Calhoun hand picked Ollie as his successor

[BugsyCT]

This program was JC's baby. He built it from a Big East cellar-dweller to a multi-National Championship program. KO was his former player. He was his assistant coach when we won it all in 2011. He's been part of the UConn family. But Calhoun must have seen something else in him for him to hand KO the keys to the program.

The majority of us were all behind him. It was his first head coaching job, and it was at his alma mater, a blueblood program(yeah, I said that). First 2 years we were all behind him, very much engaged in every game, and his players certainly fought for him - getting through the tourney ban year with 20 wins, then the following year a mediocre regular season (by our standards) capped by another magical NCAA Tourney run to the title. We were on top of the world again.

Since then, it's been a fairly steady downhill slide. We've missed the tourney 2 of the last 3 years, and the year we made it it took another miraculous conference tourney run to cement a bid (although we learned after the fact that we were in the dance anyway, but we didn't know at the time). And this year after a handful of games it's been another sluggish showing and the impatience has boiled over.

What's happened? Is KO's inexperience so apparent now that it's blinding? Was he doing things right the first couple years that he's gotten away from or was it all just better players handed down from JC? Bazz, Boat, DD, Giffey, etc. Did they mask KO's inefficiencies with their talent? The consistent lack of offensive flow or play selection, trouble both shooting & defending the 3, and other problems in recent years have gotten too common and too familiar. Has the recruiting eroded so much now since we entered this makeshift conference that there's no way out unless we kick KO to the curb or drop football and go back to the Big East 2.0?

Point I'm getting at is, KO must have had some ability to coach and recruit if Calhoun chose him, no? Or was it mostly Warde's decision all along to pick a coach that he knew would be popular with the fanbase and Calhoun just being supportive? Has JC been mentoring KO through all this? Giving him advice, pointing out the weaknesses of KO's coaching and offering suggestions & tips? Has he been involved at all? Although JC is at St. Joseph's now, I doubt he can still do that if he's been doing it before. But if KO was around JC long enough, he must have picked up some coaching knowledge from him. Didn't he?

It would pain me to see KO get the boot knowing how all this started, but in the end it's about the UConn program, not the individual. We're only 7 games in. He's not getting axed mid-season anyway so I'll hold out a flicker of hope that he figures this all out and has us playing better basketball as the season progresses.

 

[Guapo]

This program was JC's baby. He built it from a Big East cellar-dweller to a multi-National Championship program. KO was his former player. He was his assistant coach when we won it all in 2011. He's been part of the UConn family. But Calhoun must have seen something else in him for him to hand KO the keys to the program.

The majority of us were all behind him. It was his first head coaching job, and it was at his alma mater, a blueblood program(yeah, I said that). First 2 years we were all behind him, very much engaged in every game, and his players certainly fought for him - getting through the tourney ban year with 20 wins, then the following year a mediocre regular season (by our standards) capped by another magical NCAA Tourney run to the title. We were on top of the world again.

Since then, it's been a fairly steady downhill slide. We've missed the tourney 2 of the last 3 years, and the year we made it it took another miraculous conference tourney run to cement a bid (although we learned after the fact that we were in the dance anyway, but we didn't know at the time). And this year after a handful of games it's been another sluggish showing and the impatience has boiled over.

What's happened? Is KO's inexperience so apparent now that it's blinding? Was he doing things right the first couple years that he's gotten away from or was it all just better players handed down from JC? Bazz, Boat, DD, Giffey, etc. Did they mask KO's inefficiencies with their talent? The consistent lack of offensive flow or play selection, trouble both shooting & defending the 3, and other problems in recent years have gotten too common and too familiar. Has the recruiting eroded so much now since we entered this makeshift conference that there's no way out unless we kick KO to the curb or drop football and go back to the Big East 2.0?

Point I'm getting at is, KO must have had some ability to coach and recruit if Calhoun chose him, no? Or was it mostly Warde's decision all along to pick a coach that he knew would be popular with the fanbase and Calhoun just being supportive? Has JC been mentoring KO through all this? Giving him advice, pointing out the weaknesses of KO's coaching and offering suggestions & tips? Has he been involved at all? Although JC is at St. Joseph's now, I doubt he can still do that if he's been doing it before. But if KO was around JC long enough, he must have picked up some coaching knowledge from him. Didn't he?

It would pain me to see KO get the boot knowing how all this started, but in the end it's about the UConn program, not the individual. We're only 7 games in. He's not getting axed mid-season anyway so I'll hold out a flicker of hope that he figures this all out and has us playing better basketball as the season progresses.

Condensing a bunch of recent threads into one here.

Very efficient.

I think it's very obvious that we have ourselves entangled in quite the knot here with no easy or good solutions.

Other than that, it's hard to say what to do other than just try to win as many games as possible.

 

[RJScootin]

Hopefully JC gets to pick the next coach as well and does a better job this time. That's if hes not to busy building a D3 program.

 

[Travelman6]

Unless something super dramatic happens like a loss to Monmonth or Coppin St or brutal in conference losses to, like USF or ECU (again) at least let him finish the season. This Saturday will show us a lot. But I think the AD should remind Ollie he is on a short leash so to speak. IMO, at least. Not sure how you don't at least talk to the coach after these last 5 halfs.

 

[Pudge]

There is no way this was Warde Manuel deviously scheming to go to Ollie without a whole LOT of Jim Calhoun influence. Manuel and Herbst got backed into Calhoun's choice.


You guys are seriously thinking he gets AXED with two losses to major March Madness contenders like Michigan State and Arkansas? (yes ... I think Arkansas is better than I thought now) If this team continues to play like Columbia or Stony Brook, however, Wichita and Cincinnati will beat them by 35. Ollie and friends need to get significantly better just to compete in conference.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Could be as simple as Shabazz Napier was an all time Husky (and all time NCAA player for that matter) that put a program on his back and took us to the title?

 

[SirHypeAlot]

When you've built up a program and decide it's time to step away you want someone you see as an extension of yourself to take over. I believe JC felt KO was that guy and he likely was. When things started going sideways JC tried to reel in Ollie and re-calibrate what he was doing to fall back in line with what JC had laid out for the past 25 years. KO resisted and there began the distance in their relationship. At some point a successor will inevitably deviate from the predecessor, but the degree with which Ollie has tanked the program has to be heart-wrenching to Calhoun as the architect of the program but also as a mentor and loving friend of Ollie. I refuse to believe JC has stood by idly watching this dumpster fire.

 

[Marat]

Unless something super dramatic happens like a loss to Monmonth or Coppin St or brutal in conference losses to, like USF or ECU (again) at least let him finish the season. This Saturday will show us a lot. But I think the AD should remind Ollie he is on a short leash so to speak. IMO, at least. Not sure how you don't at least talk to the coach after these last 5 halfs.

Saturday probably won't show us too much, either. I don't believe that a single game will as opposed to a trend over the course of games. The team won't be 100% healthy either. It would be great to see how this UConn team at full strength plays over 5+ games. But I agree that KO has to finish the season. We will know at the end of it (or not)....

 

[HuskiesAllDay]

Its possible (likely) that Ollie just isn't the same guy anymore. Perhaps its the divorce that caused it. Or perhaps his change caused the divorce. Who knows.

But the current version of KO isn't the same guy who demanded 100% effort and dedication from himself and his players. That was the guy that JC entrusted his program with.

 

[Travelman6]

Saturday will show us if this team, well rested, is capable of bouncing back and starting strong and not digging themselves a 12-4 type of hole AGAIN. It will show us how they respond to some recent injuries and how capable some are of stepping up like what MD did last night. It will start to show us if this team is deep and if they can make any kind (even small) improvement on D.

 

[polycom]

Saturday will show us if this team, well rested, is capable of bouncing back and starting strong and not digging themselves a 12-4 type of hole AGAIN. It will show us how they respond to some recent injuries and how capable some are of stepping up like what MD did last night. It will start to show us if this team is deep and if they can make any kind (even small) improvement on D.

We are playing monmoth(sp?) it will show us nothing. We blow them out people will say we were suppose to, we win a close game and none of our feelings will change, if we lose people will send more letters to the AD. In the end, this team will have to find it within themselves regardless of what happens this season, Ollie isn't the coach of the future.

 

[Javjudah]

In this game of college basketball you need very good players to compete at a very high level. Very good players make an average coach look good. Also some of the things that Coach Calhoun got away with is now quickly called abuse. I have witnessed Coach Calhoun yell, scream, cursed, push, grab them by their jerseys... Did he get results? Did he get there attention? Absolutely, but you can't get away with that no more.

 

[Palatine]

Calhoun left the game during the second half. Ollie should have chased him down. I sure hope JC has some time to spend in the coaches room.

 

[Javjudah]

Coach Ollie needs to continue to win, recruit good players and have a good relationship with them. He has to win and sell himself to recruits. The noise of Ollie getting fired or wouldn't be at UCONN for long is only going to make it harder in the recruiting world. Unless UCONN can hire a very credible and high profile coach the results will be the same. You have to be able to sell something to recruits and right now it's not UCONN playing in the All American Conference or the location in the cow pasture.

 

[gtcam]

Could be as simple as Shabazz Napier was an all time Husky (and all time NCAA player for that matter) that put a program on his back and took us to the title?

Kinda like Mello?
Kinda like Danny M?
Kinda like Anthony D - the unibrow?
Kinda like a lot of cases?

Yeah could be that simple

 

[Adios]

Ollie is clearly in self pity mode and also a sociopath, if he thinks it's ok for fans to suffer as they do.

Ollie and Calhoun also clearly recruited different mindsets. Calhoun recruited builders. Ollie recruits softer players. Ollie is also messing up with developing kids for the NBA. At least we got 4 titles.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Kinda like Mello?
Kinda like Danny M?
Kinda like Anthony D - the unibrow?
Kinda like a lot of cases?

Yeah could be that simple

Great comparison parallel. When I think of Kevin Ollie I usually compare him to Jim Boeheim, John Calipari and Larry Brown.

 

[Javjudah]

Ollie is clearly in self pity mode and also a sociopath, if he thinks it's ok for fans to suffer as they do.

Ollie and Calhoun also clearly recruited different mindsets. Calhoun recruited builders. Ollie recruits softer players. Ollie is also messing up with developing kids for the NBA. At least we got 4 titles.

Coach Ollie needs to continue to win, recruit good players and have a good relationship with them. He has to win and sell himself to recruits. The noise of Ollie getting fired or wouldn't be at UCONN for long is only going to make it harder in the recruiting world. Unless UCONN can hire a very credible and high profile coach the results will be the same. Youhave to be able to sell something to recruits and right now it's not UCONN playing in the All American Conference or the location in the cow pasture.

 

[Javjudah]

Ollie is clearly in self pity mode and also a sociopath, if he thinks it's ok for fans to suffer as they do.

Ollie and Calhoun also clearly recruited different mindsets. Calhoun recruited builders. Ollie recruits softer players. Ollie is also messing up with developing kids for the NBA. At least we got 4 titles.

In this game of college basketball you need very good players to compete at a very high level. Very good players make an average coach look good. Also some of the things that Coach Calhoun got away with is now quickly called abuse. I have witnessed Coach Calhoun yell, scream, cursed, push, grab them by their jerseys... Did he get results? Did he get there attention? Absolutely, but you can't get away with that no more.

 

[G0UCONN]

Not sure means anything. Maybe he had another commitment etc.

But I was at game last night and saw JC there. He walked out and left the building a few minutes after Columbia inbounded that dead ball in front of the UConn bench for a dunk as the Huskies napped....

No Husky timeout called after that play BTW....play on...

 

[Marat]

Not sure means anything. Maybe he had another commitment etc.

But I was at game last night and saw JC there. He walked out and left the building a few minutes after Columbia inbounded that dead ball in front of the UConn bench for a dunk as the Huskies napped....

No Husky timeout called after that play BTW....play on...

I was interested to know at which moment JC left. He must have been p*ssed after that play.

 

[freescooter]

The Calhoun coaching tree is remarkably small. And it really does look like he made a mistake in his choice of Ollie. Not like it was the first time. But name a Jim Calhoun assistant who has been a big success. He surrounded himself with good assistants. And in this instance he let ego get in the way of sound judgement. I also wonder if he wanted a guy he could, not exactly control, but certainly influence. As far as Manuel goes, yet another craptastic decision. But in this instance he knew the right thing to do was conduct a national search. UConn was in a place where several big of up and coming guys would have taken the job. Instead he took the he easy way out, yet in his own inimitable way managed to do it in a way that damaged the program. And by the way how many of the UConn faithful who threatened to not go to gains unless Ollie got the job were among the 6800 empty seats last night? Gawd he was terrible.

 

[Northbound]

I’ve said this more times that I can count on here beginning with the day there were rumors of KO being the guy.

You do not take guy who was a 2 year management traineee and then make them the CEO of a Fortine 500 company. This is essentially what was done with KO - look JC owns this hire however it turns out and I hope it reverses trajectory.

People kicked me in the nuts repearidly because I had that opinion.

 

[LIuconn]

This is looking more and more like a Mike Davis/Matt Doherty situation. We deserve a nation-wide search among those with personal and coaching styles that fit the brand we want to project.

 

[freescooter]

I’ve said this more times that I can count on here beginning with the day there were rumors of KO being the guy.

You do not take guy who was a 2 year management traineee and then make them the CEO of a Fortine 500 company. This is essentially what was done with KO - look JC owns this hire however it turns out and I hope it reverses trajectory.

People kicked me in the nuts repearidly because I had that opinion.

I said it and was accused of everything but starting the Boer War. I find it interesting that some of the people who screamed the loudest now are calling for Ollie’s Head.