Butler hires Thad Matta | Page 4 | The Boneyard

Butler hires Thad Matta

methodology said:
That right there proves Cooley is better. It doesn’t take 5 years to rebuild a program like UConn and have zero NCAA tourney wins. That’s a failure and it’s all due to Hurley, no one else.
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Hurley inherited a team that was ranked #179 in the country in April 2018. He went from that to 98, 52, 21, 22.

Providence was ranked #63 in April 2018, which was the conclusion of Cooley's 7th season.

Hurley rebuilt a program that was in a very bad place in really 2 years -- who knows what happens in March 2020 also with how well that team was playing. Yes, the lack of NCAAT wins the last 2 seasons is a negative, but it seems the Hurley hate is due to your own personal unrealistic expectations. Hurley could have made a S16 this year and I'm sure you'll come out with an excuse due to the fact you're a hater and you'll never be happy with him.
 
ThabeetDown said:
Hurley inherited a team that was ranked #179 in the country in April 2018. He went from that to 98, 52, 21, 22.

Providence was ranked #63 in April 2018, which was the conclusion of Cooley's 7th season.

Hurley rebuilt a program that was in a very bad place in really 2 years -- who knows what happens in March 2020 also with how well that team was playing. Yes, the lack of NCAAT wins the last 2 seasons is a negative, but it seems the Hurley hate is due to your own personal unrealistic expectations. Hurley could have made a S16 this year and I'm sure you'll come out with an excuse due to the fact you're a hater and you'll never be happy with him.
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I think some folks are too hard on Dan Hurley. But arent you being one sided too? Hurley took over a school with 4 NCs all within 20 years of his hiring. Providence last went to the FF in 1987! Very different starting points
 
ThabeetDown said:
Hurley inherited a team that was ranked #179 in the country in April 2018. He went from that to 98, 52, 21, 22.

Providence was ranked #63 in April 2018, which was the conclusion of Cooley's 7th season.

Hurley rebuilt a program that was in a very bad place in really 2 years -- who knows what happens in March 2020 also with how well that team was playing. Yes, the lack of NCAAT wins the last 2 seasons is a negative, but it seems the Hurley hate is due to your own personal unrealistic expectations. Hurley could have made a S16 this year and I'm sure you'll come out with an excuse due to the fact you're a hater and you'll never be happy with him.
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Hurley’s a good coach and still deserves every benefit of the doubt. But let’s not kid ourselves, some red flags are starting to pop up.
And to compare him with Cooley, though Cooley is clearly the better coach right now, is apples and oranges. PC is not us, and they never will be. Dan Hurley needs to step it up. It’s fair for our fans to ask these questions when he doesn’t.
 
It's shocking how little middle ground we have between "Hurley is the literal spawn of Satan put into a coaches body" and "Hurley is a god-send and I wish I could kiss his feet"

It's pretty fair at this point to say he's a pretty solid coach that has turned around the program through elevated recruiting and player development...with some very concerning weaknesses that might impact his ceiling and tenure at the helm if he doesn't make significant changes to his coaching style.
 
NJHusky said:
I think some folks are too hard on Dan Hurley. But arent you being one sided too? Hurley took over a school with 4 NCs all within 20 years of his hiring. Providence last went to the FF in 1987! Very different starting points
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And Cooley had a 7 year head start on Hurley. Not to mention how Hurley took over a UConn team that was the worst UConn team since pre-Calhoun. The cupboard was bare. I don't care if you had won 4 NCs in 20 years, Hurley inherited a team that was ranked below teams like Central Michigan, William & Mary, UTSA, Troy, Pacific, Portland State, Fort Wayne.

How can you do better than going from #179 to top 20 in 3 years? Granted, Hurley needs to take the next step in March and has obviously failed to do so, but people are just useless wastes of space on this board with their blind hate, ridiculous expectations and overall lack of knowledge of how bad the program was at the end of Ollie.
 
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methodology said:
If you are trying to say UConn and Providence are equals and started from the same point that’s all I need to know about you tilting the playing field

UConn is the Yankees/Red Sox and providence is like the Orioles.

You shouldn’t be cheerleading and throwing your Pom poms in the air because after 5 years they have accomplished the same.

That right there proves Cooley is better. It doesn’t take 5 years to rebuild a program like UConn and have zero NCAA tourney wins. That’s a failure and it’s all due to Hurley, no one else.
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Since you despise Dan Hurley so much, who would you want that could do better?
 
www.espn.com

The March Madness pain index: Whose 2022 NCAA tournament losses hurt the worst?

Sixty-six teams have been eliminated from the NCAA tournament. We ranked them in order of the eliminations that brought the most pain.
www.espn.com www.espn.com

19. It was the moment at which all of the progress the UConn basketball program has made in four seasons under Dan Hurley -- progress that has been undeniable -- gave way to another question about when this program will take the next step back toward being a national contender. The 2022 tournament marked the second straight one-and-done showing at the hands of a worse seed -- Maryland beat UConn in a 10 vs. 7 game last season -- and the latest one was pulled off in somewhat methodical fashion by an NMSU team that led by 10 at halftime and never really blinked when UConn chipped away at the lead in the second half. Teddy Allen (37 points) ultimately proved unsolvable for Hurley & Co., who will undoubtedly be laser-focused on an NCAA tournament win in 2023. "It's crushing to see your guys not be able to get the enjoyment of that next game and the buildup," Hurley said. "It sucks."
 
NJHusky said:
All good points. I agree that blame goes on the players but great coaches adjust their game plan to the players. Avg coaches try to force their players into a system. My .02
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very true. Hurley does seem to lack the flexibility in adapting game plans, I think he does adapt it, just not enough. But no matter how much adaptation occurs the players still are responsible to a varying degree. A coach can adapt optimally and the players could still mess it up.
for example look at Josh Carlton. It was best for both UConn and Josh to part ways for sure, and I am not saying there was necessarily another way to keep Josh, maybe there was, maybe there wasn't, considering Sanogo was kicking ass. However, Hurley kept asking Josh to do things he wasn't good at. Carlton was a solid defender, he just couldn't play defense the way Hurley wanted him to play defense.
 
NJHusky said:
Saying Dan Hurley has won in March is true, but not genuine IMO. He’s only won 2 games and has a loosing record in the tournament. Shaka GOT to a final 4. Hurley’s never gotten out of round of 32. Not a sign of a good tourney coach IMO. like it or not Holloway has only been a HC for 4 years has more lifetime NCAA wins than Hurley.
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Its fair (and true) to point out that Holloway has more lifetime wins than Hurley in a shorter career.

But Kevin Ollie has more lifetime tournament wins than Greg McDermott (who is 5-10 in the NCAAs). So by that logic is KO a better coach than McDermott? Or how about Hubert Davis who is 5-0?

I think we are all in agreement with how the Big East coaching tiers generally fall and that Hurley is somewhere in the Shakka to Holloway realm and not in the Matta / Miller realm. Which tier it is exactly is just semantics based on cherry picked stats.
 
gsmooth said:
very true. Hurley does seem to lack the flexibility in adapting game plans, I think he does adapt it, just not enough. But no matter how much adaptation occurs the players still are responsible to a varying degree. A coach can adapt optimally and the players could still mess it up.
for example look at Josh Carlton. It was best for both UConn and Josh to part ways for sure, and I am not saying there was necessarily another way to keep Josh, maybe there was, maybe there wasn't, considering Sanogo was kicking ass. However, Hurley kept asking Josh to do things he wasn't good at. Carlton was a solid defender, he just couldn't play defense the way Hurley wanted him to play defense.
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And that’s what concerns me about Clingan. I doubt he can play D the way Hurley has Sanogo hedge. IW was ideal for that role, Sanogo manages ok….DC, who knows?
 
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ThabeetDown said:
Since you despise Dan Hurley so much, who would you want that could do better?
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I don’t despise Dan Hurley at all. He has work and growth to do and hasn’t proven to be open to changing his ways. He needs to do a better job adjusting based on the roster he’s assembled and in game adjustments to put the team in better position to be the best they can
 
methodology said:
I don’t despise Dan Hurley at all. He has work and growth to do and hasn’t proven to be open to changing his ways. He needs to do a better job adjusting based on the roster he’s assembled and in game adjustments to put the team in better position to be the best they can
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I couldn't agree more tbh
 
gtcam said:
You'll be waiting a long time for the Georgetown situation - Pat Ewing will be there a while - I'm very OK with that
Anderson is a really good coach and is perfect for St Johns - he brings the style that the NYC people like - he will get some studs - the guy has won over 400 games and brought 3 teams to numerous NCAAS and reached the elite eight and sweet sixteen. He is a much better coach than most people give him credit. In both experience and success he is above Dan Hurley
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I disagree on Georgetown…I think Ewing gets one more year.

But on St. John’s, yup, Anderson is their level. They’re not going to hire anyone better than him.
 
husky429 said:
It's shocking how little middle ground we have between "Hurley is the literal spawn of Satan put into a coaches body" and "Hurley is a god-send and I wish I could kiss his feet"

It's pretty fair at this point to say he's a pretty solid coach that has turned around the program through elevated recruiting and player development...with some very concerning weaknesses that might impact his ceiling and tenure at the helm if he doesn't make significant changes to his coaching style.
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This is a good assessment. And I'm optimistic that those concerning weaknesses will improve.

And it takes many years for most coaches to reach high levels of success. Hurley is still on the young side. Not everyone is a wunderkind like Brad Stevens, or like we thought Shaka Smart would be.

I think Hurley has demonstrated the ability to grow and learn as a person and a coach. He's no dummy, he's watching the NCAA tournament just like we are. He knows which areas he has to improve to get UConn on track to being at the level of the teams playing late into the tournament. Although I'm not sure his sideline antics will be going away anytime soon.

I think it was pretty encouraging that his main priority for roster construction going into next season is surrounding the current roster with elite shooting and ball-handling. If he executes on that priority, then I still like where we are at as a program with Hurley at the healm.

And I really like the coaching staff we have around him. I think having another year of the same exact staff is going to pay dividends. We're fortunate that it looks like Kimani and Luke are sticking around.
 
BigErnMcCracken said:
What an insufferable fan base. This offseason is going to be miserable.
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Seriously. I read all this bather and I‘m thinking we need a profanity day for me to share my feelings about how ridiculous it is. It’s like a bunch of fat 50 year old guys with combovers coming to blows over which Miss America pageant is hottest. “No! Her cheekbones aren’t are good.“.…“I don’t like her eyebrows”. blah, blah.
 
RayIsTheGOAT said:
This is a good assessment. And I'm optimistic that those concerning weaknesses will improve.

And it takes many years for most coaches to reach high levels of success. Hurley is still on the young side. Not everyone is a wunderkind like Brad Stevens, or like we thought Shaka Smart would be.

I think Hurley has demonstrated the ability to grow and learn as a person and a coach. He's no dummy, he's watching the NCAA tournament just like we are. He knows which areas he has to improve to get UConn on track to being at the level of the teams playing late into the tournament. Although I'm not sure his sideline antics will be going away anytime soon.

I think it was pretty encouraging that his main priority for roster construction going into next season is surrounding the current roster with elite shooting and ball-handling. If he executes on that priority, then I still like where we are at as a program with Hurley at the healm.

And I really like the coaching staff we have around him. I think having another year of the same exact staff is going to pay dividends. We're fortunate that it looks like Kimani and Luke are sticking around.
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Good points. But why haven’t we been able to have PG grow under Dan Hurley. I know Cole was first team BE, (how much did he grow v how much did he arrive with) but Dan Hurley couldn’t do anything with AG, JG or RD. Doesn’t some of that fall on the coach ?
 
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It’s amazing how Cooley has one really good season and we just forget how mediocre he was before. I mean the team he had last season severely underachieved. The Cooley love is over the top. That man wouldn’t of even lasted til year 5-6 at UConn. The reason he’s had a chance to have that season is because he was at Providence. Gun to my head do I want Cooley or Hurley to lead this program? I wouldn’t even need a gun, give me Hurley
 
AntG168 said:
It’s amazing how Cooley has one really good season and we just forget how mediocre he was before. I mean the team he had last season severely underachieved. The Cooley love is over the top. That man wouldn’t of even lasted til year 5-6 at UConn. The reason he’s had a chance to have that season is because he was at Providence. Gun to my head do I want Cooley or Hurley to lead this program? I wouldn’t even need a gun, give me Hurley
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Yea but to win one game give me Cooley. Cooley is a better in game coach and a hell of a coach. Been a fan of his for years from before Providence. Stand up guy and easy to root for
 
AntG168 said:
It’s amazing how Cooley has one really good season and we just forget how mediocre he was before. I mean the team he had last season severely underachieved. The Cooley love is over the top. That man wouldn’t of even lasted til year 5-6 at UConn. The reason he’s had a chance to have that season is because he was at Providence. Gun to my head do I want Cooley or Hurley to lead this program? I wouldn’t even need a gun, give me Hurley
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They only made 2 tournaments in the 14 or 15 years before he got there. Cooley took them to 5 straight tournaments. That was a really bad job and broken program before he got there, he hasn't been mediocre.
 
HuskyHawk said:
Seriously. I read all this bather and I‘m thinking we need a profanity day for me to share my feelings about how ridiculous it is. It’s like a bunch of fat 50 year old guys with combovers coming to blows over which Miss America pageant is hottest. “No! Her cheekbones aren’t are good.“.…“I don’t like her eyebrows”. blah, blah.
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Frank Costanza Seinfeld GIF by MOODMAN
 
superjohn said:
They only made 2 tournaments in the 14 or 15 years before he got there. Cooley took them to 5 straight tournaments. That was a really bad job and broken program before he got there, he hasn't been mediocre.
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Up until last season Hurley had more tourney wins at URI in the A10 than Cooley had a Providence in the Big East. Imo he was very mediocre. Great guy, hard to root against. But all this Cooley talk is weighted in what he accomplished this season(which is fair btw, he was excellent). But let’s not pretend anyone would’ve put him over Hurley before this season. Let’s talk a couple years from now.
 
AntG168 said:
Up until last season Hurley had more tourney wins at URI in the A10 than Cooley had a Providence in the Big East. Imo he was very mediocre
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He's not mediocre, he wasn't before his sweet 16 and National Coach of the Year and he isn't after it. He's done a very good job in a tough place to win.
 
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superjohn said:
He's not mediocre, he wasn't before his sweet 16 and National Coach of the Year and he isn't after it. He's done a very good job in a tough place to win.
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We’ll agree to disagree. URI is much tougher to win at than PC
 
AntG168 said:
We’ll agree to disagree. URI is much tougher to win at than PC
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Listen, Ed Cooley has proven to be the perfect coach for PC. Whether Hurley is that for UConn remains to be seen. They are different places. But seriously you are being absolutely blind the the depths the two programs were when each took over. It’s not even close. UConn was a 4 time NC state funded program with a lazy coach. Providence was a laughingstock of college basketball with APR issues and multiple players arrested, charged and convicted of felony assault on a fellow student and another player who arranged BJ’s for the entire BABC team in his dorm room. Worst defensive team in the country, and basement level facilities. Ed Cooley fixed all of that and then some. Is Cooley the coach for UConn over Hurley? Probably not, but I’m certain that Danny Hurley and his “personality” could have never done what Cooley has done at PC. Not in a million years.
 
FriarJ said:
Listen, Ed Cooley has proven to be the perfect coach for PC. Whether Hurley is that for UConn remains to be seen. They are different places. But seriously you are being absolutely blind the the depths the two programs were when each took over. It’s not even close. UConn was a 4 time NC state funded program with a lazy coach. Providence was a laughingstock of college basketball with APR issues and multiple players arrested, charged and convicted of felony assault on a fellow student and another player who arranged BJ’s for the entire BABC team in his dorm room. Worst defensive team in the country, and basement level facilities. Ed Cooley fixed all of that and then some. Is Cooley the coach for UConn over Hurley? Probably not, but I’m certain that Danny Hurley and his “personality” could have never done what Cooley has done at PC. Not in a million years.
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Don’t disagree. Which is why I didn’t mention Hurley at UConn but rather Hurley at URI. Cooley isn’t a bad coach(obviously) but he isn’t great either. He and Hurley at worst are on the same tier imo. I believe that wouldn’t even be a point of contention before this season. It’s not a knock on Cooley. A contingent of the UConn fanbase are just in the practice at this point of saying Hurley is worse than everyone. It’s recency bias. And if the results flip next season, no one here will be touting Cooley over Hurley. In laymen’s terms, “pump the breaks” and let’s see how it plays out. Hurley’s ceiling is really high.

Cooley is a great human being and mentor for young men. I’d never diminish his accomplishments regarding the culture at PC. This is strictly about their coaching ability.
 
AntG168 said:
We’ll agree to disagree. URI is much tougher to win at than PC
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I never said it isn't, I never said anything about Hurley other than he's less accomplished in the tournament than every other coach in the Big East other than Stubblefield and Ewing.
 
AntG168 said:
Don’t disagree. Which is why I didn’t mention Hurley at UConn but rather Hurley at URI. Cooley isn’t a bad coach(obviously) but he isn’t great either. He and Hurley at worst are on the same tier imo. I believe that wouldn’t even be a point of contention before this season. It’s not a knock on Cooley. A contingent of the UConn fanbase are just in the practice at this point of saying Hurley is worse than everyone. It’s recency bias. And if the results flip next season, no one here will be touting Cooley over Hurley. In laymen’s terms, “pump the breaks” and let’s see how it plays out. Hurley’s ceiling is really high.

Cooley is a great human being and mentor for young men. I’d never diminish his accomplishments regarding the culture at PC. This is strictly about their coaching ability.
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I guess the Naismith committee really screwed up when they just named him National Coach of the year?
 
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