- Joined
- Aug 30, 2011
- Messages
- 266
- Reaction Score
- 1,015
Calhoun was an SOB with enormously high expectations for his players. But he also started in the college coaching game way back in 72 and was at Northeastern when it was a DII program. So he had 14 years to iron out the kinks before he took the UCONN job. Kevin was handed the keys to a highly functioning organization, but had zero years to make mistakes at a lower level program, and really had not even been a long time assistant before he took the job. So we got to see what he could do with a roster full of high functioning players who had their eyes on something big. Not hard to motivate that bunch, and in some ways similar to a pro squad, which might actually be more of Ollie's forte. And then we saw what happened when he faced adversity. Calhoun could take a sow's ear of a roster and turn it into a silk purse. But he had done that more than once and also had talented teams that under performed. Ollie ultimately failed in the bright lights of a high pressure job. But perhaps he should have had the opportunity to make his mistakes in a lower stakes job. But to quote HST, buy the ticket, take the ride....