First, the timing of when Gilbert went down was very unfortunate for us. We had been playing decent with him, and things really went down hill once he got injured in that MSU game. The players didn't have any time to adjust to their new roles before we had to play the most difficult portion of our schedule, and that all the loses were very demoralizing. blah blah blah
Second, is that he thinks the players this year are historically bad and if Ollie really did need to prove himself to keep his job, he didn't really have a fair shot. I am not sure if Gilbert would have actually made that much of a difference. I will say that I Ollie is kinda hamstrung by the fact that this team shoots so terribly. Even just having Vance on this team probably would have opened up the floor enough for Adams and the offense to be more effective.
Due to injuries, transfers and decommits Ollie hasn't really been able to play with two decent PGs since 2014. Next year having Adams with Gilbert/Akinjo would hopefully give us that.
Personally, I just cant get over some of his playing time decisions. There really is no excuse for how much he plays DO over guys like Diarra and Williams. Even if you don't have the players to succeed that isn't an excuse for not playing your best guys. It's downright baffling sometimes. Ollie's system relies on giving the players a lot of freedom, but he puts in players that can' t be trusted with that freedom.
I am a big fan of Dan Hurley. I think he has a lot of the same character traits as Calhoun, and it is clear he cares a lot about his players. They have created a strong family environment at URI. Beyond him, there isn't anyone I am particularly excited about. If he is available I would grab him, but if he isn't I would probably give Ollie one more year to see what he has left up his sleeve and so the buyout would decrease.
