Hurley, Martin, Matta, Crean

[the Q]

There goes Crean

I figured this was gonna happen.

 

[uconnphil2016]

Unless Hurley goes to pitt or Louisville.

Then this board might meltdown.

If that happens we are basically just screwed.

 

[Awol]

No old washouts.

Hurley
Musselman
Schmidt
Becker
Guys I am forgetting. I’d take Tommy Amaker over the other three.

I'm with you Hawk - love that list. In fact I've fallen for Schmidt in terms of his teaching and player development and getting kids to St Bonnie not to mention he'd be around until retirement 10+ years.

 

[intlzncster]

There goes Crean

 

[Horatio]

Hobbs w/ Burrell and retain Chillous is
better than Martin, Crean and Matta.

 

[Walker11]

My biggest criticism would be his recruiting. He couldn't recruot Indiana kids to play at IU, which doesn't make me optimistic he'd do a good job recruiting New England

He recruited pretty well nationally and still landed lots of top 50 Indiana kids, including a few 5 stars like Zeller, Blackmon, Ferrell, etc. He scored huge with diamond in the rough talents like Anunoby and Oladipo. He just wasn't consistent enough. Georgia and he are probably a good fit. Low expectations from that administration.

 

[navery12]

He recruited pretty well nationally and still landed lots of top 50 Indiana kids, including a few 5 stars like Zeller, Blackmon, Ferrell, etc. He scored huge with diamond in the rough talents like Anunoby and Oladipo. He just wasn't consistent enough. Georgia and he are probably a good fit.

He did a good job recruiting, but I don't think a national level of recruiting to the AAC would have been a good fit. All irrelevant now anyway

 

[Ricker]

I haven't posted anything about our coaching change, but this list of candidates isn't very inspiring that we are improving our situation. We're going to spend millions of dollars to get rid of a coach who bleeds blue, won a national championship with a team few coaches would have won with, and who brought in a noted recruiter who hasn't had a chance to make an impact. Ollie's NBA credentials, reputation, and early NCAA title make a pretty good story. He parlayed his act to be a top 5 finalist on the list of numerous top 5 star talents and mostly swung and missed. Now we confirm he was likely up against a stacked deck with sneaker money and was still close selling a marginal conference to boot.

It's true that in the past couple of years he underachieved with the players he did have, we got our butts kicked solidly a bunch, a group of kids jumped ship, and, we slid towards the lower middle of a so/so conference. It's true that several players did not improve in their time at UConn. It's also true that the cupboard isn't bare, the team visibly improved over the last 10 games, individual players visibly improved, Ollie made many changes to improve strength and conditioning, hired the talent he felt would recruit, and, we had 2 top 100 recruits coming in. Ollie never got to coach the back court of Adams and Gilbert over a season, and improvements in recruiting, conditioning, and the on court performance of freshman are the type of things that improve gradually.

I don't know what the kids really think in the locker room, nor what the dirty laundry really is, and this might make a difference, but I personally would have given him another year. He's proven an upside and there is no reason I have seen so far that proves he is not capable of finding his way back.

With that said, my main complaint is that we are not turning to an obvious improvement. Watching URI since Hurley's name has been put forth has not been impressive in terms of likelihood of improvement. I see him coaching players who try to make an individual play, then pass it to the next guy who tries the same. Today some hero shots went in. Essentially I watched a guard oriented team required to play the same as UConn plays now because they haven't got a good enough front court just like UConn now. What makes anybody think he would do better than Ollie recruiting or coaching? The retreads mentioned have never recruited any more top kids to their programs than Ollie has, and are not with their recent schools because of their own shortcomings.

I think we are going to rue this change. Maybe that search firm might still come in handy. The program needs to have 2-3 kids on the roster with legitimate NBA talent. Find me somebody sitting on an NBA bench as an assistant that could excite prospects with NBA talent.

Just venting but I don't think the grass is greener and I think Ollie would make it back like Tiger because Ollie is a competitor.

 

[SubbaBub]

I have no idea how people are putting Crean over Matta.

Truth is that other than Donovan, there isn't a sure fire "John Gruden" guy out there that any school would take. The goal here is to find the "next" great coach. It's not easy and very unlikely that we strike lightning twice.

Truthfully, the best guy out there currently still coaching is Calhoun. If that's the level you want you have to look to guys like Donovan and Stephens. They are unlikely to leave the NBA and return to college but there are only so many guys who have won big in the last twenty years. We had one and just fired another. Matta was close to being one of those guys at OSU.

 

[JimHurley]

We must know we are getting Hurley.

 

[gtcam]

CREAN finalizing deal with Georgia
Thank God

 

[ASweet3781]

I haven't posted anything about our coaching change, but this list of candidates isn't very inspiring that we are improving our situation. We're going to spend millions of dollars to get rid of a coach who bleeds blue, won a national championship with a team few coaches would have won with, and who brought in a noted recruiter who hasn't had a chance to make an impact. Ollie's NBA credentials, reputation, and early NCAA title make a pretty good story. He parlayed his act to be a top 5 finalist on the list of numerous top 5 star talents and mostly swung and missed. Now we confirm he was likely up against a stacked deck with sneaker money and was still close selling a marginal conference to boot.

It's true that in the past couple of years he underachieved with the players he did have, we got our butts kicked solidly a bunch, a group of kids jumped ship, and, we slid towards the lower middle of a so/so conference. It's true that several players did not improve in their time at UConn. It's also true that the cupboard isn't bare, the team visibly improved over the last 10 games, individual players visibly improved, Ollie made many changes to improve strength and conditioning, hired the talent he felt would recruit, and, we had 2 top 100 recruits coming in. Ollie never got to coach the back court of Adams and Gilbert over a season, and improvements in recruiting, conditioning, and the on court performance of freshman are the type of things that improve gradually.

I don't know what the kids really think in the locker room, nor what the dirty laundry really is, and this might make a difference, but I personally would have given him another year. He's proven an upside and there is no reason I have seen so far that proves he is not capable of finding his way back.

With that said, my main complaint is that we are not turning to an obvious improvement. Watching URI since Hurley's name has been put forth has not been impressive in terms of likelihood of improvement. I see him coaching players who try to make an individual play, then pass it to the next guy who tries the same. Today some hero shots went in. Essentially I watched a guard oriented team required to play the same as UConn plays now because they haven't got a good enough front court just like UConn now. What makes anybody think he would do better than Ollie recruiting or coaching? The retreads mentioned have never recruited any more top kids to their programs than Ollie has, and are not with their recent schools because of their own shortcomings.

I think we are going to rue this change. Maybe that search firm might still come in handy. The program needs to have 2-3 kids on the roster with legitimate NBA talent. Find me somebody sitting on an NBA bench as an assistant that could excite prospects with NBA talent.

Just venting but I don't think the grass is greener and I think Ollie would make it back like Tiger because Ollie is a competitor.

When UConn is 7-3 under Hurley next year we will be reading the bring back Ollie posts won't we?

 

[gtcam]

MATTA still high on UConn's list

 

[HuskyHawk]

Hobbs w/ Burrell and retain Chillous is
better than Martin, Crean and Matta.

No. It’s not. No UConn people. It’s ridiculous to even list them. We have to stop thinking people are worthy based on having played here.

 

[Storrs South]

 

[Walker11]

I haven't posted anything about our coaching change, but this list of candidates isn't very inspiring that we are improving our situation. We're going to spend millions of dollars to get rid of a coach who bleeds blue, won a national championship with a team few coaches would have won with, and who brought in a noted recruiter who hasn't had a chance to make an impact. Ollie's NBA credentials, reputation, and early NCAA title make a pretty good story. He parlayed his act to be a top 5 finalist on the list of numerous top 5 star talents and mostly swung and missed. Now we confirm he was likely up against a stacked deck with sneaker money and was still close selling a marginal conference to boot.

It's true that in the past couple of years he underachieved with the players he did have, we got our butts kicked solidly a bunch, a group of kids jumped ship, and, we slid towards the lower middle of a so/so conference. It's true that several players did not improve in their time at UConn. It's also true that the cupboard isn't bare, the team visibly improved over the last 10 games, individual players visibly improved, Ollie made many changes to improve strength and conditioning, hired the talent he felt would recruit, and, we had 2 top 100 recruits coming in. Ollie never got to coach the back court of Adams and Gilbert over a season, and improvements in recruiting, conditioning, and the on court performance of freshman are the type of things that improve gradually.

I don't know what the kids really think in the locker room, nor what the dirty laundry really is, and this might make a difference, but I personally would have given him another year. He's proven an upside and there is no reason I have seen so far that proves he is not capable of finding his way back.

With that said, my main complaint is that we are not turning to an obvious improvement. Watching URI since Hurley's name has been put forth has not been impressive in terms of likelihood of improvement. I see him coaching players who try to make an individual play, then pass it to the next guy who tries the same. Today some hero shots went in. Essentially I watched a guard oriented team required to play the same as UConn plays now because they haven't got a good enough front court just like UConn now. What makes anybody think he would do better than Ollie recruiting or coaching? The retreads mentioned have never recruited any more top kids to their programs than Ollie has, and are not with their recent schools because of their own shortcomings.

I think we are going to rue this change. Maybe that search firm might still come in handy. The program needs to have 2-3 kids on the roster with legitimate NBA talent. Find me somebody sitting on an NBA bench as an assistant that could excite prospects with NBA talent.

Just venting but I don't think the grass is greener and I think Ollie would make it back like Tiger because Ollie is a competitor.

Everything you said is true. The team looked to be improving, Chill needed more time, I am not 100% sold on Hurley even though I am optimistic. But the guy also had the 2 worst seasons in 2 and a half decades.

Ollie being fired saddened me more than I anticipated. Its just a shame how everything played out. To me the key is the unknown aka the dirty laundry. Good posters hint towards him losing the locker room, turning off players and being lazy on the recruiting circuit (golfing during the 1st day of recruiting contact, watching MAL once). And then we hear that Jalen absolutely loves KO and players were considering planning a pro-KO act of solidarity post-firing. And I feel like I follow recruiting enough to have read about KO on the road a ton. I doubt I will ever have enough intel to ever have an informed post hoc reaction to this.

 

[ASweet3781]

Can it be done while URI is still playing?

 

[HuskyHawk]

At this point, if we don’t get Hurley and Donovan is a pipe dream, I’d take a shot with Jay Larrañaga. He was a G league head coach and has worked under Stevens the last few years. Irish guy with connections to Boston, which has served us well. He has minimal recruiting history, but he’d be a huge Positive with kids coming from the Celtics. He may say no, since he’s on the short list for NBA HC jobs, but it would be worth a shot.

 

[The Funster]

Ok maybe Elizabeth Hurley

Taylor Rooks and Liz Hurley would be a dream together...

umm, as an interview, I mean

 

[Storrs South]

Everything you said is true. The team looked to be improving, Chill needed more time, I am not 100% sold on Hurley even though I am optimistic. But the guy also had the 2 worst seasons in 2 and a half decades.

Ollie being fired saddened me more than I anticipated. Its just a shame how everything played out. To me the key is the unknown aka the dirty laundry. Good posters hint towards him losing the locker room, turning off players and being lazy on the recruiting circuit (golfing during the 1st day of recruiting contact, watching MAL once). And then we hear that Jalen absolutely loves KO and players were considering planning a pro-KO act of solidarity post-firing. And I feel like I follow recruiting enough to have read about KO on the road a ton. I doubt I will ever have enough intel to ever have an informed post hoc reaction to this.

I was sad the day it happened but then I remembered that UConn hasn't beat Tulsa since 2016 (a team put together by 2* players and JUCOs), hasn't beaten a ranked opponent since 2016, went 0 for whatever against tournament teams this year, hasn't been to the tournament in two years, hasn't made the NIT either, the program record setting # of embarrassing losses by 20+, unacceptable losses to Wagner, Northeastern, ECU, Tulsa (x3), Memphis (x2). Just some nights where they were not ready to compete and are easy to scout by the opponent.

I probably sound like a broken record at this point but no one was expecting NCAA Tournament appearances the last two years when Larrier/Gilbert went down, but last year should have been a 20 win season and this year should have been an 18 win season. You can't have back to back losing seasons, there was better talent on the floor wearing National Flag Blue and White more often than the opponent and yet we saw back to back years of poor basketball.

I have no inside info but to me the fact that kids have affirmed they are staying with the program without a head coach at the moment leads me to believe one of the following:

1. They want to stay now that KO is gone
2. They have been told who the new coach will be and they are happy about it

 

[zls44]

Watching URI since Hurley's name has been put forth has not been impressive in terms of likelihood of improvement. I see him coaching players who try to make an individual play, then pass it to the next guy who tries the same. Today some hero shots went in.

Just venting but I don't think the grass is greener and I think Ollie would make it back like Tiger because Ollie is a competitor.

Every URI set has multiple players running off cuts. They looked sluggish today, but there was a plan.

If KO was a competitor, explain his recruiting effort.

 

[gtcam]

I haven't posted anything about our coaching change, but this list of candidates isn't very inspiring that we are improving our situation. We're going to spend millions of dollars to get rid of a coach who bleeds blue, won a national championship with a team few coaches would have won with, and who brought in a noted recruiter who hasn't had a chance to make an impact. Ollie's NBA credentials, reputation, and early NCAA title make a pretty good story. He parlayed his act to be a top 5 finalist on the list of numerous top 5 star talents and mostly swung and missed. Now we confirm he was likely up against a stacked deck with sneaker money and was still close selling a marginal conference to boot.

It's true that in the past couple of years he underachieved with the players he did have, we got our butts kicked solidly a bunch, a group of kids jumped ship, and, we slid towards the lower middle of a so/so conference. It's true that several players did not improve in their time at UConn. It's also true that the cupboard isn't bare, the team visibly improved over the last 10 games, individual players visibly improved, Ollie made many changes to improve strength and conditioning, hired the talent he felt would recruit, and, we had 2 top 100 recruits coming in. Ollie never got to coach the back court of Adams and Gilbert over a season, and improvements in recruiting, conditioning, and the on court performance of freshman are the type of things that improve gradually.

I don't know what the kids really think in the locker room, nor what the dirty laundry really is, and this might make a difference, but I personally would have given him another year. He's proven an upside and there is no reason I have seen so far that proves he is not capable of finding his way back.

With that said, my main complaint is that we are not turning to an obvious improvement. Watching URI since Hurley's name has been put forth has not been impressive in terms of likelihood of improvement. I see him coaching players who try to make an individual play, then pass it to the next guy who tries the same. Today some hero shots went in. Essentially I watched a guard oriented team required to play the same as UConn plays now because they haven't got a good enough front court just like UConn now. What makes anybody think he would do better than Ollie recruiting or coaching? The retreads mentioned have never recruited any more top kids to their programs than Ollie has, and are not with their recent schools because of their own shortcomings.

I think we are going to rue this change. Maybe that search firm might still come in handy. The program needs to have 2-3 kids on the roster with legitimate NBA talent. Find me somebody sitting on an NBA bench as an assistant that could excite prospects with NBA talent.

Just venting but I don't think the grass is greener and I think Ollie would make it back like Tiger because Ollie is a competitor.

I hear some of what you say but bottom line that in this league you have to recruit to the league not as if you are sitting pretty in a P5. KO didn't do that and has cost him and the program.
I know KO and the guy has not given up or is lacking any desire to succeed or any of the other things that some have accused him.
He has allowed himself to take kids that just don't match up against a league where upper class kids are more the norm than the exception. We have seen 3 years of boys vs men because KO has lost out on the cream of the crop that just were not coming to the AAC. Period.
KO is gone and the program needs to recruit for the AAC not the ACC because until you are in the P5, you are not going to get the top players. How many top 100 kids are playing in the AAC?
I don't think the program is going to rue this change. There is plenty of NBA talent that are not the players that KO was and now Chill is hunting.
I am not the biggest of Hurley fans - I don't see the experience I really want, but if he is to be the next coach, I will continue to retain my tickets (30+ years) and back the team 100% - the same as I would have done if KO was allowed to return - not sure there many others here who would do the same.
I will never bad mouth KO, the guy bleeds UConn blue and thank him for all he has done. However, I feel that due to the overall negative tenor against him, for the good of the program and his own mental health, a change is due. He will survive and he will coach again.
Time to move on.................................

 

[Horatio]

No. It’s not. No UConn people. It’s ridiculous to even list them. We have to stop thinking people are worthy based on having played here.

Karl Hobbs is an experienced head and asst.
coach. He's a winning experienced head and asst. coach. Why scrape the bottom of the barrell just because he was here already. He's better than those bums. Period. Ok, if Hurley doesn't come , let's drag a bum into the mix just because we don't want anyone connected to the program. Silly.

 

[Walker11]

I hear some of what you say but bottom line that in this league you have to recruit to the league not as if you are sitting pretty in a P5. KO didn't do that and has cost him and the program.
I know KO and the guy has not given up or is lacking any desire to succeed or any of the other things that some have accused him.
He has allowed himself to take kids that just don't match up against a league where upper class kids are more the norm than the exception. We have seen 3 years of boys vs men because KO has lost out on the cream of the crop that just were not coming to the AAC. Period.
KO is gone and the program needs to recruit for the AAC not the ACC because until you are in the P5, you are not going to get the top players. How many top 100 kids are playing in the AAC?
I don't think the program is going to rue this change. There is plenty of NBA talent that are not the players that KO was and now Chill is hunting.
I am not the biggest of Hurley fans - I don't see the experience I really want, but if he is to be the next coach, I will continue to retain my tickets (30+ years) and back the team 100% - the same as I would have done if KO was allowed to return - not sure there many others here who would do the same.
I will never bad mouth KO, the guy bleeds UConn blue and thank him for all he has done. However, I feel that due to the overall negative tenor against him, for the good of the program and his own mental health, a change is due. He will survive and he will coach again.
Time to move on........

So is it your opinion that the problem was KO recruiting too many top 100 kids? How about just keep the ones we have signed and on campus...

 

[gtcam]

Every URI set has multiple players running off cuts. They looked sluggish today, but there was a plan.

If KO was a competitor, explain his recruiting effort.

He was/is a competitor so cut the crap
He recruited the wrong kids, kids way out of his reach due mainly because of the AAC, that is his error and he paid for it as did the program
If you don't think KO is a competitor, you don't know KO
He made a tactical mistake and he deserves the negative repercussions attached to this action but it has zero to do with competitiveness