James Akinjo Decommits

[CL82]

He reopened his recruiting. The new coach will reach out to him. We'll see.

@Excalibur's post above is spot on. If we needed to keep KO to keep him, I'm okay with that trade off.

 

[whaler11]

But I thought the NCAA stuff was nothing...

 

[Danzz]

But it happens. I think Martelli did this at least once, if not more.

True on Martelli but do you really want a player who doesn't want to be here? Let him go and move on.

 

[Son of Robert]

Tough loss. Serious and determined player with skills.

 

[polycom]

James Akinjo Decommits

 

[djct1999]

In a perfect world, we keep Akinjo but in no way do you keep the coach for him.

 

[SouthBayHusky]

See earlier thread

 

[donyell34]

No surprise here but a new coach comes first.

 

[CTBasketball]

I’m laughing at all the folks who wanted to keep Ollie to ensure an Akinjo signature.

Now that’s comical.

 

[HooperScooper]

I honestly can care less.

So you care a lot I guess.

 

[Fishy]

You’d love to keep the kid - he’s a winner.

But we have to move on.

There’s a reason that two of our recruits live as far away from New England as you can get while keeping your feet dry and the other is from Lithuania.

We need someone who can walk into a New England gym and not have the place drop ten degrees.

 

[Coach J]

Tough loss. Serious and determined player with skills.

Yup sucks. Maybe he will like the new guy - I'd say Wilson is the only lock to stay because he would not want to sit another year.

 

[Mr. French]

Oh can you? How much less can you care?

I’d give you 50 likes if I could, but I could care less about other things.

 

[Jimdish255]

Hopefully the next coach can reach out to James and get him to reconsider. Don't blame him for being nervous and disappointed but he was going to be more disappointed if a necessary move was delayed.

 

[Mr. French]

I think this is a point many are missing. Lesser player than Akinjo under competent coaching staff > Akinjo under Ollie.

Chicken or Egg?

 

[DAC17]

Did anyone really think there wouldn't be massive changes in light of this??

 

[Towney007]

Anyone who thought this kid would actually get to campus after the season this team had and/or Ollie being fired needs to see a doctor.

 

[krinklecut]

So it goes. This was never going to be an easy of painless process. We're on the road to recovery, to believe there won't be any casualties along the way is ignorant.

 

[Tenspro2002]

I think this is a point many are missing. Lesser player than Akinjo under competent coaching staff > Akinjo under Ollie.

This. Exactly this, and nothing more.

 

[UConnDan97]

Hopefully the next coach can reach out to James and get him to reconsider. Don't blame him for being nervous and disappointed but he was going to be more disappointed if a necessary move was delayed.

I'm with you. If the next coach can quickly re-engage with him, that would be the best outcome for us. I really think he's got a chance to be a special player based on all the press clippings and accolades over the past few months...

 

[Madmannsucks]

You’d love to keep the kid - he’s a winner.

But we have to move on.

There’s a reason that two of our recruits live as far away from New England as you can get while keeping your feet dry and the other is from Lithuania.

We need someone who can walk into a New England gym and not have the place drop ten degrees.

So you suspect coach "Chill" is gone too?

 

[uconnbill]

Knew this would happen but I hate losing the best player in this class and someone who can handle the ball

 

[Fishy]

So you suspect coach "Chill" is gone too?

When the head coach is fired, the staff is effectively fired.

They’re still working now because we need to have a coaching staff in place for the current players, but they will all likely be dismissed when the new coach comes in.

However, if I’m the guy taking this job, I try to keep Chill.

 

[Captbluefin]

This kid was really good.. And NO. you are not going to recruit him all over.. several P5 teams have been recruiting him but he was loyal to KO..

It sucks.. Many will be disgusted in 2 years thinking about losing this kid...

 

[80shusky]

Expected, and a loss. If nothing else, we're short at least two guards. And, I'm sure the bleeding isn't over yet. Hopefully the new coach can find a way to put a team on the court next season that at least knows what color the ball is. We're probably in for more bad news before we get what we hope is good news. And then probably a tough year next year at minimum. Unfortunately it is an expected result of moving on.