Give Kevin a Chance

[Stainmaster]

Take it up with those posters. Has nothing to do with me.

Great, I’ll tell you the same next time you claim I don’t want Ollie fired.

 

[UCDaveD]

Great, I’ll tell you the same next time you claim I don’t want Ollie fired.

Please don't misrepresent my position. I don't doubt that you want Ollie fired. I just doubt that you want the next coach to succeed.

 

[sammydabiz]

When I’m talking alumni I’m talking basketball alumni. Not students. Former players aren’t happy with the way Kevin has been treated by the fans.

Then they must have loved those 20+ pt blowouts.... I think we broke the record this year, what an accomplishment.
Let's keep Ollie another 3 years, maybe they can pay for all the empty seats in the future

 

[Stainmaster]

Please don't misrepresent my position. I don't doubt that you want Ollie fired. I just doubt that you want the next coach to succeed.

Nope. I’m not like Tenspro or BUconn running around and crowing about how their initial read on Ollie was correct as the program burns.

Pessimists can hope that they’re wrong. When you posted about how Ollie should be fired after the Kansas game, were you actively rooting for him to prove your point in the two years that followed.

 

[UCDaveD]

Nope. I’m not like Tenspro or BUconn running around and crowing about how their initial read on Ollie was correct as the program burns.

Pessimists can hope that they’re wrong. When you posted about how Ollie should be fired after the Kansas game, were you actively rooting for him to prove your point in the two years that followed.

I root for UConn every single time they step onto the floor regardless of who the head coach is. That has been the case and will continue to be the case even if Ollie is retained. To me, the team succeeding is more important than my ego. That's just me though...

 

[Huskybass]

Then they may have loved those 20+ pt blowouts.... I think we broke the record this year, what an accomplishment.
Let's keep Ollie another 3 years, maybe they can pay for all the empty seats in the future

The previous record was 5. This is 8 and counting. Houston could very well be number 9. They throttled ECU by over 50 this weekend.

 

[Paesano]

Considering there will be pitchforks if our 5 year trajectory matches any school in that list below Villanova, I’d venture to say that being outside the P5 is a problem that transcends coaching.

Stop being a drama queen. And you should change your name to Strawmaster. Not only is your imaginary UConn fan not real, you have nothing to base this fictional character on besides your own hatred of people that don't love Ollie. You probably think any criticism is "pitchforks". Look, if we are not back in the Top 25 in three years, people will grumble. If we are not Top 25 in 5 years, people will moan and whine. Neither are pitchforks. But, good god, we are well below GRAND CANYON UNIVERSITY right now! People holding up pitchforks NOW in no way translates to pitchforks if we are not Villanova in 5 years. There is a...CANYON...between those two levels.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Knowing what some of us know (and won't be repeated publically)...

Yeah, why bother when you've got innuendo?

Truly, how necessary is to diverge from what's before our eyes in order to make the case that contradicts the OP.

When the strongest pushback comments are Liked by the usual suspects who pepper my Ignore list and I'm more in agreement with them than OP, there's no need to gild the turd.

 

[Sonova]

When I’m talking alumni I’m talking basketball alumni. Not students. Former players aren’t happy with the way Kevin has been treated by the fans.

You don’t know many former players then. Most of them are furious about how and where the program has fallen. Notice how few attend the games....

 

[BlueDogs]

Easy when it's not my money or yours
When did you become the spoke person for all of us?
Even if KO doesn't walk away without a "UConn friendly" buyout, he will have my support because I know the man and he is an honorable person.

Talk about being spoiled by expectations. $3 Million per year is a lot of money by any objective standard. It's a ton of money to coach a kid's game. This isn't brain surgery, curing cancer or even putting your life on the line to protect others. If you want to make obscene amounts of money, then you better perform at levels commensurate with ridiculous compensation you're earning. We owe him exactly nothing.

He owes the school everything from a free education, to affiliation with a hall of fame coach and being entrusted the keys to the kingdom with no head coach experience, to being handed a loaded program. Sorry, not falling for the guilt trip.

 

[UConn Do It4]

When I’m talking alumni I’m talking basketball alumni. Not students. Former players aren’t happy with the way Kevin has been treated by the fans.

Please elaborate. How has he been mistreated? Have I missed something? Aside from bitching on this forum and a confiscated fire Ollie sign, how has he been mistreated?

Did I totally miss threats or something? The only people who even give a crap about this team at this point are on this board. Have former players even come to his defense at this point? Again maybe I missed it, but I don't think any former player is happy with the way Kevin has treated this program. Back to back losing seasons in this shit conference is inexcusable.

 

[intlzncster]

Talk about being spoiled by expectations. $3 Million per year is a lot of money by any objective standard. It's a ton of money to coach a kid's game. This isn't brain surgery, curing cancer or even putting your life on the line to protect others. If you want to make obscene amounts of money, then you better perform at levels commensurate with ridiculous compensation you're earning. We owe him exactly nothing.

He owes the school everything from a free education, to affiliation with a hall of fame coach and being entrusted the keys to the kingdom with no head coach experience, to being handed a loaded program. Sorry, not falling for the guilt trip.

Agree with most of that, but not the free education bit. He was offered a free education in return for his 4 years of blood sweat and tears on the basketball court. He fulfilled that obligation and then some (was an outstanding representative of the school in the NBA). That debt was paid.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Of course, now that I've reread the comments showing Ignored Content, I can see yet again why I Ignore these posters, and I could understand why former players could dislike the fans if these are the ones they're referring to, and I can still wonder what visible performance or news media report or press conference communication leads the OP to haveconfidence that turnaround is possible under KO.

On several grounds, an additional season remains plausible, but I'd place any such season totally in the category of "Show me," and I'd be disappointed if KO himself didn't frame it that way if he is somehow given an additional chance.

 

[temery]

Easy when it's not my money or yours
When did you become the spoke person for all of us?
Even if KO doesn't walk away without a "UConn friendly" buyout, he will have my support because I know the man and he is an honorable person.

Not one person here would walk away from ten million dollars. None. The only compromise would be to spread it out over 10 to 20 years.

I hope he is able to leave on his own terms this year, get a fresh start somewhere else, and return to the coach he was in 2014. If this isn't in the cards, he'll be back next year, and we'll see progress, but I doubt it'll be enough to please many here.

 

[Stainmaster]

Stop being a drama queen. And you should change your name to Strawmaster. Not only is your imaginary UConn fan not real, you have nothing to base this fictional character on besides your own hatred of people that don't love Ollie. You probably think any criticism is "pitchforks". Look, if we are not back in the Top 25 in three years, people will grumble. If we are not Top 25 in 5 years, people will moan and whine. Neither are pitchforks. But, good god, we are well below GRAND CANYON UNIVERSITY right now! People holding up pitchforks NOW in no way translates to pitchforks if we are not Villanova in 5 years. There is a...CANYON...between those two levels.

I'm sorry, this fan is very real and based on many people. It mainly draws from yourself, Tenspro, and BUconn, but also the dozens who stupidly couch legitimate criticism of Ollie in comparisons to Calhoun -- "Calhoun was a master at this! Calhoun would have never done/stood for this!" -- and complain about being removed from the glory days of JC's prime in the Big East (high tourney seedings, deep runs/championships, churning out pros). These are the expectations of many people who deny it when pressed, because they know it makes them looks foolish.

Cincy, Wichita, and SMU (at least save for this year) have been "Top 25" consistently since we've shared a conference with them. How many combined trips past the second weekend do they have past five years? Zero. How many first round draft picks? Zero. How many draft picks in total? 3. How many top 50 recruits who actually made it to campus? Two - Jermaine Lawrence (bolted Cincy after one season) and Keith Frazier. That's an average of 0 S16 or higher berths, 0 1st rounders, <1 draft picks, and <1 Top 50 recruits over a 5 year span.

Your magic "Top 25" litmus test is far from it; the only teams in this conference that fit that mold share a conspicuous inability to advance in the tournament, develop impact NBA players, and recruit at a high level. All three of those things are of vital importance to this fan base. Someone can fix Ollie's in-game coaching and player development mess to the point where we can consistently be ranked in the Top 25 and contend for the tourney yearly, and still choke when it comes to those areas. Given the numerous examples of coaches currently at the top of the conference doing just that, I fail to understand how I am the only one who even thinks that's possible.

 

[UConnDan97]

This season sucks. But the thing that gives me hope is seeing players like Polley improve his game. The kid in the beginning of the season looked like a deer in front of a mack truck at night. Now, he looks like he belongs one the court and can stroke it.

Or Williams, who struggled in most of his early chances, but yesterday had the feel of a bona fide double-double guy.

Or Carlton, who couldn't last 5 minutes without fouling out early in the season, but now looks like he has a real future at the position.

Or Vital, who although is often out of control on a fast break, looks to have grown into a player that can rattle off 20+ points on any given night. Even though last year he often looked like someone who would be no better than a sixth man.

Or Jalen, who has developed into a top level player.

If someone asks me why I'm crazy enough to give Ollie one more year, it's because of all off the above. It's because although it may be painful as hell for me to be in the arena and watch those kids suffer, I know that most of the first year players are getting better. Hell, even Anderson got better. And that's what I expect a coach to do. The top level recruiter coach is now on board, and I'm willing to see another year and spend my money again...

 

[SouthBayHusky]

I have been a UCONN Men’s season ticket holder for 33 years and Woman’s 24 years, I looked up at the banners last night 15 and realized how spoiled we are as UCONN fans. We are not entitled to championships or NCAA tournament selections. We should be ashamed of how we are treating Kevin, he who played for us and coached us to a NC in 2014. It wasn’t just a few years ago that we were worried sick that Kevin would leave for the NBA. In his short coaching tenure Kevin has replaced a HOF coach, cleaned up the fall out of a academic progress probation and still won a NC. He deserves a chance to turn this around with his new coaching staff. Kevin has 3 years left on his contract, give him a chance to succeed, get off his back, he deserves our support.

Kevin is a great guy but the past 4 seasons have been terrible with no sign of improvement. Unfortunately the majority of fans have lost interest with record declines in attendance. At the end of the day our allegiance is to Uconn, not one man. Kevin has been paid handsomely in fact among the top 10 in the country. But unfortunately it’s not working out. We need to get back to being at least relevant and making a tournament more than once in once four years.

 

[temery]

This season sucks. But the thing that gives me hope is seeing players like Polley improve his game. The kid in the beginning of the season looked like a deer in front of a mack truck at night. Now, he looks like he belongs one the court and can stroke it.

Or Williams, who struggled in most of his early chances, but yesterday had the feel of a bona fide double-double guy.

Or Carlton, who couldn't last 5 minutes without fouling out early in the season, but now looks like he has a real future at the position.

Or Vital, who although is often out of control on a fast break, looks to have grown into a player that can rattle off 20+ points on any given night. Even though last year he often looked like someone who would be no better than a sixth man.

Or Jalen, who has developed into a top level player.

If someone asks me why I'm crazy enough to give Ollie one more year, it's because of all off the above. It's because although it may be painful as hell for me to be in the arena and watch those kids suffer, I know that most of the first year players are getting better. Hell, even Anderson got better. And that's what I expect a coach to do. The top level recruiter coach is now on board, and I'm willing to see another year and spend my money again...

If he got out of his seat and showed some passion, he'd improve his image dramatically, and the players would at least have an oportunity to feed off the energy. Calhoun got a lot of miles out of his game day attitude, and it was genuine.

If Ollie has to fake it, so be it. But he's not doing himself any favors by just sitting there like he's waiting for church to get out.

 

[Fishy]

If he got out of his seat and showed some passion, he'd improve his image dramatically, and the players would at least have an oportunity to feed off the energy. Calhoun got a lot of miles out of his game day attitude, and it was genuine.

If Ollie has to fake it, so be it. But he's not doing himself any favors by just sitting there like he's waiting for church to get out.

This is the absolute least of his problems.

He could do Red Panda’s routine on the sideline and the team’s deficiencies in nearly every imaginable area, save the free throw line, would still murder us almost nightly.

 

[intlzncster]

If he got out of his seat and showed some passion, he'd improve his image dramatically, and the players would at least have an oportunity to feed off the energy. Calhoun got a lot of miles out of his game day attitude, and it was genuine.

If Ollie has to fake it, so be it. But he's not doing himself any favors by just sitting there like he's waiting for church to get out.

Somehow, someway, he needs to get these kids to play hard. Consistently. Maybe there's some who just won't do so no matter what. If that's the case, go with the guys who put forth max effort (Vital, Williams, Diarra), results be damned. When you see guys battling from the opening tip until the final whistle, you can look past some of the less attractive warts. Probably not enough to get another season, but still.

 

[UConnDan97]

If he got out of his seat and showed some passion, he'd improve his image dramatically, and the players would at least have an oportunity to feed off the energy. Calhoun got a lot of miles out of his game day attitude, and it was genuine.

If Ollie has to fake it, so be it. But he's not doing himself any favors by just sitting there like he's waiting for church to get out.

Yeah, there were definitely more than a few moments where I actually wanted him to get teed up against Memphis. It might have cost us two points, but the refs were atrocious and the players seeing that probably would have responded earlier.

Still, my comments stand. The young players are improving. Not fast enough to change the season's outcome. Not fast enough to hold off the mob. But they are improving, and that's typically the sign of a good coach...

 

[temery]

This is the absolute least of his problems.

He could do Red Panda’s routine on the sideline and the team’s deficiencies in nearly every imaginable area, save the free throw line, would still murder us almost nightly.

Attitude matters. I'm not saying it's going to magically put more balls in the basket, but a coach who looks like he doesn't want to be there does affect the team's attitude.

My guess was this wasn't his demeanor in 2014, but I could be wrong.

 

[intlzncster]

Still, my comments stand. The young players are improving. Not fast enough to change the season's outcome. Not fast enough to hold off the mob. But they are improving, and that's typically the sign of a good coach...

Unfortunately, that's only one piece of being a good head coach at the college level. You've got to be a GM, personnel director, head 'salesman', in-game coach, head of player development, media relations etc etc.

It appears that Ollie's skills align best to that of an assistant coach. No shame in that.

 

[UConnDan97]

Unfortunately, that's only one piece of being a good head coach at the college level. You've got to be a GM, personnel director, head 'salesman', in game coach, head of player development, media relations etc etc.

It appears that Ollie's skills align best to that of an assistant coach. No shame in that.

Well, I wouldn't say that. If indeed recruiting was the issue, and I think many here would agree that it is, well he let his recruiting coordinator go and brought in someone who is seen as a recruiting expert.

That's what a good head coach does; makes tough decisions for the betterment of the team. I honestly think he understands the problem and is trying to deal with it as quickly as possible...

 

[CL82]

I can't think of one good reason not to give Kevin a 2nd chance:

Because UConn men's basketball is so bad right now it makes babies drink?

 

[CL82]

I have been a UCONN Men’s season ticket holder for 33 years and Woman’s 24 years, I looked up at the banners last night 15 and realized how spoiled we are as UCONN fans. We are not entitled to championships or NCAA tournament selections. We should be ashamed of how we are treating Kevin, he who played for us and coached us to a NC in 2014. It wasn’t just a few years ago that we were worried sick that Kevin would leave for the NBA. In his short coaching tenure Kevin has replaced a HOF coach, cleaned up the fall out of a academic progress probation and still won a NC. He deserves a chance to turn this around with his new coaching staff. Kevin has 3 years left on his contract, give him a chance to succeed, get off his back, he deserves our support.

So Jim, I was right there with you at the start of the season, but the lack of progress, the disorganization on the court, and the 20+ point drubbings has beaten hope out of me. So give me something, anything at all that I can hold onto that tells me that KO has not lost control of the program, that he has some reasonable chance to successfully do the job. Not from 2014 but from 2018.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Given the numerous examples of coaches currently at the top of the conference doing just that, I fail to understand how I am the only one who even thinks that's possible.

I really try to understand what you write, but I sometimes come up short. Your second to the last word is "that's," but I can figure out what the word "that" is
referring to. In other words, you've got a pronoun, but what is the noun?

Because you are claiming an exceptional status for yourself, and I'm not sure I think or feel like those you disagree with, I'd like for you to clarity please.

We may agree, in which case you aren't the only one, OR I may offer a point of view that differs from yours as well as the bunch you take issue with. If that's the case, you might have soften your stance or otherwise incorporate additional perspectives.

In the interest of bring helpful, I'll offer that I'm interested in seeing motivated, ball-sharing, hustling, cohesive, team-oriented basketball, and I have not seen quite enough like that over the past 4 years. I speculate that this type of play would generate a healthy number of wins and then top out against superior competition after the regular season. I could like watching that type of basketball, with some years exceeding the norm and some falling short. That doesn't strike me as either greedy or unrealistic.

 

[Austin316]

Say he returns next year...

We could go 20-10 with these new recruits or 10-20.

We get a new coach and I think the above statement might be the same or worse with transfers out.

Dare I say it... who do we think would transfer after this year if Ollie stayed? How about if he left? I don’t even want to answer that question

In the end it comes down to what’s best for the program and the university.

There’s going to be pros and cons for him leaving vs him staying.

One thing is for sure KO was dealt with nasty injuries 2 years in a row. He wasn’t able to player develop to combat those loses. I think Memphis is made of all juco players and they are doing better than we are. Idk if KO knows what to do and from the interviews with the players after games it seems like they don’t really know what the solution is either. I think it’s the person driving the ship :/

Money-minded Austin316 might say keep him for now.
My head says we gotta cut the man loose.
My heart says give him another year.
... now my heart and head are saying I wanna beer.
Ugh.

 

[Northbound]

People need to accept this and try there best to support him. He’s still our coach, UConn alumni hate seeing him being treated the way he has been. He hates losing just as much as we do. It’s been tough but the fans don’t help. At the end of the day complaining and negativity gets us no where, if we want this program to get back on track the fans need to step up.

KO is the guy that has the ability to stop he losing and the overall trajectory of the program, but he seems unable or unwilling to do what is necessary (I'm not speaking of his effort because I can't comment on that) - but he's done a very poor job of managing the program and there is no way to argue differently.

Should he be cut loose, yes, should he have been hired originally, no. Was unfortunate for all involved and if he's giving JC the proverbial heisman as rumored that just shows he wasn't astute and/or comfortable enough to keep a guy close who knows a bit about running a program for advice, perspective, etc. The staff as it's constructed has nobody that knows how to run a program - Hobbs ran his own program, Miller ran his own program - and I'm not saying if they were still on the staff we'd be jumping for joy, but having those types of guys on staff allows experienced folks to suggest course corrections to KO be it in game or practice plans and recruiting strategy, etc. If he's too insecure to take that type of advise or have those types of guys on staff that's a bad deal.

Part of his profession and why you make all that coin is having a thick skin to put up with the lunacy from passionate fans, the idea that he's not getting the ol' atta boy from fans is insulting to any rational fan. With some credit to Dan Hawkins - KO should go coach intramurals if he craves positive reinforcement.

Folks pay their money, they have the right to complain and complain loudly about the product when its piss poor and calling the product on the floor piss poor is an insult to piss poor.

Very few are actively routing for KO to fail, even I who thought the hire was ill-advised wanted him like hell to succeed because the vast majority of fans want the program to succeed above the success of a player or a coach.

For the life of me I can't understand what glimmer of progress folks see that have them advocating for KO to stay on? Someone please tell me what you see - he's an alum, he won a title, or geez he's a good guy that cares are not signs of moving the program forward.

I do know that if KO goes that there's no guarantee that there's a better guy walking through the door - hope there is but no guarantee.

Sorry for the mini diatribe

 

[Danzz]

KO is coaching a flawed team. Our only true PG is injured and Jalen is forced to play a million minutes out of position. Our only other PG option is Anderson. We had 3 transfers but with maybe the exception of Durham these players would not have made a enough of a difference to salvage the season. Our first year players are playing too many minutes and we have way too many turnovers.
At least some of this is on KO but it is crazy for some all backyard fans to think that KO doesn't get the game after a 13 year NBA career.
Whether or not KO should coach UConn in the future is another question. On one hand I'd like to see what he could do with the help coming next season but on the other hand KO looks like the pressure to win and the failure to do so has consumed him.