Is Hurley Really The Answer?

[JMick]

I don't know. Good question. The account is run by a bunch of people like No Escalators and they are having a funny back and forth on a Shaka Smart to Louisville rumor at the moment.

It seems like Hurley is definitely either staying at URI (small chance) or coming here (much bigger chance) so they might be right about that one.

 

[Storrs South]

 

[SixRings]

Sure do miss a coach that makes his players accountable. Love his focus on defense and his intensity. He also appears to be a decent X’s and O’s Coach but I can’t say for sure based on my limited viewing of him. Maybe someone else can comment on this.
You can rarely be certain because certainty costs too much but Hurley seems like a good coach and a good fit. I’m in.

 

[intlzncster]

Just want a new coach so we can get on with our lives.

If we don't sign them, not really looking forward to all the Oats/Musselman threads over the next few years.

 

[JMick]

Just want a new coach so we can get on with our lives.

If we don't sign them, not really looking forward to all the Oats/Musselman threads over the next few years.

I like Musselman but idk if he gets past Susan with his DUI

 

[Wordbomar]

Hurley, who recently led Rhode Island to its second straight NCAA tournament appearance, is the lead candidate for both the UConn and Pitt jobs. According to a source close to the situation, Hurley would prefer UConn. However, there is concern that UConn may not have much money to throw around— particularly if it has to pay all or much of the roughly $11 million left on Kevin Ollie’s contract.

Dan Hurley to UConn could be all about the money

I wonder if source close to situation could be Tom Moore? Borges would have connections with him from Quinnipiac days, and he is an asst on Hurley’s staff for those who don’t know.

 

[Marty Jackson]

If Hurley is the guy (and regardless as to who the guy is), I'm thinking the new coach should bring in a staff with no UConn connections, complete break, completely fresh start.... Jim Calhoun being back as an influence to the program will be the link to the bridge to the history/legacy. Let the new guy make history.....

If it's Hurley, would love to see Moore come home. He's been involved in the recruiting of so many top UConn recruits from the 90's...

 

[Marty Jackson]

Really?

We had the best guard in the entire tournament in Shabazz and the best defensive guard in the country in Boatright. Our smallball was a great matchup against UK, URI's version is a horrible matchup vs Duke.

Duke is better at everything compared to URI. Better shooting, better bigs, better guards, better coaching.

Our 2014 squad had much better guards, better shooting and, I can't believe I'm actually saying this - better coaching. We also out-rebounded UK IIRC.
Sorry, basketball is just a wee bit more nuanced than you're making it out to be.

Didn't the 2014 team you are touting lose to uofl by 30+ points a week before the AAC tourney.
Those guards you're touting were neutralized many times by bigger more physical guards. Pitino owned them.

 

[intlzncster]

I like Musselman but idk if he gets past Susan with his DUI

She and I have entirely different priorities.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Didn't the 2014 team you are touting lose to uofl by 30+ points a week before the AAC tourney.
Those guards you're touting were neutralized many times by bigger more physical guards. Pitino owned them.

They weren't neutralized by the St. Joes, Villanova, Iowa State, Michigan State, Florida, or Kentucky guards. That's all that matters.

 

[intlzncster]

Didn't the 2014 team you are touting lose to uofl by 30+ points a week before the AAC tourney.
Those guards you're touting were neutralized many times by bigger more physical guards. Pitino owned them.

And we would have lost to them if we played them in the NCAAs. That team was perfectly built to kill us. Their guards were mostly small and quick, and they had one of the all-time UCONN killers in Montrezl Harrell.

The luckiest we got in that tournament was not vs St Joes, but on selection sunday when we were as far away from Louisville as possible.

 

[KemBaller]

Yay! Let's have a debate about how long we've been fans! I've been a fan since James Naismith! I win!

Generally have not been agreeing with the guy's takes, but he definitely did hit the nail on the head with that comment.

 

[djct1999]

Hurley, who recently led Rhode Island to its second straight NCAA tournament appearance, is the lead candidate for both the UConn and Pitt jobs. According to a source close to the situation, Hurley would prefer UConn. However, there is concern that UConn may not have much money to throw around— particularly if it has to pay all or much of the roughly $11 million left on Kevin Ollie’s contract.

Dan Hurley to UConn could be all about the money

Not one of Borges's best. Basically states the obvious. Money was always going to be the issue; An issue that no one is more familiar with than AD DB. That said, wouldn't it be suspicious for DB to make this decision so quickly while totally disregarding the money aspect of it? You don't fire KO without being fully confident you can land your top choice.

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

Isaac Chew is at A & M. The Maligi & Chew tag team will land somewhere soon (I think Mal would follow). Most likely to a school with an athletic administration in touch with the prospects of a talented duo ready to recruit nationally and lead a team to college basketballs promised land.

Looking forward to following those guys somewhere else.

 

[KemBaller]

Do you know what the word "Troll" means?

Spoiler alert: it doesn't have anything to do with one's knowledge. It has to do with one's sincerity.

In other words, I don't believe a bunch of the people posting here, right now, are actual UConn fans--i.e. I don't believe that bolded part.

Honestly it sounds like you might need to take a step back from this place if you truly think there are numerous people taking time out of their day to come here and "troll" by suggesting ridiculous coaching candidates. Pull a SuperJohn and take a week off, you'll probably feel better.

 

[KemBaller]

Problem with this theory is that the "trolling" being done doesn't do anything to detract from the UConn MBB brand, nor is it humorous in any way. Much more likely it's just honest UConn fans who are simply being contrarian (those that suggest random coach X over Hurley), or fans that don't have a ton of knowledge on the landscape (those that think UConn needs to hold out for Donovan or bring JC back).

 

[Scrutineer]

Unfortunately, especially in response to Jimdish255's post, what you're hoping for is some kind of magical, catch lightning in a jar, kind of hire.

I just don't think you'll actually find that in a tiny, tiny sample size of a couple games in one NCAA tournament, that you'll discover the next great coach that wasn't already on people's radar. You'll get much further looking at someone's body of work as coach, over multiple seasons, and even multiple schools, including recruiting, than just someone who gets their team on one good run for a couple games. You're destined for heartbreak if you go that route.

My wife always cautions me about how people might perceive what I mean when I say some things with a humorous intent. I was just trying in a lighthearted way to say there are many of us fans who want what we had and many apparently might even believe it's their birthright. But, so what, we're fans and we can't stand to see where we've been dumped while Pittsburgh, PITTSBURG for crying out loud, is in a much better league.

 

[Scrutineer]

My source says we’re going all in on Larry eustachy.

Not sure our cheerleaders are good looking enough......

 

[Scrutineer]

I wasn't directing the "settling" comments at you, that was to other posters.

What are his accomplishments beyond these two games? I've been over my arguments on Oats/Hurley in a very nuanced way in a prior post. He went 37-30 in his first two seasons and lost in the first round of the tournament. He took over a Buffalo program already in good condition. He's a legitimate flight risk to another college HC job. He has no recruiting ties to this area. He has no connection to UConn whatsoever. He has only three years of HC experience. All of these things do not apply to DH.

You can continue to ignore all of these comments all you want and claim I'm rushing to judgment and summarily ignoring Oats - I'm not. He may well turn out to be a great coach, he's off to a great start in his career. But he's not proven himself as a program builder, nor does he have lengthy HC experience. While I wouldn't be unhappy if he was the hire, I think he's much less of a fit for UConn specifically.

Uconnfanatic is right that we should all hope the AD does an honest search and didn't just look at one guy and line up a couple ringers to make it look like there was a field of several candidates. Hopefully he sought the advice of Calhoun and others to help him use the right criteria to make his decision and if he did we need to pray he makes a good choice. Rushing to hire one guy without thoroughly evaluating several others and ranking them in order can also be a disaster if, for some reason, a deal can't be done with the first choice. We don't need to do what Rutgers did when they struck out on a couple guys before hiring Pikiell.

I also think it's unfair to mention Oats' first two years and disregard his third year in which he went 27-9 and won his league. And, the condition of the Buffalo program when he took over is questionable because Bobby took the 2nd leading scorer to AZ ST with him and the best player (MAC player of the year) and two others were dismissed from the team the summer before Oats' first year of coaching for stealing $650 from members of the football team. This year's best players were underclassmen he brought in along with a transfer from Missouri who had played for him at the high school he coached before Bobby hired him as his first assistant when he took the Buffalo job, and he has what appears to be a very good recruiting class.

 

[Towney007]

Not one of Borges's best. Basically states the obvious. Money was always going to be the issue; An issue that no one is more familiar with than AD DB. That said, wouldn't it be suspicious for DB to make this decision so quickly while totally disregarding the money aspect of it? You don't fire KO without being fully confident you can land your top choice.

Honestly? No. Because like I said from the beginning - people around here were making waaaaay to big a deal about the money. Partly to be over the top about how the team has fallen into the abyss and others who really liked Kevin Ollie and were desperately looking for a crutch.

Bottom line: It's UConn, they'll find it if they have to.

 

[Jaker]

Not sure our cheerleaders are good looking enough.

I don't think his standards are that high anymore

 

[Austin316]

Idk if this has been discussed -

So we might owe KO $11m...
On top of that pay URI Hurley’s buyout $..
how much is it to buyout Hurley from URI? $1-$2m?

 

[intlzncster]

Idk if this has been discussed -
So we might owe KO $11m...
On top of that pay URI Hurley’s buyout $..
how much is it to buyout Hurley from URI? $1-$2m?

His buyout is 1.5m. We'd have to compensate him for that in some fashion.

 

[UCDaveD]

Idk if this has been discussed -

So we might owe KO $11m...
On top of that pay URI Hurley’s buyout $..
how much is it to buyout Hurley from URI? $1-$2m?

We will not have to pay the former head coach $11M. That I can guarantee.

 

[djct1999]

Idk if this has been discussed -

So we might owe KO $11m...
On top of that pay URI Hurley’s buyout $..
how much is it to buyout Hurley from URI? $1-$2m?

Thank god Susan put 1/3 of our endowment in Bitcoin when it was trading at 300. Time to sell Susie, we have a coach to pay!