OKC head coach search, candidate Kevin Ollie.

[Improviser]

I hate to say it, but beyond recruiting and such, he was...... a bad COACH. Maybe he was just a great veteran glue guy in the nba, but coaching just isn’t his calling.

Maybe an NBA team can hire him to attend college games and scout the players.

Does he have these skills? He is young enough to take the stairs and not have to use the escalator.

 

[CL82]

you wonder had Ollie bolted right after the championship, how long would he have lasted as the lakers coach (assuming that was the role that was open at the time that had interest in him?)

Who can say? Maybe being in different environment would have energized him. Pre-2015 Ollie was did an great job keeping the team together and getting the natty. I am a little conflicted over KO. I really want to root for the guy but his behavior post championship has made that tough.

 

[CL82]

Maybe an NBA team can hire him to attend college games and scout the players.

Maybe he can be hired to attend Grants and scout "the talent."

 

[BuffaloHusky]

I hate to say it, but beyond recruiting and such, he was...... a bad COACH. Maybe he was just a great veteran glue guy in the nba, but coaching just isn’t his calling.

I know this is an incredibly unpopular statement but I can't agree with this. He may have been extraordinarily inconsistent but his NCAA tourney run is one of the best coaching jobs of the last 20 years.

 

[MDHuskFan]

I know this is an incredibly unpopular statement but I can't agree with this. He may have been extraordinarily inconsistent but his NCAA tourney run is one of the best coaching jobs of the last 20 years.

I don’t think this is an unpopular statement. He did a great job of keeping those guys together.
That being said, his inability to develop players and his predictable iso ball offense which is out of style now for the NBA.... I just don’t know what attractive qualities he would pitch to an NBA team

 

[Tenspro2002]

He deserves another chance and is suited for coaching in the NBA. Not so much for college perhaps.

I can’t see him getting a head coaching gig immediately though. Maybe assistant.

He should have been an NBA assistant from the beginning.

 

[huskyfan224]

I wouldn’t call him a bad coach and not deserving of another shot as an assistant, just didn’t have what it took to be head coach and he was bad at that. He helped some of our best guards develop

 

[Chief00]

I can't see KO getting a job as an assistant in college basketball. Maybe in the pros, but you are right, post 2014 hasn't been a good look for him. Six years is a long time to be in a funk.

Pro assistant is his best possibility.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

I know this is an incredibly unpopular statement but I can't agree with this. He may have been extraordinarily inconsistent but his NCAA tourney run is one of the best coaching jobs of the last 20 years.

I’ve been around coaching for over 50 years.
My take on KO give him players and he can coach or rather could coach.
He is awful on is the managerial aspects required of a head coach. The NBA with a good GM was probably best suited to
his skills
People like to cite the 2015-16 team as a fail but really can’t grasp how difficult it is to intergrate two starters from a two different cultures into a team that really had no PG until Adams emerged and attain chemistry.
They played well in the AAC tourney won an NCAA game and faced the third best team in the country.Even with sporting that team big lead they came back to put a scare into them.
think the epitome of KO was 2016-17 were he actually cobbled a less than great team to a streak stopped only by Adams ankle injury. A team that was forced to play Rodney Purvis at PG. let that sink into in.
Your sixth man was a freshman named Vital.
Even the next year that undermanned team was 5-0 and playing a 30 win MSU team even when Gilbert went down.
Yes he could coach but Head coach in college is beyond him asst coach in college working with gus Ed like he did with Kemba and Bazz in 2011 is a real possibility. I don’t think he ever embraced the recruiting however he did land DD so a college assistant job.is sketchy.

 

[UCLJ0211]

He’s not even on the short list.

Yeah I think he got KO’d

 

[Mr. French]

I hate to say it, but beyond recruiting and such, he was...... a bad COACH. Maybe he was just a great veteran glue guy in the nba, but coaching just isn’t his calling.

I don’t agree with this. Maybe got in over his head once things got tougher, maybe not cut out for college, maybe wasn’t as ready for the main job at that stage with his experience...but he’s not “not cut out for coaching.” That’s a bit much.

 

[Mr. French]

I know this is an incredibly unpopular statement but I can't agree with this. He may have been extraordinarily inconsistent but his NCAA tourney run is one of the best coaching jobs of the last 20 years.

I agree with you.

 

[Chief00]

I am afraid, KO is toxic to most employers, because of his multi-year lawsuit. There are few employers, who will sign up for a possible repeat of that nightmare possibility. KO has been poorly served by his legal team, in my opinion.

 

[MDHuskFan]

I don’t agree with this. Maybe got in over his head once things got tougher, maybe not cut out for college, maybe wasn’t as ready for the main job at that stage with his experience...but he’s not “not cut out for coaching.” That’s a bit much.

What are qualities you look for in a coach? Getting buy in and building a culture (fail post divorce, evident by transfers and such) Building a roster? (Fail) Player Development ? (Fail) maybe it’s time to say he had a great flash in the pan moment, and was excellent winning that championship, but he just didn’t have it to succeed after that.

 

[CL82]

I’ve been around coaching for over 50 years.
My take on KO give him players and he can coach or rather could coach.
He is awful on is the managerial aspects required of a head coach. The NBA with a good GM was probably best suited to
his skills
People like to cite the 2015-16 team as a fail but really can’t grasp how difficult it is to intergrate two starters from a two different cultures into a team that really had no PG until Adams emerged and attain chemistry.
They played well in the AAC tourney won an NCAA game and faced the third best team in the country.Even with sporting that team big lead they came back to put a scare into them.
think the epitome of KO was 2016-17 were he actually cobbled a less than great team to a streak stopped only by Adams ankle injury. A team that was forced to play Rodney Purvis at PG. let that sink into in.
Your sixth man was a freshman named Vital.
Even the next year that undermanned team was 5-0 and playing a 30 win MSU team even when Gilbert went down.
Yes he could coach but Head coach in college is beyond him asst coach in college working with gus Ed like he did with Kemba and Bazz in 2011 is a real possibility. I don’t think he ever embraced the recruiting however he did land DD so a college assistant job.is sketchy.

Yeah I think of 2011 as more product of Calhoun’s work, but you can make the same argument for Boat and Bazz in 2014. I also think the job that Ollie did in that NCAA run was excellent. He outcoached a number of really good coaches in that run. I agree though it became readily apparent after that that he lacks the ability or was utterly on interested in doing the other things necessary to run a successful program.

 

[Chief00]

If prone to do such things, I think you do what KO’s team is doing in a couple of bridge years between when you got kicked to the curb and when you planned to retired. The plan B is already in place. But, that’s not where KO was in his career. KO has closed so many potential doors by the misguided strategy of his hapless legal team. In a provincial CT manner, the legal team seemed to be looking for a big splash in a small pool. They have not achieved that yet and during KO’s peak career years, he’s on the outside getting rusty looking in. He needs to get back in the game before he becomes totally irrelevant, even if it’s in a position that he considered beneath him.

 

[UCTitleTown]

When he doesn't get the job, he'll get to display his "woe is me" face again.

 

[TheChamps990411]

He deserves another chance and is suited for coaching in the NBA. Not so much for college perhaps.

I can’t see him getting a head coaching gig immediately though. Maybe assistant.

If he didnt put in the work here what makes you think he will in the NBA? I personally wouldnt take a chance on him. Definitely as an assistant though.

 

[Mr. French]

What are qualities you look for in a coach? Getting buy in and building a culture (fail post divorce, evident by transfers and such) Building a roster? (Fail) Player Development ? (Fail) maybe it’s time to say he had a great flash in the pan moment, and was excellent winning that championship, but he just didn’t have it to succeed after that.

I'd say he got buy in and culture the first ...3 years of his tenure at minimum. Even after that, kids were bought in they just started to lose, he failed to recruit well enough and then things really unraveled. He "was excellent winning that championship" is not something you say about someone who just isn't cut out for coaching.

You can't view the first 3 years at least of his tenure and say "coaching isn't for him" but you definitely can say he failed at THIS job, at THIS time in his life. It was his first HC job, by the way. And Jim Calhoun thought he had the qualities necessary. That doesn't mean he didn't fail, but you're saying a blanket statement that he is not cut out for coaching, naturally. I totally disagree with that.

Also, as many have pointed out, the NBA has a much different job description, where he can relate to pro athletes, more than likely, better than he did to college kids. He doesn't have to be on the road recruiting and scouting what players will end up being good. He doesn't need to construct the roster properly. Even the Xs and Os at the NBA level I would say are less important, just because the good players make plays more often than not.

Whether it comes across as too pro-Ollie or not, I don't care. I was really sad to see him go but knew he needed to, and I am all in with Hurley. I have never gotten into the back and forth about Ollie. He failed here ultimately, but I would not go as far as you have gone in your statements about him.

 

[mauconnfan]

I'd say he got buy in and culture the first ...3 years of his tenure at minimum. Even after that, kids were bought in they just started to lose, he failed to recruit well enough and then things really unraveled. He "was excellent winning that championship" is not something you say about someone who just isn't cut out for coaching.

You can't view the first 3 years at least of his tenure and say "coaching isn't for him" but you definitely can say he failed at THIS job, at THIS time in his life. It was his first HC job, by the way. And Jim Calhoun thought he had the qualities necessary. That doesn't mean he didn't fail, but you're saying a blanket statement that he is not cut out for coaching, naturally. I totally disagree with that.

Also, as many have pointed out, the NBA has a much different job description, where he can relate to pro athletes, more than likely, better than he did to college kids. He doesn't have to be on the road recruiting and scouting what players will end up being good. He doesn't need to construct the roster properly. Even the Xs and Os at the NBA level I would say are less important, just because the good players make plays more often than not.

Whether it comes across as too pro-Ollie or not, I don't care. I was really sad to see him go but knew he needed to, and I am all in with Hurley. I have never gotten into the back and forth about Ollie. He failed here ultimately, but I would not go as far as you have gone in your statements about him.

Spot on from here Mr French!

 

[Improviser]

What is he doing to keep busy now?

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

If he didnt put in the work here what makes you think he will in the NBA? I personally wouldnt take a chance on him. Definitely as an assistant though.

Just because things went south in KO’s life and with the program doesn’t mean he can’t be a hardworking person ever again.
He has many attributes that would make him a good NBA assistant - lots of experience, knowledgeable of the game, relatability to the players. I don’t think he’ll make it to a head coaching position in the NBA, but he impressed Calhoun one time around here as an assistant to get the head gig here, why can’t he do it again?

People talk on here like KO’s life and career is over because of what happened here. I’m sure if he wants to get back into coaching there’s a place for him, at least as an assistant with a chance to work his way back up.

Also- NBA coaching is vastly different from college. KO is more suited for NBA than college IMO. He almost coached UConn like an NBA team.

 

[TheChamps990411]

Just because things went south in KO’s life and with the program doesn’t mean he can’t be a hardworking person ever again.
He has many attributes that would make him a good NBA assistant - lots of experience, knowledgeable of the game, relatability to the players. I don’t think he’ll make it to a head coaching position in the NBA, but he impressed Calhoun one time around here as an assistant to get the head gig here, why can’t he do it again?

People talk on here like KO’s life and career is over because of what happened here. I’m sure if he wants to get back into coaching there’s a place for him, at least as an assistant with a chance to work his way back up.

Also- NBA coaching is vastly different from college. KO is more suited for NBA than college IMO. He almost coached UConn like an NBA team.

You just basically said what i said.

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

You just basically said what i said.

And you basically said what I said before that.
Except I’m saying he could work his way up to head coach perhaps, but not get one immediately. You’re basically saying you don’t think he ever has a chance to be a head coach.

 

[glastonbury50]

I don’t agree with this. Maybe got in over his head once things got tougher, maybe not cut out for college, maybe wasn’t as ready for the main job at that stage with his experience...but he’s not “not cut out for coaching.” That’s a bit much.

Somebody once said being the head coach of a team like uconn is like being the ceo of a company. When it came to the big picture which goes far beyond simply coaching KO was an utter failure.