On top of everything else, I believe Shannon is going through an identity crisis.
For this I have a great deal of sympathy.
Since she was a kid, her identity has been tied to basketball. First as a player. Then an Assistant Coach. Then a Head Coach. We're talking at least 40 years where basketball was integral to her identity--much of that time at one school, the University of Montana.
When other coaches get fired, it's easier to take the high road because they often move on to other coaching jobs. Maybe they take a demotion. But they're still coaches. Their egos may be bruised, but their identity remains intact.
For Shannon, that identity has been stripped--suddenly, emphatically, publicly. By the very school where she largely forged that identity.
As a younger man, I was a newspaper reporter. I loved that job. I loved being a reporter, telling people I was a reporter, enjoying the camaraderie of other reporters. But because I was in the wrong city and making little money, I left that identity behind for a better place.
Great move as I look back, but there ensued a period I now refer to as "my years of anguished seeking." Trying to replace that former identity with another. When I got to my own business--entrepreneur--my life opened up again.
I suspect Shannon is going through this anguish--one I know well. But she will get through it. She will come through this, with a great family, and the one enduring legacy that can never be taken away from her:
The Greatest Basketball Player in the History of the University of Montana.
For this I have a great deal of sympathy.
Since she was a kid, her identity has been tied to basketball. First as a player. Then an Assistant Coach. Then a Head Coach. We're talking at least 40 years where basketball was integral to her identity--much of that time at one school, the University of Montana.
When other coaches get fired, it's easier to take the high road because they often move on to other coaching jobs. Maybe they take a demotion. But they're still coaches. Their egos may be bruised, but their identity remains intact.
For Shannon, that identity has been stripped--suddenly, emphatically, publicly. By the very school where she largely forged that identity.
As a younger man, I was a newspaper reporter. I loved that job. I loved being a reporter, telling people I was a reporter, enjoying the camaraderie of other reporters. But because I was in the wrong city and making little money, I left that identity behind for a better place.
Great move as I look back, but there ensued a period I now refer to as "my years of anguished seeking." Trying to replace that former identity with another. When I got to my own business--entrepreneur--my life opened up again.
I suspect Shannon is going through this anguish--one I know well. But she will get through it. She will come through this, with a great family, and the one enduring legacy that can never be taken away from her:
The Greatest Basketball Player in the History of the University of Montana.