The new Temple coach, however, said yesterday that she intends to become much more than a spin-off from past successes.

Hired off Hall of Famer Geno Auriemma's Connecticut staff to become a head coach in her own right, Cardoza promised the new Owls' style won't be an extension of that of Dawn Staley, her good friend and former Virginia teammate.

"Well, Dawn was a defensive coach, which I don't understand how because in college she didn't really play defense," the 39-year-old Cardoza said with a smile. "I was an offensive player and liked to score, which [the Owls] may have lacked a little last year."

Staley stayed away from Cardoza's big day, not wanting to be a distraction.

Besides Temple administrators and coaches, including football's Al Golden, the packed room at the Liacouras Center for the news conference included Auriemma, Huskies assistant Jamelle Elliott, and former UConn star Rita Williams, who was one of Cardoza's first guards in 14 seasons with the five-time NCAA champions.

Cardoza, a native of Roxbury, Mass., is also associated with another Hall of Famer in Virginia coach Debbie Ryan, for whom she played in the early 1990s.

After Staley left Temple on May 6 for South Carolina, Cardoza campaigned hard to fill the vacancy.

"I'm a city girl," Cardoza said of her attraction to Temple's urban campus.

Auriemma, who grew up in Norristown, revealed that this was the first time Cardoza went hard to become a head coach.

"It came out of nowhere," he said. "In the past, she would ask me about this position or that one and then decide they weren't worth it. But this time, she asked me to make a call."

Cardoza's deal is five years, according to a source familiar with the agreement. Temple junior LaKeisha Eaddy is ready for the new era.

"We were going to have to step up and keep us all together to stay here at Temple," she said of her teammates' reaction to the coaching change. "Now we're all motivated and we're ready."