BOWLING GREEN — As the South Carolina women’s basketball program won and won and won in recent years, Fred Chmiel, too, enjoyed the ultimate win-win situation.
The 52-year-old Gamecocks assistant had no shortage of opportunities to become a Division I head coach and the luxury to be more picky than a toddler at dinner.
After all, why leave for anything when he had almost everything?
At South Carolina, he held one of the best, highest-paying assistant jobs in the country, earning $300,000 per year to help Dawn Staley continue setting the standard in the sport.
To take a mid-major head coaching post would mean a step down in pay, not to mention a step off the biggest stage.
But some opportunities demand a longer look than others.
The Bowling Green job — freshly vacant after Robyn Fralick left for Michigan State — was one of them.
Why BG? Why not?
Chmiel remembered the last time he visited here, in 2006, when he was an assistant at Temple and the Falcons — on their way to 31 victories and the Sweet 16 that season — rolled to an 86-67 win at a rollicking Anderson Arena.
“They had the home-court advantage with the visiting locker room set to 90 degrees,” he said with a laugh. “The fans were rabid and going crazy. I’ll never forget that.”
Fast forward, and he sensed the same possibilities in the present.
You’ll recall, the last time we saw the Falcons, the orange-blooded faithful were rabid and crazy as ever, bringing down a sold-out Stroh Center in the semifinals of the WNIT.
The electrified scene felt like the start of something special — an inferno more than a spark — if only Bowling Green could find the right leader to build on the momentum.
Chmiel wanted to be that guy.
When BG athletic director Derek van der Merwe began narrowing a net of 35 names he judged worth considering (including a few you’d know) and first reached out to Chmiel, he had the coach at hel ...
“From the word go the first time we met, he goes, ‘Let me just tell you something. I want to be at Bowling Green,’” van der Merwe said.
And Bowling Green wanted him.
The result is the bold but exciting gamble that became official on Monday.
In introducing Chmiel as its 10th women’s basketball coach, Bowling Green is betting that a boundlessly energetic career assistant will have the chops in the big chair to make a good thing better, while Chmiel is going all in on ... himself.
How badly does he want this shot?
So much that he’s taking a huge pay cut.
Yep, presuming Chmiel was in line for another raise after South Carolina went 36-1 and made its third straight Final Four, he will gladly earn more than $40,000 less this year.
He signed a five-year contract worth $260,000 annually.
“I think I’m ready,” Chmiel told me after his news conference. “After being at South Carolina for eight years and two national titles, that’s a special place. But there’s also a part of you that wants to be a bigger leader and ... there’s no better opportunity than Bowling Green.”
Count me impressed by the hire.
We’ll see if Chmiel will be leading a rebuild or, as he pledged, a “reload.”
Much of that will depend on two things:
1. How deftly he assembles his coaching staff. He’ll have $410,000 to divide among three assistants and support staff, a $95,000 increase from the program’s salary pool last season. (Bowling Green has some extra money to invest after Fralick’s departure. A couple notes on her BG contract: She owes the university a $400,000 buyout and is obligated to bring Michigan State to the Stroh Center.)
2. How well he navigates the free-agent market, including in his efforts to keep the three Falcons starters currently in the transfer portal: Elissa Brett, Jocelyn Tate, and Nyla Hampton. (Tate and Hampton both attended the press conference, along with many of their teammates.)
“That's not something we take lightly,” said Chmiel, who has assured players that he loves their up-and-down, pedal-to-the-floor, in-your-face style as much as they do. “We want them to come back. We need them to come back.”
Still, no matter what, he said he expects BG will be “extremely competitive” next season.
Maybe because it’s the only way he knows.
Known as a skilled relationship builder who checks both big boxes — Staley called him an “outstanding floor coach and relentless recruiter” — he’s played a central role on one winning team after another.
Think about this: The Alaska native has coached 17 seasons at five Division I schools (Temple, San Diego State, Penn State, Minnesota, and South Carolina). His teams have — or, in the case of the pandemic year, would have — made the NCAA tournament every year. In his eight seasons alongside the irrepressible Staley at South Carolina — the last four of which featured Toledo’s own Zia Cooke in a starring role — the Gamecocks were a comical 247-32.
“We better be going to the NCAA tournament because I don't even know what Fred would do that time of the year,” van der Merwe cracked. “He doesn't even know what TV shows are on. He has no clue what else happens this time of the year.”
In other words, he’s earned the opportunity to push his chips to the center.
And Bowling Green can feel good about its well-placed bet.
First Published April 11, 2023, 4:00 p.m.
