Someone help me understand....

[WestCoastFan]

I freely admit I'm a Geno fan. Not particularly because I like him (never met the man) or because I'm a UConn fan (never been to the school); but because I really enjoy his coaching style. He's totally dedicated to a team mentality...one focused on defense first, then transition, then set offense. It's his way...or the highway. No one is above the team...everybody works, no one slacks off (or they sit on the bench or transfer). It's a family...including the parents of the players.

So, my question is, why don't more coaches follow this path?? Why are so many in love with stockpiling the supposed "all-stars," only to watch many sulk or transfer? Why don't they recruit to need, not to "run fast/jump high" talent? Tenn. (with Pat), ND, and some others understand you need talent but also need the "grinders"...the ones who will play tough D, push and shove when required, an in-your-face presence.

I know the answer, but I just feel like venting. It's a sign of the times that too many crave individual attention in a team environment. Oh well, win or lose, I'll enjoy Geno's style while it lasts.

 

[PhillyCoach]

I freely admit I'm a Geno fan. Not particularly because I like him (never met the man) or because I'm a UConn fan (never been to the school); but because I really enjoy his coaching style. He's totally dedicated to a team mentality...one focused on defense first, then transition, then set offense. It's his way...or the highway. No one is above the team...everybody works, no one slacks off (or they sit on the bench or transfer). It's a family...including the parents of the players.

So, my question is, why don't more coaches follow this path?? Why are so many in love with stockpiling the supposed "all-stars," only to watch many sulk or transfer? Why don't they recruit to need, not to "run fast/jump high" talent? Tenn. (with Pat), ND, and some others understand you need talent but also need the "grinders"...the ones who will play tough D, push and shove when required, an in-your-face presence.

I know the answer, but I just feel like venting. It's a sign of the times that too many crave individual attention in a team environment. Oh well, win or lose, I'll enjoy Geno's style while it lasts.

Hey WestCoastFan - I agree with you. IMHO there are two reasons why more coaches don't follow this path--1- they are not smart enough to even know what steps to take. 2- It's too much hard work.
What is easier? Get the best players or get the tallest players (cause that seems to be the smart thing to do in a big persons game--think Texas.)
Final reason it won't be matched by other coaches - The other teams don't have two relentless coaches who are sticklers for detail, who know the details, and are willing to require it every single second of every practice and every game. That's the hard work.
Geno knew what he was getting when 30 years ago he hired CD as his partner/asst. coach. A woman coach just like him--relentless. And you know what they say about a team--That the team reflects the coach. Well, that is UConn twofold!
It's 70 degrees in Philly this week--we are getting some West Coast too.

 

[iamcbs]

Don't fool yourself into believing that that Geno doesn't and hasn't recruited the best players in the country. I don't and can't dispute your sentiments on his coaching style and his level of success, but he recruits the best players, as every other D-1, Power 5 coach does. The championship run started in 1991, when he recruited the #1 post player in the country out of MA to UConn, her name is Rebecca Lobo. Shea Ralph, Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Maya, Stewie, KML and KLS, were each the #1 HS player in the country when they signed with UConn. In point of fact that's been one of the knocks on Geno nationally and he's addressed it, that he wins because he gets the best players. UConn has had more than their fair share of McDonald's AA's. Coaching alone doesn't make teams as formidable as Connecticut has been, it tales talent as well.

 

[UcMiami]

I think there are some other coaches that follow the mantra, but ...
1. It is easier putting together the right army when you are KING. If you are a middling program getting middling talent, just about any decent recruit can help and you can't afford to be too selective. Geno and a few other coaches can be much more selective because they know they will have more options of talented recruits interested in them.

2. It takes an ability to teach fundamental skills and a good offensive system and defensive principles, and it requires complete commitment from your players to do the incredibly hard work. If you have history to fall back on it is easier to know what works and doesn't, and to demand that commitment from the recruits.

3. It requires constant study, innovation, and flexibility - no two players have identical strengths and weaknesses, nor do they have identical ceilings. Adapting the individual coaching and expectations, and the whole system to the mixture of players available is both art and science, and a rare commodity - look at the last three championship teams and the results are all similar, but the teams are actually very different and played noticeably different styles offensively and defensively.

Some coaches really aren't that good, and especially the older coaches who grew up in a sport where you put the best players on the court and you motivated them to play hard and you usually won. We joke that Pat's offensive system was chuck it up and rebound, but it isn't that far off being that simple. And defensively it was not dissimilar - play solid positional man to man and box out/rebound. The newer coaches tend to be more tactically aware because the sport has 'grown up'. Geno and Tara and Muffet grew up as students of the game and studied closely how the great coaches (mostly men coaching men's teams) worked - many of their contemporaries and their elders only learned the 'women's game' and learned only what the successful women coaches were doing.

 

[Zorro]

Duke has had more than there share of primo players also.

 

[CL82]

Geno's success comes from more than 'the system' at UConn. He is a master evaluator and motivator. He knows what his players can do and how to squeeze the most out of those abilities. He also is an exceptionally good game planner and a good game day coach. There's a whole lot to that package and that's why it is so hard to reproduce it. I think Muffet probably has done the best job of doing it.

 

[Bgillon]

One aspect of Geno's skill set that I believe gets overlooked sometimes is his basketball IQ. I believe he is an outstanding teacher of the game and game planner. Notice McGruff's comment that he had not counted on UCONN playing a zone at the start of the game. It was a 2 -3 zone and he had Mo and Gabby at the top, not Mo with Kia. He wanted to capitalize on Gabby's speed and we saw that with 2 steals by Gabby in the first minutes of the game.

 

[WestCoastFan]

Hey WestCoastFan - I agree with you. IMHO there are two reasons why more coaches don't follow this path--1- they are not smart enough to even know what steps to take. 2- It's too much hard work.
What is easier? Get the best players or get the tallest players (cause that seems to be the smart thing to do in a big persons game--think Texas.)
Final reason it won't be matched by other coaches - The other teams don't have two relentless coaches who are sticklers for detail, who know the details, and are willing to require it every single second of every practice and every game. That's the hard work.
Geno knew what he was getting when 30 years ago he hired CD as his partner/asst. coach. A woman coach just like him--relentless. And you know what they say about a team--That the team reflects the coach. Well, that is UConn twofold!
It's 70 degrees in Philly this week--we are getting some West Coast too.

Groovy. Was 38 here this morning in SoCal wine country. Getting up to 71. I love Philly. I need a good cheesesteak BAD!!

All good points, btw.

 

[WestCoastFan]

One aspect of Geno's skill set that I believe gets overlooked sometimes is his basketball IQ. I believe he is an outstanding teacher of the game and game planner. Notice McGruff's comment that he had not counted on UCONN playing a zone at the start of the game. It was a 2 -3 zone and he had Mo and Gabby at the top, not Mo with Kia. He wanted to capitalize on Gabby's speed and we saw that with 2 steals by Gabby in the first minutes of the game.

Exactly what I would have done...and I never made it past playing high school ball. My coach loved to mix it up on defense to confuse the other team and use his talent, as required. I just don't think it's that hard, but I guess I'm just getting old.

 

[Boreifs]

One aspect of Geno's skill set that I believe gets overlooked sometimes is his basketball IQ. I believe he is an outstanding teacher of the game and game planner. Notice McGruff's comment that he had not counted on UCONN playing a zone at the start of the game. It was a 2 -3 zone and he had Mo and Gabby at the top, not Mo with Kia. He wanted to capitalize on Gabby's speed and we saw that with 2 steals by Gabby in the first minutes of the game.

He also put KLS in the deep middle of that 2-3 at times, and she rewarded him with several defensive rebounds in that set.

 

[WestCoastFan]

Duke has had more than there share of primo players also.

And Tenn (post Pat)...and UNCheat...and...

 

[CallMeBruce]

One aspect of Geno's skill set that I believe gets overlooked sometimes is his basketball IQ. I believe he is an outstanding teacher of the game and game planner. Notice McGruff's comment that he had not counted on UCONN playing a zone at the start of the game. It was a 2 -3 zone and he had Mo and Gabby at the top, not Mo with Kia. He wanted to capitalize on Gabby's speed and we saw that with 2 steals by Gabby in the first minutes of the game.

You think Geno's basketball knowledge gets overlooked? That's the thing he's primarily known for. What are you talking about?

 

[WestCoastFan]

Don't fool yourself into believing that that Geno doesn't and hasn't recruited the best players in the country. I don't and can't dispute your sentiments on his coaching style and his level of success, but he recruits the best players, as every other D-1, Power 5 coach does. The championship run started in 1991, when he recruited the #1 post player in the country out of MA to UConn, her name is Rebecca Lobo. Shea Ralph, Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Maya, Stewie, KML and KLS, were each the #1 HS player in the country when they signed with UConn. In point of fact that's been one of the knocks on Geno nationally and he's addressed it, that he wins because he gets the best players. UConn has had more than their fair share of McDonald's AA's. Coaching alone doesn't make teams as formidable as Connecticut has been, it tales talent as well.

No dispute there, but I wonder how well those players would have developed on another team, besides Pat and Miss Muffet's teams.

 

[Sonny44]

I freely admit I'm a Geno fan. Not particularly because I like him (never met the man) or because I'm a UConn fan (never been to the school); but because I really enjoy his coaching style. He's totally dedicated to a team mentality...one focused on defense first, then transition, then set offense. It's his way...or the highway. No one is above the team...everybody works, no one slacks off (or they sit on the bench or transfer). It's a family...including the parents of the players.

So, my question is, why don't more coaches follow this path??


Because above all, they want to be liked,

 

[cookie447]

CD doesn't get enough credit and Geno doesn't get enough credit for allowing CD, and the other assistants over the years, to flourish and have their own impact and influence. He is comfortable in his own skin and his ego allows his assistants the freedom they enjoy. The benefactors are the players, the fans and all of women's college basketball. There are very few, if any, who could successfully emulate his success.

 

[DobbsRover2]

Yeah, I think most coaches actually recruit to their needs as much as possible, but finding and getting the players you want is easier said then done. There are a few coaches who have become notorious for getting a slew of top players but not doing as well as expected, but that probably is more due to the fact they are not top-level coaches at training their players, preparing for games, and making good game time decisions. Personally I believe that Geno's system is so far superior to most programs that unless you're an in-the-range coach such as McGraw or VanDerveer, your team has pretty much zero chance of beating UConn anymore. The Huskies are just so well trained for any game situation and so relentless that beating them over a full 40 minutes just takes too many unlikely breaks.

 

[Ctpaul0825]

Maybe not PC but he doesn't treat them like girls, just players. I remember over the years him calling some players soft and by the end of their careers they had definitely toughened up. BamBam was a fan favorite back when.

 

[WestCoastFan]

CD doesn't get enough credit and Geno doesn't get enough credit for allowing CD, and the other assistants over the years, to flourish and have their own impact and influence. He is comfortable in his own skin and his ego allows his assistants the freedom they enjoy. The benefactors are the players, the fans and all of women's college basketball. There are very few, if any, who could successfully emulate his success.

Agreed. I'm just curious if others try.

 

[msf22b]

Some thoughts: How fast we forget that Geno had a mini-case of uncertainty 3 seasons ago when he returned from the Olympics and faced the 3 freshman. I distinctly remember him saying things like: kids are different today and that he didn't completely understand this bunch. But after they got stung by Notre Dame (for the third time) in the Big East tourney, he announced that he had figured it out and would map a road for them to the National Championship and everyone remembers what happened next.

He's been in a Renaissance ever since, passed his mid-life crisis (if that's what it was) Stanford was a mere blip.

This years bunch will be sore pressed to find someone that can give them a game outside of the W.

But next year will be a completely different story...lots of excellent players, seemingly no superstar
Such a team is always slightly vulnerable to a game like the Candice Wiggins outburst.

If he wins this year and next he will go down as the greatest coach, man or woman in the history of College Ball.
And I wouldn't discount the chances.

 

[meyers7]

He also put KLS in the deep middle of that 2-3 at times, and she rewarded him with several defensive rebounds in that set.

Actually at least for the early part of the game, he was using a 3-2 zone as opposed to a 2-3.

 

[WestCoastFan]

Some thoughts: How fast we forget that Geno had a mini-case of uncertainty 3 seasons ago when he returned from the Olympics and faced the 3 freshman. I distinctly remember him saying things like: kids are different today and that he didn't completely understand this bunch. But after they got stung by Notre Dame (for the third time) in the Big East tourney, he announced that he had figured it out and would map a road for them to the National Championship and everyone remembers what happened next.

He's been in a Renaissance ever since, passed his mid-life crisis (if that's what it was) Stanford was a mere blip.

This years bunch will be sore pressed to find someone that can give them a game outside of the W.

But next year will be a completely different story...lots of excellent players, seemingly no superstar
Such a team is always slightly vulnerable to a game like the Candice Wiggins outburst.

If he wins this year and next he will go down as the greatest coach, man or woman in the history of College Ball.
And I wouldn't discount the chances.

I remember being in 7th grade...I hated UCLA basketball. Alcindor had finally graduated and the rest of the country would finally get their chance. The Bruins returned good players, but certainly no dominant ones. What happened next? Two more NCs ( with Wicks and Rowe and Bibby). Then that doggone Walton shows up and they win two more. Then if they hadn't blown an 8-point lead in overtime against David Thompson and NC State, they would have won two more. Common denominator throughout...great coaching.

Until next year, I'm gonna dig every minute of this season. Besides, we all know that Ms. Freeze will win the next four...if you listen to the "experts" in the recruiting services.

 

[meyers7]

This years bunch will be sore pressed to find someone that can give them a game outside of the W

Agreed, beating Stewart and Jefferson in their senior year is gonna be really hard.

But next year will be a completely different story...lots of excellent players, seemingly no superstar
Such a team is always slightly vulnerable to a game like the Candice Wiggins outburst.

Yea, next year is gonna be a pretty wide open season. Lot's of good teams and should be very competitive.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Lets just say that plenty of coaches - probably most - "get it" and "get" what Geno does and would love to do it.

They can't recruit enough players with the right mix of talent and type of character that a Geno is looking for, they don't have his skill set either basketball wise or chops wise in running the team, and even if they could put it mostly together, still wouldn't be at UConn's level.

Which doesn't mean they are "bad" coaches. Geno has been particularly blessed with personal and personnel talent. Other coaches, not quite the same.

 

[huskeynut]

Geno and his coaches also pay attention the "little things."
No headsets or earbuds coming off the bus
No social media during the season
No rolling up the shorts
No visible tats.
Expected to excell in the classroom

Also - notice how when the players are interviewed they are well spoken, concise and articulate.

And he has said more than once, he expects his players to figure it out on the court - team leadership.

There are many coaches will never have these expectations for the athletes.

 

[Bgillon]

You think Geno's basketball knowledge gets overlooked? That's the thing he's primarily known for. What are you talking about?

Most of the talk by other fans is Geno gets the best players and that's why he wins. Visit other boards and they rarely compliment him on his coaching. If you are talking about commentators, he gets a lot of credit for his coaching ability. Two different groups with two different views. Fair enough?