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She is fun, charming, a "player's coach.'' Her "evil twin'' is a hard driver.
By JOANNE KORTH
© St. Petersburg Times, published June 1, 2001
ORLANDO -- Coach Carolyn Peck will have plenty of decisions to make tonight when the Miracle opens its third WNBA season. Thank goodness she won't have to stand in front of her closet, stressing over what to wear.
The fans took care of that.
Given a choice of four snappy ensembles, each modeled with flair by the amiable coach, more than 1,200 fans logged onto the team's Web site to "Pick Peck's Outfit." Overwhelmingly, they liked her in the black skirt, jacket and heels.
The serious look.
How interesting.
Charismatic, attractive and fun, Peck has been the marketing department's 6-foot-4 go-to girl since the team's inception. Hers is the face of the franchise, and it's usually smiling. But if the Miracle is to fulfill its championship goals, starting with tonight's game against Los Angeles at 7:30 at TD Waterhouse Centre, it will be because of the Peck the rest of us never see.
"She is so fun to joke around and laugh with, but once the hair goes back in the ponytail, that's the sign: It's Carolyn's evil twin," said guard Adrienne Johnson, chosen by Peck in the 1999 expansion draft. "She's a player's coach. Every player in the league wants to play for her. But when we're on the court, inside these four lines, it is business."
The Miracle is coming off a 16-16 season in which it became the first of the league's eight expansion franchises to win a playoff game. But an embarrassing 72-43 loss on national television in the decisive game of a first-round series with Cleveland has sparked a new approach for 2001.
Peck is getting tougher.
"Last year we were very intense during training camp, and then when the season started, we all had a sigh of relief," said Peck, 35. "This year, we're going to try to maintain the intensity of training camp throughout the entire season."
Peck learned from the best. A center at Vanderbilt from 1985-88, Peck began her coaching career five years later as an assistant to Tennessee's Pat Summitt, a taskmaster whose softer side rarely shows. In Peck's two seasons with the Vols, they were 65-5, won two Southeastern Conference titles and reached the 1995 NCAA championship game.
After one season at Kentucky, Peck spent two years as an assistant to Nell Fortner at Purdue. When Fortner left to coach the U.S. national team, Peck took over.
She had one season of head-coaching experience when Orlando tabbed her in July 1998 to pilot its expansion franchise as coach and general manager. At the time, the pick seemed rooted in public relations. But when Peck led the Boilermakers to the NCAA championship in 1999 days before reporting to her new job, the Miracle had the game's hottest young coach.
"Carolyn finds out about the players as people first and then is able to get the best player out of them," assistant Charlene Thomas-Swinson said. "But she never loses that aggressiveness. That's what separates her from the rest: her ability to have a personal side with them and still be able to reach the athletes with the intensity level you need to be a winner. They respect her."
Despite the presence of All-Star guard Nykesha Sales, center Taj McWilliams and point guard Shannon "Pee Wee" Johnson, Peck remains the franchise's most popular personality. Peck is a fan favorite in part for her ability to fold her 6-4 frame into a sideline squat while wearing high heels and long, form-fitting skirts.
"That takes skill," Adrienne Johnson said. "To be 6-feet tall and wear high heels and do that coach's squat, do they teach you that in coaching school?"
Peck's fashionable wardrobe, purchased mainly from catalogs because stores do not have much to offer in extra-long dresses and size 12 shoes, is a topic of discussion everywhere from interviews to chat rooms. Eager to spread the word that tall women should be proud of their height, Peck glides easily between questions about three-point shooting and shopping.
Until the whistle blows.
"We don't consider her all that glamorous when we're doing all that running, but she's letting us know what her vision is so we can see that same vision," veteran forward Carla McGhee said. "She wants to win, not just get to the playoffs. She's hungry, and she's excited. And that makes her dangerous."
In addition to well-dressed.