An offer is in | Page 9 | The Boneyard

An offer is in

Uconnfanatic said:
This has nothing to do with how I perceive UConn and its ability to attract candidates. In fact, I think a lot of coaches would jump at the chance to return UConn to its former prominence. We are only 4 yrs removed from a national championship and have top notch facilities. I just think Oats will turn out to be the better coach.
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He might be a better in-game coach. That's possible. Running one of the most prominent programs in the country--one that's going to need a course correction of sorts--is a different beast.
 
tzznandrew said:
I'd like to see one that has proven successful taking over a major program by bursting onto the scene in the NCAAT. Andy Enfield is as close as you'll get, I think, and it's not been all that great so far.

Sorry: jumping at Oats after a win or two in the NCAAT is the definition of desperation.
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I didn't say you jump at him based on the tournament alone. I said the tournament can put coaches in the spotlight who weren't on the radar screen prior to the tournament. it's called exposure. But I get it. You want Hurley.
 
Uconnfanatic said:
I didn't say you jump at him based on the tournament alone. I said the tournament can put coaches in the spotlight who weren't on the radar screen prior to the tournament. it's called exposure. But I get it. You want Hurley.
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I'd take a number of other coaches who have more than 3 years of coaching experience and some background in turning programs around. Hurley seems to be the only realistic coach who has both of those things on his resume at the moment.
 
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BaZZnBOAT said:
Maybe I’m a little late to this, but Andrea is, I’m assuming his wife, that much of an influence on his decision?
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She apparently has a real close connection to the players. They all talk about her and family and things like that. Supposedly she wants to stay at URI (no inside info).

Danny was going to take an assistant coaching position at Pitt after his St Benedict's gig. They started to drive up and she convinced him to stay in Jersey--her dad had just died and she didn't want to leave her mother alone. He ended up later at Wagner, because it was so close to home.

Bobby Sr. did the same thing. I forget what school--Depaul I think? They went there, agreed on the job, shopped for houses, looked for schools, etc. When they got home and told the boys, Danny and Bobby looked so depressed they couldn't play for their dad at St Anthony's that Senior decided to turn down the college gig. That's how he ended up a lifer.
 
Matrim55 said:
Even if he crushed the interview, hiring a guy with only 3 years of head coaching experience is too big a risk. Hiring a guy who's never recruited a top 100 player is too big a risk. Hiring a guy who has no footprint outside of upstate New York is too big a risk. Benedict has to play the percentages here.
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Without suggesting UConn will pursue Oats, agreeing with your reference to playing the percentages, and solely to share info, a decade+ of successful metro Detroit high school coaching, Div III assistant coaching experience in Wisconsin, and playing at a low-level Wiscy college and growing up in the Dairy State may provide some network and insights outside of Buffalo. If UConn was legitimately interested, one of his Buffalo assistants, Donyell Marshall, may have some insights on the guy.
 
Da_Aisijimo_Gou said:
If UConn was legitimately interested, one of his Buffalo assistants, Donyell Marshall, may have some insights on the guy.
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That's reason enough to kick the tires. It's easy to get some quick inside info.
 
whaler11 said:
Since people keep positing it as Oak’s - lets’s go with O’Aks today.
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Felt like I was ordering breakfast for a moment if we are being honest.
 
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Bottom line: People can speculate all day long on limited prior recruiting and coaching successes at lower level programs and project on the potential of Hurley, Oats, et al at UConn, but speculation and projection remain speculation and projection. Regardless, zero of us have any influence. Time will tell ...
 
Uconnfanatic said:
I bet he has not looked at Oats closely. Bring him in for an interview. I'm sure he's done his due diligence on Hurley. Do the same with Oats. He's newer on the radar for sure.
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I decided to check in on this thread before watching a Dan Hurley, Nate Oats doubleheader. This is one of the very few of your many posts here that doesn't read as though your handle could be "Nateoatsfanatic." You could turn out to be right, but there us something a bit 'off' about your insistent tone.

I'm hoping that we see two good games, and like both Dan Hurley & NO better afterward.
 
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Uconnfanatic said:
I bet he has not looked at Oats closely. Bring him in for an interview. I'm sure he's done his due diligence on Hurley. Do the same with Oats. He's newer on the radar for sure.
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Yes, definitely let's drag our feet on the guy whose proven he can rebuild programs and recruit high-level players to mid-major schools with 10 years of HC experience and is a Northeast guy with a low probability of bolting for other college jobs so we can interview the guy whose team played one good game, beat the worst NCAA tournament coach of the last 25 years by making 15 3s, is a Midwest guy from Michigan and likely would bolt the minute Beilein or Izzo retired/left. Good plan.
 
Pat Narduzzi is at the URI game in Pgh. He went to URI. It's a thin connection, but a connection nonetheless.

/conspiracy theory
 
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brasssbonanzaa said:
Yes, definitely let's drag our feet on the guy whose proven he can rebuild programs and recruit high-level players to mid-major schools with 10 years of HC experience and is a Northeast guy with a low probability of bolting for other college jobs so we can interview the guy whose team played one good game, beat the worst NCAA tournament coach of the last 25 years by making 15 3s, is a Midwest guy from Michigan and likely would bolt the minute Beilein or Izzo retired/left. Good plan.
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Nice narrative but doesn't seem to have much to do with reality.
 
Uconnfanatic said:
Nice narrative but doesn't seem to have much to do with reality.
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What part of what I said is wrong? I'll spell it out not in a sarcastic run-on sentence.

too long;dr - Hurley checks nearly all the boxes of what UConn is looking for and has built two programs and sustained success over his 8-year HC career. He is not a threat to leave for another college HC job. Oats is not from the local area, took over an already built program, and coached one great game. He's been a HC for 3 years and is a threat to leave for another college HC job. To delay interviewing/hiring Hurley to look at Oats is insane.

Oats is a Midwest guy from Wisconsin who lived and coached in Michigan for over a decade. None of his current staff have any meaningful ties to the area. He's been a head coach for three years. He took over a Buffalo program that Bobby Hurley had already helped turn into a fairly successful program, and has done a good job continuing its success over the last three years. Buffalo had gone 23-10 and 19-10 in the two years prior to him taking over. He has never coached in the Tri-State area or New England and does not have ties to the area that UConn has recruited heavily from for decades. If he were to come to UConn and have success, the minute a job in one of the major B1G schools opened, he'd be a legitimate candidate - particularly Michigan, MSU, and Wisconsin.

Hurley is a Northeast guy who has coached and played in the Tri-State area and New England for his entire career - the primary fertile area UConn has recruited from for decades. One of his assistants he can bring along is a former UConn longtime coach with major recruiting ties in this area. He's been a head coach for eight years. He has taken over two programs in horrible situations and turned them around into contenders. Wagner had five wins the year before he got there, two years later they won 25. URI was 7-24 the year before he arrived, three years later (in a far more difficult conference than the NEC) they had 23 wins and have sustained that success beyond that. If he were to come to UConn and have success, there are no other major college jobs in his home area that could open up where he'd be considered likely to leave. The only fathomable one could be Villanova but that's an enormous stretch to call that "home" and the Philly college basketball area is enormously different than Tri-State/New England one.

You also pointed out earlier that the tournament sheds light on coaches who previously didn't get attention. That's true - but what it also can do is shed light on coaches and make them look better than they actually are. Greg McDermott is an example - three tournaments at UNI, goes to Iowa State and fails as a P5 head coach. The aforementioned Keno Davis - brings Drake to the NCAA tournament in his first HC year and gets the job at PC, fails. Andy Enfield goes on the run at FGCU in his second year as a HC, goes to USC and has not translated that into meaningful success - one NCAA tournament win, two losing seasons, three missed tournaments.

The point isn't that Oats is a bad coach and won't be a good coach somewhere else - there's a good chance he will. But he has not proven that he's a program builder, he has no ties to the area, his staff has no ties to the area, and he has only been a head coach for three years. There's is very incomplete data on him to show that he's not just a flash in the pan coach who took over a program that was already in a good position and brought in a few good players who all got hot on one night. Dan Hurley checks all of the above boxes and has had meaningful results in the tournament on multiple occasions and sustained success everywhere he's been and done so with limited resources.

If we struck out on Hurley, I'd absolutely like to take a look at Oats. But Hurley is the most sensible choice of all of the available options, and he checks the most boxes of what we're looking for. To delay the process of hiring that candidate so we can look at one guy who coached one great game who would at best be a roll of the dice is completely asinine.
 
brasssbonanzaa said:
What part of what I said is wrong? I'll spell it out not in a sarcastic run-on sentence.

Oats is a Midwest guy from Wisconsin who lived and coached in Michigan for over a decade. None of his current staff have any meaningful ties to the area. He's been a head coach for three years. He took over a Buffalo program that Bobby Hurley had already helped turn into a fairly successful program, and has done a good job continuing its success over the last three years. Buffalo had gone 23-10 and 19-10 in the two years prior to him taking over. He has never coached in the Tri-State area or New England and does not have ties to the area that UConn has recruited heavily from for decades. If he were to come to UConn and have success, the minute a job in one of the major B1G schools opened, he'd be a legitimate candidate - particularly Michigan, MSU, and Wisconsin.

Hurley is a Northeast guy who has coached and played in the Tri-State area and New England for his entire career - the primary fertile area UConn has recruited from for decades. One of his assistants he can bring along is a former UConn longtime coach with major recruiting ties in this area. He's been a head coach for eight years. He has taken over two programs in horrible situations and turned them around into contenders. Wagner had five wins the year before he got there, two years later they won 25. URI was 7-24 the year before he arrived, three years later (in a far more difficult conference than the NEC) they had 23 wins and have sustained that success beyond that. If he were to come to UConn and have success, there are no other major college jobs in his home area that could open up where he'd be considered likely to leave. The only fathomable one could be Villanova but that's an enormous stretch to call that "home" and the Philly college basketball area is enormously different than Tri-State/New England one.

You also pointed out earlier that the tournament sheds light on coaches who previously didn't get attention. That's true - but what it also can do is shed light on coaches and make them look better than they actually are. Greg McDermott is an example - three tournaments at UNI, goes to Iowa State and fails as a P5 head coach. The aforementioned Keno Davis - brings Drake to the NCAA tournament in his first HC year and gets the job at PC, fails. Andy Enfield goes on the run at FGCU in his second year as a HC, goes to USC and has not translated that into meaningful success - one NCAA tournament win, two losing seasons, three missed tournaments.

The point isn't that Oats is a bad coach and won't be a good coach somewhere else - there's a good chance he will. But he has not proven that he's a program builder, he has no ties to the area, his staff has no ties to the area, and he has only been a head coach for three years. There's is very incomplete data on him to show that he's not just a flash in the pan coach who took over a program that was already in a good position and brought in a few good players who all got hot on one night. Dan Hurley checks all of the above boxes and has had meaningful results in the tournament on multiple occasions and sustained success everywhere he's been and done so with limited resources.

If we struck out on Hurley, I'd absolutely like to take a look at Oats. But Hurley is the most sensible choice of all of the available options, and he checks the most boxes of what we're looking for. To delay the process of hiring that candidate so we can look at one guy who coached one great game who would at best be a roll of the dice is completely asinine.
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Hurley lost today.
 
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If you want the red flag on Hurley it’s this:

They played 12 games against tourney teams and went 5-7.

They were 21-3 and split their last ten - going 1-4 against tourney teams only escaping against the DOA Sooners.

Looks like he is our guy and he seems to be the best legitimate candidate we’ve got but this is no slam dunk.
 
whaler11 said:
If you want the red flag on Hurley it’s this:

They played 12 games against tourney teams and went 5-7.

They were 21-3 and split their last ten - going 1-4 against tourney teams only escaping against the DOA Sooners.

Looks like he is our guy and he seems to be the best legitimate candidate we’ve got but this is no slam dunk.
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Very good points. The problem is, there isn't another candidate out there who doesn't have similar red flags. Buffalo went 2-5 against RPI top 100, both wins over Toledo. They went 0-5 against tourney teams. They had three RPI 150+ losses.

I agree Hurley is not a slam dunk, but of the available candidates, he has the fewest red flags, the most ties to the area, and has twice proven he can rebuild a program with limited resources.
 
whaler11 said:
If you want the red flag on Hurley it’s this:

They played 12 games against tourney teams and went 5-7.

They were 21-3 and split their last ten - going 1-4 against tourney teams only escaping against the DOA Sooners.

Looks like he is our guy and he seems to be the best legitimate candidate we’ve got but this is no slam dunk.
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brasssbonanzaa said:
Very good points. The problem is, there isn't another candidate out there who doesn't have similar red flags. Buffalo went 2-5 against RPI top 100, both wins over Toledo. They went 0-5 against tourney teams. They had three RPI 150+ losses.

I agree Hurley is not a slam dunk, but of the available candidates, he has the fewest red flags, the most ties to the area, and has twice proven he can rebuild a program with limited resources.
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Good god, a reasonable discussion? I was beginning to think that wasn't allowed on the boneyard.
 
brasssbonanzaa said:
What part of what I said is wrong? I'll spell it out not in a sarcastic run-on sentence.

too long;dr - Hurley checks nearly all the boxes of what UConn is looking for and has built two programs and sustained success over his 8-year HC career. He is not a threat to leave for another college HC job. Oats is not from the local area, took over an already built program, and coached one great game. He's been a HC for 3 years and is a threat to leave for another college HC job. To delay interviewing/hiring Hurley to look at Oats is insane.

Oats is a Midwest guy from Wisconsin who lived and coached in Michigan for over a decade. None of his current staff have any meaningful ties to the area. He's been a head coach for three years. He took over a Buffalo program that Bobby Hurley had already helped turn into a fairly successful program, and has done a good job continuing its success over the last three years. Buffalo had gone 23-10 and 19-10 in the two years prior to him taking over. He has never coached in the Tri-State area or New England and does not have ties to the area that UConn has recruited heavily from for decades. If he were to come to UConn and have success, the minute a job in one of the major B1G schools opened, he'd be a legitimate candidate - particularly Michigan, MSU, and Wisconsin.

Hurley is a Northeast guy who has coached and played in the Tri-State area and New England for his entire career - the primary fertile area UConn has recruited from for decades. One of his assistants he can bring along is a former UConn longtime coach with major recruiting ties in this area. He's been a head coach for eight years. He has taken over two programs in horrible situations and turned them around into contenders. Wagner had five wins the year before he got there, two years later they won 25. URI was 7-24 the year before he arrived, three years later (in a far more difficult conference than the NEC) they had 23 wins and have sustained that success beyond that. If he were to come to UConn and have success, there are no other major college jobs in his home area that could open up where he'd be considered likely to leave. The only fathomable one could be Villanova but that's an enormous stretch to call that "home" and the Philly college basketball area is enormously different than Tri-State/New England one.

You also pointed out earlier that the tournament sheds light on coaches who previously didn't get attention. That's true - but what it also can do is shed light on coaches and make them look better than they actually are. Greg McDermott is an example - three tournaments at UNI, goes to Iowa State and fails as a P5 head coach. The aforementioned Keno Davis - brings Drake to the NCAA tournament in his first HC year and gets the job at PC, fails. Andy Enfield goes on the run at FGCU in his second year as a HC, goes to USC and has not translated that into meaningful success - one NCAA tournament win, two losing seasons, three missed tournaments.

The point isn't that Oats is a bad coach and won't be a good coach somewhere else - there's a good chance he will. But he has not proven that he's a program builder, he has no ties to the area, his staff has no ties to the area, and he has only been a head coach for three years. There's is very incomplete data on him to show that he's not just a flash in the pan coach who took over a program that was already in a good position and brought in a few good players who all got hot on one night. Dan Hurley checks all of the above boxes and has had meaningful results in the tournament on multiple occasions and sustained success everywhere he's been and done so with limited resources.

If we struck out on Hurley, I'd absolutely like to take a look at Oats. But Hurley is the most sensible choice of all of the available options, and he checks the most boxes of what we're looking for. To delay the process of hiring that candidate so we can look at one guy who coached one great game who would at best be a roll of the dice is completely asinine.
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You make some great points.

I’m a big Oats fan, but I agree Hurley is probably the better fit.

I admit I hadn’t even thought of the Mich/mich st angle that you bring up.
 
whaler11 said:
If you want the red flag on Hurley it’s this:

They played 12 games against tourney teams and went 5-7.

They were 21-3 and split their last ten - going 1-4 against tourney teams only escaping against the DOA Sooners.

Looks like he is our guy and he seems to be the best legitimate candidate we’ve got but this is no slam dunk.
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If Hurley aquires better talent at UConn (which he should do, compared to Wagner and URI), then the results will obviously be better. 5-7 against tourney teams for URI is pretty good tbh.

I think Jalen, Alterique and Sid Wilson are more talented than anyone URI has. Even E.C. Matthews.
 
brasssbonanzaa said:
Very good points. The problem is, there isn't another candidate out there who doesn't have similar red flags. Buffalo went 2-5 against RPI top 100, both wins over Toledo. They went 0-5 against tourney teams. They had three RPI 150+ losses.

I agree Hurley is not a slam dunk, but of the available candidates, he has the fewest red flags, the most ties to the area, and has twice proven he can rebuild a program with limited resources.
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I’m curious how many mid major schools do have stout W/L records against tourney teams.
 
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