Donovan versus Ollie

[Palatine]

Listening to the sports radio (dc) on my morning drive and some former coach made an interesting comment. He was asked who had the advantage Ollie or BD.

The coach said that you need to compare staffs not just the head coaches and that Connecticut had a better coaching staff with much more experience than Florida. Donovan keeps losing assistants and his staff isn't as deep or experience as UConn's because of it.

He finally said head-to-head he would give Donovan the edge because he has been to the final four and won and has 18 years as a head man on the bench. But he still gives the overall coaching edge to UConn.

 

[boog204]

I love KO... Love him. But comparing him to Donovan is asinine. If Donovan were to win another championship he deserves to be put into the upper echelon of coaches all-time. 3 titles, 4 or 5 final fours in 20 years; that's HOF worthy stuff.

 

[Sportsman5]

I love KO... Love him. But comparing him to Donovan is asinine. If Donovan were to win another championship he deserves to be put into the upper echelon of coaches all-time. 3 titles, 4 or 5 final fours in 20 years; that's HOF worthy stuff.

I think they are talking about just the one game and not the entire body of work. It's all about who has the better in game coaching. Recruiting, off season preparation/ coaching, and the success of previous teams are all separate from who can prepare their team best to play one game and who can call the best out of bounds plays, substitutions, adjustments etc. It's impossible to predict who will make the better choices this game, but there's definitely an argument for Ollie due to the fact that NBA experience usually trumps college experience when it comes to in game coaching. We will see on Saturday!

 

[Waquoit]

I love KO... Love him. But comparing him to Donovan is asinine.

Huh? He just outcoached Izzo.

 

[boog204]

Huh? He just outcoached Izzo.

Very true... But you can't compare them based on body of work as the original poster's anecdote sort of implies. Fred Hoiberg outcoached JC in 2012, too.

Donovan has to have the edge simply based on experience and success in that spot. He's been to 3 national championship games. The guy obviously knows how to coach in game and in a big game.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

I think you completely misread the original post.

 

[aceboon]

I love KO... Love him. But comparing him to Donovan is asinine. If Donovan were to win another championship he deserves to be put into the upper echelon of coaches all-time. 3 titles, 4 or 5 final fours in 20 years; that's HOF worthy stuff.

The poster's recollection is that this coach was referring to the entire staff, not just KO vs Donovan

 

[imno1]

It would be a good fight but I think Ollie KOs him. Or are you talking about coaching?

 

[boog204]

Guess I misread it a little bit. I understand that Florida has had some turnover but they do have John Pelphrey who has NCAA tourney experience as a coach and player; their Hobbs, if you will. I guess it just seems kind of odd to compare coaching staffs when there is a hall of fame coach on one side and a guy who has the potential to be one on the other. It would be akin to comparing JC to Jamie Dixon (when he was considered a potential big time coach who wouldn't choke).

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Guess I misread it a little bit. I understand that Florida has had some turnover but they do have John Pelphrey who has NCAA tourney experience as a coach and player; their Hobbs, if you will. I guess it just seems kind of odd to compare coaching staffs when there is a hall of fame coach on one side and a guy who has the potential to be one on the other. It would be akin to comparing JC to Jamie Dixon (when he was considered a potential big time coach who wouldn't choke).

I guess you kind of have to understand the difference between "coach" and "coaching staff."

 

[boog204]

I guess you kind of have to understand the difference between "coach" and "coaching staff."

Guess I never thought of Hobbs and Glen Miller as being these superstar coaches. Both were failed head coaches, no? They bring lots of experience but were either of them any more successful than Pelphrey? Then we have two first year assistants; Florida has two young assistants with at least a year or two at other schools.

 

[Hume]

Guess I never thought of Hobbs and Glen Miller as being these superstar coaches. Both were failed head coaches, no? They bring lots of experience but were either of them any more successful than Pelphrey? Then we have two first year assistants; Florida has two young assistants with at least a year or two at other schools.

Glen Miller was a head coach at various programs for 16 years and Karl Hobbs 11 years. Fairly long stints for "failed head coaches." So tell me, how many teams do you know that have assistants that were head coaches that don't qualify as "failed head coaches" by those standards?" Are there any out there that ran successful college programs but just said the hell with it I think I would rather be an assistant coach? Not sure who you are referring to as first year assistants, but Rickie Moore was an assistant coach at Dartmouth for two years before serving as Assistant Director of Basketball Administration last year at Uconn. Freeman is in his second year as Director of Basketball Administration at Uconn, and was an Assistant Director for a year prior to that with Karl Hobbs at GW. Not tons of experience as coaches, but not first year assistants either. And those two "new assistants" happen to be one of the best, if not the best, defensive players Uconn has ever had and an all-time Uconn warrior. What are two of the things that have spurred this run? Defense and toughness.

 

[Palatine]

Guess I misread it a little bit. I understand that Florida has had some turnover but they do have John Pelphrey who has NCAA tourney experience as a coach and player; their Hobbs, if you will. I guess it just seems kind of odd to compare coaching staffs when there is a hall of fame coach on one side and a guy who has the potential to be one on the other. It would be akin to comparing JC to Jamie Dixon (when he was considered a potential big time coach who wouldn't choke).

The point of comparing staffs is they all work together to prepare for the next game, it isn't just the head coaches going one-on-one. That's the point the coach on the radio was making.

Both Hobbs and Miller are highly thought of in the coaching fraternity. Both had long runs as winners at programs that compete with many disadvantages and are not consistent winners.

Oh, BTW, there is this dude down the hall, an unofficial part of the brain trust who has a very good resume.

 

[Huskyforlife]

Huh? He just outcoached Izzo.

Twice