Recruiting

[60'sfan]

Dan Hurley has done a great job recruiting but is he at Calhoun's level yet?

 

[StllH8L8ner]

Dan Hurley has done a great job recruiting but is he at Calhoun's level yet?

No, but I think he'll get there if he stays long enough. He's made some pretty good progress recruiting wise and we have yet to play a game in the (new) Big East.

 

[aburks41]

Calhoun landed quite a few 5*. Go look at our historical classes on 247, there was a long stretch of years where we had at least one 5*.

Calhoun never recruited at a UK, UNC, or Duke level, but he in my biased opinion he is the greatest college coach of all time. I don't think any college coach ever could have built a program like UConn the way Calhoun did.

 

[jibsey]

Calhoun landed quite a few 5*. Go look at our historical classes on 247, there was a long stretch of years where we had at least one 5*.

Calhoun never recruited at a UK, UNC, or Duke level, but he in my biased opinion he is the greatest college coach of all time. I don't think any college coach ever could have built a program like UConn the way Calhoun did.

Particularly when you think of the number of 5 stars in those other programs.

 

[Ts5034]

Calhoun has a great eye for talent, and he was very good at developing players. That is a good mix, and you can see to this day that he still has the magic touch. St Joseph won their league in its second year of existence as a program. Its no surprise how Calhoun was able to build a winning roster right from the start.

Hurley has already proven that he can build a winning program at URI. He will do the same here at UConn. I think we all knew from the start that he would, and thats why that hire was so important. The thread on here in the days leading up to him getting hired was legendary by the way...

 

[Spaceman213J]

I think Hurley just needs to do it over time. I'm not sure about everyone else, but I just get a feeling that once the team make a tourney or two the 5 stars will start to come to UConn.

I'm a big 'Calhoun deserves to be in the conversation of GOAT college coaches'. I think he is the most rounded and easily one of the best eve X's and O's coaches, especially in big games. What I like about Hurley is that, like Calhoun, he seems to be targeting players who have the potential to really develop and grow.

 

[mauconnfan]

What JC did was special so for me I doubt Danny will ever be at his level but very few ever were or ever will be. So if he gets close, a level below, he will still be a special coach also. I believe there’s a good chance if he builds a longish career in Storrs, he will be regarded as one of the best later in his career. He is certainly headed in the right direction!

 

[UConnJim]

Recruiting is different today. The top 30 recruits seem to want to be one and dones. If you want to win NCAA championships, you need more experienced players so recruiting top 30 to top 80 players will give you a better shot at having really good experienced players. For example, Kemba Walker was the 13th ranked recruit, but stayed 3 years at UConn and won a title. That doesn’t happen any more.

 

[Ts5034]

It's very possible that Hurley actually recruits better than Jim Calhoun. Recruiting to UConn in 2020 and beyond is different from recruiting to UConn during the 80's, 90's and early 2000's. Heck, recruiting to UConn is different now compared to 5 years ago when we were in the AAC. You're selling a different product now that we are in the new Big East. But, getting back to my point about Dan Hurley recruiting vs Jim Calhoun...When Hurley took this job, he had the privilege of being able to sell UConn as a 4 time National Championship program. At no point in Jim Calhoun's tenure was he able to sell that. Even though Hurley didn't win any of them, being the head coach at a 4 time National Championship school is a tremendous feather in your cap on the recruiting trail that not many coaches have.

Now, winning recruiting battles and winning actual games is obviously a totally different story, but UConn is an easy program to sell if you have the right salesman. For example, look at Kentucky. John Calipari was always a great recruiter (cheater), and when he landed the job at UK, he became an even better recruiter because he was selling a better product than he ever had.

 

[HooperScooper]

Recruiting is different today. The top 30 recruits seem to want to be one and dones. If you want to win NCAA championships, you need more experienced players so recruiting top 30 to top 80 players will give you a better shot at having really good experienced players. For example, Kemba Walker was the 13th ranked recruit, but stayed 3 years at UConn and won a title. That doesn’t happen any more.

And think about Ray Allen, Rip Hamilton, Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon coming back for their 3rd years. Does that happen today? Maybe Emeka because he really wanted the degree. Even Caron Butler in today's world doesn't even come back for his second year.

 

[Fishy]

Dan Hurley has done a great job recruiting but is he at Calhoun's level yet?

Unless someone has devised some advanced metric to compare the two, my answer is the shrug emoji that for some reason we cannot use here. ‍

 

[BoukofJames]

And think about Ray Allen, Rip Hamilton, Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon coming back for their 3rd years. Does that happen today? Maybe Emeka because he really wanted the degree. Even Caron Butler in today's world doesn't even come back for his second year.

it didn’t happen with former 5-star recruit Daniel Hamilton, who I’m convinced could have been a lottery pick or at least had the talent to be one. I wonder if his career goes differently if he was coached by Calhoun...

 

[huskyfan224]

Calhoun landed quite a few 5*. Go look at our historical classes on 247, there was a long stretch of years where we had at least one 5*.

Calhoun never recruited at a UK, UNC, or Duke level, but he in my biased opinion he is the greatest college coach of all time. I don't think any college coach ever could have built a program like UConn the way Calhoun did.

He didn’t just build a program, he built a university...UConn is relevant in sports because of Calhoun

 

[BlueMAB]

Unless someone has devised some advanced metric to compare the two, my answer is the shrug emoji that for some reason we cannot use here. ‍

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Hoops01]

Calhoun landed quite a few 5*. Go look at our historical classes on 247, there was a long stretch of years where we had at least one 5*.

Calhoun never recruited at a UK, UNC, or Duke level, but he in my biased opinion he is the greatest college coach of all time. I don't think any college coach ever could have built a program like UConn the way Calhoun did.

Couldn't agree more about Calhoun, he was the only one who could've built the program he did at UCONN.

 

[UConnJim]

it didn’t happen with former 5-star recruit Daniel Hamilton, who I’m convinced could have been a lottery pick or at least had the talent to be one. I wonder if his career goes differently if he was coached by Calhoun...

If Calhoun was coach, Hamilton wouldn't have come to UConn.

 

[dennismenace]

If Calhoun was coach, Hamilton wouldn't have come to UConn.

Or perhaps he may not have been recruited that heavily by JC. Point forward?

 

[LStudfellow]

Ok, since no one has done this yet... the comparison AT THIS POINT should really focus on Calhoun's first few years vs. Hurley's first few years. I see a few of you bring up Calhoun's recruitment of 5 stars, but that did not happen right away. Comparing Hurley to the totality of Calhoun's tenure here is silly because Calhoun didn't start hitting his stride until his breakthrough monster class in 1990 (after his 4th full year as coach, which Hurley has not even hit yet) highlighted by his first 5-star (Donyell Marshall) that was largely a result of the notoriety and prestige gained from the Dream Season.

What Calhoun did at the beginning of his tenure, was unearth some rough gem 3 star guys that had the right attitude and desire to be better than their rankings (Rod Sellers, Tate George, Lyman DePriest, John Gwynn, even Dan Cyrulik and Toraino Walker), combine in a breakthrough recruit in Chris Smith (high 4-star from Bridgeport, the first big recruit in-state recruit since becoming UConn head coach) and then the unknown but high, high level basketball IQ foreigner in Nadav Henefeld and turn this first part of his plan into a highly-effective, winning formula.

Once established as a force to be reckoned with by the Dream Season, Calhoun and his staff was then able to go and consistently recruit higher level 4's and an occasional 5 star. Then in the late 90's into the 2000's as he became a legend he brought in mostly 4's with a 5 star sprinkled in every year or two on a yearly basis.

In other words, he mapped out a plan, stuck to it and worked it to as close to perfection as humanly possible.

Dan has done an excellent job so far... now let's see how his recruits play for him over the next few years, and if he can continue to build on his plan anywhere near to the level that Calhoun did... because no one did it better than JC.

 

[David 76]

You can't compare the early years of Calhoun and Hurley. Hurley stands on id's shoulders. Hurley was recruiting for a bad team that had previously won 4 championships.
JC was recruiting for a bad team that only had regional success.

 

[HuskylnSC]

Hurley is doing a good job recruiting from his roots where he has credibility. Calhoun recruited from the whole country. I think it was Ray Allen's junior year when the player with the hometown closest to Storrs was Ray, from outside Columbia South Carolina. Doron from Israel. Donny Marshall from Washington state. Ollie is from Cali. Travis Knight was from Utah. Ricky Moore from Augusta Georgia. Kirk King was from Louisiana. Brian Fair Arizona. Now that's being able to recruit who you want. So no Dan while doing great after 3 years is not up to JC's level

 

[pj]

Dan Hurley has done a great job recruiting but is he at Calhoun's level yet?

It took Calhoun 30 years to get to Calhoun's level. We can give Dan a little more time.

 

[Umami Zen]

Hurley is doing a good job recruiting from his roots where he has credibility. Calhoun recruited from the whole country. I think it was Ray Allen's junior year when the player with the hometown closest to Storrs was Ray, from outside Columbia South Carolina. Doron from Israel. Donny Marshall Detroit. Ollie is from Cali. Travis Knight was from Utah. Ricky Moore from Augusta Georgia. Kirk King was from Louisiana. Brian Fair Arizona. Now that's being able to recruit who you want. So no Dan while doing great after 3 years is not up to JC's level

Hurley is doing a good job recruiting from his roots where he has credibility. Calhoun recruited from the whole country. I think it was Ray Allen's junior year when the player with the hometown closest to Storrs was Ray, from outside Columbia South Carolina. Doron from Israel. Donny Marshall Detroit. Ollie is from Cali. Travis Knight was from Utah. Ricky Moore from Augusta Georgia. Kirk King was from Louisiana. Brian Fair Arizona. Now that's being able to recruit who you want. So no Dan while doing great after 3 years is not up to JC's level

Pretty sure Donny M was from Federal Way, Wash.... Your point is still well taken about geographic reach of JC

 

[UConn57]

Danny is way ahead of Jim Calhoun at this point of his career. The last three recruiting classes top 25, top 10. Like someone mentioned he will get a five star as he improves the UConn Brand. But you do not need five stars for success!! If it was Duke and Kentucky would win a National championship every year. But they don't!!!