Lets take a step back & view latest news and rumors in context

[AfgHusky15]

So I posted this on TOS, but I think its relevant to post here to:

Ok so I know right now feels like a tense and anxious time for UConn fans right now. There is a lot of strong emotions and some negativity. The emotions stem from the fact that many of us are passionate fans of the program, and thats great.

But lets take a step back and look at whats been put out there so far and view whats been said in the context of what we knew from 5 years of KO at the helm of the program:

1) Ollie's relationship with the players: Everything we have known before this past few days indicate Ollie is a players' coach and players and recruits love him because he's a genuine guy who cares about the kids beyond just the basketball court. So any insinuation that players have lost faith in Ollie seems hard to believe.

A poster stated he saw JA like a tweet about staff failing to develop big men at UConn, but I just checked Jalen's "likes" on his twitter account and there was no such thing. He could have removed it so I am not saying the poster is lying, but maybe it was a different twitter handle that liked the tweet. Don't know. Maybe it was geared towards Glenn Miller and hence the pressure to find another big man coach.

But anything contradicting the notion that players love Ollie is hard to believe.

2) Glenn Miller: We all know that Oz is the most connected poster on any UConn forum to the coaching staff and program. His information is very valuable and very much appreciated by the UConn faithful. When he says Glenn Miller has been relieved of his duties I don't doubt it at all. However Glenn has not been released as of yet. I do not think Ollie would just fire Glenn.

I can see why it would make sense for all parties including Glenn to move on to different paths. I think Glenn is a great assistant coach who has a lot of experience & knowledge and he bleeds blue. He is a native of CT, played for UConn as well as Calhoun at Northeastern. I think he would be a great addition on any coaching staff.

However, our bigs development has been a weakness of sorts, but its unfair to put all the blame on him. He was the lead recruiter when it came to Hamidou and while the blame can't be pinned on Glenn losing Hamidou while believing he was in our bag was not a good look. It was clear Hamidou was intending to go to UK for a while, because Bamba said Hamdiou was recruiting him to go to UK way before he even committed to UK. So it was a clear failure of intelligence.

Steve Enoch's feeling of not having developed as much as he and his father hoped may have started the discussions of whether it is time to move on for Glenn.

One thing is for sure, KO is extremely loyal, and that was often seen as his biggest weakness. He wouldn't sub out players when they made mistakes and he kept giving Rodney and Brimah chances to prove themselves, so I am very confident that KO will not just leave Glenn hanging but instead would help land at some other program on his feet.

3) Steve Enoch: Saying the news of him asking for his release was shocking is an understatement. I think he has all the tools to be a great big. KO has said he has the ability to be one of the best offensive big men to come through UConn (now that is some very high praise). I mean you see his talent flash before your eyes. The guy ended the season with 17 straight free throws made, that says a lot about the ability of a 6'11 man child of a center.

I know a lot of good programs will be on him, and I wouldn't be surprised if other programs were already reaching out to him (or more likely his parents) even before the season ended. Its a brutal cut throat world out there when it comes to recruiting and poaching players from other teams. I think KO is realizing that more and more as he gains experience as a head coach, especially after the Hamidou failure.

I still have hope though that Steve will take the time to really consider his options and may opt to come back to UConn, if a new big men coach is selected. The starting 5 spot is his to lose, and I'm sure KO will reach out to him again.

4) KO & clubbing: I can't believe this is even a talking point. < Edit - me, neither. Now, it ain't.>

5) Finally, there is nothing wrong with having different view points. Debate can be healthy, but lets all be respectful of one another. No need for the extracurricular vocabulary or adjectives. Yes there seems to be ominous clouds over the program right now but I very much trust KO to lead us out of this. He has won a ship before, and he's a great role model, and I am confident he will lead us to the promise land again.

 

[Kemba'sYogurt]

Where Raphael at

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Where Raphael at

Accepting his "coolest name" award.

 

[boog204]

I must have missed the KO at the clubs thread... Does that really matter in the least bit? That new bit of "news" is totally out of left field for me.

 

[husky429]

Yes. Any personal attacks on Ollie like that should be nixed in my opinion. Completely innapropriate. In line with speculating on transfers.

 

[UConnSwag11]

So I posted this on TOS, but I think its relevant to post here to:

Ok so I know right now feels like a tense and anxious time for UConn fans right now. There is a lot of strong emotions and some negativity. The emotions stem from the fact that many of us are passionate fans of the program, and thats great.

But lets take a step back and look at whats been put out there so far and view whats been said in the context of what we knew from 5 years of KO at the helm of the program:

1) Ollie's relationship with the players: Everything we have known before this past few days indicate Ollie is a players' coach and players and recruits love him because he's a genuine guy who cares about the kids beyond just the basketball court. So any insinuation that players have lost faith in Ollie seems hard to believe.

A poster stated he saw JA like a tweet about staff failing to develop big men at UConn, but I just checked Jalen's "likes" on his twitter account and there was no such thing. He could have removed it so I am not saying the poster is lying, but maybe it was a different twitter handle that liked the tweet. Don't know. Maybe it was geared towards Glenn Miller and hence the pressure to find another big man coach.

But anything contradicting the notion that players love Ollie is hard to believe.

2) Glenn Miller: We all know that Oz is the most connected poster on any UConn forum to the coaching staff and program. His information is very valuable and very much appreciated by the UConn faithful. When he says Glenn Miller has been relieved of his duties I don't doubt it at all. However Glenn has not been released as of yet. I do not think Ollie would just fire Glenn.

I can see why it would make sense for all parties including Glenn to move on to different paths. I think Glenn is a great assistant coach who has a lot of experience & knowledge and he bleeds blue. He is a native of CT, played for UConn as well as Calhoun at Northeastern. I think he would be a great addition on any coaching staff.

However, our bigs development has been a weakness of sorts, but its unfair to put all the blame on him. He was the lead recruiter when it came to Hamidou and while the blame can't be pinned on Glenn losing Hamidou while believing he was in our bag was not a good look. It was clear Hamidou was intending to go to UK for a while, because Bamba said Hamdiou was recruiting him to go to UK way before he even committed to UK. So it was a clear failure of intelligence.

Steve Enoch's feeling of not having developed as much as he and his father hoped may have started the discussions of whether it is time to move on for Glenn.

One thing is for sure, KO is extremely loyal, and that was often seen as his biggest weakness. He wouldn't sub out players when they made mistakes and he kept giving Rodney and Brimah chances to prove themselves, so I am very confident that KO will not just leave Glenn hanging but instead would help land at some other program on his feet.

3) Steve Enoch: Saying the news of him asking for his release was shocking is an understatement. I think he has all the tools to be a great big. KO has said he has the ability to be one of the best offensive big men to come through UConn (now that is some very high praise). I mean you see his talent flash before your eyes. The guy ended the season with 17 straight free throws made, that says a lot about the ability of a 6'11 man child of a center.

I know a lot of good programs will be on him, and I wouldn't be surprised if other programs were already reaching out to him (or more likely his parents) even before the season ended. Its a brutal cut throat world out there when it comes to recruiting and poaching players from other teams. I think KO is realizing that more and more as he gains experience as a head coach, especially after the Hamidou failure.

I still have hope though that Steve will take the time to really consider his options and may opt to come back to UConn, if a new big men coach is selected. The starting 5 spot is his to lose, and I'm sure KO will reach out to him again.

4) KO & clubbing: I can't believe this is even a talking point. Andersonfro has generally been a very good poster, so I am shocked to hear this kind of accusation coming from him. Its hard to believe KO being a heavy drinker and a constant presence at clubs. I know by saying this there are a lot of KO haters who will latch onto this because of their dislike for KO. But here are some facts, KO is in tip top shape physically. Even at his age he can outrun and prob outplay some of the players on his team. When KO was a player at UConn he was known to have avoided drinking in general, and settled down with his wife to be (now ex-wife) fairly quickly. When he was at OKC Durant said himself while other players would be out enjoying themselves KO would be going to church. Every religious recruit has raved about KO. So this accusation about him hitting up clubs and being a drinker doesn't match the facts we all know about KO. So lets just snuff this rumor before it starts spreading.

5) Finally, there is nothing wrong with having different view points. Debate can be healthy, but lets all be respectful of one another. No need for the extracurricular vocabulary or adjectives. Yes there seems to be ominous clouds over the program right now but I very much trust KO to lead us out of this. He has won a ship before, and he's a great role model, and I am confident he will lead us to the promise land again.

yup... Ollie has only been coaching since '12-13 (was with bazz and them working with them since they were freshman under calhoun so i dont want to hear they were calhouns players, ollie still coached them for two years after being an assistant and beat the great coaches of college basketball) and has had so much shlllllt thrown at him off the court and on and has a done a great job with all things considered. Brimah facey and even purvis were the results of everything that transpired when ollie took over the program and ollie learning the ropes. he will get it together.

as development for the bigs the only reason Enoch didnt play over brimah is bc he couldnt stay on the floor without fouling. Brimah as well but brimah wasn't as bad and brought shot blocking. I do believe steve would be great offensively and if he put the time into it he would be a great rebounder and fill the lane defensively.

bringing in higher bball iq players and talent will help with the development tremendously. I think the '14 team is ollies ideal idea for a squad. two smart pgs who can run an offense, create their own shots, distribute, and take control of the team both on the court and off the court, 3/4 who can play on the wing and the 4 who can post up downlow. as for the center position i think he wants someone who can score downlow but most of all rebound, play defense, and be a great passing big (maybe greg monroe type/jake) and get the team out in transition.

jalen needs to have the confidence this year to tak over the team without looking to ollie for offense and defense. he did well last year but too many times he had to yell at the seniors to get in the right position offensively. with the players we have now i think that will be fixed. our team needs to be on the same page mentally and want to be a team and work together to accomplish the goals

the players need the Aj price, jeff adrien, KEA, ricky moore, shabazz, boatright, kemba mentality each and every day when they practice, workout, and play in a game

 

[AfgHusky15]

Seems like a mutual decision to part ways. As I said in op I don't think KO would just kick him out but rather help him in moving elsewhere. Glenn has always indicated he wanted to be a head coach once again.

I could see him taking on the UMass job. UMass can pull a Rutgers and take credit for all the NBA players UConn has produced

 

[djct1999]

Although sometimes change is good and necessary, it shouldn't undermine the heartfelt appreciation for all that Coach Miller has contributed over the years. Thanks Coach and don't be a stranger to the program.

 

[AfgHusky15]

Now it seems that Enoch leaving ain't official yet.

As I mentioned I earlier I still have hope that Enoch will not leave the program, and I think he waits to see who the next big man coach is.

 

[nomar]

Now it seems that Enoch leaving ain't official yet.

As I mentioned I earlier I still have hope that Enoch will not leave the program, and I think he waits to see who the next big man coach is.

Well it seems to be a fact that he asked for a release. So the fact that UConn hasn't granted it yet, or isn't commenting on it, doesn't mean much. He wants to leave so he'll leave.

 

[AfgHusky15]

Well it seems to be a fact that he asked for a release. So the fact that UConn hasn't granted it yet, or isn't commenting on it, doesn't mean much. He wants to leave so he'll leave.

Of course if he wants to leave he will leave, all i am saying is I wouldn't doubt KO being able to convince Enoch to at least wait until they hire a new big man coach and then eventually get Enoch back on board.

 

[AfgHusky15]

Well it seems to be a fact that he asked for a release. So the fact that UConn hasn't granted it yet, or isn't commenting on it, doesn't mean much. He wants to leave so he'll leave.

Well that hope was short lived... Oz just confirmed he's gone...