You bring up an interesting point. There might be some recruits who have or had some interest in UConn and were impressed with KO but were skittish about coming here because of the uncertainty of JC's return to the sideline. There might even be some recruits who felt they couldn’t play for a tough love coach like JC that might now consider UConn due to Ollie’s temperament. I’ve always thought over the years that there are many kids that just can’t play for a tough coach like JC. We’ve seen a handful of players who simply couldn’t handle JC’s harsh correction and leave the program.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for coaches that hold their players accountable for what is expected on the court. JC sometimes did cross the line IMO. For example I never liked it when he would march deep into the court angrily and escort a player to the bench. You don’t have to humiliate a player in front of a packed house and TV audience. Some of his players handled it fine and others no so much. Bazz stands out as one of those players who had no problems with it. He’d take that face full of spit, keep his mouth shut, and sit down. Others like Edzilla and Jamal Coombs-McDaniel, couldn’t seem to keep their mouths shut and just listen and learn. They always seemed to have some sort of excuse. To play for JC, you have to simply take it and learn even if you think you had a good reason for what happened. I’ve seen times where JC would chew out a kid when the play that broke down wasn’t their fault, but the fault of a teammate who blew their assignment leaving the player exposed. But regardless, the ones that simply took it and learned, were the ones who had a long career after UConn.
Getting back to Nomar’s point, it will be interesting to see if some of those recruits that showed interest but cooled on UConn, show renewed interest as a result of Ollie taking over. Also, I wonder if he will have any success winning some interest with recruits that we’re showing interest that might, now that he’s the head coach. I could see some recruits curious to find out more about him based on the rapport he’s been building with many recruits. We seem to see a lot of positive comments from recruits about how much they like KO, something you don’t see very often when it comes to assistant coaches.
I hope we don’t lose the two recruits that have already gave us a verbal. I assume that KO was a big part of their decision. I think we’ll find out soon if that’s the case or not. I have a feeling we’ll not only retain those two but add XRM and some other talented players.
Lastly, I wonder what the reaction is with the current players. I’m sure some such as Bazz, who’s very close with JC, and Omar, who seemed to come here because he wanted to learn from JC, must be quite distraught. I have a feeling that JC will come around the program often. If he hasn’t done so already, he’s going to meet with the team, but after that he’s probably going to give KO some room to establish himself. I’m sure those two will talk often, but he’s going to allow KO to connect to his team as the HC.
This is going to be a fascinating season. I moved to CT after JC took over the program. He’s the only UConn coach that I know. It will be interesting to see if KO can get his players to play as hard and as tough as JC did, a key characteristic of all his teams. As he often put it himself, UConn often won because they imposed their will or out-willed their opponent. Talent only gets you so far. To you a HC has to coach the talent out of each player, teach them to adopt and execute his system well and to instill mental and emotional toughness that results in his team coming out on top, especially in games where there is great adversity: bad officiating, playing an opponent that is playing out of their minds, overcoming a poor shooting night, injuries, foul trouble, etc. It is amazing how many talented teams find themselves losing close games and coming up one or two plays short. The ones that have learned to out-will their opponent are the ones that found a way to make that one to two extra plays. The 2011 NC team led by Kemba is the perfect example of one that out-willed their opponent night after night. We witnessed that 11 games in a row. Hopefully Ollie is and/or will grow into an elite coach in all areas: player development, team development, game preparation, in-game adjustments, motivation, etc. Although I don’t see him as a screamer, I think he’s going to be a good one who will get the most out of his players. Knowing that he was an overachiever who knew he had to work harder than the next guy to succeed in the NBA, I can’t imagine he’s not going to excel at instilling the same in his players. He’s not your typical good guy that sometimes can’t get that extra out of his players. I think he’s going to be special. I just hope the program gives him a few years to prove it.
