Thank you, Warde Manuel

[warbler1055]

Ironically, .....while listening to the press conference on the radio, I had similar thoughts regarding Manuel......appeared uncomfortable and inexperienced (which he is) and young (again, he is ), delivered the speech with a robotic cadence.
Cringe-worthy

Wasn't impressed, really, with what either had to say...but I like Ollie, and Manuel has a very good reputation. Herculean task at hand for both. I wish them the best.

We will see what KO can do for the next 7 months, as for Warde, one can only hope that he is paying more attention to the football program and leave the BB to JC.

 

[BlueMAB]

I'm not sold on Warde yet, and he is a football guy first, but kind of harsh to judge him on how he handles an impossible situation before we see the results.

Nonsense. If there's anything the boneyard does well, it's make snap judgements without regard to facts and/or past, present, or future results.

 

[businesslawyer]

The God stuff doesn't play well if you're trying to recruit middle-aged white people from the northeast. It plays better in more relevant demographics, however.

Warde hired an interim coach. It's now time for the interim coach to show why he should be the next head coach.

Have at it, young man.

This.. Although there is little he is going to realistically accomplish in the next seven months that will (or should, if you accept that he hired an interim coach) stop Manual from at least reaching out to the handful of big names that would be leading candidates for the job.

 

[Devland]

I remember with the search for a football coach, they couldn't hire before a certain date because of state laws requiring state jobs to be posted and a certain number of candidates interviewed. Is it possible that this whole seven month thing is just a way to circumvent the state requirements? I would think they would be required to post the position by law.

 

[nomar]

How can Kevin Ollie walk into a recruits house and sell them on UCONN when his contract expires in 6 months? Who's idea do you think it was to give him that contract? Like I said in a previous post hopefully Ollie has a new contract by January.

I would have preferred a 2-year deal. But I don't really understand the concern. If he had a 2-year deal that wouldn't prevent Manuel from canning him. Ollie will get recruits who believe in him, and for them to believe in a guy who's never been a HC before, they will have to believe him when he says he's going to be at UConn forever.

I'm really not worried about the length of the contract being an issue.

And I also think people are being harsh on Manuel. I thought he was fine at the press conference. You can't blame him for being a little uncomfortable.

I missed the first minute of KO's remarks, and I winced at some of the "we was" stuff and all of the "y'alls," but I'm a 35-year-old non-religious white dude. That stuff isn't important. I think most of us were left with the impression that Kevin Ollie is the type of man you want to mentor your son.

 

[8893]

I missed the first minute of KO's remarks, and I winced at some of the "we was" stuff and all of the "y'alls," but I'm a 35-year-old non-religious white dude. That stuff isn't important. I think most of us were left with the impression that Kevin Ollie is the type of man you want to mentor your son.

Bingo.

 

[HuskyFan32]

I agree. Most of me loves the KO hire. I think he brings some needed energy to the program. Buttt, I was not impressed with that news conference either. The god stuff is definitely genuine. Hes not faking that, but I agree, not the best way to start off. And every third word he said was y'all. I can see why recruits love him and would want to play for him. I think our players will love him and he will motivate them. But he didnt seem like the leader of the program. It was so weird to hear him say "my team, my players" etc. The whole speech just seemed unprofessional and amateur really. He just didnt come across as the leader of a major program. Now it was his first press conference so lets cut him some slack, but I didnt think it was that great.

 

[HuskyFan32]

What am I saying? The Yahoo article confirmed all of my beliefs. Kevin Ollie is going to be a great coach. So maybe he needs to work on his public speaking a little bit. Who cares?! He is a great leader and I have no doubt we will be back to the Final Four in no time!!