IF Miller Were to Leave....

[Tenspro2002]

I'd prefer to finally bring in someone from the outside -- we need a new perspective on the staff.

Give me someone well-connected to AAU programs in a talent-rich part of the country we're otherwise not reaching and/or someone with hints of success in developing talent at lesser programs. Actually, I'd say the latter is more important.

 

[Devland]

I am curious, would someone actually running/directing a big man camp be a consideration for an assistant coaches job? Are there NCAA regs prohibiting such individuals due to the amount of time in contact with athletes at their camps?

To play devil's advocate. Why aren't these people running these big man camp's currently coaching? Just because they are running a camp doesn't mean they are good at it.

 

[Fishy]

My buddy played for Miller at Conn College when they went to D3 final four, he said the guy was impossible to play for. He has clearly mellowed in more recent years but I would not at all be opposed to replacing him. There simply needs to be changes to the staff. I want no part of Travis Ford, I have some personal knowledge on him and the guy is a major .

Not Travis Ford - no use for him. He'll be fine coaching at Southeast Oklahoma Tech A&M or wherever he ends up when OSU fires him.

Butch Pierre is on his staff at Oklahoma State...recruited Marcus Smart, etc. Lots of recruiting connections in the southeast/Louisiana and in Big 12 country, which hopefully becomes an issue for us.

 

[Chief00]

Chief.

Quite frankly, while I recognize that's a sentiment that's out there, it's unlikely that I would accept. I suggested Rasheed Wallace.

 

[Bonehead]

Agreed
People are foolish and have no idea what it takes to coach at a high level.

Enlighten us please.

How about a 5 point bullet on the top five things the foolish people have no idea about in coaching at a high level?
And how Miller fits those points better then any other asst coach?
It should help the post along.

 

[Phorcys]

Is World Wide Wes available?

Imagine our recruiting class if he was sitting on the bench as an assistant coach.

To be sure, adding him to the staff would indubitably end with fire, brimstone, and eternal NCAA sanctions … but it might be one fun ride down into the abyss.



Otherwise, I trust Kevin Ollie—by all indications a man of integrity with an incredible work ethic—to make the decisions.

Admittedly, he has proven to be a bit of a disappointment. In his four years as our head coach, he has given us four 20-win seasons, but only one National Championship.

 

[dennismenace]

He's my second pick after The Truth.

Walter Berry?

 

[uchusky32]

I guess in all fairness this post could reasonably be interpreted as me throwing him under the bus. It really isn't though. I was just curious what names might appeal to some of the more knowledgeable posters assuming Miller were to one day leave.

If you love our staff then I respect that.

Second mistake.

Knowledgeable posters. Right!

 

[Palatine]

Alex Oriaki.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Ollie desperately needs someone who understands that a college team cannot run an antiquated NBA isolation offense that relies on winning one on one battles. I don't care which assistant goes, we need the equivalent of a great offensive coordinator to come in and install a motion/passing offense. Steve Kerr would be nice.

 

[ktuck911]

Has Clyde Vaughn been pardoned by the state and the university for his error in judgement yet? We were having some serious success with our bigs when he was here.

 

[CL82]

Has Clyde Vaughn been pardoned by the state and the university for his error in judgement yet? We were having some serious success with our bigs when he was here.

It will never happen, but he did a great job here.

 

[Kitaman]

The one on the left, deflects any blame on coaching staff regarding non development:

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

A guy I'd spend a long time looking at is Butch Pierre.

Former point guard at Mississippi State, very bright guy, good recruiter and is somewhere in his mid-50's, so he has more time under his belt than KO, but is close enough to relate.

Got his Master's while he was an assistant at MSU, spent a long time at LSU before losing his job when John Brady got canned - I'd imagine the same thing is about to happen with Ford at Okie State, so he'll likely be available.

Recruited some big names to both schools - not a perfect fit, but a pretty darned good one.

Interesting potential candidate. Good post.

 

[Horatio]

The one on the left, deflects any blame on coaching staff regarding non development:

The one on the left should've been present when Caron was honored. He is greatness.

 

[intlzncster]

Why would Miller be leaving ? I think he's a fine coach . Uconn fans making a big mistake throwing the staff under the bus, like none of this has to do with talent meshing . Even Hobbs , who could replace him that his chops? Hobbs would probably end up on his buddy Steve Clifford (hornets coach ) bench.

I also don't understand how everyone has pegged Miller as the weak link. He does well on the recruiting trail. Seems to be one of the few X's and O's guys on the staff. And our free throw shooting has definitely been very solid (and sometime fantastic) under his tutelage. Brings solid HC experience.

Where exactly is he failing?

 

[intlzncster]

What if there is a dearth of talent on the roster , notwithstanding two brand new "graduate transfers" that are suppose to be malleable enough to start on a contender ?

Look an argument could be made whether purvis or Hamilton were not developed under the staff, but there's two sides to this coin , perhaps their evaluations were off basis in Hs from the jump. I've read some crazy stuff on the yard suggesting JC could turn brimah into a lotto pick , which is just nuts.

I would love to sit here and chastise the staff but every blue moon in a game they run tremendous action that yield great looks. It makes me think the players aren't executing the game plan due to lack of leadership , raw talent on the floor, and I guess continuity. Perhaps they are expending uncomfortable amounts of energy within KOs layered defensive scheme ( Miller Gibbs haven't done anything like this at the d1 level, the attentiveness to ball screen d. Both look crazy gassed at times. As does Hamilton).

Someone mentioned "the shiny new toy" over in the Purvis thread. Looks like it applies to coaches as well.

I agree with your post, but I'd add that if the talent is there, it's very much the responsibility of the Head Coach to mesh that talent. It's one of the primary responsibility of the job.

EDIT: And I think you are underselling 'continuity'. I would argue that is one of the most important factors that affects team performance, year in year out.

 

[intlzncster]

Who's the coach from Louisville who ran the whorehouse?

Hey, if I got those kinds of extracurriculars, I'd play my ass off for him. It's not a wonder his teams always play hard. Now that's how you turn a phrase.

 

[superjohn]

Not Travis Ford - no use for him. He'll be fine coaching at Southeast Oklahoma Tech A&M or wherever he ends up when OSU fires him.

Butch Pierre is on his staff at Oklahoma State...recruited Marcus Smart, etc. Lots of recruiting connections in the southeast/Louisiana and in Big 12 country, which hopefully becomes an issue for us.

My bad, I totally read that wrong.

 

[intlzncster]

He's my second pick after The Truth.

Is Pierce even going into coaching?

And aren't you a knicks fan? You are supposed to hate PP.

 

[intlzncster]

Karl did a great job as an assistant and a recruiter under JC. He also departed that job in 2001. It's been 15 years. Maybe its time.

Do you really lose it after a time? How do you know this?

NO MORE HIRING PEOPLE WITH NO COACHING EXPERIENCE TO THE STAFF OF A TOP-10 JOB

I disagree. This is a top 10 job in our minds, not others. We have the history, but the reality is, if we aren't in a P5, we're unfortunately further down the pike.

And I totally agree with getting the best guy available. That's how you should recruit and accept players in college, how you should draft players professionally, and hire people at all levels of management.

 

[intlzncster]

A guy I'd spend a long time looking at is Butch Pierre.

Former point guard at Mississippi State, very bright guy, good recruiter and is somewhere in his mid-50's, so he has more time under his belt than KO, but is close enough to relate.

Got his Master's while he was an assistant at MSU, spent a long time at LSU before losing his job when John Brady got canned - I'd imagine the same thing is about to happen with Ford at Okie State, so he'll likely be available.

Recruited some big names to both schools - not a perfect fit, but a pretty darned good one.

Do you think Ollie has the balls to push out one of his current staff? Honest question.

The fact that they all have ties to JC and UCONN makes in really, really tough imo.

 

[intlzncster]

I also don't understand how everyone has pegged Miller as the weak link. He does well on the recruiting trail. Seems to be one of the few X's and O's guys on the staff. And our free throw shooting has definitely been very solid (and sometime fantastic) under his tutelage. Brings solid HC experience.

Where exactly is he failing?

I've noticed some other people answer this prior to me asking. Thanks for the info @superjohn and @zls44

 

[intlzncster]

Ollie desperately needs someone who understands that a college team cannot run an antiquated NBA isolation offense that relies on winning one on one battles. I don't care which assistant goes, we need the equivalent of a great offensive coordinator to come in and install a motion/passing offense. Steve Kerr would be nice.

I disagree. The system can be run effectively. We just won in 2014 (and 2012) with that system. It's a very good system in it's own right.

The key is you need the right players to run it. We don't have that on this years roster. It is what it is.

 

[intlzncster]

Has Clyde Vaughn been pardoned by the state and the university for his error in judgement yet? We were having some serious success with our bigs when he was here.

It will never happen, but he did a great job here.

This is the most oversold meme on here. Clyde was here for a Grand total of 2 years. Two! He shouldn't even get credit for that much if you are looking objectively. And anybody could have coached Emeka. Anybody.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I disagree. The system can be run effectively. We just won in 2014 (and 2012) with that system. It's a very good system in it's own right.

The key is you need the right players to run it. We don't have that on this years roster. It is what it is.

Those teams won on defense. The offense wasn't the strength of those teams, and those players are very hard to find. They need a new offensive system.

 

[intlzncster]

Those teams won on defense. The offense wasn't the strength of those teams, and those players are very hard to find. They need a new offensive system.

College teams almost always win on strong defenses, so that's not a shock.

Yes, those are players are hard to find, but those are the players that win the NC year in year out. If you don't find those players, you'll win some games with a 'nice looking' system, but you are not likely to win it all. Elite players win the big games.

I know we've discusses this before, but I only care about championships. I don't care about winning a few games in the NCAAs and bowing out.

 

[weyuo]

To play devil's advocate. Why aren't these people running these big man camp's currently coaching? Just because they are running a camp doesn't mean they are good at it.

That's why I asked. But on the other hand if they aren't successful at coaching/training up big men then why do people still go to their camps? Some of these camps and directors seem to be pretty successful. A guy like Don Kelbick for example(not saying he would be a good fit at UConn just using him as an example). Quoting from the Breakthrough basketball Camp website:

"Some of Don Kelbick's credentials include:

• Over 35 years of basketball coaching experience at the high school, division I college, and professional levels.
  
• Has provided individual training for more than 14 different NBA players, 50 European and professional players, and hundreds of college basketball players.
  
• Developed dozens of basketball DVDs and books.
• Has scouted for NBA teams and served as a general manager in the USBL.
• Traveled to over 20 different countries training players and teaching basketball.
  
• Conducted over 1000 basketball clinics and camps training players of all age levels."

Only reason why I mention a guy like this is he may have an inside track recruiting wise and developing big men over some currently on the staff. Again, I'm not saying this particular guy is the answer to whatever woes there may be in the basketball program but am just asking for my own curiosity if and if not why not guys like this are considered or not considered. Are there NCAA regs prohibiting guys like this?

 

[CL82]

This is the most oversold meme on here. Clyde was here for a Grand total of 2 years. Two! He shouldn't even get credit for that much if you are looking objectively. And anybody could have coached Emeka. Anybody.

Maybe, but you get the credit when good things happen on your watch and the blame when bad things happen. In any event, he's not coming back.

 

[Fishy]

Do you think Ollie has the balls to push out one of his current staff? Honest question.

The fact that they all have ties to JC and UCONN makes in really, really tough imo.

Nope.

Ollie and Miller were hired on the same day.

My guess is that there is a 5% chance of a staff opening and that would come from something odd like Central hiring Karl.