Recruiting Impact of Ollie Turning Down OKC

[superjohn]

I think its possible that JC gave this position to KO with the understanding that he is never to leave....

No, Calhoun would never do that. I'm sure Ollie still goes to Calhiun for advice and if Calhoun thought Kevin should leave for the NBA he would tell him to, just like he did with every player. Calhoun is fiercely loyal to UConn but even more fiercely loyal to his players. He will always point them in the best direction for success, these are his kids.

 

[rip7774]

I really think KO would not leave us high and dry and JC & him are so close I can't imagine KO is a short timer here. This is JCs baby! Maybe someday, but I don't think in near future.

He bleeds blue.

 

[Confident Carl]

I think its possible that JC gave this position to KO with the understanding that he is never to leave....

That is just silly. First of all to be enforceable their would have to be a life long contract and secondly Calhoun would not handcuff KO as you suggest. KO is too much the professional to accept such a demand. Calhoun made the recommendation but UCONN has him under contract with a 5,000,000 buyout.
You might want to rethink what you posted.

 

[Huskies2324]

There is a somewhat of a reverse halo effect with this in that other coaches will tell recruits we are competing for that KO could leave at any time. This is not the last time we will hear about KO and the NBA. Not sure how old KOs son is but I would think around the time he enters college and I f KO continues on the same trajectory, then we lose him to the next level. So maybe 3-4 more years? It's just a natural progression and quite frankly a direction I think we would all hope for our individual careers so when he does leave I will say well done and well deserved.

Hopefully recruits see through all the recruiting smoke screens and sign up with a super talented coach in KO even if it could only be a short time.

Will have to keep tabs on Steve Pikiell at Stoney Brook. If he continues to progress and gets a HC at a high major he could be the one to follow KO in four years or so.

Will love being on this ride with KO but we all know it will only last so long.

 

[David 76]

I agree. First and foremost, KO is a good man.
I'm sure Calhoun thought about not leaving a successor for only a year or two, and I'm sure this wasn't even an isuue with Ollie. By June of next year, the buy-out will drop to $1 million (IIRC). It is there for some reason. Not an escape clause, but a chance to look at his options and I would not be surprised if it is connected to the age of his kids.
Who wanted the buy-out to go from $5 million to $4 million to 1? Given all that, I don't think we necessarily lose him next year.He is very committed to our program.

 

[Goat]

Don't underestimate KO's satisfaction moulding young players or his loyalty to Calhoun in terms where the program needs to be before KO leaves. I think he is here at least until his son is finished playing for Fordham. I think he may actually be a college coach lifer and wants no where but UConn. I think the contract is written to leverage the university to allow him the resources to be competitive and the NBA is only plan B.

 

[David 76]

Basically, I agree. I think there is a decent chance he stays for life. I just meant that the buy-out going from $5 M, to $4M, to $1M. Probably wasn't an accident. No way is KO waiting to get out of here. Thanks be to God & JC.

 

[TheChamps990411]

How big of a deal is this recruiting-wise (a) simply in terms of the fact that a kid in high school knows his next coach was offered the opportunity to lead an NBA franchise that has been in the top 5-10 teams in the league over past several years, and (b) in terms of countervailing the competitors' claims regarding his loyalty and risk of taking off for the Association?

If this has been buried in another related thread, please direct me there.. and sorry for the 'anti-mojo,' but at this point I am taking KO for his word and believe the uncertainty is over near-term.

Doesnt hurt but doesnt help. Ollie hasnt shown he could bring in a great class yet so its hard too judge right now. If he fails to bring in a big time class in 16 then he may need to look at bringing in some help on the recruiting side of things.

 

[pnow15]

Doesnt hurt but doesnt help. Ollie hasnt shown he could bring in a great class yet so its hard too judge right now. If he fails to bring in a big time class in 16 then he may need to look at bringing in some help on the recruiting side of things.

Ollie has already brought in a big time class this year. An All Ivy League sf, a McDonald's type point guard, and a promising Big. Only Kentucky and Duke, due to an ESPN love affair, bring in 5 All Americans.

 

[UConnSwag11]

Ollie has already brought in a big time class this year. An All Ivy League sf, a McDonald's type point guard, and a promising Big. Only Kentucky and Duke, due to an ESPN love affair, bring in 5 All Americans.

not due to espns love affair, although it helps... maybe when coach k leaves the USA national team/national team pool KO can get a shot and that could help both him and uconn... also cal and coach k have had years and years to learn the game of recruiting, the ins and outs... ollie in what his 3rd year? has improved each year with recruiting and is always in the running for the best players... he just needs to learn how to close and have them sign early... he'll learn and be all set

 

[ctchamps]

It seems to me this forum is composed of people with a diversified range of thinking. So it isn't all that difficult to extrapolate that recruits also view the world differently from one another.

Factoring this in I would say it could help, it could hurt or it may be inconsequential.

It would hurt getting any recruit who wants assurance the team he is heading to will have the same coach four years from now should this recruit stay in college for four years. Wasn't this argument made in the latter years of JC's career? It could help if a recruit believes that a coach with NBA cache increases the chances of this recruit to get into the NBA. And it would be a non factor if a recruit felt the future has too much uncertainty to factor this into the equation or is confident in his own potential to be overly concerned about this factor.

Personally I felt KO already had the cache based on his NBA career and how much praise he had received from NBA coaches and players. Therefore the net consequence of these rumors/commentary about him someday becoming an NBA coach is an overall negative imo particularly if KO prefers to be a UConn legacy. It could turn off one or more of the recruits who want to come to UConn and want stability and most likely have very little impact among recruits who already factored KOs NBA cache.

Many people lack either the time and/or the ability to discern if statements are credible or important. And there are people who choose to exploit this. The best way to do this is to issue statements repeatedly and issue it from many sources. It becomes the default for many of us to believe something is a fact when this happens. After all it resonates with the way we learn things. Think about the way we learn the alphabet, colors and numbers as infants and toddlers from adults, the authorities of our childhood. This method is sometimes transferred to the way we process information about issues.

This is an overly simplistic explanation about learning. But I believe it has some merit and it is the basis for why I was upset with the recent episode of tweets by a cadre of reporters. Although I must admit I let my emotions get the better part of me when it was happening. Thanks @8893.

 

[UConnSwag11]

It seems to me this forum is composed of people with a diversified range of thinking. So it isn't all that difficult to extrapolate that recruits also view the world differently from one another.

Factoring this in I would say it could help, it could hurt or it may be inconsequential.

It would hurt getting any recruit who wants assurance the team he is heading to will have the same coach four years from now should this recruit stay in college for four years. Wasn't this argument made in the latter years of JC's career? It could help if a recruit believes that a coach with NBA cache increases the chances of this recruit to get into the NBA. And it would be a non factor if a recruit felt the future has too much uncertainty to factor this into the equation or is confident in his own potential to be overly concerned about this factor.

Personally I felt KO already had the cache based on his NBA career and how much praise he had received from NBA coaches and players. Therefore the net consequence of these rumors/commentary about him someday becoming an NBA coach is an overall negative imo particularly if KO prefers to be a UConn legacy. It could turn off one or more of the recruits who want to come to UConn and want stability and most likely have very little impact among recruits who already factored KOs NBA cache.

Many people lack either the time and/or the ability to discern if statements are credible or important. And there are people who chose to exploit this. The best way to do this is to issue statements repeatedly and issue it from many sources. It becomes the default for many of us to believe something is a fact when this happens. After all it resonates with the way we learn things. Think about the way we learn the alphabet, colors and numbers as infants and toddlers from adults, the authorities of our childhood. This method is sometimes transferred to the way we process information about issues.

This is an overly simplistic explanation about learning. But I believe it has some merit and it is the basis for why I was upset with the recent episode of tweets by a cadre of reporters. Although I must admit I let my emotions get the better part of me when it was happening. Thanks @8893.

if this happens for a third year in a row, especially if theres no evidence of a team calling for him, then there has to be someone stoking the flames to get him to leave... he has to be a threat recruiting wise and winning wise... i have thought this would hurt recruiting but it is what it is... espn, cbs, yahoo, need to stop making it an issue before it's an issue... i also think it's become that team a needs a coach so we're going to name coaches without any evidence and if one takes it then see i told you

 

[CallMeBruce]

Ollie has already brought in a big time class this year. An All Ivy League sf, a McDonald's type point guard, and a promising Big. Only Kentucky and Duke, due to an ESPN love affair, bring in 5 All Americans.

Hard to take your opinion on our class seriously when you don't even know what position Miller plays.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Hard to take your opinion on our class seriously when you don't even know what position Miller plays.

It's even harder to take it seriously if he isn't claiming that the sky is falling.

 

[ctchamps]

if this happens for a third year in a row, especially if theres no evidence of a team calling for him, then there has to be someone stoking the flames to get him to leave... he has to be a threat recruiting wise and winning wise... i have thought this would hurt recruiting but it is what it is... espn, cbs, yahoo, need to stop making it an issue before it's an issue... i also think it's become that team a needs a coach so we're going to name coaches without any evidence and if one takes it then see i told you

I've been taken to task by a couple of posters about being a conspiracy theorist regarding this issue. Certainly I could be reading too much into this. By the same token those individuals might be minimizing things too much. The problem is we can't be absolutely certain one way or the other. All we could do is postulate the possibilities and try to put the jigsaw puzzle pieces together the best way we can. And that is very difficult since the corners and borders are most likely missing.

There are those people who want all the evidence in place before making a case. That's a valuable group to have in a properly functioning society. Think lawyers, accountants, engineers. But it also behooves us to have people with imaginations regarding things that haven't been thought about by the majority of us. Think theoretical physicists, inventors, entrepreneurs, designers. Obviously this is too simplistic. There is a lot of crossover in these professions. But for arguments sake we have a range of abilities regarding imagination and fact gathering. We have a range of deductive thinking, abilities to extrapolate, creativity, flexibility and so on. We need all these sets of minds. Which is why I love this forum. We get to see a lot of this demonstrated in a relatively small community.

With regards to your statement, it is not difficult to envision some coach or coaches having a cozy relationship with one or more reporters who might occasionally be tempted to do said coaches bidding particularly if they have a common agenda. I was taken to task by BigErn and businesslawyer regarding a statement I made about the possibility Calipari could be involved. If you take the position he is in the drivers seat and there is no threat to him by KO for recruits than my statement appears entirely fanciful and ridiculous. But what if Calipari has a flawed trait like Richard Nixon and perceives danger that the majority of us laugh at. This individual would eliminate any potential threats, particularly if the cost to eliminate them is minimal. Or maybe it's not Calipari but WWW or one of WWW's subordinates. KO has proven to be a threat because he was one of the people who blocked Calipari's achievements and I believe could do it again if he gets the right set of players.

This postulation is only over the top if it isn't true. Since we don't know for certaint one way or the other we create the hypothesis and keep testing it. Testing it in this case is observation and what we are trying to observe is any discernible patterns. This won't be easy if the perpetrators are intelligent and cunning. But it may be possible.

 

[David 76]

Again, why not spread the rumor Coach K is retiring? Or if it is not Kentucky based, that Squid is going to the NBA? Or address NC, Kansas, AZ or FL, or WI?
The concept of the conspiracy doesn't bother me as much as the the fact conspiracy is always out to get us. It is possible, but that is the underlying requirement of all conspiracy theories. I think last year, KO was the ultimate hot, young coach and he had NDA creds, because of Durant's statement, and others. This year, OKC's opening & desire to keep their star, made KO a likely target.
Are there recruiters out year that try to capitalize on this stuff, sure! But don't think they don't do it with Boeheim, coach K....,

 

[ctchamps]

Again, why not spread the rumor Coach K is retiring? Or if it is not Kentucky based, that Squid is going to the NBA? Or address NC, Kansas, AZ or FL, or WI?
The concept of the conspiracy doesn't bother me as much as the the fact conspiracy is always out to get us. It is possible, but that is the underlying requirement of all conspiracy theories. I think last year, KO was the ultimate hot, young coach and he had NDA creds, because of Durant's statement, and others. This year, OKC's opening & desire to keep their star, made KO a likely target.
Are there recruiters out year that try to capitalize on this stuff, sure! But don't think they don't do it with Boeheim, coach K....,

Good point. Of course this would take place with other programs. It takes place in the world in general. My focus is UConn. I didn't mean to suggest it's confined to UConn by not emphasizing it's taking place in other programs. (I know you're not implying this). I'm sure people supporting other programs point it out for their program and they should. Sometimes it has merit and sometimes it doesn't. We're not solving world problems by examining this. In a court of law these suppositions might be struck down if they lacked support. But in a forum of opinions they offer insight into the potentials of human actions.

I love discourse when, in the course of the discourse, a subject is fleshed out in depth. I dislike discourse when people feel the need to ridicule other peoples opinions. Although I do make some exceptions to this in certain situations I feel there is an important reason to do so.

 

[David 76]

I truly hope you didn't see my comments as ridicule. I try not to do that but probably have gotten carried away more than once. You are the epitome of seeing both sides of an argument in this forum and I had no intention to ridicule.

If your point is recruiting is dirty, I agree. Some folks always see UCONN as the target of everything and that I see as a little paranoid and irrational.

 

[pnow15]

Hard to take your opinion on our class seriously when you don't even know what position Miller plays.

He is 6'7" 210 lbs. Maybe, you need to lay off the Kool-Aid in life in general if you think that is a legit PF size.

 

[tcf15]

He is 6'7" 210 lbs. Maybe, you need to lay off the Kool-Aid in life in general if you think that is a legit PF size.

First, you're championing Jahshire Hardnett as the missing piece that will allow UConn to compete for championship #5, and now this. On a college team, Miller is not a small forward. He didn't play small forward at Cornell- they put him at the 4 and the 5. He'll be the starting 4 next year for UConn, unless you think he decided to use his final year of eligibility to come off the bench and play behind Daniel Hamilton.

 

[CL82]

This obviously hurts us somehow... Just let me think....

"Well sure Kevin Ollie is fine coach son, but NBA sure wants him huh? I can't see him being able to say no forever. But hell you'll probably get a year in before he leaves."

 

[TheChamps990411]

Ollie has already brought in a big time class this year. An All Ivy League sf, a McDonald's type point guard, and a promising Big. Only Kentucky and Duke, due to an ESPN love affair, bring in 5 All Americans.

Dont know what planet your on or what school you think youre rooting for but that is not a "big time" class. The standards for this program are really plummeting.

 

[pnow15]

First, you're championing Jahshire Hardnett as the missing piece that will allow UConn to compete for championship #5, and now this. On a college team, Miller is not a small forward. He didn't play small forward at Cornell- they put him at the 4 and the 5. He'll be the starting 4 next year for UConn, unless you think he decided to use his final year of eligibility to come off the bench and play behind Daniel Hamilton.[/QUOT

Jahshire appears on film that he might be able to dribble the ball up court without bouncing it off his foot. He was shooting jumpers and tossing assists on tape. Three skills that not one of the current roster seem to master last year. We are bringing in a freshman point guard, Adams, who is expected to replace the only dependable ball handler we had. So, I am championing anyone who can replace Boat's skill set. Jahshire is a kid we are recruiting and he said he was going to make his decision last week. If Adams gets hurt, I hope you don't think for a second that this team will get the ball across half court without turning it over half of the time in face of a L'ville-type press. DHam is not Scotty Pippen(yet). Yes, a back up point is what this team needs the most and Jahshire probably could do that for this team. Why is that so hard for people to understand?

Miller is a player. He will start a the 4 because he can play and we have no one at that spot. But he is not a classic 4.
He choose UConn because we have a hole in that spot. If Diamond Stone decommits from MD tomorrow, calls Ollie and says I want to come to UConn but I have to play the four, Miller will then be the three, DHam the two and Purvis the 6th man( in about one second flat or less). But don't be surprised if Miller plays a lot of backup center a la Daniels. After all, he is a player. One should remember that at Cornell, 6'7'' is the size of a strong forward. At Kentucky it is the size of a shooting guard.
If we get to the Final Four, Cornell will not be there.

 

[pnow15]

Dont know what planet your on or what school you think youre rooting for but that is not a "big time" class. The standards for this program are really plummeting.

UConn's class was considered top twenty before the All Ivy League Miller committed. Top twenty means that 340 or so programs did worse. So, if being is the top 95 percentile is not big time, I don't know what is.

 

[CallMeBruce]

UConn's class was considered top twenty before the All Ivy League Miller committed. Top twenty means that 340 or so programs did worse. So, if being is the top 95 percentile is not big time, I don't know what is.

300 of those programs aren't even in our neighborhood, so I'm not sure what difference that makes. I'm not going to be too excited about outrecruiting Illinois or Washington State.