Jalen Adams on Hurley's coaching style

[jibsey]

The reason I've "ignored it" is that I have no real proof and it is all conjecture. But here are the "facts" as I understand them.

• Kevin was an incredibly hard worker as a player, at UConn and in landing all those 1 year NBA contracts
• Kevin was deeply religious and very much a devoted family man
• Kevin was lauded as a future coach by NBA teams he played for, and mentor by young guys he played with.
• With only a few years as an assistant, he got the UConn HC job.
• Two years later he won a national championship with a roster that really had no business even reaching a final four
• Sometime around 2014-15 his marriage fell apart, and he got divorced in 2015
  
• His 2015 team went 20-15, which wasn't bad
• His 2016 team was 25-11, which was an under achievement given their talent. They looked worse than that, and players were used poorly.
• Rumors surfaced about excessive partying, etc.
• The 2017 team was terrible despite being ranked pre-season, although injuries played a key role. His recruiting was not strong, and he seemed disinterested in doing the job
• Players transferred out. Recruits from in state who knew the program and players did not come to UConn.
• The 2017-18 team was even more terrible. It looked completely over-matched, and struggled even against bad teams.
• He seemed completely unwilling to admit the truth. He was fired.

The conclusion I have privately drawn is that following the 2014 NC, something in him changed. That change caused him to destroy his family, and ultimately destroyed his will to do what was necessary to coach the UConn basketball team. That's my null hypothesis if you will.

I think we ran out of good enough talent. You think Coach K could have made the tourney with last year's team? It was KO's job to get the talent though.

 

[intlzncster]

Most of those "retread coaches" do not carry even one of the many risk factors Ollie carries with him. Athletics administrators at large are aware of his issues, and none of them will touch Ollie as a result. He's not getting a job in either the amateur or professional ranks anytime soon.

I disagree on the professional ranks. He could relatively easily get an NBA assistant gig. It's all about relationships at that level. He can easily sell the 'mentoring professionals' angle as he's got some of the biggest names in the world backing him on that. And he can brush off the college coaching thing as him not wanting to deal with the recruiting life, babysitting, etc.

College administrators don't just have to worry about the program, but also selling the fans and recruits. Nobody cares much which pro assistant coaches are hired. It's all about the HC.

Furthermore, plenty of pro coaches in all sports get jobs with 'demons' and what you'd consider character concerns.

 

[Stainmaster]

I disagree on the professional ranks. He could relatively easily get an NBA assistant gig. It's all about relationships at that level. He can easily sell the 'mentoring professionals' angle as he's got some of the biggest names in the world backing him on that. And he can brush off the college coaching thing as him not wanting to deal with the recruiting life, babysitting, etc.

College administrators don't just have to worry about the program, but also selling the fans and recruits. Nobody cares much which pro assistant coaches are hired. It's all about the HC.

Furthermore, plenty of pro coaches in all sports get jobs with 'demons' and what you'd consider character concerns.

My hunch is that Ollie’s demons are probably to the point where executing the day-to-day duties of an NBA assistant would be an iffy proposition. I don’t think he’d actually want to do whatever minimal work that entails.

 

[BlueDogs]

Unless he convinces some unsuspecting, delusional AD that he can pull another NC rabbit out of his hat, I seriously doubt he will ever land a HC position at a high major program. Perhaps if he rehabilitates his rep with a lower level program first, he can eventually get back to the big time.

Rest assured, there will be one or more programs that would fall for the KO NBA connections, taking the stairs, and you don’t win NCs by accident (even if true) schtick.

 

[Chuck]

It's really a weird story.
My bus ride was 45 or 50 minutes long. It traversed a rich neighborhood up on the hill, a poorer neighborhood behind the lake, and my middle class neighborhood. It sounds simplistic, but it's how it was.
A couple of kids behind the lake were horrible bullies. They would scream at kids getting on and off the bus with every rude and nasty insult. "Flabby T-ts." "Mole face." "bleacher girl." Relentlessly, every day. They had been held back one or more years, so they were physically bigger than everybody. They had one dude who was on roids and was huge (5/7, 210 pounds ripped kind of frame) as their enforcer. Several of the younger kids behind the lake were conscripted - they were unwilling stooges or they would get beat up. The bus driver looked like a 20 year old Roger Daltry, with hair down to his butt and 5/4ish height.
I was a 145 pound 1st year completely alone.
They pretty much left me alone. Partly because my older sister was considered hot, and partly because I played sports, I suppose.
They used to give people the "treatment," which was code for 4 or 5 of them would pin a kid down and pound on his shoulder until it was bruised.
At some point they got to me. I was tall, so stood up and looked the lead goon in the face and said, "why don't you go pick on Bret? He's your age." Bret was a senior and could handle himself, and was not part of the bully clique. The goon was visibly trying to process the first comment in protest he had ever received, when I saw his eyes change to "fudge-it" and knew he was about to hit me, when condom lips, the hottest girl on the bus, yelled, "yeah Joey, why don't you try that with Bret?"
At which point the goon's brain locked up, he stood there slacked jawed for a minute, then walked away. A small miracle.
Until the next day. Given 24 hours, he came up with a good solution.
One the conscripted lackey's say next to the next day and hit me on the shoulder. I looked at him and said, "hey man, I don't have a problem with you." He said, "yeah, but Joey is going to kick my --s if I don't do this." He hits me again. I say, don't do that again. He does, I hit him in the face, then I got jumped by 6 guys. Bus driver pulled over and yelled and they all went back to their seats.
The next day (and for the next month) I went to school with a pipe taped to my leg. I was left alone until my stop, in 1.5 acre per lot suburbia, with nobody else getting off at my stop, in a day before cell phones, as a lock key kid, knowing I was completely on my own when I stepped off the bus.
I got up to get off the bus, and 6 guys lined up behind me to get off at my stop. I figured I'd try to kill the first guy off the bus, and then find out what happens after here.
Just as I passed the bus driver and started hiking up my pant leg as I was descending the two giant steps, the bus driver stands up and in front of the 6 guys and loudly says, "anybody who wants to get off this bus has to come through me." It was quite an image, that small dude, with his long hair, looking straight up into the vacant eyes of the 6/2 beta bully. They all sat down. That was in March. The rest of the year passed without incident. The following year I had my license and a car, and I almost never rode the bus again.
So what did I do when they spit on that kid? Every day? Not a damn thing, except wonder why he didn't just cross the street to avoid them altogether. I eventually came to understand why he didn't.

Damn. That's some story. I think you have the beginning of a movie script.

I think I rode the same bus as you in middle school, but more suburban. There were two kids that ran the group of bad kids (including girls). They were brothers and rarely did the physical part. One was later killed and the other went to jail for decades. They left me alone except once when they pushed a kid I knew for a couple years to mess with me. I could've kicked the crap out of him, but they were all lined up behind him snickering. They even asked me first "hey, do you have a brother we know in 8th grade." When I said no, the abuse began. I did nothing. Thankfully, in a game in gym, I sent their lackey flying about 10 feet and into a wall and stared at him. He backed off and they forgot about me.

We had a girl with emotional issues that rode the bus. The girls beat her up every day. Once she came on the bus proud and showing off her new jacket. They knocked her down, took the jacket, lit it on fire and threw it out the window. The bus driver was afraid to do anything, because the assumption was the lead guys were carrying at least knives which they had shown people. A cop followed our bus to school from that point forward (or at least occasionally) and every once in a while we'd pull over for him to get on the bus.

I was scarred from that couple years on that bus. I remember these things vividly because a big part of me wishes I had done something. What, I don't know. They could've beaten me to a pulp, and these weren't the "fair" fist fights I would get in with some other kids.

My kids are just finishing sixth grade. They have never SEEN a fight, let alone been in one. I find that shocking. A kid pushed another kid on school grounds and was suspended. Part of me hopes they are ready for the real world, but another part is glad that they don't have to deal with the "boys will be boys" mentality towards real bullying and intimidation.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I think we ran out of good enough talent. You think Coach K could have made the tourney with last year's team? It was KO's job to get the talent though.

I think Dan Hurley could have made the tournament with last year's team.

 

[MadDogRevival]

• Two years later he won a national championship with a roster that really had no business even reaching a final four

Don't agree at all with this. That team gelled late. Shabazz was arguably the best player in the country for a month and a half, DD kept improving, and we had good talent at every position. Other than St. Ms, we handled every team that we played. We beat Florida early in the year, and they were a top team all year. "No business" is way too strong.

 

[MadDogRevival]

Chief is the most connected of insiders, he also goes by the handle Fishy. Frank Ivy lives in Erie, Pennsylvania and can be seen on the Netflix documentary "Evil Genius" about the pizza bomber, he goes by the handle MadDogRevival.

@Mokum - be aware, SuperJohn is the resident Fake News generator. Him and Stairmaster are a bi-umverate responsible for historical revision a la Winston from 1984.
Chief was one of the original posters on Boneyard, and has been largely responsible for the recognition that the BY has received, both from former UConn coaching staffs and, to a lesser extent, at the Hartford Courant. At some point after start up, as a joke, Chief created the character of "Fishy," who is like an evil Dennis Miller - super intelligent, witty, and always ready to drop the hammer on whatever dimwit poster is in need of throat rearrangement.
Superjohn also goes by the handle "Chapalaug" or something like that - it's a more coherent and likable version of his Superjohn persona.
Frank Ivy is a former poster who became notorious for calling out the UConn cheerleaders as being rather large and unattractive, but potentially useful if yolked in pairs and set to the plow. This angered several resident snowflakes, including stairmaster, which caused a popular uprising against Ivy. Ivy left in a huff, and now works as a custodian at Gampel Pavillion.
Double plus good.

 

[Thirty Three]

Do people actually think chief and fishy are the same person? I feel like that started as a joke and people didn't realize it

It did start as a joke. I'm pretty sure I was the first one who said it, although it may have been @August_West.

 

[UConnNick]

I'm not sure. The past two years, lawsuit and the FOIA looking for stuff about Calhoun and Auriemma may have made him a question mark. I'm also not sure that he wants to coach anymore.

That may be, but what else is he qualified to do? He's spent his entire career in basketball. He can make more money as a low level NBA assistant coach than he's likely to make in the private sector doing anything else, and certainly more than he'd make in any civil service position.

 

[Stinger92860]

Damn. That's some story. I think you have the beginning of a movie script.

I think I rode the same bus as you in middle school, but more suburban. There were two kids that ran the group of bad kids (including girls). They were brothers and rarely did the physical part. One was later killed and the other went to jail for decades. They left me alone except once when they pushed a kid I knew for a couple years to mess with me. I could've kicked the crap out of him, but they were all lined up behind him snickering. They even asked me first "hey, do you have a brother we know in 8th grade." When I said no, the abuse began. I did nothing. Thankfully, in a game in gym, I sent their lackey flying about 10 feet and into a wall and stared at him. He backed off and they forgot about me.

We had a girl with emotional issues that rode the bus. The girls beat her up every day. Once she came on the bus proud and showing off her new jacket. They knocked her down, took the jacket, lit it on fire and threw it out the window. The bus driver was afraid to do anything, because the assumption was the lead guys were carrying at least knives which they had shown people. A cop followed our bus to school from that point forward (or at least occasionally) and every once in a while we'd pull over for him to get on the bus.

I was scarred from that couple years on that bus. I remember these things vividly because a big part of me wishes I had done something. What, I don't know. They could've beaten me to a pulp, and these weren't the "fair" fist fights I would get in with some other kids.

My kids are just finishing sixth grade. They have never SEEN a fight, let alone been in one. I find that shocking. A kid pushed another kid on school grounds and was suspended. Part of me hopes they are ready for the real world, but another part is glad that they don't have to deal with the "boys will be boys" mentality towards real bullying and intimidation.

Damn, makes me glad Bridgeport did not provide buses during my time in school, except for the latter half of my senior year. Public transportation and a 1/4 mile walk was safer.

 

[krinklecut]

I think we ran out of good enough talent. You think Coach K could have made the tourney with last year's team? It was KO's job to get the talent though.

I think K could have won the tournament with the folks we had before they all transferred or decommitted.

 

[CL82]

I think K could have won the tournament with the folks we had before they all transferred or decommitted.

I don't.

 

[Rocktheworld]

I made a comment that VJ looked slow and kind of unathletic when he committed. I got ripped by a number of people. Vance truly did need to get in the gym. He had a lot of potential but since he could already shoot, he needed to increase his strength and quickness along with improving his handle. You can teach a kid what to do on the court but you can’t teach him to dribble or to lift weights. He needed to bounce the ball in his free time and work out. That was good advice.

Here’s the thing about all that.

“Hit the gym” is not a plan. It is part of and a tool for executing a plan, sure; but an actual plan involves some functional goal. Something to look forward to. Or, specifically in basketball, and actual plan for his usage, and what he needs to do to be proficient within his usage.

I’m not one myself, but a physical therapist’s plan of care -as an easier analogy to draw here than from something I would develop myself as a speech therapist- will never be “hit the gym”. It’ll be a set of goals related to clinician- and patient-developed functional outcomes such as X stairs, or car transfers from a wheelchair, or even using a bed trapeze independently.

Now if KO told him to hit the gym, then went over how improving his strength will make him a better 3-level player, will augment his good footwork and capitalize better on where his footwork can put him, allow him to better work from the wing and create for himself/others, or just make him a more well-rounded player who needs to be as such to make it professionally with the limited natural athleticism he has; and then KO went in to how he wants to use that improved VJ in next year’s offense, then that’s all great. But based on what VJ has said, it doesn’t seem quite like any of that followed.

 

[mauconnfan]

I think Dan Hurley could have made the tournament with last year's team.

NIT? Maybe but the dance no shot. Maybe 3-4 more wins purely on coaching and teaching but not the 8-9 more needed for the dance. Having said that they would've competed.

 

[gtcam]

I think Dan Hurley could have made the tournament with last year's team.

Are you willing to bet your house on that?
No way no how

 

[JMick]

NIT? Maybe but the dance no shot. Maybe 3-4 more wins purely on coaching and teaching but not the 8-9 more needed for the dance. Having said that they would've competed.

the year that still gets me was 15/16. That team underachieved hard.

 

[HuskyHawk]

NIT? Maybe but the dance no shot. Maybe 3-4 more wins purely on coaching and teaching but not the 8-9 more needed for the dance. Having said that they would've competed.

Bear in mind, I’m not saying if he came in at the last minute, but rather had coached those guys since they arrived at UConn. Bubble team perhaps.

 

[mauconnfan]

Bear in mind, I’m not saying if he came in at the last minute, but rather had coached those guys since they arrived at UConn. Bubble team perhaps.

But there was very little time available to coach the freshman no matter who was coaching, unlike now so I doubt it. I will give you bubble just because I like you (lol) but no, they weren't making the tourney with that inexperienced team with Pop coaching them.

I will say this I am a ton more confident they will surprise the heck out of the country with him as their coach now. A year under their belts, a coach now dedicated to making them better beginning now as well as helping them mentally understand what it actually takes to be a UConn player again. Yeah they have a legit shot to make it this year with him and more than likely wouldn't have without.

 

[HuskyHawk]

But there was very little time available to coach the freshman no matter who was coaching, unlike now so I doubt it. I will give you bubble just because I like you (lol) but no, they weren't making the tourney with that inexperienced team with Pop coaching them.

I will say this I am a ton more confident they will surprise the heck out of the country with him as their coach now. A year under their belts, a coach now dedicated to making them better beginning now as well as helping them mentally understand what it actually takes to be a UConn player again. Yeah they have a legit shot to make it this year with him and more than likely wouldn't have without.

You can't damper my irrational exuberance!

 

[mauconnfan]

You can't damper my irrational exuberance!

Nor do I want to. I now share that same exuberance from here on in that you do I am sure. Maybe even a little too high as we speak but only because I believe this is a great hire and we did have players who can be better than they showed last year. Add the experienced players, a year in for the frosh, maybe (please?) a healthy Alterique along with some help from the newcomers I do believe they can "shock" some people, not the world though.

 

[JellyBean]

Only people happier about the coaching change than the fans are the players, they desperately wanted to be coached up.

Until they start to complain about the "tough love" approach. Not knocking the coaching style. Every coach has their style that works for them.

 

[jimva]

Bump

 

[August_West]

It did start as a joke. I'm pretty sure I was the first one who said it, although it may have been @August_West.

Can't take credit for that one as much as Id like to.
I'm pretty sure it was you too.