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Message: [QUOTE="seeya27, post: 3460087, member: 2365"] 100% true and transparent story: When Perno was fired, I sat down and wrote endless lists of whom I thought might be or wanted to be the next coach. I had covered the team for the Daily Campus in 77-79 and had known about, met and or spoke with many of the so-called candidates. I had lists of "[I]Unattainable Coaches[/I] (John Thompson-like names)," "[I]Assistant Coaches I loved,[/I]" "[I]Usual Suspects[/I] (guys who had thrown their hat in the ring early)," "[I]Low D-1 coaches ready to move up[/I]." Lists like that. But from the beginning, JC was my man. I had interviewed him several times and watched him at Northeastern and honestly was inspired by the guy. I told my closest UConn friends if he's appointed, I [I][B]guarantee[/B][/I] he will win a national championship for us. And to a fault, all of them laughed. My favorite line from one of my friends was, "right, like we're gonna be better than the Runnin' Rebs." We still talk about it decades later. Ironic, since I don't ever make predictions about anything. If anything I'm a bit of an unsure pessimist. (In '99 in Tampa, I expected to lose and was simply hoping for a credible showing. I was at the game and it took me 10 seconds after the final buzzer to actually believe we had won.) But Jimmy was different and I believed in him hook, line and sinker. There was no doubt in mind he would lead us out of the desert. All that said, I thought many of the same things about Bob Diaco...so I am hardly clarivoyant. But with Jim, I was ready to buy the bridge he was selling in Brooklyn. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach