Get with it Warde

[uconn34]

You are single handledly negatively impacting our Mens BB team. For God's sake and ours allow Ollie to be named coach in waiting. He is from our camp, has great work ethic and character and is apparently well liked by the type of recruits that have made us special. I was pleased when we hired you. Much less pleased today!

 

[UConnSwag11]

You are single handledly negatively impacting our Mens BB team. For God's sake and ours allow Ollie to be named coach in waiting. He is from our camp, has great work ethic and character and is apparently well liked by the type of recruits that have made us special. I was pleased when we hired you. Much less pleased today!

W-T-F

 

[hungry husky]

You are single handledly negatively impacting our Mens BB team. For God's sake and ours allow Ollie to be named coach in waiting. He is from our camp, has great work ethic and character and is apparently well liked by the type of recruits that have made us special. I was pleased when we hired you. Much less pleased today!

Where is your patience? The guy is way more qualified than yourself to make such a decision, and I have faith that he'll make the best decision for the program. You can do it quickly, or you can do it right.

 

[dsturdy5]

I read through your last few posts and I can't tell if you are a troll or just a miserable person.

 

[Husky1964]

Cool it!! Warde's dancing orders come from the real BOSS, Dr. Sue.

 

[freescooter]

give it a rest. Manuel has said he doesn't want a coach in waiting. There are lots of reasons for that position, besides the fact that nobody knows if Ollie can actually coach....who knows who will be available when Calhoun steps down. Suppose Sean Miller wants to come back to the East? Does he? I have no clue, but just suppose he is available come 2014? Still want Ollie? Suppose Shaka Smart wins th eA-10 this year and goes back to the Final Four with VCU? And gets word that he wants the UConn job? Still want to promote the #3 assistant? Until Calhoun is absolutely ready to step down, a Coach in waiting potetially undermines his authority as well.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

Still want to promote the #3 assistant?

Kevin Ollie is not the #3 assistant. He runs 100% of the offseason workouts and virtually 100% of the recruiting. Since Calhoun injured himself, Ollie's essentially been running the program. Blaney, I'm sure, has been playing a lot of golf.

 

[Fishy]

1) There is no way that Warde should name anyone 'coach in waiting' right now. There's no need - if Calhoun retires, UConn will have a vast ocean of potential replacements to choose from.

2) If anyone actually thinks Kevin Ollie is running the entire show here in terms of recruiting and offseason workouts and folks like Jim Calhoun, George Blaney, Glen Miller and Karl Hobbs are doing nothing, they are delusional.

 

[freescooter]

1) There is no way that Warde should name anyone 'coach in waiting' right now. There's no need - if Calhoun retires, UConn will have a vast ocean of potential replacements to choose from.

2) If anyone actually thinks Kevin Ollie is running the entire show here in terms of recruiting and offseason workouts and folks like Jim Calhoun, George Blaney, Glen Miller and Karl Hobbs are doing nothing, they are delusional.

Absolutely right on the money on both points!

 

[caw]

1) There is no way that Warde should name anyone 'coach in waiting' right now. There's no need - if Calhoun retires, UConn will have a vast ocean of potential replacements to choose from.

2) If anyone actually thinks Kevin Ollie is running the entire show here in terms of recruiting and offseason workouts and folks like Jim Calhoun, George Blaney, Glen Miller and Karl Hobbs are doing nothing, they are delusional.

If Herbst/Ollie/Calhoun/etc. are telling everyone (i.e. recruits) that Ollie will be the next coach, I don't see the problem with Warde naming him coach in waiting (assuming he legally is able to do so).

Yeah, I doubt Ollie is running everything, but he is doing a lot and doing it well.

 

[Durks07]

Coach-in-waiting didn't work out well in West Virginia or Florida State or Maryland or Texas. Let Warde make the right decision when the time comes. Ollie is going to be seriously considered when Calhoun decides to retire. There is no good reason to put the label on him at this point, and if another offer comes for Ollie to get a HC job at another school then Uconn should address it. There is no pressure to do this now, and to do so would only limit the pool of candidates that Warde will be able to choose from later.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

Obviously Ollie isn't the only member of the coaching staff who earned his paycheck this summer. What I really meant to say is that, with Jim Calhoun not on campus and not on the road recruiting at the moment, Ollie has been the face of the program and calling him our "#3 assistant" couldn't be more inaccurate. I haven't seen too many recruits mention their great relationship with Glen Miller and George Blaney as the reason they're considering Uconn.

 

[freescooter]

BballFan,

He's the primary recruiter/coordinator. Of course he is the guy recruits see most. Just as Tom Moore was several years ago.His job is to befriend recruits, to develop relationships with them. You guys continually make the same mistake. Recruits develop relationships with their primary recruiters and say nice things about them. 5 years ago you guys couldn't wait to give the job to Moore, who was the primary recruiter and all the recruits supposedly loved at that time. If the recruits don't like your recruiter, you have a very serious problem. But that isn't the same as being a good x and o coach, being a good strategist, a good motivator, or even a good disciplinarian, all of which are parts of the head coaches job. Ollie's job with recruits, first and foremost, is to sell them on the idea of coming to UConn. And a huge part of that is coming to play for Calhoun, for a 3 time national champion, for a school that puts guys in the NBA at an alarming clip, not to play for Ollie. Why that is so hard to understand, I just don't get. The entire staff ocntributes to evaluating recruits, then it falls to Ollie to be the main source of contact. I know its football and not basketball, but there is a story about Penn State that someone recently told, they asked him how often he spoke with Joe Paterno when he was being recruited. He met Paterno once for less than 5 minutes. And that was the only time he spoke to him directly in 5 years. I wouldn't be surprise dif in the recruiting world, Calhoun speaks to players once, maybe twice. Ollie is the one in regular communication.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

BballFan,

He's the primary recruiter/coordinator. Of course he is the guy recruits see most. Just as Tom Moore was several years ago.His job is to befriend recruits, to develop relationships with them. You guys continually make the same mistake. Recruits develop relationships with their primary recruiters and say nice things about them. 5 years ago you guys couldn't wait to give the job to Moore, who was the primary recruiter and all the recruits supposedly loved at that time. If the recruits don't like your recruiter, you have a very serious problem. But that isn't the same as being a good x and o coach, being a good strategist, a good motivator, or even a good disciplinarian, all of which are parts of the head coaches job. Ollie's job with recruits, first and foremost, is to sell them on the idea of coming to UConn. And a huge part of that is coming to play for Calhoun, for a 3 time national champion, for a school that puts guys in the NBA at an alarming clip, not to play for Ollie. Why that is so hard to understand, I just don't get. The entire staff ocntributes to evaluating recruits, then it falls to Ollie to be the main source of contact. I know its football and not basketball, but there is a story about Penn State that someone recently told, they asked him how often he spoke with Joe Paterno when he was being recruited. He met Paterno once for less than 5 minutes. And that was the only time he spoke to him directly in 5 years. I wouldn't be surprise dif in the recruiting world, Calhoun speaks to players once, maybe twice. Ollie is the one in regular communication.

Most of this is accurate, but there's one key exception. Kenton Facey, Terrence Samuel, and anyone else we recruit for 2013 and beyond would play for Jim Calhoun for a maximum of 1 year (and if I were a betting man, I'd bet they won't play for him at all). So any selling that the staff does from now on isn't really about getting the chance to play for Jim Calhoun. Based on what we know recruits are being told, Ollie is the one being sold. And so far, we have two buyers.

 

[freescooter]

Most of this is accurate, but there's one key exception. Kenton Facey, Terrence Samuel, and anyone else we recruit for 2013 and beyond would play for Jim Calhoun for a maximum of 1 year (and if I were a betting man, I'd bet they won't play for him at all). So any selling that the staff does from now on isn't really about getting the chance to play for Jim Calhoun. Based on what we know recruits are being told, Ollie is the one being sold. And so far, we have two buyers.

I'm not so sure about that... Manuel's comments said no such thing. He said they were told that UConn was committed to continuing its high level of basketball success even when Coach Calhoun retires.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

I'm not so sure about that... Manuel's comments said no such thing. He said they were told that UConn was committed to continuing its high level of basketball success even when Coach Calhoun retires.

Of course Manuel's not going to admit it. But the fact that recruits are being told that Ollie is the next coach isn't just my opinion. There were already rumblings that this was the case and Facey and his AAU coach pretty much confirmed it.

 

[aceboon]

Its at the point now where one of the reasons I want Ollie to be hired is just so freescooter can wear the egg on his face. How many signs do you need to see before you acknowledge that Ollie is a serious and likely candidate for the job? #3 assistant? It wouldn't surprise me that in the next Ollie thread you demote him to the Director of Basketball Administration

 

[freescooter]

Its at the point now where one of the reasons I want Ollie to be hired is just so freescooter can wear the egg on his face. How many signs do you need to see before you acknowledge that Ollie is a serious and likely candidate for the job? #3 assistant? It wouldn't surprise me that in the next Ollie thread you demote him to the Director of Basketball Administration

And it is almost, but will never get there, at the point where I hope Ollie gets the job and we finsih behind Providence and Seton Hall just so you guys will understand that you don't appoint an unproven junior assistant to the head coaches job at a major power basketball school. Manual knows this and really does not want to do it. He might be pressured into making a move he knows is dumb by alumni and fans, but he knows in his heart of hearts that it will still be a dumb decision.

 

[uconn34]

For FreeScooter and Company

http://blog.ctnews.com/uconnbasketball/2012/09/04/who-is-uconns-next-2013-commit/​

 

[mauconnfan]

And it is almost, but will never get there, at the point where I hope Ollie gets the job and we finsih behind Providence and Seton Hall just so you guys will understand that you don't appoint an unproven junior assistant to the head coaches job at a major power basketball school. Manual knows this and really does not want to do it. He might be pressured into making a move he knows is dumb by alumni and fans, but he knows in his heart of hearts that it will still be a dumb decision.

So many factors involved and a very tough decision for everyone, except maybe JC. We all love KO and believe he will eventually be a very good coach. Having said that no one is sure he can step in and be the guy right away but then again maybe he can. The one fear JC has is losing the continuity of the Husky family. For all of you Shaka fans you must admit it will not be the same and in the long run, if Ray, KO, Donny, Yell, Ruday and others are not coming around, who are we?? If KO surrounds himself with a solid staff and keeps them close, he will be fine I believe. I do understand those with their doubts though......but I like to keep the family together so you know my vote!!.....take the chance!

 

[jleves]

So many factors involved and a very tough decision for everyone, except maybe JC. We all love KO and believe he will eventually be a very good coach. Having said that no one is sure he can step in and be the guy right away but then again maybe he can. The one fear JC has is losing the continuity of the Husky family. For all of you Shaka fans you must admit it will not be the same and in the long run, if Ray, KO, Donny, Yell, Ruday and others are not coming around, who are we?? If KO surrounds himself with a solid staff and keeps them close, he will be fine I believe. I do understand those with their doubts though......but I like to keep the family together so you know my vote!!.....take the chance!

It's big time D1 NCAA basketball. We're a top 10 if not top 5 team. There are huge implications in hiring a new coach. The first of which is you don't need to hire one today; we still have a hall of fame coach running the program.

Simply put, it's not a decision you make emotionally. You don't automatically pick the fan favorite. You don't automatically pick the feel good assistant coach. You certainly don't automatically limit the choices you may have in a year or two or three depending on when your HOF coach actually retires.

It's certainly not like Syracuse where good or even great regular seasons followed up with disappointing post seasons are tolerated and even revered.

It's UConn where Elite Eights are expected and Final Fours and National Championships are no longer unusual.

You wait until you have to make the decision and then you evaluate which available and wanting coach gives you the best chance to continue winning Final Fours and Championships.

Stop thinking that we are a lower level program - we're not anymore.

 

[uconn34]

We have a Hall of Fame coach (God Bless Him) for whom the wear and tear shows. He will always be around the program,his words not mine. Ollie is not an emotional decision or Coach Calhoun would not have lobbied in public re; his desire to have Ollie succeed him. I think he has too much respect for President H to have done so. I believe Coach C. would gladly turn the reins over but keep it in the UConn family. Frankly I can't think of a better character person, dedicated player, with exposure to so many different NBA top level coaches to draw on whose mind and heart have made him such a success. I personnally would love to see Coach C. live longer and enjoy and help in the transition years, and I think his mounting health issues are indicative of a man who deserves/needs to bask a little, enjoy his grandchildren and watch his student take over the reins. He doesn't seem to know anything but 200% and it appears to be taking its toll.
I don't know who you know from Syracuse, but I know more than a couple and have never heard them rever disappointing post seasons. We are a top program, but you re-earn that every recruiting class and every season. Its tough to understand our, at times, tough recruiting losses to comparable programs but its easy to understand how an 18 year old wants to at least know who is likely to be coaching them. Warde M seems like a good guy but I'd take a Calhoun recommendation in this situation anyday particularly with the long term exposure Coach has had for 15+ years with Kevin, over his anyday. He is a Michigan guy and I'm certain if and when Michigan calls he will no longer be at UConn. Calhoun and Ollie will!

 

[Huskies4ever]

You are single handledly negatively impacting our Mens BB team. For God's sake and ours allow Ollie to be named coach in waiting. He is from our camp, has great work ethic and character and is apparently well liked by the type of recruits that have made us special. I was pleased when we hired you. Much less pleased today!

I dunno. I like what he has to say about the UNC fiasco

 

[uconn34]

I liked that as well!

 

[huskyhal]

With UConn being a state school, are there not hiring rules that would preclude naming a coach-in-waiting? I seem to remember that all jobs at state government entities must be posted, and then the search can begin. Although they may very well know to whom they would offer the job, I'm not sure they're allowed to publicly commit to anyone until the job opens up, as that would preclude an 'open' process.

I've seen this question asked on other threads about this topic, and don't recall seeing an answer.