Cardoza eager to begin new era of Temple women's basketball

But Cardoza was fine where she was, happily serving as an assistant to Geno Auriemma for 14 years and being a part of five national titles.

Then Philly came calling. More specifically, Temple University.

Cardoza was named yesterday as the 20th head women's coach in school history, replacing city legend Dawn Staley, who posted a 172-80 record during her eight seasons.

"This was the first one [head coaching job] that I really got excited about," Cardoza said in front of a large crowd that included Auriemma, in the Fox-Gittis room at the Liacouras Center. "There were others that, as the season went on, I realized they weren't the right fit. But once Temple opened up, I knew it would be the right fit."

Although a native of Roxbury, Mass., Cardoza is well-schooled on Philly hoops. She and Staley were teammates at the University of Virginia, and for the past 14 years she sat next to a man who cut his teeth on basketball in this area, first as a coach at his alma mater, Bishop Kenrick, then as an assistant to Jim Foster at Saint Joseph's.

"I'm a city girl," Cardoza added. "I grew up in the city. I've been in Philly, in 2000 when we won the national championship.

"As a basketball program, Dawn set the bar. Now I'm ready to take the baton and run with it."

In front of that packed audience yesterday, Cardoza showed the calmness and coolness expected of a coach. But she didn't always have that ability.

"Her confidence level today is one thousand times higher than it was when we first hired her," said Auriemma. "Every year she's gotten better and better at what she does. Her confidence has grown and I'm not surprised to see her in this environment right now.

"The first couple of years [with Cardoza], I would go down one end with the big guys and invariably I'd have to go down to Tonya's end. She wasn't very talkative. She wasn't very demonstrative. She was very introverted. And I spent all my time down there with her.

"Then, about 6 or 7 years ago, there came a point where I would look down there and she would have everything under control. The players were responding to her and she was doing what she wanted to do."

What Cardoza wants to do at Temple is a little different, in terms of style, than what her ex-teammate did during her successful run.

"Dawn is definitely a defensive coach and I don't really understand how because in college she didn't really play defense," Cardoza quipped. "I was more an offensive player and I think that's one of the things the team [Temple] lacked last year. I think they shot 30-something percent from the field last year, and that's something we are going to work on.

"We're going to be an up-tempo team looking to score in all types of ways, whether it's pressing and getting easy buckets that way or doing motion offense. It will be rare when two people are holding on to the ball instead of getting all five people involved in it."

Cardoza certainly was involved as a player at Virginia. A 1991 grad, she helped lead the Cavs to four NCAA Tournament appearances. She led the team her senior year in scoring (15.5 a game) and finished her career with 1,622 points (eighth all-time), 667 rebounds (10th), 375 steals (third) and 110 blocks (fifth). Four seasons later, she was sitting next to one of the most successful college coaches of all time.

"She has the pedigree, the experience as both a player and coach, the mentors in Dawn Staley and Debbie Ryan [Virginia coach and Ursinus grad] and Geno Auriemma, and of course the ties to Philadelphia basketball," said Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw. "This is the right place and the right time for Tonya."

Now she will have to make this program her own.

"When I heard Dawn was leaving I called her right away and asked her to put a good word in for me," Cardoza said. "She is someone I can tap into for advice. And I'll continue to do that."

Some advice from her former employer also sounded pretty good.

"Everything starts with recruiting, I don't care how good of a coach you are," Auriemma said. "There's an old saying that says there are two kinds of coaches in the world. One that coaches great players . . . and ex-coaches.

"You have to get good players, and I think she has the ability to get involved with good players. The next thing is she has to be able to work with them to make them better. And that's certainly one of the strong points that Tonya has." *