Ok Coach F up - but Coach's Guy Ollie is the Guy

[Chief00]

I know many of the good arguments against making Coach Ollie a Coach in waiting and in fact I agree with many of them. However, knowing the UConn scene pretty good and Ollie a little- my vote would definitely be for Coach Ollie!

As I posted a week ago, Calhoun has lost some credibility with the powers to be at UConn, in part due to the bad national publicity, a season that disappointed many with unrealistic expectations and the George Blaney fiasco. The Warde Manuel hire over Coach's interim guy was a huge sign the direction was changing.

The bottom-line, putting George out there in 2012 as head coach was Jim's decision and it was a bad one. How could someone now not have less confidence when Calhoun says someone should be the Coach in waiting? In hindsight Jim should have named Ollie the coach in waiting before last season - and kicked him up to Associate Head coach. He should have also made Hobbs the Associate Head Coach in waiting.

George has great basketball knowledge and does have a special relationship with Jim but it is an awful fast tempo game - the same decision 2 minutes late can make all the difference.

Coach has won an NCAA Championship in 3 Decades - putting him in very select company. He has proven he can adjust to change. Warde needs to understand that better than he seems to currently - stop listening to the Jeff Jacobs's of the World - and go with Kevin Ollie.

I can guarantee you the players respect Coach Ollie and once the NCAA cloud clears this guy can bring in the very top type recruiting classes.

Interesting - no mention of Coach Calhoun in article below:

"Nice seats:​

​

Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo had no idea why he was sitting in the front row of a section of Louisville fans, especially since the Cardinals ended his season last weekend.​

Every coach who has won a national championship was given seats in the first row behind the media at the Superdome, Izzo said. It was a new gesture by the NCAA this season.​

​

Joining Izzo were North Carolina Coach Roy Williams, Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim, former Kentucky Coach Tubby Smith and former Louisville Coach Denny Crum."​

​

 

[mauconnfan]

I have always been an Ollie guy even before his hiring and know he will be a good one. He is an excellent communicator to all kinds of kids and a great motivator despite his seemingly quiet demeanor..........the timing may not be good though. Depending on when JC jumps it may be best to bring in a Shaka Smart-type, who will work with JC to keep the momentum yet at the same time, bring in experience and passion already known the the country and easily sold.

I'm good with any decision as long as it's well thought out, but coming off a potetnial ban and losing momentum in the recruiting world, my perference would be tell Shaka he's coming in with Ollie as his main guy for recruiting and asst coach!! Know that doesn't always go well and maybe Kevin wants more (NBA?) but they would be a dynamic duo I believe!

 

[SubbaBub]

Didn't mention Coach K either. It was.probably the 2 titles or less section.,

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

 

[Palatine]

Hiring Manual over Pendergast had nothing to do with Calhoun. Anyone paying attention would realize this is how Herbst works. She has a vision. She executes it. Pendergast did not fit her stated goals after the Hathaway buyout.

The Blaney thing was completely an on-the-court call by JC. No one else had input. Yep, it was bad but it says nothing about JC's relationship to the Pres or AD.

I doubt that any Jeff Jacobs opinion has anything to do with any decision by the new AD. It defies belief.

As for KO. You can bet Herbst will run a national search when JC leaves and not just hand the job to Ollie. If one of her criteria is head coaching experience KO will be in trouble. We need to see how she wants this done. She may turn the process over to Manuel. In that case, you can bet he will run the show.

 

[imno1]

My feeling is that KO will eventually been a good maybe great coach somewhere either in college or the Pros but if Smart is available and wants to come to UCONN he is the better choice. Of course my first choice is to have Coach Calhoun stay a few more years.

 

[ford82]

If Shaka Smart were to be the next head coach, it would not be contingent upon Ollie staying on as head assistant/recruiter. The whole point of being a head coach is that you are in charge of the basketball program and decide who are your assistants, what type of basketball you play and who you recruit. Whoever becomes the head coach needs to be in charge, not sort-of in charge as long as you do X, Y and Z.

 

[upstater]

As has been stated on this board many times, UConn is a public institution and thereby can't announce any head-coach-in-waiting position because of the law. There has to be an open search even if that means a bunch of people send in applications and Manuel makes 2 or 3 phone interviews.

 

[Chief00]

Hiring Manual over Pendergast had nothing to do with Calhoun. Anyone paying attention would realize this is how Herbst works. She has a vision. She executes it. Pendergast did not fit her stated goals after the Hathaway buyout.

The Blaney thing was completely an on-the-court call by JC. No one else had input. Yep, it was bad but it says nothing about JC's relationship to the Pres or AD.

I doubt that any Jeff Jacobs opinion has anything to do with any decision by the new AD. It defies belief.

As for KO. You can bet Herbst will run a national search when JC leaves and not just hand the job to Ollie. If one of her criteria is head coaching experience KO will be in trouble. We need to see how she wants this done. She may turn the process over to Manuel. In that case, you can bet he will run the show.

If you don't think hiring Manuel over making the interim Pendergast perm wasn't a reflection of what direction the wind was blowing and how much input Calhoun would have on his replacement - I respectably disagree. It was a sign of future decisions. Pendergast would have gone along with Jim's wishes and Herbst knew that.

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

I think the VCU fan base deserves to retain Shaka Smart (they have an intelligent fan base over there and the A10 would be an upgrade assuming it happens). Smart in my opinion over the next couple years should be able to bring VCU to another level. Next years VCU team will be preseason top 25 and could make a nice run in the Bahamas with a great field of teams. With seniors Theus and Daniels in the back court and a solid front court look for VCU to make a solid run at another Final 4 behind Shaka Smart's inspirational coaching. It will also depend on how watered down other teams become from early entrants to the NBA. Will CJ Leslie leave? Will Doron Lamb leave Kentucky? Teague? Barton is leaving Memphis who otherwise would have preseason top 10. Sullinger? If the dominoes continue to fall Shaka's way for next year he will call all the shots and go where ever he wants after getting to another Final 4.

I think Ollie will be the next coach unless the UConn administration does a full court press for Smart. Calhoun does not want Shaka as his replacement. Calhoun is very content with Ollie and the type of success Kevin Ollie would bring as his replacement. JMHO

 

[upstater]

If you don't think hiring Manuel over making the interim Pendergast perm wasn't a reflection of what direction the wind was blowing and how much input Calhoun would have on his replacement - I respectably disagree. It was a sign of future decisions. Pendergast would have gone along with Jim's wishes and Herbst knew that.

I think you're reading way too much into it. Maybe Calhoun wanted him in there. You know more about that than I do, but the idea that a fundraiser--a very successful one from private institutions--would be shoehorned into a position that requires knowledge of college athletics as well as interface with academics, etc., that's a stretch. From Herbst's point-of-view, the hire of Manuel could simply have been about filling the responsibilities of the position, and Pendergast didn't have the background. It may not have been a statement on Calhoun's influence. When it comes to choosing a coach, there is one person on that campus that has the ultimate expertise in making that decision, and they should defer to him heavily whether or not he wanted his guy as AD.

 

[caw]

I don't know all the inner workings with Pendergast, but he was quoted fairly early on that he didn't want to be the full-time AD. Perhaps he was just BSing but...

 

[Henry]

Shaka Smart has turned down other opportunities possibly waiting to see what UCONN does. I'm not sold on Ollie taking over. We should consider ourselves a major program and under those circumstances it would be a mistake to have a coach who would be learning on the job. I would love to see UCONN hire Smart as coach in waitng under Calhoun with the understanding that he takes over after next season. It would leave time for a transition and give Smart a chance to work with current assistants so he can see who he can work with.

 

[businesslawyer]

I think you're reading way too much into it. Maybe Calhoun wanted him in there. You know more about that than I do, but the idea that a fundraiser--a very successful one from private institutions--would be shoehorned into a position that requires knowledge of college athletics as well as interface with academics, etc., that's a stretch. From Herbst's point-of-view, the hire of Manuel could simply have been about filling the responsibilities of the position, and Pendergast didn't have the background. It may not have been a statement on Calhoun's influence. When it comes to choosing a coach, there is one person on that campus that has the ultimate expertise in making that decision, and they should defer to him heavily whether or not he wanted his guy as AD.

Oh come on. It would be absurd to think that Pendergrast knows more than Chief does about what Pendergrast wanted.

 

[Ts5034]

I don't know all the inner workings with Pendergast, but he was quoted fairly early on that he didn't want to be the full-time AD. Perhaps he was just BSing but...

Yes I always thought Uconn was very clear from the start that Pendergast was just the interim AD until they found somebody else. He wasnt even a candidate for the permanent job

 

[Zionn]

 

[ford82]

I would love to see UCONN hire Smart as coach in waitng under Calhoun with the understanding that he takes over after next season. It would leave time for a transition and give Smart a chance to work with current assistants so he can see who he can work with.

When has that ever been done before?

 

[Danzz]

I know many of the good arguments against making Coach Ollie a Coach in waiting and in fact I agree with many of them. However, knowing the UConn scene pretty good and Ollie a little- my vote would definitely be for Coach Ollie!

As I posted a week ago, Calhoun has lost some credibility with the powers to be at UConn, in part due to the bad national publicity, a season that disappointed many with unrealistic expectations and the George Blaney fiasco. The Warde Manuel hire over Coach's interim guy was a huge sign the direction was changing.

The bottom-line, putting George out there in 2012 as head coach was Jim's decision and it was a bad one. How could someone now not have less confidence when Calhoun says someone should be the Coach in waiting? In hindsight Jim should have named Ollie the coach in waiting before last season - and kicked him up to Associate Head coach. He should have also made Hobbs the Associate Head Coach in waiting.

George has great basketball knowledge and does have a special relationship with Jim but it is an awful fast tempo game - the same decision 2 minutes late can make all the difference.

Coach has won an NCAA Championship in 3 Decades - putting him in very select company. He has proven he can adjust to change. Warde needs to understand that better than he seems to currently - stop listening to the Jeff Jacobs's of the World - and go with Kevin Ollie.

I can guarantee you the players respect Coach Ollie and once the NCAA cloud clears this guy can bring in the very top type recruiting classes.

Interesting - no mention of Coach Calhoun in article below:

"Nice seats:​

​

Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo had no idea why he was sitting in the front row of a section of Louisville fans, especially since the Cardinals ended his season last weekend.​

Every coach who has won a national championship was given seats in the first row behind the media at the Superdome, Izzo said. It was a new gesture by the NCAA this season.​

Joining Izzo were North Carolina Coach Roy Williams, Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim, former Kentucky Coach Tubby Smith and former Louisville Coach Denny Crum."​

I'm an Ollie supporter too but he may not take the job or at the very least it isn't likely he would stay as an assistant if JC retires. There have been some rumblings that Ollie may be interested in an NBA position.

 

[Henry]

When has that ever been done before?

Purdue did it when Keady was getting ready to leave. They brought in Matt Painter as a co-coach or coach in waiting.

 

[Fishy]

I would love to see UCONN hire Smart as coach in waitng under Calhoun with the understanding that he takes over after next season. It would leave time for a transition and give Smart a chance to work with current assistants so he can see who he can work with.

First, the original post in the thread was so off the wall that I thought it would be hard to find it's equal - congrats, Henry, you've topped it.

Shaka Smart makes about $1.3M a year at VCU and you would like to see him take the vague 'coach in waiting' deal at UConn for what would be an 80% salary cut and the loss of all leverage on the open market.

I hope there are unicorns at that press conference.

On Chief's original post, holy crap.

Paul was not Calhoun's guy and there was never an iota of a chance that he was going to be hired permanently. He would have liked the job, but he knew he was not going to get it.

Second, Calhoun cannot name Ollie as coach in waiting. That is not his decision and that is not the situation as it currently exists. It might have been the preferred path a year ago, but that is no longer the case.

When Calhoun retires, UConn will cast a wide net and hire the best fish in the net.

And if you think Warde is listening to Jeff Jacob's, you're ignorant.

 

[Chief00]

Disagree, Pendergast was hired as interim when Calhoun had influence. Pendergast used to be part of Calhoun's post game group during his earlier stay at UConn. I don't know what his chances were but he did want to be permanent AD.

 

[Mr.Phat]

HORRIBLE if Ollie gets chosen and I will write Herbst early and often pleading with her not to do it. A program of UConn's caliber needs a coach with a track record of Div 1 success and Ollie ain't it.

Stevens.

 

[dtrumpet]

Ollie has the NBA success story of performance and perseverance to be a great recruiter, but no record that indicates he would be good head coach at any level. He's just too much of a risk at a high profile D1 school.

 

[Palatine]

If you don't think hiring Manuel over making the interim Pendergast perm wasn't a reflection of what direction the wind was blowing and how much input Calhoun would have on his replacement - I respectably disagree. It was a sign of future decisions. Pendergast would have gone along with Jim's wishes and Herbst knew that.

You have no idea who Herbst is if you think she was just going to continue with business as usual. This had more to do with Herbst vision for the university than anything else. It wouldn't have mattered who the coach or interim AD was. She runs the entire university by a national standard. Just promoting the next guy up isn't her DNA.

It's not different than the way she handled the new dean of the business school. National search, guy with deep experience, not the next guy in line.

That's just the way she rolls -- and trust me -- which way the wind is blowing doesn't factor in.

 

[Chief00]

I understand the perspective that you need someone with head coaching experience - just be aware if you go that route Drummond goes pro and Omar goes elsewhere.

 

[Kitaman]

I always thought AD meant Director of Athletics, that's all althletic programs at the University.

Chief are you implying that Manuel was hired as MBD (Men's Basketball Director)?