Hurley's first 3 seasons

[metsfan2323]

By all reasonable standards Hurley has exceeded expectations. Only a spoiled fanbase would think otherwise.

He is an outstanding coach and we are lucky to have him. Hopefully he retires at UCONN.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Ditto. Opposite of the Ollie years when he took great Calhoun program and crash-burned it. We are back now, not getting 5 stars but i don't think one and does are Hurleys M.O.

Yeah, that National Championship really sucked.

It says quite a lot that the only way people can define Hurley's success is to trash Ollie. Ollie won a National Championship, and rather than leave a school that was heading into basketball conference Siberia, he showed loyalty to UConn. Staying with the American was the worst single worst conference realignment decision ANY SCHOOL HAS MADE IN THE LAST 20 YEARS. It destroyed our football and men's basketball program, and was even starting to undermine our women's program. But let's blame Ollie for that.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

As for Hurley, he has done a solid job taking over a program that won 4 championships in the previous 20 years. I think there is some room for improvement in his gameday coaching, particularly with the offense, but the program appears to be going in the right direction.

 

[Dabutlerdidit]

UConn is trending up that’s all that matters. First couple years wasn’t ideal but going back to the Big East and getting his recruits is surely working out now.

looking at KenPom rankings, over the last four years, tells the story. Too lazy to look but approx:

130, 70, 50, 21

 

[aburks41]

I really don't care about his first couple of seasons in the AAC. Not even Calhoun could have rescued the program in that conference. As far as I'm concerned, this is Hurley's 2nd real season. His "first" season ended with a top 3 conference finish and a 7 seed in the NCAAT. I'd say that's pretty damn good.

And his recruiting classes are basically always going to be top 15 quality going forward. Sounds like your buddy is a bitter URI fan lol

 

[Huskybass]

*After coaching it to its fourth National Championship in his second season, following a suspension the season prior.

Not saying he didn’t blow it, but let’s not overlook that.

Kevin Ollie's Head Coaching record:
with Shabazz, 52-18, .743 winning %
without Shabazz, 75-61, .551 winning % and losing records in each of his last 2 years.

Shabazz was far more responsible for that National Championship than Ollie.

 

[the Q]

I'm a diehard URI fan, but I will always follow Hurley to whatever team he goes to. A fan on our message board posted this comment about Dan.... "I am a Hurley fan...but he hasn't done much at UConn in 3 years now. No tourney wins, and they only danced last year because the Big East was way down. And they missed a golden opportunity to win the BE tourney. Lost to a reeling Creighton team in semis who then got embarrassed by a decent G-town team...Just the facts."

I think if Bouk stayed healthy, you would have won a game or two in the tournament. Unfortunately, he didn't look the same when he came back. I expect you to be a sweet 16 team this year, and with the way Dan is recruiting the potential to go even deeper the next few seasons..

I would love to hear what you think about his first three years and if you're happy with where the program is right now?

What he said isn’t wrong, per se.

But I lacks context

It also ignores where he started.

He didn’t waltz into UCONN from the 2000s.

The program is clearly on the rise and is (seemingly, you never know with kids) pulling the right recruits to build UConn back to where it belongs. A perennial second weekend team and final four contender

 

[UofCT]

Here are the numbers that prove Hurley is doing an INCREDIBLE job here.

In 2017-18 (Ollie's last szn) UConn suffered ELEVEN (11) double digit losses
In 2018-19 (Hurleys first szn, same exact team) UConn suffered SIX (6) double digit loses
In 2019-2020 UConn suffered ONE (1) double digit loss
In 2020-21 UConn sufferend ONE (1) double digit loss

 

[kansashusky]

Has Hurley beat a ranked team?

 

[navery12]

Has Hurley beat a ranked team?

Yes, Syracuse in 2018-19 and Florida/Houston in 2019-20

 

[aburks41]

Kevin Ollie's Head Coaching record:
with Shabazz, 52-18, .743 winning %
without Shabazz, 75-61, .551 winning % and losing records in each of his last 2 years.

Shabazz was far more responsible for that National Championship than Ollie.

Bazz probably had the highest basketball IQ of any player to step foot in Storrs. Him being 6' limited him athletically, but he was always the smartest player on the court.

However I'm not sure you can kid all the credit to a 21 year old kid to win against Jay Wright, Hoiberg, Izzo, Donovan, and Calipari in 5 straight games. Ollies defensive game plans belong in the HOF for that run.

 

[8893]

Kevin Ollie's Head Coaching record:
with Shabazz, 52-18, .743 winning %
without Shabazz, 75-61, .551 winning % and losing records in each of his last 2 years.

Shabazz was far more responsible for that National Championship than Ollie.

What is Hurley's record without Bouk? I don't know what it is, but I don't see the point. I value both of their contributions.

My point wasn't to shortchange Bazz, Hurley, Calhoun or anyone else. I just hate to see the Ollie Derangement Syndrome blind people to the job he did those first two seasons. Do you think managing Bazz was easy? How about the Bazz and Boat dynamic? The suspension season? Of course he had help, but he wasn't beating a path to buck-a-shuck night then like many here suggest.

Hurley's accomplishments should stand or fall on their own. Those who can't measure them without reference to Ollie pee on their shoes while trying to make their point imo.

 

[jibsey]

Outstanding recruiting job so far getting talent in. Results and in game coaching I’m not thrilled with so far. I do love his enthusiasm and work ethic and hope we get good results.

 

[Waquoit]

Yes, Syracuse in 2018-19 and Florida/Houston in 2019-20

Whaddya know? JC beat 3 ranked teams in his first 3 years as well. Syracuse twice, even Perno would beat Cuse on occasion. But Hurley never lost to Yale and UHar in the same season.

 

[Tampahusky]

If not Hurley who you got ???? Pat Riley not coming to coach in Storrs. Hurley doing a great job people need to relax.

 

[CL82]

Luke should help--he's a great offensive mind.

What do you base that on?

 

[nelsonmuntz]

The American conference almost destroyed UConn’s athletic program. Neither Ollie nor any other coach could have saved UConn from catastrophe in that southern mid-major league. Hurley is benefiting from the dramatically improved conference situation.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

If not Hurley who you got ???? Pat Riley not coming to coach in Storrs. Hurley doing a great job people need to relax.

Who exactly needs to relax? The two sides of the discussion seem to be that he has performed as well as can be expected and on the other side, that his recruiting has been great and the program is on the right track, but we need to see more wins. I don't think anyone is blowing him up here or saying we should have someone else.

 

[CL82]

I can see why an outsider thinks coach hasn’t done much

You realize that that is just trolling by proxy.

"I think Dan Hurley is great but this friend of mine thinks..."

 

[superjohn]

The American conference almost destroyed UConn’s athletic program. Neither Ollie nor any other coach could have saved UConn from catastrophe in that southern mid-major league. Hurley is benefiting from the dramatically improved conference situation.

American sucked but Ollie lost the program on his own, he sabotaged everything after the championship.

Let's keep this on Hurley though, expectations should be pretty high this year.

 

[Tenspro2002]

What is Hurley's record without Bouk? I don't know what it is, but I don't see the point. I value both of their contributions.

My point wasn't to shortchange Bazz, Hurley, Calhoun or anyone else. I just hate to see the Ollie Derangement Syndrome blind people to the job he did those first two seasons. Do you think managing Bazz was easy? How about the Bazz and Boat dynamic? The suspension season? Of course he had help, but he wasn't beating a path to buck-a-shuck night then like many here suggest.

Hurley's accomplishments should stand or fall on their own. Those who can't measure them without reference to Ollie pee on their shoes while trying to make their point imo.

KO did a terrific job coaching tough, loyal kids who had already bought into the program.

The problem was he couldn't identify those traits in his own recruits and gave up coaching the ones he did get.

 

[husky429]

What do you base that on?

Hurley mentioned it after he was hired I believe.

 

[CL82]

What is Hurley's record without Bouk? I don't know what it is, but I don't see the point. I value both of their contributions.

My point wasn't to shortchange Bazz, Hurley, Calhoun or anyone else. I just hate to see the Ollie Derangement Syndrome blind people to the job he did those first two seasons. Do you think managing Bazz was easy? How about the Bazz and Boat dynamic? The suspension season? Of course he had help, but he wasn't beating a path to buck-a-shuck night then like many here suggest.

Hurley's accomplishments should stand or fall on their own. Those who can't measure them without reference to Ollie pee on their shoes while trying to make their point imo.

You know I am huge admirer of the way KO coached his first two seasons. I said multiple times that I don't think 2014 Calhoun wins the 2014 natty. KO was the right guy at the right time.

That said, 2015 on, Kevin was not a good coach here. In his last year he had checked out by all accounts and the program's trajectory was plummeting downwards. That is what Hurley inherited. It is fair to note that.

Hurley has done a masterful job of turning around a team culture that had gone to crap and did so in the poisoned well of KO's lawsuit and his encouraging of vets not to engage with the program. I wonder a bit about in-game decisions and I don't think that Hurley is done growing as coach, but not acknowledging the train wreck Hurley inherited and his masterful job of rebuilding the culture isn't fair to Hurley. You can't talk about "Hurley's accomplishments" fairly without acknowledging the state of the program when he got here.

 

[8893]

American sucked but Ollie lost the program on his own, he sabotaged everything after the championship.

I think it was @Fishy who commented several years ago something to the effect that everything Ollie accomplished in his career as both a player and a coach was because he worked harder than anyone else, and he simply stopped doing that after he won the championship. It's not complicated. The American didn't help, and turning away from Calhoun definitely didn't help, but not continuing to do what got him where he was was going to doom him irrespective.

 

[8893]

You can't talk about "Hurley's accomplishments" fairly without acknowledging the state of the program when he got here.

Certainly Hurley would agree with you; and I likewise think it makes him appear smaller when he does.

We get the point. We all lived through it. We don't need to hear the same drumbeat now three-plus years removed from it. To my ear, it hurts the argument more than it helps at this point, because it sounds like trying to excuse somewhat middling results on paper so far.

I wanted Ollie gone at the end and I am glad we have Hurley. There is no question in my mind that he has made progress, including this past season. There is also no question that we all expected a little more by way of results, but the future looks very bright and that is in very large part because of Hurley's efforts.