Jane Albright had earned the respect, but last Tuesday she was treated as if she had done nothing for the University of Wisconsin.

Her forced retirement has made me think that maybe this university isn’t as proud and honored by its tradition as it is made to seem.

Albright was the all-time winningest female basketball coach in school history, and at the start of this season she had won 154 games at a .642 winning percentage.

Some people look at these stats and will refute them, saying that her coaching ability has diminished in recent years. That’s neither an educational nor an accurate statement. Last year she lead her team to the NCAA tournament, in 1999 the Badgers took second place in the WNIT and in 2000 they won it.

But what about last year?

What about last year! The team was ranked as high as fifth in the nation before falling apart and losing in the first round of the NCAA tournament. It was a monumental collapse, and it showed that there were some obvious problems within the organization.

I did not watch much women’s basketball last year, so I will not be the judge to sentence Albright to a professional death sentence for the way that season ended. What I do know is that this year and last year have nothing to do with one another. I have been to nearly every home game this season, and trust me when I say that this team has made some huge improvements.

“The message has always been the same to coach Albright about what our expectations are about on-court success,” senior associate athletic director Jamie Pollard said.

Then why, when the team is starting to find some rhythm and come together as a cohesive unit, was the head coach forced to resign? Playing time is dominated by underclassmen, while only two upperclassmen earn significant court time; of course they’re going to need time to gel. The team’s starting point guard, Ashley Josephson, is good — really good — but she’s still a freshman and plays like one at times.

Albright knew that she would have a team laced with young talent this season. Like a good coach, she was planning for the future.

When the women’s basketball team is winning a bunch of games a season or two from now everyone will praise the coaching change without realizing that those are still Jane’s players.

I have read and heard a number of comments from professionals and friends about why Jane Albright should have been fired before she announced her resignation. Many of these people making the comments have never even been to a women’s basketball game in Madison. People are gathering their information from stat sheets and box scores over the last year; they aren’t making educated statements after watching the team play for an entire season.

In the press conference Tuesday, Pollard said, “The on-court success of our women’s basketball program has clearly been inconsistent with the resources we have committed to this program.”

What has been inconsistent? Before this year the Badgers had compiled a school record eight consecutive winning seasons behind Albright. Where is the respect? Where is the love?

I have read columns about the emptiness of the Kohl Center this season, I have read comments about the conversation that Albright had with the administration, and I have read faces of people angrily telling me that Albright should be fired. What I haven’t read is how Albright has led UW to its best Big Ten finish (second place), best season record (21-8), best start (16-1), longest winning streak (15) and largest attendance (17,142) during her career at UW.

Albright inherited a Badger team in 1994 that had just one winning season in the previous 10 years and had a 102-176 record over that same time. She took the program and turned it around. In her first two seasons the Badgers went to the NCAA tournament and won 20 games in back-to-back seasons for the first time ever.

Albright is not the reason UW women’s basketball team has managed only one recruit for next season; the administration is. Nobody wants to commit to a team whose coach is in jeopardy of losing her job. Albright is a coaching legend not only in the state of Wisconsin, but in Illinois and in her home state of Tennessee as well. She is one of the 20 winningest female coaches of all time. I would say her ability to get players to play and teams to win is impeccable and worth living through a few bad seasons.

“It was either a long-term contract or a change,” Pollard said about Albright’s contract status. “When coach Albright and I sat down last week to basically check in and see where we both were, she just felt she would rather know where we were going to be at the end of the year now then later, and I respect that.”

You should respect that, Mr. Pollard, because this woman has brought more success to the women’s basketball program than ever before.

Why not let Albright coach out her contract? Give her one season to turn things back around. The administration sees no reason to give Albright that chance. One bad season and she’s done.

Earlier in the year I had jumped on the bandwagon of people calling for a coaching change at UW. That was early in the season, though, when the team was playing its worst basketball. Injuries to the team’s key seniors forced the team to grow up much faster then anticipated, and Albright became a mother as well as a coach.

She mentored her young players, and they quickly developed into strong collegiate athletes. The youth on this team is playing better and better each day, and who can help progress their talent better than Jane Albright?

I challenge any person calling for Albright’s head to name a replacement. How can you say that someone should be fired when you know nothing about the game? Don’t tell me the Kohl Center is empty without realizing that Badgers have averaged the 10th largest total in the nation this season.

Albright will be throwing her name into the hat of women’s basketball coaches without a team this summer, at the same time that the Badgers will be pulling from the hat.

“We’re going to do a national search and find the best coach available,” Pollard said.

I’m looking forward to the future press conference when Pollard strolls up to the microphone and announces that the Badgers have hired the best coach on the market, and her name is Jane Albright.