By JASON STACY
Missourian staff

When Iowa State women's basketball coach Bill Fennelly greeted his first team in the spring of 1995, he saw the future of Cyclones' basketball. With no seniors on the team, this was going to be his bunch, and he let them know right away.

"I told my players in our first meeting that the future starts with you guys," Fennelly said. "We wanted to rebuild with the players we had, but we also wanted to win immediately."

The Cyclones did both. They went 17-10 in Fennelly's first season and have had four straight 20-win seasons since.

MU coach Cindy Stein has had similar early success. Although Stein's first team was 13-15, she was 18-11 her second year, and in 2000-01 the Tigers made it to the school's first Sweet 16. The difference between Stein's and Fennelly's regimes is that Stein has already had 13 players leave the team without completing their eligibility.

Although this attrition can be damaging to team cohesiveness, it can be good for the rebuilding process.

There is a theory that coaches are hired to win, and if they can bring in better players they are doing their job. Others might argue that, like Fennelly, you play with the hand your dealt and rebuild as you go.

Not all coaches say that massive turnover, such as MU experienced, is unusual.

"I don't think it's uncommon," said Nell Fortner, coach of the WNBA's Indiana Fever. "When you have a new philosophy, it doesn't always go over well with everyone."

Others say that wholesale changes are rare in the women's game.

"In the women's game it's different," Colorado assistant coach LaTonya Watson said. "Coaches tend to stick with the players they inherit. In the women's game, it's a matter of principle and character."

Watson acknowledges that even though Stein has seen 13 early departures, her rise to success has been quick.

"I would say that Missouri is ahead of schedule," Watson said. "It usually takes four or five years to rebuild a program."

The first part of rebuilding is to create a solid recruiting base.

"When coaches get started at a program, they may not be able to recruit the great players unless they get a little lucky," Fennelly said. "They need to recruit players that want to win and work hard for it."

Of the four freshmen in Stein's first recruiting class two seasons ago, only sophomores Kerensa Barr and Wannette Smith remain. Six of Stein's 14 recruits from her first two classes have left the Tigers.

Stein also concentrated on going after junior college players, something Watson calls a quick fix.

"Some of the top teams have no junior college players," Watson said. "Look at Tennessee. Look at Connecticut. You only get those players for two years."

For junior college transfers Amanda Lassiter and Marlena Williams, those two years made them WNBA prospects. Lassiter was taken by the Houston Comets with the 15th pick and Williams by the Fever with the 35th.

"With Amanda Lassiter and Marlena Williams, it was a great idea (to get junior college players)," Fennelly said. "They were great players. It was a good idea for Cindy to go to the junior-college ranks in that instance."

But after those two, only one of six other junior college and Division I transfers, forward Sally Albers, finished her career at MU.

Another focus of the rebuilding process is coaching stability. The Tigers have lost four coaches in Stein's three seasons. Assistant Brett Schneider left before the 2000-2001 season and Lee Ann Riley, Stephanie Thurman and Dave Wilbers all left after the season, even though only Riley had a head coaching offer. Thurman later took a high school coaching job.

Watson sees that as a backward step in the rebuilding process.

"I think it's important to maintain a good coaching staff over a long period of time," she said. "It makes the staff more familiar with each other, the players and the system."

Fortner points out that the nation's best programs can keep their coaches for a long period of time.

"Coaches at Tennessee and Connecticut have been there for 18 years," she said. "That's why they've been so successful."

However, Fennelly says change can be good, especially if there is an upgrade in talent at the coaching position, and he likes Stein's recent hires. Both Fennelly and Watson agree that the final element for building a winning program is a great administration and backing.

"The big thing is that the women's game (rebuilding) depends a lot on the administration and the school," Fennelly said. "It has to be important to the school. They have to put money into the recruiting fund and into the program."

In MU's case, Stein said MU athletic director Mike Alden and his staff have been instrumental in the Tigers' success.

With the rebuilding apparently complete and the potential of the Tigers realized, it is now up to Stein and the rest of the staff to continue building off the Sweet 16 and the WNBA talent.

What remains to be seen is whether the upheaval at MU was just a natural outgrowth of Stein taking over and how it affects the team's overall play.