In June Daugherty's 11 seasons as coach of the Washington women's basketball team, she took eight squads to the postseason. Six of those made NCAA Tournament appearances, including a run to the Elite Eight in 2001 that was ended only by Jackie Stiles' Southwest Missouri State team.

But for some reason, Daugherty's 191-139 record during her tenure at the UW wasn't enough to keep her a Husky. On March 18, Todd Turner, the UW director of intercollegiate athletics, chose not to renew the contracts of Daugherty and her assistants.

Grumblings around campus suggest that Turner was disappointed with the lack of attendance at women's basketball games, and he has hinted in the past that the women's basketball program was falling far short of other Husky sports programs in terms of creating revenue.

I guess my question for Turner is: What did you expect?

This isn't Tennessee. Women's basketball isn't, never has been and never will be a big-time moneymaker for this school. The recent success of the men's team has only damaged the already low attendance marks at women's games. In the past, the women's team was consistently more successful than the mens. Now, more casual fans choose to go to men's games because they're winning again.

It's a sad truth, but women's basketball just isn't appealing to casual basketball fans. Obviously, this affects attendance. Daugherty led her team to the tournament this year, but the only concern is that her "team has not achieved the on-the-court results that inspire excitement and support from Husky fans everywhere," according to Turner. Why? She put a basketball team on the court that was worthy of an at-large bid. She can't control who comes to the games and who doesn't.

If the UW went undefeated this year but had record-low attendance figures, would she still have been fired? If Tyrone Willingham leads the football team to a 9-4 season and a bowl game this year but only draws 55,000 people per home game, is his job in jeopardy? At what point do we put the dollar signs on the back burner and start rewarding success instead of profit?

Division I women's basketball is ridiculously top heavy. Connecticut, Tennessee, Duke, North Carolina, Notre Dame, maybe Rutgers, sometimes Purdue and occasionally (less than occasionally, really) someone else will compete for the national title. Does Turner think there's someone out there who is so much better than Daugherty that they can compete with the likes of Pat Summit and Geno Auriemma?

That's the bottom line. Daugherty's record isn't staggering, but it is successful. Unless Turner believes that there is a candidate out there who is indisputably better than Daugherty, this firing was a mistake.

In a sport where quality coaches are at a premium, the UW had one and let her go. Wherever Daugherty ends up, I have no doubt that she will continue to succeed.

Why success wasn't good enough for Turner, I'll never understand.

Reach reporter Christian Caple at sports@thedaily.washington.edu