Coach KO

[Huskies4ever]

I know it's been posted a gazillion times, but KO has been amazing! He's a rookie coach, who at times, has looked like a veteran. From the way he gets his kids to play hard (how does he motivate them?), to how he pushes school work first, to his in-game adjustments, he has been brilliant. He is a true leader, and we are so lucky to have him (unless you're freescooter). In coach KO, UConn is in good hands.

 

[GemParty]

#TenToesIn

 

[Scot-e]

I think having KO step into the role of HC is about the only thing that is keeping me from going into complete UCONN meltdown mode.
Without him in place there would not be ANY warm and fuzzy feelings about the future right now. I believe he can coach now (that was the main question in my mind) and we know he can bring high level kids to UCONN (see DD). Very grateful to have such a outstanding person as HC.

On a side note- we went from having a very effective person in JC that came with certain personality traits- some I loved and some that made me cringe at times- to a person that just might be the on the top of the list of "head coaches you can not find any thing bad to say about as a person". After all the %#$@ we have been though it feels good to be on high moral ground.

 

[uconnsouth]

Perfect for the job

 

[freescooter]

best head coach in the history of college basketball. Can't believe we got him. Guy is just amazing. I think they should build a new wing on the basketball hall of fame just to hold all his accomplishments. golly gee wilikers, we should rename Gampel Pavilion to Ollie Pavilion. Maybe the University of Ollie. Golly gosh. We should have fired that Calhoun guy a few years ago so we could have had Ollie a few years sooner...maybe 1996. Imagine what he would have accomplished by now if we had just let him walk off the floor as a player then come back as the head coach. Or maybe we could have named him player coach. Sort of like Bill Russell was with the Celtics back in the day. Missed opportunities abound.

Give it a rest. He is doing a fine job. But nothing any good college coach wouldn't do. Yipes.

 

[CAHUSKY]

Give it a rest. He is doing a fine job. But nothing any good college coach wouldn't do. Yipes.

So youre at least finally admitting he's "good". Youre making progress.

 

[Palatine]

He's a rookie coach, who at times, has looked like a veteran.

Are you implying that at times he has looked like a rookie coach! Why the put down?

 

[Huskies4ever]

best head coach in the history of college basketball. Can't believe we got him. Guy is just amazing. I think they should build a new wing on the basketball hall of fame just to hold all his accomplishments. golly gee wilikers, we should rename Gampel Pavilion to Ollie Pavilion. Maybe the University of Ollie. Golly gosh. We should have fired that Calhoun guy a few years ago so we could have had Ollie a few years sooner...maybe 1996. Imagine what he would have accomplished by now if we had just let him walk off the floor as a player then come back as the head coach. Or maybe we could have named him player coach. Sort of like Bill Russell was with the Celtics back in the day. Missed opportunities abound.

Give it a rest. He is doing a fine job. But nothing any good college coach wouldn't do. Yipes.

Nobody's saying he is a Hall of Famer, just that as a rookie coach replacing a legend, he has done a phenomenal job. You can see why JC wanted KO to succeed him.

BTW, are you a umess fan or a Cuse fan?

 

[cordeodato]

This might not be a high priority to all parents, but I think most
have to feel they could do a lot worse than entrusting their son to Kevin
Ollie. The guy exudes goodnees

 

[Kitaman]

Great post. If anyone hadn't noticed there was a big cloud over the team's head with doomed days ahead with players and conference foes exiting, and uncertainties galore. Ollie sure brightened the sky and the future.

He also brings a lot of much needed positive press to the school/team. If there were no sanctions it would be business as usual around here. That's a compliment.

 

[UChusky916]

Aside from the UL game, I have been very impressed with how Ollie has handled the team.

 

[AtlHusky]

best head coach in the history of college basketball. Can't believe we got him. Guy is just amazing. I think they should build a new wing on the basketball hall of fame just to hold all his accomplishments. golly gee wilikers, we should rename Gampel Pavilion to Ollie Pavilion. Maybe the University of Ollie. Golly gosh. We should have fired that Calhoun guy a few years ago so we could have had Ollie a few years sooner...maybe 1996. Imagine what he would have accomplished by now if we had just let him walk off the floor as a player then come back as the head coach. Or maybe we could have named him player coach. Sort of like Bill Russell was with the Celtics back in the day. Missed opportunities abound.

Give it a rest. He is doing a fine job. But nothing any good college coach wouldn't do. Yipes.

So this and your response in the Ugly Game thread got me thinking....

Honest questions...How much better would would the team be, right now AND over the next few years, if your "dream coach" got the job instead? Who is that "dream coach"? What would we see as the major differences with respect to what we see now with KO?

 

[upstater]

Ollie was always best man for the job--long before he was hired.

 

[Calhoun's Court]

Plus having that right blend of experience and youth on his coaching staff is also a huge plus IMO. KO and his staff are a perfect combination. They compliment each other very well.

 

[sdhusky]

Give it a rest. He is doing a fine job. But nothing any good college coach wouldn't do. Yipes.

Sometimes its good to find good.

Just ask Rutgers or Providence or DePaul....

 

[aboogieee]

DeAndre Daniels tweeted that Kevin Ollie was the coolest Coach & it gained so many Retweets.. #ExtendOllieAgain

 

[ctchamps]

I know it's been posted a gazillion times, but KO has been amazing! He's a rookie coach, who at times, has looked like a veteran. From the way he gets his kids to play hard (how does he motivate them?), to how he pushes school work first, to his in-game adjustments, he has been brilliant. He is a true leader, and we are so lucky to have him (unless you're freescooter). In coach KO, UConn is in good hands.

I think we should have one of these threads after every UConn victory just to get a free response at a time other than a loss!

 

[freescooter]

DeAndre Daniels tweeted that Kevin Ollie was the coolest Coach & it gained so many Retweets.. #ExtendOllieAgain

Great to hear a guy who underperformed his career to date thinks Ollie is "cool." Also good to see that upstater agrees with me. Should have dumped that Calhoun guy and made Ollie player coach back when he was a freshman.

 

[CTMike]

best head coach in the history of college basketball. Can't believe we got him. Guy is just amazing. I think they should build a new wing on the basketball hall of fame just to hold all his accomplishments. golly gee wilikers, we should rename Gampel Pavilion to Ollie Pavilion. Maybe the University of Ollie. Golly gosh. We should have fired that Calhoun guy a few years ago so we could have had Ollie a few years sooner...maybe 1996. Imagine what he would have accomplished by now if we had just let him walk off the floor as a player then come back as the head coach. Or maybe we could have named him player coach. Sort of like Bill Russell was with the Celtics back in the day. Missed opportunities abound.

Give it a rest. He is doing a fine job. But nothing any good college coach wouldn't do. Yipes.

I don't agree with the sentiments, but what a home run post. Lol.

 

[Scot-e]

Ah- Free is not getting laid again. Honestly- if you have to go to a UCONN message board to get an emotional reaction in your life you should spend more time dong the exact opposite of whatever you are currently doing. For real.

 

[freescooter]

Sometimes its good to find good.

Just ask Rutgers or Providence or DePaul....

don't disagree. I just don't get all the gaga stuff. he's done what he should have done. He came into the season with about 12 "automatic" wins and was being asked not to blow them. he hasn't so far. On the other hand we were ranked in the pre-season AP poll and were 26th in the preseason ESPN poll. We're not close in either any more. So most outside observers agreed with me and thought this team would be pretty good this year. You don't rank teams you think will struggle to win 10 games. And we're ok. Not as good as most voters expected. But fine.

I do agree though that having Ollie as coach has brought a bit of fresh air to the program. As great as he was, Calhoun had reached a point where he was as much a hindrance as a help. Seemingly forever surrounded by controversy. Though I suspect any new coach would have helped on that score. It was simply time for him to step aside.

 

[freescooter]

So this and your response in the Ugly Game thread got me thinking....

Honest questions...How much better would would the team be, right now AND over the next few years, if your "dream coach" got the job instead? Who is that "dream coach"? What would we see as the major differences with respect to what we see now with KO?

Honest answer, I think most any competent coach could win 17-19 games with this schedule and this team. A really good one would win 23-24, and in a perfect world I like Shaka Smart a lot but I've been damned impressed with the job Larranaga is doing and quite honestly the job he did at George F*&king Mason before that, I just ignored him because he's been at George F%^king Mason. And I'd love to have figured out a way to get the Stevens. He might well be the best of them all. Though Smart strikes me as a young Jim Calhoun with the intensity and all, is clearly a very good coach and I think in 2-3 years we'll really regret not making that move when Ollie is flopping around at 22-11 and going out in the 1st round every year.

As for the future, it is really difficult to say mostly because the conference realignment that has occurred since the season started makes it really difficult to project what UConn will be able to do. I'll tell you what I suspect will happen though. Ollie will have a long but not particularly illustrious career here now. He will win 20 plus pretty much most years, but that won't be so much a reflection of his coaching abilities as it is on the quality of the conference going forward. Like it or hate it, we're starting life in the next few years as the very very big dog in a conference of mostly midgets. But I suspect his teams will be regularly 1 and out teams in the tournament. Again, it might not be entirely his fault. Because of the league, we will struggle to get the kind of really high seeds we'd normally get as a Big East member. The days of getting a 2 seed because we're UConn are over for sure. So we'll also have lots of tougher games. I think the best example of Ollie's tenure may well be Dom Perno. Nice guy, decent Yankee conference level coach. But he was kept around far beyond when it was clear he was over his head because he stole the ball from Bill Bradley. Ollie will be kept around far beyond when it is clear he's a mid-major coach because he was Jim Calhoun's choice. Over time, I don't see Ollie having the skills or the fire to keep us at the level of a major power despite being stuck in a mid-major league. I think Smart would do that. Stevens would do that. There are other guys but given where we are, we have no chance to get them now. We would have last April. That is my honest opinion.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

don't disagree. I just don't get all the gaga stuff. he's done what he should have done. He came into the season with about 12 "automatic" wins and was being asked not to blow them. he hasn't so far. On the other hand we were ranked in the pre-season AP poll and were 26th in the preseason ESPN poll. We're not close in either any more. So most outside observers agreed with me and thought this team would be pretty good this year. You don't rank teams you think will struggle to win 10 games. And we're ok. Not as good as most voters expected. But fine

The polls you are referencing were taken after we beat Michigan State. We did not receive a single vote in either of the preseason polls.

Nice try though.

 

[aceboon]

You must really think we're stupid

don't disagree. I just don't get all the gaga stuff. he's done what he should have done. He came into the season with about 12 "automatic" wins and was being asked not to blow them. he hasn't so far. On the other hand we were ranked in the pre-season AP poll and were 26th in the preseason ESPN poll. We're not close in either any more. So most outside observers agreed with me and thought this team would be pretty good this year. You don't rank teams you think will struggle to win 10 games. And we're ok. Not as good as most voters expected. But fine.

I do agree though that having Ollie as coach has brought a bit of fresh air to the program. As great as he was, Calhoun had reached a point where he was as much a hindrance as a help. Seemingly forever surrounded by controversy. Though I suspect any new coach would have helped on that score. It was simply time for him to step aside.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

don't disagree. I just don't get all the gaga stuff. he's done what he should have done. He came into the season with about 12 "automatic" wins and was being asked not to blow them. he hasn't so far. On the other hand we were ranked in the pre-season AP poll and were 26th in the preseason ESPN poll. We're not close in either any more. So most outside observers agreed with me and thought this team would be pretty good this year.

You're so full of ****.

It was better when you were just a flat-out troll. What ESPN currently denominates their "pre-season" poll shows UConn as ranked #23, but you'll notice that only one team in the poll has played a game at that point in time: UConn. Beating MSU. On national television. That's why they were there. It's not really a pre-season poll, it's a "pre-season plus one showcase win for UConn" poll. You'll notice the poll jumps directly from "pre-season" to "week 2."

They're nowhere to be found in the pre-season AP poll. Ditto the Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Dick Vitale's Top 40, Jay Bilas's pre-season Top 25, no mention of them in Luke Winn's pre-season power rankings (not in the top 25, not in the "others coming up just short," nowhere).

It's just made-up for you to say that "most outside observers" though this team was going to be good. On the contrary, most outside observers didn't give them a second thought and certainly put them nowhere near a ranking. Otherwise there would not have been universal shock when they beat MSU. I can't believe I just wasted 30 seconds of my life responding to you. What a bunch of revisionist history horse****. Clownish.