At this time a week ago, Tricia Cullop was the University of Toledo’s women’s basketball coach, and there wasn’t any reason to believe that would change.

But last Thursday, word broke that she was nearing a deal to coach the University of Miami. It was completed soon after, and just like that, a 16-year marriage that featured the most wins in program history, two trips to the NCAA tournament, and a WNIT championship was over.

All the Mid-American Conference titles, players of the year, and March memories take up a lot of bandwidth. But it was what Cullop meant off the court that endeared her to an adoring fan base. She was a pillar of the community, a constant presence at events, and a force for good in charitable endeavors.

The ending was always inevitable — Cullop is too successful of a coach never to get an opportunity to lead a power conference program — but the reality of it still hit most people hard in the 419. For Miami, it means a growing fan base thousands of miles away in northwest Ohio.

The Blade

Video: Cullop discusses move in 1st TV interview as Miami coach

Before Cullop flew to south Florida for her introductory press conference on Thursday, she sat down with The Blade to discuss her UT tenure, the life-long friends she made in Toledo, and the possibilities in Miami.

The Blade: Why Miami, and why now?

Cullop: I think it’s just a great opportunity because not only is it a great program — [former coach] Katie [Meier] did an amazing job building it. But she retired, so it’s still in a good place. A lot of times you see a job like that open and it’s because it’s been through losing seasons. This is not a rebuild. It’s a program that has talent. It’s a great conference. It’s a beautiful campus. It’s great academics.

I always said if I left, it would have to be a place where I felt like I could recruit and the kids would get excited about what I had to sell. And I think it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. But I will say it was still incredibly hard because I absolutely love the job that I had and I do believe in my heart of hearts I had the best mid-major job in the country. And that’s why I stayed so long.

The Blade: The past two seasons, Virginia Tech and North Carolina State, programs whose head coaches formerly were really good at the mid-major level, went to the Final Four. Is that something you noticed and appealed to you?

Cullop: Well, it was funny, during the interview process, I remember [Miami AD] Dan [Radakovich] asking me, ‘How do you think what you do will translate at this level?’ And I said, ‘Well, more than half your league came from my level.’ So I have confidence watching other people do it coming from the level that I’m at.

[NC State coach] Wes [Moore] did a great job at [Chattanooga]. [Syracuse coach] Felicia [Leggette-Jack] was coach of the year, and she's from our league [Buffalo]. [North Carolina coach] Courtney Banghart did a nice job and she’s from Princeton. What I told him is basketball is basketball. The difference is the level of athlete and talent that you can recruit at this level. That is the separator.

Kyle Rowland

Tricia Cullop leaving Toledo women's basketball to become head coach at Miami

That’s the exciting and intriguing part because I’ve always wanted to coach at that level, but I didn’t want to do it at all costs. It always had to be the right place.

The Blade: The moment you got offered the job and then accepted the job, and you realized you were leaving Toledo, what was that like?

Cullop: That was hard. I mean, I teared up. I had some tears flowing down my face because this place means so much to me and the players mean so much to me. It’s one thing to be excited, but then to see the repercussions of that and know that you caused people some pain and some heartache is really hard because you care about them a lot.

I absolutely love the team I coached. I was very blessed to be around incredible support staff and an administration that cared about us and this fan base. We had a top-30 fan base. That’s a lot to walk away from. It was a roller coaster of emotions. Overjoyed that this is going to happen and then also I don’t want to disappoint these people who mean so much to me.

I had to do a Zoom with the kids because everything was moving so fast, and I hated that the story broke before I had a chance to talk to them. That was hard. We all shed some tears on that Zoom, but the one thing I just keep thinking is if we didn’t shed tears, it didn’t mean anything. And I think what it verified to me was what strong bonds and relationships we had with each other.

I told them that my relationship is only beginning, and I’m not even talking about the next few years. I’m talking about a lifetime. I don’t recruit kids to only get to know them during their careers. I think our alums will tell you that I’m going to write letters of recommendation and I’m going to take calls from them long after they graduate. This is not a transactional thing for college.

The Blade: You’re a small-town Indiana girl. You went to Purdue. A lot of your coaching career has been in this area. You did go to Long Beach State. Miami is obviously a totally different part of the country. Is that daunting at all?

Cullop: I think anymore it’s a nationwide scope recruiting for everybody because of the portal and because it’s so easy to access film, and kids are willing to travel outside their normal base. I still anticipate recruiting the Midwest. I looked at [Miami’s] rosters and the men’s and women’s teams had a lot of Canadians.

That’s my neck of the woods. I was surprised how many kids were in the group. That’s not something I anticipated when I started studying it, but I think it speaks to there’s a lot to sell. The exciting thing for me is we have all the amenities to sell. But I’m also excited to sell the location.

The Blade: And NIL.

Cullop: And NIL. But I will tell you, we were working on that at Toledo and I think we were one of the first mid-majors in our league to have kids with cars. That was exciting. I think that says a lot about our community, that they are willing to step up and support the program.

The Blade: The outpouring of appreciation and almost grief, people like you so much, what has that meant to you the last couple days, to see the community react?

Cullop: It’s been really hard. I’ve made life-long friends that I know I’m not going to lose touch with. I think the sad thing is I’m not going to see them every day. I’m not going to see them every week at games.

I was at a point in my career here where if I needed something, I knew exactly where to go and exactly who to call. There’s a comfort level there. I could get it done really quickly. I’m going into that unknown, right? I don’t know very many people down there.

The ironic thing is the associate head coach for the Dolphins, his wife is my teammate from college. So that’s exciting. And the assistant GM for the Marlins is somebody I went to high school with. I’ve got some friends down there. But I also know that it's going to take me a while to build up anything even close to the network that I had here.

The Blade: How was cleaning out your office and walking out of the basketball complex for the final time?

Cullop: It was hard. I was going through boxes and found practice plans from my first year. I found a Rocket ornament that had Naama [Shafir]’s name on the back that the kids had all signed and given me at Christmastime. I was just flooded with memories.

The other hard part was walking around the building and catching the people that I could to say goodbye to. It’s been a wonderful journey, and they’ve been incredibly influential on my life and impacted me in a very positive way. I just hope not only the community but the people I worked with know how grateful I am to all of them.

The Blade: Did you ever imagine in 2008 that you’d be here 16 years later and be so successful and love it here? Everyone is ambitious. Did you just think, hey, I’ll be here a few years and move on?

Cullop: I didn’t know how long it’d be. I was a little nervous. Obviously, the program had been through five losing seasons, but I was incredibly grateful to Mark Ehlen. I’ll never forget him sitting down with me for a two-hour dinner and being gracious enough to help me avoid some pitfalls and know exactly who I needed to talk to to save myself some time.

I want to be that way for the next coach that comes in. In fact, I left them a note in the top drawer of my desk just saying I hope you enjoy this job as much as I did. And I said, here’s my phone number, if you ever need anything, I’ll be there for you. I hope they know that I mean that.

This job meant the world to me. The people more than anything. Forget facilities, forget the university. The people here are what makes this place so special.

The Blade: Do you think Toledo women’s basketball is still poised to be a great program?

Cullop: Oh my gosh, yes. There’s one scholarship available right now. What we were chasing in the portal was a playmaker, somebody that could score and create for others. If they put that piece in with the group that’s coming back, I think it could really be a really special year.

Nobody else has the 5s that we had, and nobody else has Sammi Mikonowicz and Khera Goss. There are still a lot of veterans on this team. Obviously, there are going to be some young point guards, but Kendall Braden can flat-out shoot it. Destiny Robinson is an unsung hero in this class. And then the twins, their motors are incredible.

I think whoever walks into this has a great opportunity in front of them.

First Published April 10, 2024, 3:52 p.m.