Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="JoePgh, post: 4121234, member: 1131"] I would say that for the present discussion, the loyalty of many of his ex-players (including those whom he coached the hardest and criticized loudest in public) is a more impressive credential than those which demonstrate on-the-court success (those you listed). I don't think Geno is either infallible or a saint, but I do think he has a better sense of his players' needs and personalities than casual posters on this board, who in many cases are extrapolating from their experience coaching youth basketball -- a whole different population group than UConn players who aspire to pro basketball careers. If you were the music teacher for an 18-year-old violinist who appeared to have both the talent and the desire to become the next Hillary Hahn, would you coach that person the same way you would coach an 8th-grader who was playing the violin recreationally? Despite being a Geno supporter, I admit that he has said some things about his players publicly that have made me cringe. (These do not include his recent comments about Paige's second-half play against South Carolina. If he had said anything on that subject other than basically what he said, it would have flunked the "get real" test, and it would not have made Paige feel any better since she knows how she played just as well as Geno does.) His most cringe-inducing comment that I can remember occurred in Breanna Stewart's freshman year after a Baylor game in which she played only 7 minutes, and played very poorly -- and UConn lost. He started by saying that UConn might have won the game if he had not played Stewie at all, and went on to say that she was in a mental place at that moment where she couldn't help the team very much -- but maybe that would change "next week or next month". Well, we all know how that turned out. Stewie was not shattered by the comment (although she was very hurt, and told her parents that, but never suggested to them that she wanted to leave the program). Her mental state did turn around and she become the MVP of the NCAA tournament that year. Obviously, if Stewie were a middle-school basketball player or even a "pretty good" high school player, she might well have headed for the exit gate. But that is not who Stewie is, and it is not who any player is who entertains serious aspirations of a successful pro career. Geno understands that distinction, and coaches his players accordingly. Many posters here do not see any distinction between coaching avocational players and coaching aspiring pros -- and they are wrong. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach

Forum statistics

Threads: 164,432

Messages: 4,396,082

Members: 10,209

Latest member: gemini*trvl