It's all coaching. Hurley took the long process of building this thing and has talked nonstop about culture and toughness. It's now year 5 with nothing to show for it and we're still as fragile as it gets. Five seasons with a bunch of different players throughout and they always wilt.
Meanwhile Sean Miller comes in year one and has his team ranked #8 in the country and they look like an offensive juggernaut. Shaka Smart comes into Marquette and takes them to the tournament his first season and now they're #20 in the country in his second season. UConn has a lot more talent than either team on paper. I can name a bunch of other coaches who turned their programs around right away.
It's all about coaching or a lack of coaching.
Thank you.
More examples - Jerome Tang at KSU, Dennis Gates at Mizzou, Mick Cronin at UCLA - we can go on and on.
Hurley has failed here. He cannot consistently keep the players he recruits, and he has failed in the portal. He has failed in March and he has not been competitive in the Big East.
This should not be acceptable here. Many people dont want to admit this, but we have seen Dan Hurley's ceiling. It is not good enough. I wanted to wait until March to really consider this season a success or failure but the last couple of weeks have rapidly sped that up. He is getting paid to be top contending coach, and he is not doing it. Plain and simple. This is not Wagner, this is not Rhode Island. This is UConn. I am not okay with just making the tournament in year five. No one in here should. The sample size is big enough.