, Dumars burned bridges with everyone in that circle by leaving mere weeks into the job.

World ending? No.
Unusual? Yes.
Noteworthy? Yes.

The coaching community & its interconnectivity are a weird pathway to navigate.
CNC likely has a PhD on navigating burned bridges given the Summer Team relationship mess she inherited when she took the Baylor job.
But the situation does bear (pun intended) watching.

---

Unfortunately, we live in a different world now than years ago when loyalty was commonplace and people stayed in the same job - retired with the gold watch and a pension. My dad was a member of the "greatest generation" He was very concerned about the trending direction he was seeing. I am not so sure the currant trends are heading for a more harmonious outcome !??!

blueeyedbear said:

---

Adriacus Peratuun said:

---

blueeyedbear said:

---

What is so strange about it.
You think Scott and Tang didn't talk about this coach and then pitch him to Nicki ?
GCC to BU is an upward career move not a lateral move !!
There are a multitude of reasons for the decision to move over to Baylor.
1. More Money ?
2. More Responsibility ?
3. More say in a player development program ?
4. Back in Texas - closer to family ?
5. Higher visibility for future career aspirations ?
6. GCC is a lot like BU in some areas but different in other areas - maybe the fit just wasn't there - It happens !

I do not know - I do not care - what I do know is he fits EXACTLY with what BU WBB needs at this time.
1. Youth, Passion per Tang
2. Very well known in the Club basketball circuit - especially in Texas. BU WBB needs to get back into the club scene.
3. High character individual
4. Played both college and pro basketball
5. If Tang says he is: "elite in his player development skill work" that is exactly what BU WBB needs !!
If anybody knows about player development - it would be Tang.

I say WELCOME to BU Tez Dumars !!
GCC's loss is BU WBB gain !!

---

It isn't strange from Baylor's position. It is noteworthy from his position.
The new HC at GCU was an Assistant for Dawn Staley [who has a growing coaching tree].
In all likelihood, Dumars burned bridges with everyone in that circle by leaving mere weeks into the job.

World ending? No.
Unusual? Yes.
Noteworthy? Yes.

The coaching community & its interconnectivity are a weird pathway to navigate.
CNC likely has a PhD on navigating burned bridges given the Summer Team relationship mess she inherited when she took the Baylor job.
But the situation does bear (pun intended) watching.

---

Unfortunately, we live in a different world now than years ago when loyalty was commonplace and people stayed in the same job - retired with the gold watch and a pension. My dad was a member of the "greatest generation" He was very concerned about the trending direction he was seeing. I am not so sure the currant trends are heading for a more harmonious outcome !??!

---

There is a fairly large gap between staying at one job for an entire career and interviewing for the next job before you collect your first paycheck.

Moving during a career? Normal.
Redirecting the moving truck mid trip? Not as much.

blueeyedbear said:

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Adriacus Peratuun said:

---

blueeyedbear said:

---

What is so strange about it.
You think Scott and Tang didn't talk about this coach and then pitch him to Nicki ?
GCC to BU is an upward career move not a lateral move !!
There are a multitude of reasons for the decision to move over to Baylor.
1. More Money ?
2. More Responsibility ?
3. More say in a player development program ?
4. Back in Texas - closer to family ?
5. Higher visibility for future career aspirations ?
6. GCC is a lot like BU in some areas but different in other areas - maybe the fit just wasn't there - It happens !

I do not know - I do not care - what I do know is he fits EXACTLY with what BU WBB needs at this time.
1. Youth, Passion per Tang
2. Very well known in the Club basketball circuit - especially in Texas. BU WBB needs to get back into the club scene.
3. High character individual
4. Played both college and pro basketball
5. If Tang says he is: "elite in his player development skill work" that is exactly what BU WBB needs !!
If anybody knows about player development - it would be Tang.

I say WELCOME to BU Tez Dumars !!
GCC's loss is BU WBB gain !!

---

It isn't strange from Baylor's position. It is noteworthy from his position.
The new HC at GCU was an Assistant for Dawn Staley [who has a growing coaching tree].
In all likelihood, Dumars burned bridges with everyone in that circle by leaving mere weeks into the job.

World ending? No.
Unusual? Yes.
Noteworthy? Yes.

The coaching community & its interconnectivity are a weird pathway to navigate.
CNC likely has a PhD on navigating burned bridges given the Summer Team relationship mess she inherited when she took the Baylor job.
But the situation does bear (pun intended) watching.

---

Unfortunately, we live in a different world now than years ago when loyalty was commonplace and people stayed in the same job - retired with the gold watch and a pension. My dad was a member of the "greatest generation" He was very concerned about the trending direction he was seeing. I am not so sure the currant trends are heading for a more harmonious outcome !??!

---

I would agree that the world is different now than years ago. But personally for me, I took the same type of route (accept and then quickly leave) in my career after leaving the Navy in 1976. While I did not have an engineering degree (from Baylor), I had been teaching physics and reactor principles at the Navy's Nuclear Power School. Well, at the time, while it may seem strange today, engineering jobs outside of chemical engineering were just not available. After sending out resume after resume all I got was....nothing.

I decided to go back to school to get a graduate degree at A&M in health physics. I was enthusiastically offered a graduate teaching position at A&M and had ACCEPTED and at a pretty good salary. However, I really didn't want to go back to school, but with wife and young child I needed to find a position. Conceptually it was very compatible to what I had been doing in the Navy. So I was actually happy about getting it. However, I also late in the game sent a resume to Electronic Data Systems (Ross Perot's company) who prided themselves on picking employees from the military. Computer programming was young in those days and I had a great interest in it. When I was offered a position with EDS, that was the end of my teaching career before it had ever started. I felt bad about sending A&M the "thanks, but" letter, but it was something I had to do.

Now, I hadn't gone to A&M and then quit from there, but I had accepted the position there. They were not happy when I told them I wasn't coming, especially so late in the academic cycle. But I did what was best for me, and my career at EDS for over 30 years and being able to retire at 58 proved my decision was right for me. While waiting to go to the Navy after graduation from Baylor, I went to graduate school at A&M for one semester in computer science. It was one of the few places around in 1971 that offered the field. While at Baylor, Baylor offered only two computer courses in the whole school.....Fortran out of the physics department and COBOL in business. Once I told A&M I wasn't coming, I magically got a bill from them for $50. It seems I had been refunded a room deposit twice. Which really sent the message they were not happy I had left them hanging.

It seems this coach was offered something much better than where he found himself. I don't doubt that he was enthusiastic on getting the position at GCU, as I was in getting the graduate teaching assistantship at A&M. But when something better came along that was so much better, what would you have him do? I consider my self a loyal person. I spent 31 years at EDS and turned down multiple job offers from other companies while I was there. But had I stayed at A&M it would have been the worst decision of my life. EDS, by the way, was about the last major company in the US to institute layoffs. But once they started even EDS was no different than any place else as far as job security was concerned. The world had just changed.

Looking at it from the Baylor side, was Baylor "playing nice" offering someone who had just started somewhere else? I guess some could say "no". But how many times have we been burned with a player (in any of our sports) saying "yes" and then come signing day goes elsewhere leaving us holding the bag. This is now a free agency world. We may not like it (I don't), but if we don't play the game we get left holding the bag and laughed at as being suckers by those that profit from our misfortune.

There seems to be no real reason to come up with a negative conspiracy here. The young man did what he thought best for him. I don't think there is anything strange about that.

I have known a couple of people who accepted jobs and then got better offer and accepted second offer. I have also known people who accepted a job, started work and got better offer within first couple of months and left.

Being an Assistant Coach at Baylor vs GCU is best move for his career and he took opportunity while it was available. He may have burned some bridges with GCU and coaching staff but doing this is definitely not unheard of.

I obviously don't know the people involved, but this seems like such a no-brainer for him to take the more prestigious and better paying job that it would surprise me some for the GCU staff to hold a grudge against him. I'm sure they are disappointed, but a burned bridge seems irrational to me under the circumstances.

blackie said:

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But how many times have we been burned with a player (in any of our sports) saying "yes" and then come signing day goes elsewhere leaving us holding the bag.

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Not only that, but we've experienced it with at least one coach before. I remember there was a football assistant coach we hired, then he took a different job before he even set foot on campus.

Think the only person mentioning a conspiracy is you.

The reality that the GCU situation is an "uncomfortable detail" (note: not a conspiracy) is evidenced by Baylor conveniently leaving it out of his work history in the announcement. Last job is basically a jump off point for most new hire announcements.