When Beth Combs took the Northwestern job, she took it with her eyes wide open.  She has not talked about winning the Big 10 in the next year or so.  Instead, she talks about putting her team in a position to be its best and to appreciate small victories.  While that may not make for eye-catching headlines, it is a realism that is needed in her position.  Combs has been content to build her program from the bottom up.  Her first goal was to have a better conditioned team.  This caused a mini-revolt among some of Olkowski’s players in her first season.  But she didn’t back down and the physical results were noticeable in her second year.   

She has upgraded the overall talent on the team.  In Olkowski’s last two seasons she was unable to recruit many players.  Combs has added two classes, each of which has one or two players that look to have the potential to be above average Big 10 athletes. 

Another characteristic all good coaches have is the ability to look at themselves honestly and admit when they have made mistakes.  More importantly they have to learn from those mistakes.  Combs will admit that she has concentrated too much on recruiting guards and not enough on post players.  She says that she will change that.  The key player in her third class is a true power forward.   Combs is right about the post play and her program will not take major steps until she remedies that. 

In her first two years, her players have showed individual progress.  A J Glasauer went from a one-dimensional player to a well-rounded one.  Others have also improved. 

As a person, Combs is engaging and plain spoken.  She has a very clear idea of what she must do and seems to have a reasonable plan in place to accomplish her goals.  Her job is incredibly difficult.  Time will tell if her plans come to fruition.  She has a made a good start.