There are two sides to Bob Boldon. One side is overly critical, blunt and could find flaws on the Mona Lisa.
Then there’s the other side, which, on a chilly spring morning, sits in his office smiling and says, “You don’t know what to do with all this optimism, do ya?”
During Boldon’s first season at the helm of the Ohio women’s basketball program, his team experienced both sides.
Boldon coached the youngest team he’s ever worked with, a team fresh off the worst season in Ohio history.
Following the 6-23 nightmare of the 2012-13 season, this past season’s Bobcats dealt with never-ending growing pains and a plague of injuries that left Boldon with just eight healthy players at times.
After beginning the season 8-7, mental and physical fatigue set in for the Bobcats, and they finished their campaign by losing 14 of their final 15 games.
“In the short term, I think (this year) was a success, but the overall success of this team will be judged over the next two years,” Boldon said. “We played a lot of young kids throughout the season . . . We asked all of our players to do more than they were truly capable of.”
Throughout the year, Boldon consistently said the Bobcats were striving to improve — a situation he’s plenty familiar with.
Before accepting the Ohio job, Boldon transformed a Youngstown State team that went 0-30 the year before his arrival into a 23-10 team in his third and final year there.
“He inherited a program that was not in the best situation,” said John Vogel, an assistant sports information director at Youngstown State. “What he showed is you can teach them the intangibles of playing hard and knowing the commitment it takes to win.”
Vogel also mentioned Boldon’s straight-to-the-point manner, even if he doesn’t always say exactly what fans and players want to hear.
This season, Boldon had no problem reminding the media the team wasn’t good. Following a loss to Miami to close the regular season, he said the Bobcats were worse than they were back in November.
Furthermore, after falling to Buffalo on Feb. 6, Boldon told the media the 55-43 loss was “easily one of, if not, the ugliest, game of basketball I’ve ever been a part of.”
Behind what appears to be a lack of faith is a burning passion, if you talk to his players.
“We all understand his passion for the game,” redshirt sophomore guard Kat Yelle said. “We don’t take it to heart. We know it’s just his passion coming through, and we’re all passionate, too. You have to realize it’s just us wanting to win.”
Other players, such as freshman guard Quiera Lampkins, said candor is just Boldon’s style.
“I just see it as coach being crazy,” Lampkins said, laughing. “He says whatever, but I’m used to it now. He’s going to be blunt and straight to the point, but I believe you need a coach like that to be successful.”
In addition to fixing the Bobcats’ poor communication during the past offseason, Boldon, who brought his entire Youngstown State staff to Ohio, also integrated his uncommon offensive scheme that consists of drives to the hole and high-volume perimeter shots.
The Bobcats finished this past season with 810 attempted 3-pointers, a Mid-American Conference record. In a matchup with University of Maryland, Baltimore County on Dec. 30, Ohio also shattered the program and the MAC records for made 3-pointers, burying 19 in an 84-36 victory.
“In his first game at Youngstown State, his team had 48 three-point attempts,” Vogel said. “I remember thinking, ‘What is he doing?’ ”
He was stabilizing the Penguins’ program, and Vogel is confident Boldon will do the same for Ohio.
“I think he can turn around the program faster because of his innovative offense,” Vogel said. “That’s what he was able to do [at Youngstown], without a lot of Division I athletes, per se.”
Ohio’s entire active roster will return next year, in addition to guard Mariah Harris, a Michigan State transfer, and Kelly Karlis, an incoming freshman forward from Medinah, Ill.
“A lot of time this year we played people because (they were the only ones available), and the starting lineup was easy to project,” Boldon said. “Next year, the minutes aren’t guaranteed, and I don’t know who will even start. The competitiveness should make us a better team.”
Following Ohio’s season-ending loss to Miami, a clearly frustrated and annoyed Boldon ranted he wasn’t looking forward to playing a first-round MAC game in Toledo because during Ohio’s last trip to the Glass City, his hotel room looked out at an anti-climactic, frozen Maumee River.
When asked how his stay was the second time around, Boldon smiled, beaming, “I couldn’t believe it and had to take a picture. The river was still frozen!”
Of his two sides, one looks at the present with a harsh view of reality. The other, as seen with his second stay in Toledo, is optimistic for what’s ahead.
Ohio hopes to get used to that Boldon.
@charliehatch_
gh181212@ohiou.edu
