Crean vs Hurley | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Crean vs Hurley

intlzncster said:
Calhoun was way, way ahead of Hurley though. Guy had 250 wins before stepping on campus. Had a conference winning percentage of .800. In his last 7 years, he won the conference 6 times.
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Anyone out their now with a similar resume?
 
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Tom crean = Dr. Armond
 
I really don’t hate Crean at all. I just hear he’s kind of a rough personality to be around. I’ve heard some wild stories from Indiana.

He’s also a really good coach and a big upgrade over Ollie. I’d be fine with him - my superficial issue with him, like I’m assuming everyone else’s is - is that he seems like a retread.

Hurley is shiney and new and yes I prefer him over Crean, but I’m not entirely sure he’s better.
 
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Wow, gotta say after the first few responses; I was not expecting to get this many relatively pro-Crean comments.

Again, not saying he's number 1; I just think we could do worse.
 
Crean is supposed to be a decent human being and he has an eye for under-the-radar talent, but he's an awful in-game coach, he almost never lands the big fish, and he wasn't able to take Indiana beyond the Sweet 16. He failed to win 20 games in 3 of his final 4 years at IU – how would he do in Storrs?

Bottom line is he's a guy who's never had significant success unless he had a generational talent (Wade).

Now, we don't know if Hurley will ever get there. But he started at a nothing high school and built it into a power. Then he got a job at a small D-1 school, and turned that into a regional power (and his successor has kept that going). Then he moved up a level to a mid-major, and has turned them into a power.

Every step is another rung on the ladder, with no skipped steps. No escalators, one might say.

It doesn't mean he's going to be the right guy for this job. But he's a young-ish coach on the come-up, has nearly 2 decades of head coaching experience, and nearly one decade as a college head coach.

Hiring Hurley represents "we want to be really good again." Hiring Crean would be "we don't want to be that bad again."

I know which I'd prefer.

Guapo said:
Again, not saying he's number 1; I just think we could do worse.
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There are about a dozen mid-major HCs I'd rather take a flier on before Crean. Hiring Crean is "we're kind of giving up, we just don't want to be an embarrassment anymore."

If you can't get Indiana to a Final Four you sure as hell can't get UConn there.
 
djct1999 said:
Crean shouldn't even be on UConn's radar. I get he is a name coach but he offers little upside to the program. Hurley has most of the tangibles and upside we thought we were getting with Ollie, albeit with slightly different recruiting ties, plus he is a better coach.
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100 percent
 
Crean gets a completely unjustified bad rap. Overall he did a great job with Marquette. The 02-03 final four season with Wade was one of the best in program history. He also went 69-31 upon entering the Big East (making the tournament all 3 years).

He then inherited a TERRIBLE situation at IU and turned it into back to back sweet sixteens appearances by years 4 and 5. Once he got the program back on its feet they made 4/6 tournaments before he was fired, and had very good teams in 3/6 of those years finishing Kenpom #9, #3 and #11. You can argue that those teams underperformed in the NCAA tournament, but they lost to national champion UK (Kenpom #1), final four Cuse (Kenpom #9) and runner up UNC (Kenpom #2). Sure it would have been nice if those teams went further but it's tough to be so critical on a 3 game sample. It's not like he was getting upset by double digit cinderella stories.

He's also a proven recruiter who has brought in multiple 5* players.

Outside of people thinking he's a weird guy what's not to like...
 
UConnStats said:
I’ll give Crean this. His agent is doing a great job of getting him mentioned for just about every job opening up across the country, regardless of whether the schools have any mutual interest.
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Why are you giving Crean the credit? That's what he pays his agent to do.
 
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Guapo said:
But I saw someone say that Crean would be a nightmare hire. Why?
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People on this board got upset because KO couldn't lock down top New England recruits. Just take a look at how many top Indiana recruits decided to play elsewhere. Trust me, by the end of Crean's tenure, that fan base couldn't wait for the ax to fall on his neck.
 
Matt1010 said:
You can argue that those teams underperformed in the NCAA tournament, but they lost to national champion UK (Kenpom #1), final four Cuse (Kenpom #9) and runner up UNC (Kenpom #2). Sure it would have been nice if those teams went further but it's tough to be so critical on a 3 game sample...
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It's an 18-year sample. Crean's never won a postseason tournament – not in Conference USA, not in the Big East, not in the Big 10.
 
I’m in Louisville for business this week - and caught a lot of local sports radio today - and they are having similar conversations regarding coaching (and dissimilar in a sense that they are crushed for missing the tourney whereas we knew for certain it wasn’t happening). But, for two hours I listened to the hosts and callers come up with names. The most common ‘want’ was Chris Mack. There were some former Pitino disciples (mainly Donovan) but a thought that none of these would come based on how the Pitino firing went down. There was a lot of Gregg Marshall too. Regardless, the name I did not hear...not once...was Crean. And these folks are geographically close to IU. To me, that speaks volumes. As much as I loathe Louisville, their fans are passionate and knowledgeable about hoops. I strongly lean toward the potential of Hurley or other up and comers rather than a retread. If we’re going to take the retread route, I’m sure there are better options.
 
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SubbaBub said:
Anyone out their now with a similar resume?
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Not a chance. Coaching carousel is too quick these days. He was at Northeastern for 13 years. Guys like that only last 6 these days.
 
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Matrim55 said:
Crean is supposed to be a decent human being and he has an eye for under-the-radar talent, but he's an awful in-game coach, he almost never lands the big fish, and he wasn't able to take Indiana beyond the Sweet 16. He failed to win 20 games in 3 of his final 4 years at IU – how would he do in Storrs?

Bottom line is he's a guy who's never had significant success unless he had a generational talent (Wade).

Now, we don't know if Hurley will ever get there. But he started at a nothing high school and built it into a power. Then he got a job at a small D-1 school, and turned that into a regional power (and his successor has kept that going). Then he moved up a level to a mid-major, and has turned them into a power.

Every step is another rung on the ladder, with no skipped steps. No escalators, one might say.

It doesn't mean he's going to be the right guy for this job. But he's a young-ish coach on the come-up, has nearly 2 decades of head coaching experience, and nearly one decade as a college head coach.

Hiring Hurley represents "we want to be really good again." Hiring Crean would be "we don't want to be that bad again."

I know which I'd prefer.


There are about a dozen mid-major HCs I'd rather take a flier on before Crean. Hiring Crean is "we're kind of giving up, we just don't want to be an embarrassment anymore."

If you can't get Indiana to a Final Four you sure as hell can't get UConn there.
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He turned Wagner into a regional power? He didn’t even go to an NCAA tourney there.
 
intlzncster said:
Discerning readers will note that a big part of Dan Hurley's 'come back' at Seton Hall was due to a new coach: our own George Blaney. Neat little tie in.
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Sounds like a potential coach in waiting.
 
whaler11 said:
He turned Wagner into a regional power? He didn’t even go to an NCAA tourney there.
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You’re talking to someone who thinks Earl Grant is a “high-level recruiter” because he was on staff for some terrible classes at a then-ACC bottom feeder. Take everything there with multiple grains of salt.
 
djct1999 said:
Most coaches haven't. And if your main point is 2013-14 for Ollie, it must be made that run was made with Calhoun's players. Hurley has brought two programs to conference championships and NCAA appearances and has a natural coaching trajectory.....low major(success) to mid-major(success).....to high major.
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KO was an assistant on the team when those kids committed and I know KO had a lot to do with most of them choosing UConn. Not advocating that KO didn't have to go but the other side of your point is that it wasn't like KO came from outside the program and won with JC's players - he was part of that program thus those kids are part of him. In addition the job he did the year they were on probation was pretty darn good considering the circumstances. KO won a conference tournament and a NCAA -I'll take that over a couple of low major and mid major improvements but no national jingle - as Geno said - they can't take the national championship away from him or the program
Hurley may be the choice here but I'm not at all convinced - I would like to see some other names first- plus if Pitt offers - Hurley's going there
Crean - no thanks
To be honest there isn't a heck of a lot out there - at least declared available - but things might change after the tournament
I hope UConn makes the right choice - it's time to move on from KO - the negatives and the positives aside, the pros and cons - this is a HUGE time in this program and should not be in the position to take someone because they threaten to go somewhere else unless they are JC level (alright maybe the next level down from God!). I feel that AD David Benedict may feel pressure in one direction right now.
 
Matrim55 said:
It's an 18-year sample. Crean's never won a postseason tournament – not in Conference USA, not in the Big East, not in the Big 10.
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Crean has won 3 Big 10 regular season championships, been to 4 sweet 16s and a final four.

Hurley's best full season thus far is finishing 3rd in the A-10 and losing in the second round of the tournament.

I still want Hurley, just don't understand where the idea that Crean would be a nightmare hire comes from.
 
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Both coaches would be fine, to say one is better then the other is laughable. Still, niether should be our primary target.
 
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