"Exceptional," Bradshaw said about Tonya Cardoza, a longtime assistant at Connecticut.

He applied it to Cardoza's 14 years under UConn's Geno Auriemma that included five NCAA titles with the Huskies.

Bradshaw classified the 39-year-old Cardoza as a "thoroughbred," referring to the native of Roxbury, Mass., and her playing career at Virginia. It was in Charlottesville that she was associated with another Hall of Fame coach in Debbie Ryan.

Most important was the budding friendship with Cavaliers teammate Dawn Staley, the basketball legend from Philadelphia.

Two decades later, that relationship has led to Cardoza's first head coaching job, succeeding Staley, who has departed for South Carolina after an eight-year run with the Owls.

Cardoza arrives ready to build on Staley's achievements, which include six NCAA appearances, four Atlantic Ten titles, and domination of the Big Five.

"You have a candidate who knows what she's accepting, who knows what she's getting into, and wanted to be here," Bradshaw said. "She knows exactly the time and place where Temple basketball is."

Staley was earning a $500,000 package when she left. Cardoza couldn't be expected to earn that much as a rookie coach. But in light of a need to rebuild an entire coaching staff with four positions to be filled, the overall program will continue to be well-funded.

"Everyone knows we have a major commitment to women's basketball," Bradshaw said.

Auriemma, who was in Tampa, Fla., last night to see former Huskies star Rebecca Lobo inducted into the College Sports Information Directors' Academic All-America Hall of Fame, was hoping to be at today's news conference. He credited Cardoza with "developing some of the best players ever to play at this level," citing her work with such all-American guards as Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird and Jennifer Rizzotti.