At UConn, Opportunity Whispers for the Coach Who Replaced Calhoun

[upstater]

I agree that it may not work all the time in a big conference, but they just beat Memphis by 13 and they were right there with Duke and Missouri.

Mark Few, who is considered to be one of the great coaches in the game, has won about 79% of his games at Gonzaga, and the WCC is not as good as the CAA.

Few has a much longer record there, has also turned out pros.

 

[nomar]

1. Izzo, Donovan, K., Self, Dixon, Miller, Calipari, Pitino, Stevens, Ryan, Matta, Montgomery, Huggins, Beilein, Few, Crean, Brey, etc. I'm sure there are many more.

2. I was responding to this: "That means you're missing out on the possibility of knowing what's out there." By UConn brand, I was referring to Calhoun and all the NBA players.

3. See #2.

I gotta say, wow, I would take Smart over a lot of guys on that list. If we were to sign Smart (and I think I made clear I want to stick with Ollie), I think we have championship potential. (Same with Ollie, I think, obviously.) If we were to sign Bo Ryan, got example, we would never ever ever ever ever (I'll stop here) win a title. Never. We're talking about guys who can recruit and then coach with a winning brand of basketball, not guys who would be great at a coaching clinic.

Mike Brey????????

 

[CTBasketball]

Mark Few is doing a Jim Calhoun-type job up at Gonzaga. I think he's one of the most underrated coaches out there.

 

[uconnfan68]

Well well well hmmm... Not bad there Nomar.

I think the NY Times article was well written.

Except for the snide remark about leaving the starters in at the end of the game.

 

[upstater]

I gotta say, wow, I would take Smart over a lot of guys on that list. If we were to sign Smart (and I think I made clear I want to stick with Ollie), I think we have championship potential. (Same with Ollie, I think, obviously.) If we were to sign Bo Ryan, got example, we would never ever ever ever ever (I'll stop here) win a title. Never. We're talking about guys who can recruit and then coach with a winning brand of basketball, not guys who would be great at a coaching clinic.

Mike Brey????????

There are 400 teams in D1. I was just going off the top of my head. I'm sure it's pretty easy to find 15.

I honestly don't like Smart's system. Don't think it's right for a big school like UConn. Looks like Jay Wright's with more enthusiasm to me, but you never know until a coach gets the type of players he needs to run his system.

The same can be said of Ollie, by the way.

 

[nomar]

There are 400 teams in D1. I was just going off the top of my head. I'm sure it's pretty easy to find 15.

I honestly don't like Smart's system. Don't think it's right for a big school like UConn. Looks like Jay Wright's with more enthusiasm to me, but you never know until a coach gets the type of players he needs to run his system.

The same can be said of Ollie, by the way.

Fair enough. But note that Calhoun's system changed when he got better personnel. Don't think that Smart would run exactly the same system at UConn. He would use parts of it, for sure.

 

[upstater]

Fair enough. But note that Calhoun's system changed when he got better personnel. Don't think that Smart would run exactly the same system at UConn. He would use parts of it, for sure.

Right, I agree. I referred to that in the post. The same could be said of Ollie as well.

 

[nomar]

Right, I agree. I referred to that in the post. The same could be said of Ollie as well.

It would have helped me to have read your comment all the way until the end...

 

[DogMania]

I realize why we have these threads, but it's tiring none-the-less. Manuel is killing our recruiting and now that he's admitted that he's awared of the impact, though he's greately naive at how deep the impact can be, I do wonder if he's capable to run our AD.

All it takes is one to two bad recruiting classes and you've begun a downward spiral to the bottom of the conference. This could have been completely avoided by giving KO a multi-year contract with a moderate buy-out if he didn't like what he saw.

Let's hope that WM extends KO soon and he's able to pull in some talented hold-outs come spring. WM is fooling himself if he thinks the impract is just 2013. Many of the 2014 recruits are forming their lists. Once a recruits decides which coaches he's going to listen to, it takes a lot catch up and get on those lists.

I'm just repeating myself. I guess I should just turn the page and wait and see what WM does when he does it.

 

[gandydancer]

I think KO's contract is an to Calhoun due to the heavy handed and transparent way coach handled the situation. KO deserved a 3 year contract due to the penalties on UCONN. My guess is if KO has even marginal success he gets an extension on WM's terms. KO is a bit of a pawn in a pissing contest. I would bet WM realizes the need to keep the UCONN family together and keep coaching in house as long as possible. We have a legacy here that many other schools don"t enjoy

 

[upstater]

I think KO's contract is an to Calhoun due to the heavy handed and transparent way coach handled the situation. KO deserved a 3 year contract due to the penalties on UCONN. My guess is if KO has even marginal success he gets an extension on WM's terms. KO is a bit of a pawn in a pissing contest. I would bet WM realizes the need to keep the UCONN family together and keep coaching in house as long as possible. We have a legacy here that many other schools don"t enjoy

I blame Calhoun too. How dare he break his 70 year old hip! (71-year old if you consider the 9 months he spent like a parasite in his mother's womb!)

 

[CL82]

I read this as Manual saying, "I intend to hire one basketball coach in the next 25 years. If my due diligence hurts recruiting for 1 of those 25 years, I'm good with that."

I read this as Manual saying " I am new AD and I got manipulated into having the outgoing HOF HC making my first hire for me. I will make KO wait for so that it doesn't look like I am getting walked over. If that hurts UConn basketball in the near term, I am good with that."