Kevin Ollie in running for Piston Job? | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Kevin Ollie in running for Piston Job?

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nelsonmuntz said:
American fanboys like you baffle me. The American essentially destroyed our athletic department and you defend it.

Dan Hurley would NEVER have come to UConn if it wasn’t joining the Big East. We would have someone like Stan Heath coaching in Storrs and be celebrating top 200 recruits if we were still in that hell hole.
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I don’t disagree that the AAC nearly buried us 6 feet under but Hurley was quoted recently that when he took the job Herbst/Benedict did not make promises of a conference change.
 
HailUConn said:
Shocked no one wondered why he was out of OTE? Maybe cannot hold a job? Now you claim he has some kind of shot for NBA team? Homerism much? He is gradually fading into the background noise…
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Well the league in 2 years was a success. He is stepping down and while OTE has kept player updates they have not removed him from the we site. Guessing with his recent payout he can be pretty selective about his next role.
 
nelsonmuntz said:
American fanboys like you baffle me. The American essentially destroyed our athletic department and you defend it.

Dan Hurley would NEVER have come to UConn if it wasn’t joining the Big East. We would have someone like Stan Heath coaching in Storrs and be celebrating top 200 recruits if we were still in that hell hole.
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For the 20th time, Hurley has said that Benedict and Herbst told him there was Nolan in place to leave the AAC at that time and UConn might be in the AAC for a long time. Hurley admitted it was a factor in his decision but he decided to take the risk anyway because of the UConn brand.
 
I'm not really sure what to think. I hope he gets the gig but is it out of line to think KO should do some assistant work in NBA before he's an NBA head coach? Im a bit out of touch with what goes on at overtime elite, but it seems like KO has to rebuild his rep a bit. His last 1-3 years of NCAA coaching didn't go super.
 
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Recruiting success isn’t just Rivals/247Rankings.

It’s also roster construction, talent identification, etc.

Ollie may be a good NBA coach (prob better than his ending here) but I think he’d be better with a veteran team vs development of a young group
 
A big fan back when it was Ollie or Best in the recruiting battles. I wanted Ollie and Jim won. Best ended up at Georgia Tech and a higher NBA pick but Ollie was a better fit here.
Time goes on and Jim has all the believe in the world in Ollie. His hard work ethics here and years of trying to make it in the NBA, catching on with team after team for a year here and a year there. I always rooted for him.

Fast forward to JC sticking him up Warde's roster, disappointed to say the least. Yes he gets the NC but that was JC's team. Once on his own he abandoned Jim and fired his (Jim's ) best friend and long time assistant. Yes he was going through a divorce as many have but you can't take it to work. He was nothing more than a General Motors tests dummy on the bench.

He failed us in the end. He lost top notch players and commits decomitting while in denile he was the problem.

While I wish him well, he left the cuborad bare and got 12 mill for it. As a fan I am divorced from KO, that unless he desides to donate millions back that he did not deserve to recieve.
 
gsmooth said:
I can only speak for myself and I won't attempt to speak for the rest of Husky Nation. I would be really pleased for Kevin Ollie if he does land the Detroit Pistons head coaching job.
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It would kill our recruiting. Remember those days?
 
Chin Diesel said:
Franchises I don't want to draft Hawkins:

1. Charlotte
1.1aaaa Pistons

Anyone who is in a position of authority who legitimately mentioned Ollie's name should be fired before sun rises Monday.
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Literally said thi exact thing in hawk > Bouk thread.
 
Woof 101 said:
A big fan back when it was Ollie or Best in the recruiting battles. I wanted Ollie and Jim won. Best ended up at Georgia Tech and a higher NBA pick but Ollie was a better fit here.
Time goes on and Jim has all the believe in the world in Ollie. His hard work ethics here and years of trying to make it in the NBA, catching on with team after team for a year here and a year there. I always rooted for him.

Fast forward to JC sticking him up Warde's roster, disappointed to say the least. Yes he gets the NC but that was JC's team. Once on his own he abandoned Jim and fired his (Jim's ) best friend and long time assistant. Yes he was going through a divorce as many have but you can't take it to work. He was nothing more than a General Motors tests dummy on the bench.

He failed us in the end. He lost top notch players and commits decomitting while in denile he was the problem.

While I wish him well, he left the cuborad bare and got 12 mill for it. As a fan I am divorced from KO, that unless he desides to donate millions back that he did not deserve to recieve.
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I’m good with how anyone feels about KO he deserves everything thrown at him in every which direction.

The one thing I will always fight is he won with JCs team that’s a ridiculous and inaccurate statement. The only guy who played significant minutes for JC was Bazz and Bazz wasn’t at all a happy player his sophomore year after winning the title. To bring a team together to win 20 games knowing the APR was hanging over their heads and there was no BE tourney or NCAA dance was incredible. And to follow that up with NC with guys like Daniels, Giffey, Nolan, Boat, Kromah who played very little under JC was an achievement of its own, not anyone elses. People need to stop that ridiculousness.
 
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HooperScooper said:
For the 20th time, Hurley has said that Benedict and Herbst told him there was Nolan in place to leave the AAC at that time and UConn might be in the AAC for a long time. Hurley admitted it was a factor in his decision but he decided to take the risk anyway because of the UConn brand.
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So Hurley passed on an ACC job at Pitt to coach in the American? Sure. I also suspect that telling prospective coaches that UConn was leaving the league before UConn provided notice is a breach of our AAC agreement and could result in a clawback of revenue by the AAC. Every school claims they were loyal members right up to the moment they aren’t. The use of absolute terms is the wiggle room Hurley needs to be telling the truth without telling the whole truth about that situation.

I am less interested in debating the meaning of the words Hurley used than the fact that so many UConn fans still argue that the AAC was not a catastrophe for the athletic department. Auriemma is on the record as saying the men don’t win this title if they aren’t in the Big East. Many on this board feel differently.
 
nelsonmuntz said:
So Hurley passed on an ACC job at Pitt to coach in the American?
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Yes. I’m not sure why you want to call anyone a liar. There were always only a handful of jobs he would have moved up from, and UConn, regardless of conference, was one of them. It wasn’t a secret that UConn wanted out of the American but acting as if anything was set and secretly known is not correct.
 
NJHoops said:
Yes. I’m not sure why you want to call anyone a liar. There were always only a handful of jobs he would have moved up from, and UConn, regardless of conference, was one of them. It wasn’t a secret that UConn wanted out of the American but acting as if anything was set and secretly known is not correct.
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I didn’t call anyone a liar. Your words, not mine.

Sanogo, Jackson and Hawkins committed to UConn within a year of joining the Big East. Must have been a lucky coincidence. In the USA Today article, Hurley points out UConn was a bad fit for the American for recruiting.

Yet every time the American comes up, the AAC fanboys flock to the league’s defense.
 
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mauconnfan said:
I’m good with how anyone feels about KO he deserves everything thrown at him in every which direction.

The one thing I will always fight is he won with JCs team that’s a ridiculous and inaccurate statement. The only guy who played significant minutes for JC was Bazz and Bazz wasn’t at all a happy player his sophomore year after winning the title. To bring a team together to win 20 games knowing the APR was hanging over their heads and there was no BE tourney or NCAA dance was incredible. And to follow that up with NC with guys like Daniels, Giffey, Nolan, Boat, Kromah who played very little under JC was an achievement of its own, not anyone elses. People need to stop that ridiculousness.
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This x100.

I’m as big of an Ollie critic as there is, but he helped keep that roster together post-Calhoun retirement. And that was at a time when UConn was banned from the tourney and the Big East was falling apart.

I think he deserves all the criticism in the world for what came after 2014 - putting zero effort into his job, alienating everyone around him, etc. - but it’s unfair to try to take credit from him for those first two seasons.
 
WestHartHusk said:
Deserves?!
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clint eastwood Deserve's got nothing to do with it. GIF


Has anyone else other than the single guy on Twitter even confirmed this rumor? For what it’s worth this guy didn’t say Ollie’s top choice or even Ollie’s being considered, just that he was someone they should look at.
 
UofCT said:
Yeah he played in the NBA for like 12 years, was an assistant on the 2011 title team, head coach for 2014 title, 7-1 in the tournament. That resume deserves a coaching job.
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History is littered with plenty of coaches that had great resumes, got a shot, failed (either immediately or eventually), and then didn’t get another shot. Regardless of what someone thinks of Ollie, it’s a pretty unambiguous fact that his downfall as a successful coach was of his own doing. Maybe he gets a shot as an assistant to try to rehab his reputation as a coach, but an NBA owner/GM would have to be a lunatic to take a risk on him as a HC.
 
Not sure how legit it is, but..

On one end, Ollie’s playbook (or lack of) depends on a star guard or wing being a shot creator. Not much of an Xs and Os guy to create shots from a flowing offense. That style is more suited for the NBA than for college, especially with Cade Cunningham running the show

On the other end, a coach’s ceiling is very limited that way. The Pistons job is a rebuilding job, so there is definitely no expectation of success right away. But eventually the demands to make a playoff run will start coming, sooner rather than later if they get Wemby. That’s when Xs and Os start to matter, and that’s not his strength

I think KO’s skills are in motivating and mentoring, which imo are better suited in an assistant job instead of head coach. I know he went off the rails for a few years at UConn, but the rest (majority) of his coaching and playing resume proves it true. The Pistons job is high risk high reward for a new coach. You could be the guy to lead the young core to success and bring Detroit back to the playoffs, or you could be like a Stephen Silas who can’t keep control of the ship and kill your future career prospects
 
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My reaction is kudos to Ollie's agent for getting him mentioned in the conversation.
Realistically that has to happen multiple times and he needs an assistant job to show he's willing to work and work hard again.
 
UofCT said:
Yeah he played in the NBA for like 12 years, was an assistant on the 2011 title team, head coach for 2014 title, 7-1 in the tournament. That resume deserves a coaching job.
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Then you have to wonder why he hasn’t gotten any real consideration in the past five years. Forget college hoops - this is the first mild buzz he’s gotten for an NBA job since he and UConn parted ways.

NBA teams are privy to more inside information than we are, so there must be a reason that someone with his resume hasn’t been a serious coaching candidate.
 
I always thought KO would be a better fit at the NBA level. Player development was his biggest area of weakness. Not sure if the Pistons are the best fit because they are so young, he'd be a perfect fit as a Mavericks, Grizzlies or Cavs coach, some team with alpha lead guards, but just because college didn't work out doesn't mean the NBA won't.
 
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