UWF Women’s Basketball Coach Stephanie Yelton stopped by the podcast this week to discuss her team’s grueling early-season schedule and what it takes to build a competitive program in today’s transfer portal era.
The Lady Argos went 2-2 on a challenging road trip that took them from Orlando’s Disney event to Puerto Rico for regional games, before dropping a heartbreaker at Columbus State. With seven freshmen on the roster, Yelton sees these tough early games as crucial development opportunities.
- “We still have a lot of youth on our team,” Yelton explained. “There’s going to be difficult moments in a game where you’ve really got to hunker down and get things done. Sometimes we do very well at that, and sometimes we don’t.”
Fourteen Players
But the coach isn’t concerned. Her system relies on playing all 14 players, ensuring everyone continues developing throughout the season. “We’re only as strong as our weakest link,” she noted. “We need all 14 players to continue to work and grow and mature.”
The transfer portal has fundamentally changed how coaches prepare for opponents. Gone are the days when teams stayed together for four years, and coaches could count on familiar faces across the conference. Now, rosters turn over annually, requiring coaches to be more flexible in their approach to everything from offensive schemes to team chemistry.
The technology revolution has at least made scouting easier. Yelton recalled the old days of driving two hours to meet assistant coaches for VCR tape exchanges and spending countless hours in hot film rooms operating 10-stack VCR systems. Today, players have 24/7 access to game film on their laptops through specialized software.
“I would’ve loved to have had that as a player in a college setting,” Yelton said. “We just didn’t have the access 30 years ago.”
The Lady Argos return home this week to face conference favorite Alabama Huntsville on Thursday at 5:30 p.m., followed by an improved West Alabama squad on Saturday at 2 p.m. After weeks on the road, playing in their own gym should provide a welcome advantage for Yelton’s developing squad.
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