Cam Johnson officially released from Pitt

[ctchamps]

First next year has not happened so we will wait to see. But how is it controversial that a program of our prestige would provide job security to anyone being paid $3.1 million a year, if they were to miss the tournament three of four years? Not to mention, a losing season. We're all praying, at least I am, that there is a big turn around next season but we can't pretend it's controversial to assume someone's job might be on the line with performing middle of the pack in this conference missing the tournament year after year

This is a business. And it's not controversial to want the best performance or best options for the program. If that means KO has to go then so be it.

What irks me is people who are insisting on dismissing KO if next season is bad are not stating what the negative fallout could be with that decision. And there could be plenty. People arguing his firing appear to think it can only be positive. That's bullspit. It MAY be positive or negative. If it turn out to be negative than naturally these same individuals will blame AD Dave for a bad hire because that takes them off the hook. Pass the blame. Of course they could never admit that the decision to dismiss was the incorrect decision. That would put the onus of responsibility on themselves.

Now I'm hoping KO turns it around next season. But that is strongly correlated with what recruits can be gotten between now and the end of the late signing period. That is a difficult task under current circumstances. Which is why I'd give him and the other coaches two years to prove themselves.

If after next season he is indeed fired I hope my worst case scenario doesn't follow and your's and any who demand results next season turn out to be correct and the new hire is a win.

 

[husky99]

Shaka Smart wanted the UConn job.

He turned down Illinois anticipating having a shot at UConn.

Calhoun wasn't stupid - he knew Ollie wasn't going to get the job in an open search.

Calhoun retired when he did to force uconn hand to pick ollie.

 

[superjohn]

I know, just trying to set the record straight. People said we couldn't have had Shaka when it was known he wanted to come here. I was ok with the Ollie hire but this notion that other top coaches wouldn't have come here is nonsense. We didn't do a coaching search, Ollie was handpicked by Calhoun.

 

[intlzncster]

Calhoun retired when he did to force UConn hand to pick ollie.

We know that; JC said learned that method from Dean Smith himself.

 

[intlzncster]

I know, just trying to set the record straight. People said we couldn't have had Shaka when it was known he wanted to come here. I was ok with the Ollie hire but this notion that other top coaches wouldn't have come here is nonsense. We didn't do a coaching search, Ollie was handpicked by Calhoun.

I'll stand corrected on Shaka, no problem. It looks like we may have dodged a bullet there anyway, which shows all of our prognostication abilities.

But I still maintain, Few, Miller, Stevens wouldn't have come.

Some people here don't seem to think all that highly of UConn basketball.

UCONN is a good job, no doubt. But a great one? I'm not so sure. If this was, 2004, I'd agree with you. People look at UCONN as the name on the jersey as if it speaks for itself. In some ways it does, given the NCs. But JC was the program. Him leaving is almost like UCONN is not UCONN. This is not UNC. Nor Duke. Nor UK. It's not a blue blood in the eyes of the nation.

And now our conference affiliation is an absolute killer. The Brand is still there, to a lesser extent, but it's not what it was, even with a recent championship. Attendance has been falling recently, even in JCs later years. Storrs itself is in the middle of East Bumbff_ck. It's got crappy weather and a dearth of coeds in bikinis.

I mean, people have to look at it from an 17 year old kids perspective. If I'm offered Zona, UCLA, UK, Duke, UNC, Kansas....I'm taking them over UCONN in a heartbeat. They don't give a ff__ck about Ray Allen. The biggest draw of UCONN was the greatness of it's coach and the greatness of the Big East. Both those things are gone. Hopefully Ollie can turn himself into 'the draw'. Jury's out.

 

[husky99]

I'll stand corrected on Shaka, no problem. It looks like we may have dodged a bullet there anyway, which shows all of our prognostication abilities.

But I still maintain, Few, Miller, Stevens wouldn't have come.

I never said they would. What I said was those were my choices

 

[upstater]

Calhoun retired when he did to force UConn hand to pick ollie.

He also broke his hip on his bike in August which surely was not intentional. That had to have figured into it. He retired a couple weeks after breaking it.

 

[husky99]

He also broke his hip on his bike in August which surely was not intentional. That had to have figured into it. He retired a couple weeks after breaking it.

I think his wife pushed him off. She knew he was going to die coaching

 

[UConnStats]

I think his wife pushed him off. She knew he was going to die coaching

JSM pushed him off. He was itching to be miserable.

 

[superjohn]

I'm glad Calhoun retired when he did, the stress and demands of it were no longer healthy for him. He looks 5-10 years younger right now than he did then.

 

[80shusky]

I'm glad Calhoun retired when he did, the stress and demands of it were no longer healthy for him. He looks 5-10 years younger right now than he did then.

Agree 100%! I have been thinking the same thing. Those last few years he looked pale and completely shot. You see him now he looks healthy, relaxed and happy. He's earned that.

 

[Huskyforlife]

If Ollie is fired and UConn hires a coach with only a few years as an assistant somewhere successful, with no head coaching experience, I think the board would blow up. But that was basically ollies resume, he only got the job because of Calhoun endorsement.

Now his first two years made him look like a future legend. The last three look like someone in over his head, we'll see next season if he's the right man for the job moving forward.

 

[AntG168]

Recruits are not rejecting us because of our "fair weather fan base" lmfaooo. Thats ridiculous. But i do agree with the rest of what you said.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I heard from a couple well placed, non-UConn sources that Shaka was waiting for the UConn job to open. We could have landed him but I see no evidence that he would have been a better choice than KO.

We may have been able to land Sean Miller but to do so we would have had to offered a higher salary than we ever paid JC. That would not have happened.

Many schools tried to pry Few away from Gonzaga over the years. Someone needs to convince we could have succeeded.

As far as the 2014 title, KO was masterful in how he handled that team. I'm not sure that JC could have led them to the title and I don't see how anyone could have done a better job from ~10 minutes into the Nova game forward than KO did that year.

 

[intlzncster]

I'm glad Calhoun retired when he did, the stress and demands of it were no longer healthy for him. He looks 5-10 years younger right now than he did then.

I wanted him to continue coaching until he died on the sideline. But I'm a selfish .

 

[upstater]

If Ollie is fired and UConn hires a coach with only a few years as an assistant somewhere successful, with no head coaching experience, I think the board would blow up. But that was basically ollies resume, he only got the job because of Calhoun endorsement.

Now his first two years made him look like a future legend. The last three look like someone in over his head, we'll see next season if he's the right man for the job moving forward.

Usually these assistants with very little experience haven't had 13 or 14 year NBA careers which were noted for the fact that the player acted like a coach on the bench, and he also instilled a winning culture where he went, an excellent mentor, who also by the ay had such great knowledge of the game that he was much in demand as a possible hire at multiple levels in the NBA.

This is very very different than the person you are comparing him to. Ollie has more of a Fred Hoiberg resume than a Dave Leitao resume.

 

[Tenspro2002]

People more about perception and appearance than winning titles. To some, 2014 would have been more satisfying if we were 27-4, ranked in the Top 10 for most of the year, and got knocked out in the 2nd round as a 2/3 seed.

No, but I think going forward we'll have a lot more success in the Tournament by going 27-4 and earning a #2-3 seed than by going 26-8 and earning a #7 seed.

Unlike some, I don't think KO has some magic formula for winning championships after mediocre regular seasons.

 

[mauconnfan]

No, but I think going forward we'll have a lot more success in the Tournament by going 27-4 and earning a #2-3 seed than by going 26-8 and earning a #7 seed.

Unlike some, I don't think KO has some magic formula for winning championships after mediocre regular seasons.

I think we have issues if we think 24-8 is mediocre. I mean I get we used to have some crazy years in the BE under JC but I can't imagine most people being upset with a 24-8 season. Obvioulsy 27-4 is great but then again we didn't play enough games with either result. 20-10 is also ok if the season is that of a upward trend full of momentum and then you win 2-3 in the league tourney then a run int e NCAA and finish 25-11. We can't be all that greedy trying to get back up there, even though we're in the AAC. It's more about how the needle is pointing.

 

[AntG168]

I dont want to harp on that one thing when i agree with the rest of what you said. But when UConn is on national TV against a national brand(not tulsa) fans show out. Think syracuse this yr at the garden. Recruits see that before they see a wed evening game against tulane. Our fan base actually has a good perception

 

[Tenspro2002]

I think we have issues if we think 24-8 is mediocre. I mean I get we used to have some crazy years in the BE under JC but I can't imagine most people being upset with a 24-8 season. Obvioulsy 27-4 is great but then again we didn't play enough games with either result. 20-10 is also ok if the season is that of a upward trend full of momentum and then you win 2-3 in the league tourney then a run int e NCAA and finish 25-11. We can't be all that greedy trying to get back up there, even though we're in the AAC. It's more about how the needle is pointing.

26-8 in 2014 earned us a #7 seed.

Going back to 1990, we've earned a better seed than that 15 times in 27 seasons.

Yes, a #7 seed is mediocre by this program's standards.

 

[Stainmaster]

Here are all of the programs who had at minimum 27 wins and no more than 4 losses in a) the P5 and b) all four top mid-major leagues (A10, AAC, Big East, MWC) this past season:

Villanova (31-3), SMU (30-4), Arizona (30-4), Kansas (28-4), UCLA (29-4)

Seems like this isn't just a UConn problem.

 

[Stainmaster]

26-8 in 2014 earned us a #7 seed.

Going back to 1990, we've earned a better seed than that 15 times in 27 seasons.

Yes, a #7 seed is mediocre by this program's standards.

What conference were we in from 1990-2013? That may have had something to do with the change in how we have been seated going forward...

 

[Storrs South]

I dont want to harp on that one thing when i agree with the rest of what you said. But when UConn is on national TV against a national brand(not tulsa) fans show out. Think syracuse this yr at the garden. Recruits see that before they see a wed evening game against tulane. Our fan base actually has a good perception

I agree. I know many keep beating on the fan base, but there are very few parts of the country where the fans keep turning up even when the team is awful (sup Knicks?). The attendance was decent when it was perceived we were in for a good year against lowly Wagner on a Friday night at 7. Not the easiest to get to Storrs in rush hour traffic on a Friday and yet the place was packed for what was a very bad opponent.

I'm not blind, I went to many games this year so I saw the same thing you all saw: attendance was awful. Do you know what was more awful? Losing to Wagner/Northeastern/@Tulsa/@ECU/[insert most losses from this season here]. It costs people time, money, etc. to come to games and if UConn is going to lose these games more than they win, people are not going to show up.

Even with key injuries to Gilbert/Larrier, this team lost a handful games that on pure talent alone should blown opponents out of the building.

The point of this tirade is the attendance narrative is a tired act -- UConn needs to get better, then fans will show up. Period end of story.