ADimeBack: Dickenman Spurred UConn's Rise

[OkaForPrez]

http://adimeback.com/behind-the-scenes-howie-dickenman-spurred-uconns-rise/

Awesome stuff from Russ and ADB.

 

[tcf15]

Calhoun channeling his inner Boneyarder.

“Jim turns to me on the bench,” Dickenman said, “and yells ‘special, huh? He’s gonna be special?’”

Seriously, though, great read. Never truly understood the impact that Dickenman had at UConn and this article did a great job conveying that. Thank you, Howie.

 

[OkaForPrez]

Russ did a tremendous job telling the story. I had read a bunch of the pieces before but he really stitched it together well. Awesome tribute to Howie, start to finish.

 

[RichZ]

Wonderful article. Had a sense of Howie's value from JC's Dare To Dream book, but this piece conveyed a lot more, and from Howie's POV.

 

[selles]

Calhoun channeling his inner Boneyarder.

Excellent article, really enjoyed it. That 1995 game was against Iowa and the immortal Chris Kingsbury, not A&M. The A&M game was in 1989 and featured the even less immortal Lynn Suber. I can see how they merged in Howie's head - very similar 'are you frigging kidding me' early season tournament games against an unconscious opponent probably resulted in a very similar irked JC.

 

[rs2905]

Excellent article, really enjoyed it. That 1995 game was against Iowa and the immortal Chris Kingsbury, not A&M. The A&M game was in 1989 and featured the even less immortal Lynn Suber. I can see how they merged in Howie's head - very similar 'are you frigging kidding me' early season tournament games against an unconscious opponent probably resulted in a very similar irked JC.

Thanks for pointing that out. Made the edit in the story.

Also thank you everybody for the kind words!

 

[CallMeBruce]

Thanks for pointing that out. Made the edit in the story.

Also thank you everybody for the kind words!

Don't let this go to your head, you little twerp.

 

[mauconnfan]

He retired as a head coach - there's a big mans coach for you guys. Guy was a stud around the basket, a rebounding maniac throughout his career despite being undersized.

 

[CL82]

"When Dickenman left Hillcrest, he called then-associate athletic director Jeff Hathaway and told him that the Huskies had a shot at Allen. “But I think it’s important we have a new rug in the locker room,” Dickenman said. The old one was worn and faded. They don’t have that at Kentucky. As Dickenman tells it, Hathaway had the locker room re-carpeted, Allen committed and the locker room carpeting became known as the Ray Allen Rug."

"Early in his freshman year, the team was in the Great Alaska Shootout and playing down to the wire against Iowa. Moore was fouled with about 30 seconds to go and missed both free throws. The Huskies went on to lose the game.“Jim turns to me on the bench,” Dickenman said, “and yells ‘special, huh? He’s gonna be special?’”

Great stuff.
​

 

[UCweCONN]

Dickenman was the one who started the Israeli connection that ignited those great 90's teams. After he left, we never got another Israeli player.

 

[DALTX]

Can he be on call for UConn too?

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

I absolutely love reading info (especially recruiting info) i haven't read before. Look inside the glass so to speak.

Great article. I loved "Kentucky doesn't have that". You can play that in your head in Howie's voice and it's like he's telling YOU you need to replace the rug, and it's definitely something Howie would say. awesome

 

[4UConn]

He retired as a head coach - there's a big mans coach for you guys. Guy was a stud around the basket, a rebounding maniac throughout his career despite being undersized.

Yup, from personal experience, if you failed to block out, knees bent with your ass in the opposing player, the next practice was not at all fun...

 

[BUHusky]

Great article. Thanks Russ.

 

[guyergym]

The "special" quote on Ricky Moore, but there's a better quote that Howie didn't mention. I heard this from a friend who graduated UConn in 1990 (three years after me). My friend was sitting near the UConn bench, and Dan Cyrulik, who Howie was VERY hot for on the recruiting trail, was having a brutal sequence on offense and defense.

Rather than yelling at Cyrulik, JC turned to Howie and said, "YOU said he'd be good!"

Enjoy your retirement, Howie.