Can't have your cake and eat it too

[UChusky916]

Although I think it's a dumb expression, it's something that a lot of posters on this board need to hear.
Let's look at the criticism of the program the past few years... people have argued:

• We need a better in-game bench coach along side KO
• We need a someone who can coach and develop our bigs
• We need a better recruiter on the staff

Well, the above was evident to more than just us fans and, as a result, there were changes this off-season. Miller was let go. Chill and Kill were brought in. We also had 2 starters who were injured last year returning, which throws a big wrench into perceived playing time and available minutes going forward.

So, the team's dynamic has changed drastically. As a result of all of that, the high number of transfers (+ MALs decommit) actually can be somewhat expected. With that much change, pieces of the puzzle are going to be shuffled around.

The fact of the matter is... those who were so critical of the program for all of the things that I bulleted out above shouldn't be the ones harping on the perceived 'turmoil' of the team. Serious fans of the program and critics RECOGNIZED the fact that changes on the staff were needed. Yet, when those changes happen, no one wants to deal with the side effects we're seeing now.

Sometimes, you have to get cut open for surgery and experience some pain to be fixed up and cured down the road.

Could we have done a better job retaining our players as the staff changed? Yeah, maybe. Durham and MAL hurt the most. Are there big holes to fill on our roster next year? Yeah.

But, the simple fact of the matter is this: the program has been PROACTIVE to correct some issues by making some necessary changes on the staff. Will those changes work out? We'll see. In the short term, we're hurting. But I'm confident that, in the long run, the program will be better for these changes.

If we kept Miller and stayed satisfied with the status quo, our off-season would have been much smoother (maybe still a transfer or two). But the larger issues with the staff would have festered, worsened, and negatively impacted us in the long term.

So, critics, you can't have your cake and eat it too. If you were advocating for changes to the coaching staff, this is what happens. It's the nature of the beast.

 

[Dove]

Coach Ollie came in and smashed his "Ten Toes In" mentality into the team and fan base. It worked and won a championship in his second year.

What happened to "Ten Toes In"? Why aren't players buying in and willing to fight for PT among their brothers?

 

[Danzz]

Although I think it's a dumb expression, it's something that a lot of posters on this board need to hear.
Let's look at the criticism of the program the past few years... people have argued:

• We need a better in-game bench coach along side KO
• We need a someone who can coach and develop our bigs
• We need a better recruiter on the staff

Well, the above was evident to more than just us fans and, as a result, there were changes this off-season. Miller was let go. Chill and Kill were brought in. We also had 2 starters who were injured last year returning, which throws a big wrench into perceived playing time and available minutes going forward.

So, the team's dynamic has changed drastically. As a result of all of that, the high number of transfers (+ MALs decommit) actually can be somewhat expected. With that much change, pieces of the puzzle are going to be shuffled around.

The fact of the matter is... those who were so critical of the program for all of the things that I bulleted out above shouldn't be the ones harping on the perceived 'turmoil' of the team. Serious fans of the program and critics RECOGNIZED the fact that changes on the staff were needed. Yet, when those changes happen, no one wants to deal with the side effects we're seeing now.

Sometimes, you have to get cut open for surgery and experience some pain to be fixed up and cured down the road.

Could we have done a better job retaining our players as the staff changed? Yeah, maybe. Durham and MAL hurt the most. Are there big holes to fill on our roster next year? Yeah.

But, the simple fact of the matter is this: the program has been PROACTIVE to correct some issues by making some necessary changes on the staff. Will those changes work out? We'll see. In the short term, we're hurting. But I'm confident that, in the long run, the program will be better for these changes.

If we kept Miller and stayed satisfied with the status quo, our off-season would have been much smoother (maybe still a transfer or two). But the larger issues with the staff would have festered, worsened, and negatively impacted us in the long term.

So, critics, you can't have your cake and eat it too. If you were advocating for changes to the coaching staff, this is what happens. It's the nature of the beast.

Our recruiting has been fine. Our player retention not so good.

 

[Tenspro2002]

So, critics, you can't have your cake and eat it too. If you were advocating for changes to the coaching staff, this is what happens. It's the nature of the beast.

I advocated for changes to the staff, and I'm not under the illusion that Chillious will be able to work magic to lure in top 2017 tuna at this late stage. I expect him to pay big dividends in 2018 and beyond, though, in a way that Glen Miller just couldn't.

That KO appraised the situation and determined that changes were needed is good and suggests growth as a leader.

That said, while some turmoil is to be expected, I think the argument that some of these guys defecting or de-committing due to an assistant coach is overblown. Part of the job of head coach is to manage turnover within the staff and the roster. The way this was handled -- not the fact that it was done in the first place -- was not great, and it gives the impression of a guy who isn't in control of the situation.

That said, I hope and expect that these changes lead to us bringing in better recruits, not only in terms of ranking and talent, but also in terms of desire to be here and desire to work. All of it has been lacking.

An uncomfortable question at the moment: why do so many of these guys that the staff put effort into, as recruits or players (Enoch, Jackson, Durham, MAL, Waters*), not want to be here?

*Yes, the staff only prioritized him recently, but a local kid at a position of need basically won't give us the time of day -- that's alarming.

 

[RabidHusky]

Shortly after the season ended Purvis said "it's all fake love now". I never saw any further discussion on this disturbing tweet. What followed was the shake up of the staff and players. Maybe the AD had enough of the warm fuzzies and wanted a tougher more secular tone on the team. More Full Metal Jacket ( JC ) less soft motivational sayings.

 

[JMick]

Shortly after the season ended Purvis said "it's all fake love now". I never saw any further discussion on this disturbing tweet. What followed was the shake up of the staff and players. Maybe the AD had enough of the warm fuzzies and wanted a tougher more secular tone on the team. More Full Metal Jacket ( JC ) less soft motivational sayings.

If you read into every players social media posts you're going to go insane. It's the same thing with watching their likes/follows/etc.

 

[UCweCONN]

You're right, coaching changes can lead to transfers. HEAD COACHING changes, not assistants. The most dangerous emotion is hope.

 

[Whtdmd]

Shortly after the season ended Purvis said "it's all fake love now". I never saw any further discussion on this disturbing tweet. What followed was the shake up of the staff and players. Maybe the AD had enough of the warm fuzzies and wanted a tougher more secular tone on the team. More Full Metal Jacket ( JC ) less soft motivational sayings.[/QUOTE
I think it's about the transfers. Remember some upperclassmen were not happy with the freshman work ethic. Purvis has gotten into it with Jackson during the game. Purvis goes 100% on both ends of the court. Hard workers do not like to see people give less then the maximal effort.

 

[intlzncster]

Shortly after the season ended Purvis said "it's all fake love now". I never saw any further discussion on this disturbing tweet. What followed was the shake up of the staff and players. Maybe the AD had enough of the warm fuzzies and wanted a tougher more secular tone on the team. More Full Metal Jacket ( JC ) less soft motivational sayings.

Probably not about Ollie at all. If about the team, it would have been about the transfers. Could have been about the fans, killing the team this year. Could have been about anything.

 

[intlzncster]

I advocated for changes to the staff, and I'm not under the illusion that Chillious will be able to work magic to lure in top 2017 tuna at this late stage. I expect him to pay big dividends in 2018 and beyond, though, in a way that Glen Miller just couldn't.

That KO appraised the situation and determined that changes were needed is good and suggests growth as a leader.

That said, while some turmoil is to be expected, I think the argument that some of these guys defecting or de-committing due to an assistant coach is overblown. Part of the job of head coach is to manage turnover within the staff and the roster. The way this was handled -- not the fact that it was done in the first place -- was not great, and it gives the impression of a guy who isn't in control of the situation.

That said, I hope and expect that these changes lead to us bringing in better recruits, not only in terms of ranking and talent, but also in terms of desire to be here and desire to work. All of it has been lacking.

An uncomfortable question at the moment: why do so many of these guys that the staff put effort into, as recruits or players (Enoch, Jackson, Durham, MAL, Waters*), not want to be here?

*Yes, the staff only prioritized him recently, but a local kid at a position of need basically won't give us the time of day -- that's alarming.

Sometimes it's simply about the kids. And in this day and age, I think that's going to be more and more the case.

Waters, Enoch, and Jackson are all kids with heavy heavy paternal involvement. That's probably the most important key to their situations, beyond any 'upheaval' happening to UCONN. I'd personally prefer to avoid these types if possible.

 

[buddy]

Our recruiting has been fine. Our player retention not so good.

I disagree that the recruiting has been fine. Recruiting players with preexisting injuries only leads to trouble down the road. They never fully recover. No really solid big men have been recruited for years. Only projects who don't develop.

 

[intlzncster]

I disagree that the recruiting has been fine. Recruiting players with preexisting injuries only leads to trouble down the road. They never fully recover. No really solid big men have been recruited for years. Only projects who don't develop.

We recruited one guy knowing he had multiple preexisting (Durham) injuries . One.

If you are talking about injuries at all, well, that cuts out about 90% of all recruits.

 

[upstater]

We recruited one guy knowing he had multiple preexisting (Durham) injuries . One.

If you are talking about injuries at all, well, that cuts out about 90% of all recruits.

He actually committed and signed before suffering his second ACL.

 

[joober jones]

I disagree that the recruiting has been fine. Recruiting players with preexisting injuries only leads to trouble down the road. They never fully recover. No really solid big men have been recruited for years. Only projects who don't develop.

To be fair, we had a lot of those project bigs who didn't develop in the Calhoun era too. Dove, Justin Brown, Boo Willingham (though Boo has a fan for life in me), Antric Klaiber, Curtis Kelley etc

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

The Young Bull | The Players' Tribune

This a great read:

"Avery Johnson was different.

He didn’t tell me how great I was. He didn’t promise me playing time. In fact, it was the opposite. He promised me accountability. If I didn’t put in the work, if I didn’t do the right things, he would bench me. That’s what I wanted to hear from a coach: straight talk.

This is a guy who played 16 seasons in the NBA. He’s won championships. He’s coached All-Stars.

So when he tells me that he knows what it takes, he’s not just saying it. He’s lived it. And he understands that it’s really, really hard to make it. What I appreciate most about Coach Johnson is that he’s not going to make it easy on me. He’s going to push me hard so that I can one day achieve the same things he did. And that’s why I committed to play for him at Alabama.

O.K., hold up, I already know what you’re about to say.

“Alabama, man? That’s a football school.”



I think Sexton is every coaches dream recruit. Avery Johnson & Alabama are looking to take off next year. Recruiting character matters. Being a coach with character matters.

 

[intlzncster]

To be fair, we had a lot of those project bigs who didn't develop in the Calhoun era too. Dove, Justin Brown, Boo Willingham (though Boo has a fan for life in me), Antric Klaiber, Curtis Kelley etc

Heck, even studs like Stanley didn't develop that much. Boone never developed that much. I mean, they were good players, but their development curves weren't very steep.

 

[SouthBayHusky]

We recruited one guy knowing he had multiple preexisting (Durham) injuries . One.

If you are talking about injuries at all, well, that cuts out about 90% of all recruits.

Gilbert had a history of problems with his shoulder too. For the record, I would still have recruited him and Durham, but it's inaccurate to say only one player

 

[Fishy]

We recruited one guy knowing he had multiple preexisting (Durham) injuries . One.

If you are talking about injuries at all, well, that cuts out about 90% of all recruits.

This is the third time Gilbert has dislocated his shoulder.

Once in high school, once in the Jordan Brands Classic and once at UConn.

 

[Horatio]

He actually committed and signed before suffering his second ACL.

So he got one injury , we stayed with him. He then got another injury and we still stayed with him but he dumped us. Hopefully KO has learned a lot about recruiting these kids and their involved parents.

 

[Tenspro2002]

We recruited one guy knowing he had multiple preexisting (Durham) injuries . One.

If you are talking about injuries at all, well, that cuts out about 90% of all recruits.

There's also Diarra and his chronic knee issue, which the staff either knew about and took him anyway, or didn't know about and failed to do their homework.

 

[intlzncster]

This is the third time Gilbert has dislocated his shoulder.

Once in high school, once in the Jordan Brands Classic and once at UConn.

Gilbert had a history of problems with his shoulder too. For the record, I would still have recruited him and Durham, but it's inaccurate to say only one player

Gilbert had one injury when we recruited him. After he committed, he hurt his shoulder again in the Jordan Brands Classic. I guess we could have pulled his offer, but that seems short sighted.

The guy said we recruited kids with a history of injury problems. But we recruited those kids when they only had the one injury. After they committed (ie the recruitment was finished), they got injured again. How do you deal with that?

And as I was corrected above. Same thing happened with Durham, just earlier in the process.

 

[intlzncster]

There's also Diarra and his chronic knee issue, which the staff either knew about and took him anyway, or didn't know about and failed to do their homework.

I highly doubt he told anybody who was recruiting him. And I doubt any of his coaches (if they knew) let on. Both because they wouldn't have wanted to hurt his chances. And recruits medical records aren't available to anybody.

He just played through it in high school. They didn't want him to do that in college. Or maybe it got worse? Idk

 

[champs99and04]

This is the third time Gilbert has dislocated his shoulder.

Once in high school, once in the Jordan Brands Classic and once at UConn.

He had committed by then, no? Unless I'm misreading his post, Gilbert wouldn't qualify as having "multiple injuries" when we recruited him.

 

[intlzncster]

He had committed by then, no? Unless I'm misreading his post, Gilbert wouldn't qualify as having "multiple injuries" when we recruited him.

That's what I was saying. Durham too. Although Durham's second was earlier in the process.

 

[Tenspro2002]

He had one injury when we recruited him. After he committed, he hurt his should again in the Jordan Brands Classic. Should we have pulled his offer?

No, but it's a risk. KO and his staff has gotten commitments or brought in 6 top 50 players out of high school.

One had a promising freshman year, but got surgery for a chronic injury and was never the same player.
One left for the D League after a ho-hum career.
One had an injury history, barely played, and got hurt again.
One had an injury history, barely played, and transferred.
One decommitted extremely late in the process.
One is our starting PG and a developing stud.

That's a horrific track record among the guys you need to be hitting home runs on. Every recruit has some risk, injury being one flavor. KO has gotten burned badly, whether by injury or otherwise.