Please, stop the “FIRE HURLEY!” nonsense and let’s discuss realistic improvements for next season.

[polycom]

Hurley shouldn’t be fired but the season was a failure.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

You never steal a coach from a destination job. You inquire about interest and eventually move on when you are told there is none.

Schools tried to steal Calhoun until he was in his late 50's. He strongly considered South Carolina after the National Championship. You can be a destination job and other schools can still come after your coach.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

How long before the first round flops start to impact recruiting?

 

[the Q]

You never steal a coach from a destination job. You inquire about interest and eventually move on when you are told there is none.

I will say if Hurley doesn’t go to seton hall I’d feel pretty good about him staying here unless it’s basically the nba calling

 

[pj]

Realistic improvements for next year - (1) recruit a strong point guard out of the transfer portal, (2) start building in depth, versatility, ability to present varied looks from the first day of practice.

 

[F101Voodoo]

There are few absolutes in life, but here’s one:

Dan Hurley isn’t going anywhere, anytime soon.

I cannot for the life of me take anyone seriously who genuinely thinks Dan Hurley will get fired at this point in history. Whether or not you think Hurley should be fired because you - like literally every other UConn fan - are upset about yesterday’s upset loss, there is absolutely a 0% chance that anyone in the UConn Athletic Department is even considering terminating Dan Hurley’s contract.

1) He has taken a program from the bottom of a mid-major conference that prayed to make the NIT to the top (yes, third place is towards the top) of a P6 that comfortably lands in the NCAAT. In four years. On this day three years ago Hurley had finished year one at UConn with an improved record and performance in the conference tournament than the previous season. Year two would’ve been UConn’s first postseason in three years had COVID not interrupted. Year three saw a top-40 program finish third in the Big East with a tough BE semifinal loss to the runner-up, followed by the schools first NCAAT appearance in years. Year four produced a top-20 BE contender that knocked off multiple top-10 teams before losing to eventual conference champs in New York, with another NCAAT appearance. Notice the trend? Every season has been an objective improvement. So, what grounds would the AD reasonably have to fire Hurley if he wanted to?

2) UConn is broke, yo. Even if Hurley was reasonably underperforming the school couldn’t afford a buyout. He’s locked in through 2027.

3) Who would replace him? A new coach with a new system, which inevitably takes years to install like it does at any program? And then after his fourth season when we probably don’t win a natty we’ll be screaming “FIRE HIM!” like cavemen all over again?

There’s no argument to fire Hurley, so let’s stop talking about it. He’s imperfect, he annoys me too, but he’s our guy for the foreseeable future so let’s discuss areas in which UConn can realistically continue to improve.

Also Dan Hurley is not Jim Calhoun. They’re literally two different humans with different DNA and . Stop comparing them.

AGREE!

 

[F101Voodoo]

I disagree it’s an X and O issue.

It seemed all mental with this team. They disappear in the big moments.

Our offense actually looked very good all year. Something Hurley really improved over his first few seasons here.

We were first or second in the BE in PPG.

All season, Dan Hurley designed an offense that had tons of open looks for guys, they just failed to make the good shots when it counted.

How may easy layups did we miss vs Nova and NM? How many wide open 3s that weren’t even close?

Either that’s a talent issue (I don’t think as much, but we can us more pure shooters) or a mental issue (I’ve been saying this all year).

You could watch it all season in big spots. This team always tightened up. He needs to figure out how to keep the team loose in big spots.

I have said that this is a confidence issue which is mental. As in the MN game there were I believe two other games that we looked flat right out of the locker room. The fact that we do not have a consistently good point guard seems to IMO cause frustration then it seems it morph into lost confidense. A.so as many of us have been stating the obvious we do not have the shooter with the skill and temperament of a sniper. What better way in there to frustrate the other in the beginning of their rally.

Maybe a good to very point guard woth basically good talent can be coached to be a concisely effective PG. You can tweak and improve a player with the raw ability to shoot into the sniper. You cannot coach cross eyed Chris or shakey. hand Shaun into a deadly sniper.

Sorry for the military references but half of my brain is tuned to CNN, BBC and WSJ rooting for my cousins fighting the mad man V.lad the Invader.

 

[Hoophound]

A mentor is typically someone with more experience, not less.

Not what I was getting at. Just saying so many of us think Hurley needs help.

 

[djct1999]

Not what I was getting at. Just saying so many of us think Hurley needs help.

Fair . But this idea that Kimani is superior to Danny is as absurd as this board has been the last two days. If Danny did leave, not only would the entire staff sans perhaps Tommy Moore would all go our stellar recruiting class would deconstruct. That said, Kimani would still not be the guy to replace him. Be careful with what you wish for.

Kimani has a bright future but he needs more than a half a game experience before he is UConn ready.

 

[metsfan2323]

Schools tried to steal Calhoun until he was in his late 50's. He strongly considered South Carolina after the National Championship. You can be a destination job and other schools can still come after your coach.

Stop being ridiculous. If Hurley were fired today he would have three good job offers by tomorrow. St John's fans would be begging their AD to make a move.

 

[Hoophound]

No one has called for Kimani to replace Dan. People are just pointing out that Kimani did a great job outmaneuvering Jay Wright. Dan hasn’t outmaneuvered the better coaches he’s faced.

It could simply be that Dan needs more talent to beat these guys his way. If he brings in the right players, that will be fine with the naysayers.

 

[gtcam]

With a JC team. KO and his teams tanked after that season.....

Stop all that BS crap about with a JC team - who do you think recuited Kemba, Bazz, Lamb and a ton of those players?
Lack of knowledge is a dangerous thing
Do your homework

 

[gtcam]

Stop being ridiculous. If Hurley were fired today he would have three good job offers by tomorrow. St John's fans would be begging their AD to make a move.

Is it Comedy hour time already? Please spell out the 3 good teams - and try to be realistic. The demand for coaches who have taken their team to two consecutive dances and lost both years to lower ranked teams aren't in high demand
St Johns isn't going away from Anderson - he did a lot more with less than Dan Hurley had.

 

[metsfan2323]

Is it Comedy hour time already? Please spell out the 3 good teams - and try to be realistic. The demand for coaches who have taken their team to two consecutive dances and lost both years to lower ranked teams aren't in high demand
St Johns isn't going away from Anderson - he did a lot more with less than Dan Hurley had.

If you don't think Hurley would generate a ton of interest if we let him go you are absolutely clueless. Stop embarrassing yourself.

and BTW Willard just lost in the first round and is likely on his way to Maryland, OK captain clueless?

I bet South Carolina would be interested in Hurley if they wanted Sean Miller (yuck)

Anderson is doing a better Job than Hurley? GTFOOH!!! What planet are you from?

 

[KingAG]

This take that no one wants Hurley as their coach is clueless and embarrassing. This board sometimes man

 

[djct1999]

Is it Comedy hour time already? Please spell out the 3 good teams - and try to be realistic. The demand for coaches who have taken their team to two consecutive dances and lost both years to lower ranked teams aren't in high demand
St Johns isn't going away from Anderson - he did a lot more with less than Dan Hurley had.

take your own advice and do your homework.

 

[Shabizzness]

Stop all that BS crap about with a JC team - who do you think recuited Kemba, Bazz, Lamb and a ton of those players?
Lack of knowledge is a dangerous thing
Do your homework

Kemba, Bazz and Lamb all committed to UConn before Ollie joined as an assistant in 2010

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

People are just pointing out that Kimani did a great job outmaneuvering Jay Wright. Dan hasn’t outmaneuvered the better coaches he’s faced.

This is as overrated a story line as we have going these days. If that tie up was called a foul it’s not even a point of discussion. The idea that we have to attribute every single thing that happens on the court to a good or bad coaching decision is so weird.

 

[Hillhouse]

There are few absolutes in life, but here’s one:

Dan Hurley isn’t going anywhere, anytime soon.

I cannot for the life of me take anyone seriously who genuinely thinks Dan Hurley will get fired at this point in history. Whether or not you think Hurley should be fired because you - like literally every other UConn fan - are upset about yesterday’s upset loss, there is absolutely a 0% chance that anyone in the UConn Athletic Department is even considering terminating Dan Hurley’s contract.

1) He has taken a program from the bottom of a mid-major conference that prayed to make the NIT to the top (yes, third place is towards the top) of a P6 that comfortably lands in the NCAAT. In four years. On this day three years ago Hurley had finished year one at UConn with an improved record and performance in the conference tournament than the previous season. Year two would’ve been UConn’s first postseason in three years had COVID not interrupted. Year three saw a top-40 program finish third in the Big East with a tough BE semifinal loss to the runner-up, followed by the schools first NCAAT appearance in years. Year four produced a top-20 BE contender that knocked off multiple top-10 teams before losing to eventual conference champs in New York, with another NCAAT appearance. Notice the trend? Every season has been an objective improvement. So, what grounds would the AD reasonably have to fire Hurley if he wanted to?

2) UConn is broke, yo. Even if Hurley was reasonably underperforming the school couldn’t afford a buyout. He’s locked in through 2027.

3) Who would replace him? A new coach with a new system, which inevitably takes years to install like it does at any program? And then after his fourth season when we probably don’t win a natty we’ll be screaming “FIRE HIM!” like cavemen all over again?

There’s no argument to fire Hurley, so let’s stop talking about it. He’s imperfect, he annoys me too, but he’s our guy for the foreseeable future so let’s discuss areas in which UConn can realistically continue to improve.

Also Dan Hurley is not Jim Calhoun. They’re literally two different humans with different DNA and . Stop comparing them.

True indeed but I think he should reach out to someone he’s not very good with X and Os. He has the talent but there not coached properly on offense or defense.

 

[Hoophound]

This is as overrated a story line as we have going these days. If that tie up was called a foul it’s not even a point of discussion. The idea that we have to attribute every single thing that happens on the court to a good or bad coaching decision is so weird.

The assertion that’s what is happening is weird. Kimani did a good job against Nova all game long. It doesn’t mean Kimani should be head coach or that Dan will never be successful. It’s just conversation.

Dan hasn’t beaten Wright or McDermott. He loses close games over and over. I’m not saying he won’t win them eventually, it’s just that burying your head in the sand on what better coaches are doing to him isn’t noble or level headed either. Dan has to get better at game management, strategizing, playing young players and making the right decisions in winning time. Our biggest win coming with him out of the game is at least kind of interesting.

This attitude is similar to the resistance to transfers. We don’t have a point guard with any experience whatsoever and some people think they are cool and level headed for acting like we will be fine if we don’t go get one. Even if Diggins surprises and is amazing next year, we don’t have a backup. We need a pg.

People are trying to argue we couldn’t have gotten Fatts Russell last year and if we did, he wouldn’t have played much. He was exactly what we needed and could have played with Cole, creating our own kind of mismatch with bigger teams. We were having this argument last off season and those that wanted Fatts or another pg were absolutely right in the end.

It all ties together into a discussion about what the staff is doing and what their hits and misses are. The track record thus far is good overall, but definitely seems to be lacking in a couple of key areas. I’d like to see some changes that show us that they are learning and improving. I’d like to see some help come in via the portal and I’d like to see us at least try a zone once in while next season.

 

[KingAG]

The assertion that’s what is happening is weird. Kimani did a good job against Nova all game long. It doesn’t mean Kimani should be head coach or that Dan will never be successful. It’s just conversation.

Dan hasn’t beaten Wright or McDermott. He loses close games over and over. I’m not saying he won’t win them eventually, it’s just that burying your head in the sand on what better coaches are doing to him isn’t noble or level headed either. Dan has to get better at game management, strategizing, playing young players and making the right decisions in winning time. Our biggest win coming with him out of the game is at least kind of interesting.

This attitude is similar to the resistance to transfers. We don’t have a point guard with any experience whatsoever and some people think they are cool and level headed for acting like we will be fine if we don’t go get one. Even if Diggins surprises and is amazing next year, we don’t have a backup. We need a pg.

People are trying to argue we couldn’t have gotten Fatts Russell last year and if we did, he wouldn’t have played much. He was exactly what we needed and could have played with Cole, creating our own kind of mismatch with bigger teams. We were having this argument last off season and those that wanted Fatts or another pg were absolutely right in the end.

It all ties together into a discussion about what the staff is doing and what their hits and misses are. The track record thus far is good overall, but definitely seems to be lacking in a couple of key areas. I’d like to see some changes that show us that they are learning and improving. I’d like to see some help come in via the portal and I’d like to see us at least try a zone once in while next season.

This would be a valid point if you could point out ONE thing Kimani did schematically different than Hurley. Even a changed substitution pattern will suffice. He did nothing different than what Hurley always does. The difference. Cole made 2 huge plays , Polley hit the shot, and we arguably got away with a foul on the tie up. It wasn’t a difference in coaching. The guys just stepped up.

 

[husky429]

A mentor is typically someone with more experience, not less.

Hurley could be mentored by an orangutan and still get better at coaching an offense.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I disagree it’s an X and O issue.

It seemed all mental with this team. They disappear in the big moments.

Our offense actually looked very good all year. Something Hurley really improved over his first few seasons here.

We were first or second in the BE in PPG.

All season, Dan Hurley designed an offense that had tons of open looks for guys, they just failed to make the good shots when it counted.

How may easy layups did we miss vs Nova and NM? How many wide open 3s that weren’t even close?

Either that’s a talent issue (I don’t think as much, but we can us more pure shooters) or a mental issue (I’ve been saying this all year).

You could watch it all season in big spots. This team always tightened up. He needs to figure out how to keep the team loose in big spots.

You're almost there. They were tight. They were rigid and inflexible. The question is why? I think the answer is that their coach is tight. It's the old "if you put a lump of coal in his butt you'd have a diamond in no time". He's a bit of a control freak, over scripts the plays (we think he doesn't run plays, but he actually runs way too many) and the result is guys get an open look but maybe not the shot he called for and...they miss. He's a stress ball and the team plays that way, especially late in games. When they loosen up, get out in transition where they have free reign they play much better. And shoot much better. Have seen it for three years now. You can see how mechanical they are sometimes, running the offense.

I'm sure not calling for him to be fired. I don't think his seat is even warm. I just think he has to adjust some things, be more flexible, have a longer leash on guys who are being creative on offense and let them just play a bit more. NMSU game is a good example. Every guy had a green light to shoot, none of them looked at all worried about it. No tension. No hesitation. That's how UConn has to play. I think you'd see Gaffney scoring in double figures if he was turned loose, he played so tense this year. So afraid of mistakes.

 

[HuskyHawk]

This would be a valid point if you could point out ONE thing Kimani did schematically different than Hurley. Even a changed substitution pattern will suffice. He did nothing different than what Hurley always does. The difference. Cole made 2 huge plays , Polley hit the shot, and we arguably got away with a foul on the tie up. It wasn’t a difference in coaching. The guys just stepped up.

Because the guy who stresses them out was gone.

 

[KingAG]

Because the guy who stresses them out was gone.

This is not substantial. It’s narrative.

 

[Huskyforlife]

Because the guy who stresses them out was gone.

Guess this doesn’t apply to the auburn game somehow? And tbh this is the softest, nonsense narrative BS I’ve read so far, if the players can’t handle Hurley, that’s on them. He’s not punching them as they come to the sideline.

 

[McLovin]

You're almost there. They were tight. They were rigid and inflexible. The question is why? I think the answer is that their coach is tight. It's the old "if you put a lump of coal in his butt you'd have a diamond in no time". He's a bit of a control freak, over scripts the plays (we think he doesn't run plays, but he actually runs way too many) and the result is guys get an open look but maybe not the shot he called for and...they miss. He's a stress ball and the team plays that way, especially late in games. When they loosen up, get out in transition where they have free reign they play much better. And shoot much better. Have seen it for three years now. You can see how mechanical they are sometimes, running the offense.

I'm sure not calling for him to be fired. I don't think his seat is even warm. I just think he has to adjust some things, be more flexible, have a longer leash on guys who are being creative on offense and let them just play a bit more. NMSU game is a good example. Every guy had a green light to shoot, none of them looked at all worried about it. No tension. No hesitation. That's how UConn has to play. I think you'd see Gaffney scoring in double figures if he was turned loose, he played so tense this year. So afraid of mistakes.

That’s actually a really good point.

It’s certainly possible he over scripts the games, and it makes the team play too tight. The definitely seem to pass up good shots in favor of “the right” shots…

Can’t tell you how many times Cole dribbled to 13-15 feet unguarded and instead of pulling up for an easy floater, he tried to kick it out for 3 or drove it into the trees.

Sometimes you gotta just play basketball and not stress about the analytics or calling designed plays.

 

[djct1999]

Hurley could be mentored by an orangutan and still get better at coaching an offense.

You really need to take a deep breath and step back from that ledge.

 

[husky429]

You really need to take a deep breath and step back from that ledge.

Not close to the ledge. Don't think he should be fired this year or next. It was a joke, believe it or not.

You really need to take a deep breath and stop drinking the Kool-Aid though. Also, not responding to people who give a valid criticism of your points is pretty weak sauce.

 

[djct1999]

Not close to the ledge. Don't think he should be fired this year or next. It was a joke, believe it or not.

You really need to take a deep breath and stop drinking the Kool-Aid though. Also, not responding to people who give a valid criticism of your points is pretty weak sauce.

True story, I hate Kool-Aid.

and please enlighten me, what criticism did i not respond to?