Long Goodman article on the program

[AntG168]

Would Cal have kidnapped him? What does that even mean?

Cal is a relentless recruiter. He sold UMass, and Memphis for crying out loud.No I’m not suggesting he’d have kidnapped him.He’s a better recruiter so Hami wouldn’t have wanted to leave. The fact that he was on campus all the time, and took that last visit to Kentucky means that KO didn’t sell him. And it’s not just Cal. Some coaches sell wherever they go.
I’ll digress, because I do agree with you that we don’t need the Diallo indictment to justify him being fired. He’s done enough wrong.

 

[8893]

Quote the whole message or link the threads, you hump. This was discussed ad nauseam in multiple threads. I never advocated a midseason firing and I never said I wouldn't watch anymore games. Said over and over I haven't missed a game I could watch in the past 30 years and that Ollie needs to be fired and Hurley needs to be the new coach. Back channels have been worked but no serious discussions until the season is over.

This is great, now Statler and Waldorf are going to pretend they always thought Ollie should be fired.

Alright, please identify the moment when you came to believe that Ollie should be fired at the end of this season so we all know when the “right” moment was to start calling for his head.

I’ve been very clear that I believed in and supported him until this season. After the Arkansas game I said I was done defending him; after Auburn I said I was done believing he should return here.

Please show me otherwise or stop lying about my position.

As for your position, if you are “right,” why aren’t people like @Deadrody and @freescooter, who thought he was a terrible hire from the start, more right?

And that’s my entire point, now proven many times over in this thread: everyone reached their conclusion at a different time, and for a variety of different reasons. I don’t know why so many like you are so obsessed with being deemed the one who made the “right” call about when to get rid of him and why.

I’m concerned with what is right, not who.

 

[AntG168]

Use your ignore feature

 

[Edward Sargent]

Lazy is the wrong word. Disinterested is more apt.

He’s a very wealthy guy who has retired from his first profession. His current profession pays very well, but requires some menial labor that he doesn’t seem to like doing. (I’d be worse. I’d sit in the office and watch YouTube videos and price Bentleys all day.)

As a result, the talent isn’t here, the development doesn’t happen and the team is generally unprepared.

Fake it ‘til you make it replaced ten toes in a long time ago. With the genie out of the bottle now, it’s basically over.

Sounds like we need a divorce

 

[intlzncster]

This made me laugh.

 

[UConniki]

All the quotes are he said and she said. How do we know any of that is true. We don't know people's motivations to say certain things. Maybe they are butt hurt and bitter. Who knows. The human race is so gullible. Quick to believe anything that resembles their tendencies. I want nothing more than the whole thing to blow up in UCONN'S face if they fire KO. People act like they know everything when in reality we know nothing about the future consequences of a decision. Just let the man do his job. If anything give him a steep pay cut with performance based bonuses.

So for you the coach is more important than the program. If they fire KO you hope the program crashes and burns. A case of misplaced loyalty.... and your doing what you accuse loyal UConn fans who want KO fired for cause of doing. We all wanted UConn AND KO TO SUCCEED but unfortunately it’s not happening and when we point that out were accused of hoping that KO failed.... which was never true. You and those who think like you are part of the problem and from where I’m sitting it looks like the program HAS ALREADY BLOWN UP.... Two losing seasons in a row and the all time record for most 20 point blowouts in one season. How much further do you want the program to slide before enough is enough!

 

[superjohn]

Alright, please identify the moment when you came to believe that Ollie should be fired at the end of this season so we all know when the “right” moment was to start calling for his head.

I’ve been very clear that I believed in and supported him until this season. After the Arkansas game I said I was done defending him; after Auburn I said I was done believing he should return here.

Please show me otherwise or stop lying about my position.

As for your position, if you are “right,” why aren’t people like @Deadrody and @freescooter, who thought he was a terrible hire from the start, more right?

And that’s my entire point, now proven many times over in this thread: everyone reached their conclusion at a different time, and for a variety of different reasons. I don’t know why so many like you are so obsessed with being deemed the one who made the “right” call about when to get rid of him and why.

I’m concerned with what is right, not who.

I could care less about being right, it's just a little annoying when you tell people a long time ago there are massive problems with the guy coaching the team and you get called all kinds of names for it, just to see those same people are now saying they knew Ollie isn't the right guy as coach.

I'm not going to dig up old posts but I originally was skeptical of the hire because I thought he was too green. I was all on board after his first two seasons which were phenomenal. He showed a lot of cracks after that and then it all started spiraling out of control. I wanted him gone last season.

All I care about is UConn basketball and KO isn't right for UConn basketball.

 

[Purple Stein]

The captain did a lot for this school and this program and I take no joy in seeing him sink. And I do hope he rises again somewhere.

I mean, this is it. I hope KO has UC Riverside or Hawaii or whoever in the tournament five years from now. Or I hope he has a happier life on the Cippers' bench.

He's miserable here and, as the article suggests, I think he's ready to go, too. We'd all (including KO) be a lot better off moving beyond anger/depression and into acceptance.

 

[superjohn]

So for you the coach is more important than the program. If they fire KO you hope the program crashes and burns. A case of misplaced loyalty.... and your doing what you accuse loyal UConn fans who want KO fired for cause of doing. We all wanted UConn AND KO TO SUCCEED but unfortunately it’d not happening and when we point that out were accused of hoping that KO failed.... which was never true. You and those who think like you are part of the problem and from where I’m sitting it looks like the program HAS ALREADY BLOWN UP.... Two loosing seasons in a row and the all time record for most 20 point blowouts in one season. How much further do you want the program to slide before enough is enough!

But it's been the argument for so many posters for so long.

 

[polycom]

Losing Diallo due to effort. And Vance Jackson leaving because KO’s plan for him was to get in the gym. Those are new developments lol

No both things have been mentioned on the yard before. People have been calling KO lazy for at least 6 months. VJ what did people think his dad meant when he said my son should be a number 1 and KO has no plan to make that happen?

 

[AntG168]

No both things have been mentioned on the yard before. People have been calling KO lazy for at least 6 months. VJ what did people think his dad meant when he said my son should be a number 1 and KO has no plan to make that happen?

That is not what the article implied in the Vance Jackson situation. He said he wanted to be more than a spot up shooter and KO said to get in the gym lol. If true, I would have made the same decision Vance made

 

[8893]

I could care less about being right.

I’ll take that as a concession. Thanks.

 

[Mr. French]

Seriously! How hard is it to develop a plan — even if it’s part BS. There’s most likely more to the story, but it sounds like the kid would’ve stayed if a plan was in place to improve his game off the bounce.

That’s easy for them to say “there was no plan.”

If they literally said “we don’t know” or just never answered him, then they’re a bad coaching staff.

I doubt it’s that simple, and with parents like that, I have to take it with a grain of salt.

Either way, the overall situation is NOT good, chief-certified breaking news. I am not going to speculate until I have all the info but it doesn’t look great right now.

 

[Kemba'sYogurt]

This has been discussed before, but assuming KO gets canned, and Billy Donovan does as well, what do you guys think of going after Billy?

 

[Adios]

On the bright side, the mainstream media thinks the program can be relevant again.

 

[Adios]

This has been discussed before, but assuming KO gets canned, and Billy Donovan does as well, what do you guys think of going after Billy?

Yes.

 

[UConnNick]

Just to name a couple...Kevin Ollie's player development program for Vance Jackson and Kevin Ollie's lack of interest in going "ten toes in" to recruit a 5* player less than 25 miles away from the Storrs campus (which we knew was the case with MAL). Also a few telling quotes from former players, coaches, NBA scouts, and AAC coaches.

This is crazy. Every single one of Ollie's recruiting misses have been documented and discussed ad nauseum here, for at least the last year or longer. As for the Jackson comments, his daddy is less than a credible source, to say the least. And there's always the slew of unidentified sources to rely on. We have plenty of those right here...don't need to rely on an ESPN article for that.

What really kills me is virtually everybody here despises ESPN. They've thanked the CT governor for all the tax breaks by trashing the UCONN athletic program, but let them publish one crap article trashing Ollie and they're suddenly having rose petals strewn in their path here by the "Fire Ollie" crowd. Un-freaking believable.

 

[Stainmaster]

This is crazy. Every single one of Ollie's recruiting misses have been documented and discussed ad nauseum here, for at least the last year or longer. As for the Jackson comments, his daddy is less than a credible source, to say the least. And there's always the slew of unidentified sources to rely on. We have plenty of those right here...don't need to rely on an ESPN article for that.

What really kills me is virtually everybody here despises ESPN. They've thanked the CT governor for all the tax breaks by trashing the UCONN athletic program, but let them publish one crap article trashing Ollie and they're suddenly having rose petals strewn in their path here by the "Fire Ollie" crowd. Un-freaking believable.

The tax break doesn’t mean they have to cover us favorably. Their bias is frustrating, but it never was a quid pro quo type of arrangement.

 

[Dogdeacon]

You can argue Ollie lost it and that he's no good and should be fired.

Arguing that Calhoun was wrong to shoehorn him into the job is lame given 2013-2014.

Is it possible that Calhoun wanted Ollie because Ollie’s shortcomings would allow Calhoun to stay heavily involved? Then Ollie pushed Calhoun out and the planned tutelage & development became regression. And the reasoning (to remove JC) by Ollie was independence while reality was KO didn’t want to hear or listen to Calhoun telling him to work harder?

 

[husky429]

This has been discussed before, but assuming KO gets canned, and Billy Donovan does as well, what do you guys think of going after Billy?

Please.

I wouldn't count on it though. I can't see him coming back after an NBA tenure to rebuild a team unless he's desperate for cash

 

[superjohn]

I’ll take that as a concession. Thanks.

This from the guy who has done nothing but recycle the same dozen words for the past three months.

Please don’t dominate the rap jack, if you’ve got nothing new to say.

Rest assured, when history identifies the rats, you’ll be remembered as among the first off the ship and I’ll be in my deck chair listening to the orchestra.

So be it.

Enjoy your cruise with Ollie, maybe he'll give you a foot massage.

 

[JMick]

All the quotes are he said and she said. How do we know any of that is true. We don't know people's motivations to say certain things. Maybe they are butt hurt and bitter. Who knows. The human race is so gullible. Quick to believe anything that resembles their tendencies. I want nothing more than the whole thing to blow up in UCONN'S face if they fire KO. People act like they know everything when in reality we know nothing about the future consequences of a decision. Just let the man do his job. If anything give him a steep pay cut with performance based bonuses.

so you're a Kevin Ollie fan and not a UConn fan. Got it.

 

[gtcam]

A former player said this and a former coach said that = I say BS to Goodman - the guy has proven past to be a twist the truth artist
If KO is deemed to go by DB, then he goes
I don't see KO kicking and screaming but instead working with UConn on a departure that doesn't screw him or the program
I have to laugh at the thought there are plenty of folks out there who, after the 2014, were thinking he was unqualified and over his head
As far as VJ - he and his father wanted to get him closer to home, thought he deserved headliner status after a season where he was afforded more playing time then he would have dreamed when he walked in campus - all by default. He was a difficulty in practice and when sitting on the bench. That being said, I still doubt that he or his father did anything malicious towards KO or the program after they left - they are just happy to be on the West Coast.
The article has some merit but most is hearsay written, in my opinion, as ascertain. Not something beyond Goodman's past.