BOOM-Shaka-laka

[sammydabiz]

Was listening to the Dan Patrick Show this mornin, anyways he was saying that he was personally told from a source, who has been nothing but credible over the years, that the reason Shaka Smart has turned down job oppurtinities so far is because he is eyeing the UConn job after Calhoun departs.

I know this has been discussed on here before, but this is just another reaffirmation of what may come. Me personally... I am a 100% "not a dime back" Calhoun supporter, but hes our coach until he decides to hang'em up, but it would be the tits to have a coach like Smart take over.

 

[freescooter]

I'll personally drive him from the airport and unload his furniture if it will help...

 

[Dann]

im a family guy.

but if were going outside. please bring him in a year or 2 early(pay him nice still so he goes for it) and let him get cultured in the uconn ways and become part of the family. let him recruiting with ko/kh for a year or 2 before jc/db retire would be gold for this program with the pf being built...this allows him to give every relationship a chance that jc/db had on the recruit trail etc...

 

[bmayuc]

I'll personally drive him from the airport and unload his furniture if it will help...

lol

 

[UofCT]

he's heating up....

 

[Walker11]

im a family guy.

but if were going outside. please bring him in a year or 2 early(pay him nice still so he goes for it) and let him get cultured in the uconn ways and become part of the family. let him recruiting with ko/kh for a year or 2 before jc/db retire would be gold for this program with the pf being built...this allows him to give every relationship a chance that jc/db had on the recruit trail etc...

This would be absolutely awesome, but there is not even a remote chance of it happening.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

All of the people, and there are many, who are 100% positive that Uconn basketball will die as soon as Calhoun retires are going to be pretty devastated if this actually happens.

 

[UCHuskies08]

I was a family guy.......when I was pessimistic about the replacement candidates.

The Shaka buzz caused me to reverse that position.

 

[superjohn]

I back Shaka Smart 100% and I really do believe he is waiting for the job!

 

[Walker11]

I will likely get blasted for this but I think the best thing for the program would be if Calhoun stepped down and then we hired Shaka now. Calhoun is Uconn and could coach for as long as he lives and I will always love the guy but there is so much uncertainty surrounding the school right now and JC is a large part of that.

 

[UCHuskies08]

I will likely get blasted for this but I think the best thing for the program would be if Calhoun stepped down and then we hired Shaka now. Calhoun is Uconn and could coach for as long as he lives and I will always love the guy but there is so much uncertainty surrounding the school right now and JC is a large part of that.

My mom's been saying the same thing.

I disagree, only because Jim has earned the right to go out the way he wants to.

 

[Walker11]

My mom's been saying the same thing.

I disagree, only because Jim has earned the right to go out the way he wants to.

Calhoun definitely has deserved to do whatever the hell he wants and I fully support that; this is just what's best for the program IMO if JC were to stay in some administrative role and Shaka was the coach.

 

[Ricky1Moore]

The best part of the Shaka idea is what it would do to the media coverage of Uconn.. a virtual 180... they are all up on his jock

 

[caw]

I'm pretty OK with Ollie (if that is where things end up) but I am also more than OK with Shaka coming to UConn. As long as Calhoun is on board, Shaka would be a great hire.

 

[Dogbreath2U]

Calhoun definitely has deserved to do whatever the hell he wants and I fully support that; this is just what's best for the program IMO if JC were to stay in some administrative role and Shaka was the coach.

I sure support JC staying as coach as long as he is reasonably healthy and motivated to do so. However, the idea of him remaining on in an administrative or even consulting basis could well be a nightmare for any new coach. JC does not strike me as the type of guy who would be able to sit back and let the new guy take his "baby" and run with it, providing advice when asked. This type of "administrative" role would probably be better tolerated by a Kevin Ollie or other in-house candidate, but would also be likely to make it impossible for one of them to become the "real" head coach. For others, it would probably be a deal breaker. It will be hard enough for anyone to step into Jim Calhoun's shoes at UConn after he's gone, but to do so when he is still around could be a disaster.

 

[Walker11]

I sure support JC staying as coach as long as he is reasonably healthy and motivated to do so. However, the idea of him remaining on in an administrative or even consulting basis could well be a nightmare for any new coach. JC does not strike me as the type of guy who would be able to sit back and let the new guy take his "baby" and run with it, providing advice when asked. This type of "administrative" role would probably be better tolerated by a Kevin Ollie or other in-house candidate, but would also be likely to make it impossible for one of them to become the "real" head coach. For others, it would probably be a deal breaker. It will be hard enough for anyone to step into Jim Calhoun's shoes at UConn after he's gone, but to do so when he is still around could be a disaster.

This is 100% true and crossed my mind when I was posting.

 

[caw]

I sure support JC staying as coach as long as he is reasonably healthy and motivated to do so. However, the idea of him remaining on in an administrative or even consulting basis could well be a nightmare for any new coach. JC does not strike me as the type of guy who would be able to sit back and let the new guy take his "baby" and run with it, providing advice when asked. This type of "administrative" role would probably be better tolerated by a Kevin Ollie or other in-house candidate, but would also be likely to make it impossible for one of them to become the "real" head coach. For others, it would probably be a deal breaker. It will be hard enough for anyone to step into Jim Calhoun's shoes at UConn after he's gone, but to do so when he is still around could be a disaster.

If Shaka were hired, it would be interesting to see if any of the current staff were kept around.

I think he would work well with Ollie and some of the others, but considering Ollie may want to be head coach, that could be an awkward relationship.

 

[FASTEDDY]

There literally is no chance of Shaka being next UC coach only b/c HCJC wants to keep it in house and wants to have a continuation / connection with the program that HE built. Ollie is the perfect guy in his mind to do this. HCJC deserves the right to go out the way that he wants to.

Also, how logical is it that Shaka is waiting for a UC job that he doesn't know will be available anytime soon or one that will consider outside candidates? I think very unlikley. He is a HOT candidate now based on VCU's recent succes but he can fall off after even 1 bad year. I see him taking some other job prior to UC's job even being available. He is not going to miss out on a huge payday. Word on why he didn;t take Illinois job is that he doesn;t have the Chicago connections and didn;t want to get down and dirty to recruit Windy city talent. It takes getting dirty to get that top city talent. UCONN has enough of a big-time national rep that you can get top talent to come here w/o necessarily having to get dirty.

If I am wrong and BOOM SHAKA is our next coach I will be happy and will personally take SHAKA to SHAKE SHACK for a SHAKE and Burger.

 

[caw]

There literally is no chance of Shaka being next UC coach only b/c HCJC wants to keep it in house and wants to have a continuation / connection with the program that HE built. Ollie is the perfect guy in his mind to do this. HCJC deserves the right to go out the way that he wants to.

Also, how logical is it that Shaka is waiting for a UC job that he doesn't know will be available anytime soon or one that will consider outside candidates? I think very unlikley. He is a HOT candidate now based on VCU's recent succes but he can fall off after even 1 bad year. I see him taking some other job prior to UC's job even being available. He is not going to miss out on a huge payday. Word on why he didn;t take Illinois job is that he doesn;t have the Chicago connections and didn;t want to get down and dirty to recruit Windy city talent. It takes getting dirty to get that top city talent. UCONN has enough of a big-time national rep that you can get top talent to come here w/o necessarily having to get dirty.

If I am wrong and BOOM SHAKA is our next coach I will be happy and will personally take SHAKA to SHAKE SHACK for a SHAKE and Burger.

UConn may very well stay in house, it is far from 100% in stone though.

What jobs are out there better than VCU? Shaka gets paid a good amount there and has a heck of a team returning. He should have a darn good year next year and have even more options. He is in the position to be choosy this year. If UConn opens up this year or next year he will probably be the first or second coach, outside UConn family, that is called.

 

[ford82]

There most certainly is a chance that Shaka could be the next coach. Calhoun has talked about keeping it in house, but ultimately it comes down to who is the best man for the job. The president, the AD and Calhoun would have a hard time finding a better choice than Shaka. No offense to Ollie, but that would be ill advised choosing him over Shaka Smart. Shaka Smart has been too successful as a head coach.

 

[superjohn]

If Shaka wants the job he gets the job. There are no negatives with Smart, he's a master motivator, proven winner, really bright, he will be a beast recruiting and he's very young. He could be our coach for the next few decades, I trust Susan Herbst to make the right call.

 

[aceboon]

I will likely get blasted for this but I think the best thing for the program would be if Calhoun stepped down and then we hired Shaka now. Calhoun is Uconn and could coach for as long as he lives and I will always love the guy but there is so much uncertainty surrounding the school right now and JC is a large part of that.

I agree with you, and I know the media has nothing to do with what happens on the court but all of the negative energy and bashing directed towards the program would cease as well.

 

[freescooter]

There most certainly is a chance that Shaka could be the next coach. Calhoun has talked about keeping it in house, but ultimately it comes down to who is the best man for the job. The president, the AD and Calhoun would have a hard time finding a better choice than Shaka. No offense to Ollie, but that would be ill advised choosing him over Shaka Smart. Shaka Smart has been too successful as a head coach.

And remember, Jim Calhoun isn't the guy who is going to be taking the heat if Kevin Ollie takes over and is totally overwhelmed. While they will certainly ask for his input and give it serious consderation, neither Ward emmanuel and certainly not Susan Herbst are going to "delegate"the selection of the most high profile and arguably most important position in the UCONN athletic department to Jim Calhoun. Not going to do it. And if Shaka Smart is available when Calhoun decides to leave, and Ward and herbst are convinced he is the right guy for the job, it won't matter how much Jim Calhoun wants to fob off one of his current or former assistants on them. In some ways, the very fact that neither really owes Calhoun any allegiance will make this a much better situation for all concerned. You read Herbst's comments and they are along the line of respect but nneither awe nor cowtowing to Calhoun. Emmanuel has said almost nothing.

 

[21Huskies]

No thanks.

never has an efficient offense, never has an efficient defense. he's smart in the sense he realizes that and plays a helter skelter style that disrupts the normal flow of a game... but when the game normalizes, his teams haven't proven to be very good on either side of the ball.

better talent can't certainly change the efficiency and i don't know who the right answer is, but i'll take a pass on him here and i see him as a much bigger risk than a school like UConn should need to take.

 

[UConnSportsGuy]

Rumors out there that if UConn wins the APR appeal and is eligible for the post season next year that Calhoun may retire now. If UConn isn't post season eligible, then Calhoun will be here at least 2 more years. Nothing from a reliable source or substantiated...just rumors out there.