the escalator is for cowards

[Dann]

i just found the next 30 years of my life and i'm dam well pleased about it yall. today was a sad day but also a great new begining.

 

[minidarren]

I just found how I'm gonna lose my next 45 pounds.

I don't get involved in the recruiting of players and whatnot. What I know I get from here. What I have heard is how recruits relate to Kevin Ollie. After hearing him speak I understand why. Loyal, trusting, and real. I think this year contract will be extended, even if the W's don't stack up.

Best of luck to Jim in his retirement and to Kevin leading this team into the future. I feel its a bright one.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[CL82]

Man, tough to watch that and not be sold on KO. I am fired up!

 

[nomar]

I knew KO would fire people up. And I loved his answer to Katz's question about the 7-month contract.

How did others feel about Manuel's statement on the 1-year deal? He convinced me that he genuinely wants Ollie to succeed and is giving him a real chance. I don't think we're going to win a lot of games this year but I don't think that's how Ollie will be judged. All Kevin has to do is run a clean program, maintain the respect of his players, and maybe make some inroads in recruiting, and he'll get a longer contract.

 

[Rico444]

Easy to see why everybody loves KO. He's so genuine with everything he says. I have little doubt he'll be great.

 

[huskyjawz]

i just found the next 30 years of my life and i'm dam well pleased about it yall. today was a sad day but also a great new begining.

From your fingers to God's ears.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

KO can make a couple of phone calls and get an NBA job within a week. He won't be worried about a 1 year tryout.

 

[8893]

I knew KO would fire people up. And I loved his answer to Katz's question about the 7-month contract.

How did others feel about Manuel's statement on the 1-year deal? He convinced me that he genuinely wants Ollie to succeed and is giving him a real chance. I don't think we're going to win a lot of games this year but I don't think that's how Ollie will be judged. All Kevin has to do is run a clean program, maintain the respect of his players, and maybe make some inroads in recruiting, and he'll get a longer contract.

Agree with you on Kevin.

I'm mixed on Manuel. I want to believe him, but I just don't see what the downside would have been to giving Kevin at least a two year contract, with the understanding that we would buy the second and send him packing if things go horribly wrong and he is determined not to have done a good enough job to keep it.

 

[CL82]

Agree with you on Kevin.

I'm mixed on Manuel. I want to believe him, but I just don't see what the downside would have been to giving Kevin at least a two year contract, with the understanding that we would buy the second and send him packing if things go horribly wrong and he is determined not to have done a good enough job to keep it.

yep

 

[HooperScooper]

I wonder how KO sells the 1 year contract to recruits. Players he's recruiting now don't even know if he'll be around when they get to school. Then again anyone could be fired or leave their current position so no recruit can be assured a head coach will be there when they get to school.

 

[huskyjawz]

Agree with you on Kevin.

I'm mixed on Manuel. I want to believe him, but I just don't see what the downside would have been to giving Kevin at least a two year contract, with the understanding that we would buy the second and send him packing if things go horribly wrong and he is determined not to have done a good enough job to keep it.

I agree, just give him the longer contract, and you can fire him if you need to .

 

[nomar]

Agree with you on Kevin.

I'm mixed on Manuel. I want to believe him, but I just don't see what the downside would have been to giving Kevin at least a two year contract, with the understanding that we would buy the second and send him packing if things go horribly wrong and he is determined not to have done a good enough job to keep it.

I think Manuel felt he had to put his foot down and show he's the boss. But I agree with you.

I don't think it will cripple Ollie's recruiting efforts. Did you guys hear him today? He'll have recruits running through brick walls. He's going to succeed by getting kids and their families to BELIEVE in him. If he can convince them that he's going to succeed, then I really don't think they'll be worried about his contract. (And as HooperScooper pointed out above, aren't all coaches vulnerable to termination if the AD doesn't like the job they're doing?)

We're in a better position recruiting than we were yesterday, IMO, one-year deal or not.

 

[ctchamps]

It's hard to really know what will happen. There are a lot of different people with vastly different perspectives judging KO this season and it won't just be about bb.

As far as I'm concerned I want him to succeed and get an official endorsement. KO strikes me as a tremendous endorsement for the University.

The thing I'm most certain about in all this is KO. He will be tremendously successful as a head bb coach. I'm just not certain if the institution will be UConn.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

"It'll be a good crazy . . . "

 

[nomar]

Fleud, can you expand on your second sentence? Who are those people and what are their perspectives?

 

[2Infinity]

Agree with you on Kevin.

I'm mixed on Manuel. I want to believe him, but I just don't see what the downside would have been to giving Kevin at least a two year contract, with the understanding that we would buy the second and send him packing if things go horribly wrong and he is determined not to have done a good enough job to keep it.

Can't forget that this will be Manuel's first year in HIS new job too. He's using the one year contract as HIS out, in the unlikely event that Kevin shows he has more to learn about coaching. I don't believe that will be the case, as I feel he will be very successful. I think Manual is sold on Ollie...he is so positive and determined to succeed! Manuel just needs to see that his first year of actual game coaching is at least respectably decent.

The other thing that the one year will do is allow Manuel to make the decision to affirm Ollie as coach after the season, with no significant influence from JC. In that way...it will be solely Manuel's decision!

 

[ctchamps]

Can't forget that this will be Manuel's first year in HIS new job too. He's using the one year contract as HIS out, in the unlikely event that Kevin shows he has more to learn about coaching. I don't believe that will be the case, as I feel he will be very successful. I think Manual is sold on Ollie...he is so positive and determined to succeed! Manuel just needs to see that his first year of actual game coaching is at least respectably decent.

The other thing that the one year will do is allow Manuel to make the decision to affirm Ollie as coach after the season, with no significant influence from JC. In that way...it will be solely Manuel's decision!

The positive part of me says that Manuel and KO have talked and KO will get an endorsement for a longer contract by midseason or not if KO can demonstrate certain things they discussed before the one year hire. And this gives KO the opportunity to contact the players he is recruiting and ask them to wait until midseason before making a commitment. Certainly some recruits may have to commit sooner but others can wait. Of course I'm just guessing.

 

[Dribbles]

I knew KO would fire people up. And I loved his answer to Katz's question about the 7-month contract.

How did others feel about Manuel's statement on the 1-year deal? He convinced me that he genuinely wants Ollie to succeed and is giving him a real chance. I don't think we're going to win a lot of games this year but I don't think that's how Ollie will be judged. All Kevin has to do is run a clean program, maintain the respect of his players, and maybe make some inroads in recruiting, and he'll get a longer contract.

Nathan never should have asked the question at that time/place, and tell me how a coach is supposed to recruit when he can't tell the prospect if he'll be there longer than a year. Cripes, he hung an anchor around KO's neck and told us what a swell swimmer he'll be. You could see the reaction in KO's face as WM ran his mouth.
Yes, KO doesn't have a coaching resume, but has the faith of the guy we put all our faith in. That's not good enough for WM. Anyone know how long a contract Manuel got when Buffalo gave him his first AD job? I suppose if Ward goes to Atlantic City or Vegas, its only to the $2 table.
Wonder if he'd try that kind of crap with Geno.

 

[nomar]

Nathan never should have asked the question at that time/place, and tell me how a coach is supposed to recruit when he can't tell the prospect if he'll be there longer than a year. Cripes, he hung an anchor around KO's neck and told us what a swell swimmer he'll be. You could see the reaction in KO's face as WM ran his mouth.
Yes, KO doesn't have a coaching resume, but has the faith of the guy we put all our faith in. That's not good enough for WM. Anyone know how long a contract Manuel got when Buffalo gave him his first AD job? I suppose if Ward goes to Atlantic City or Vegas, its only to the $2 table.
Wonder if he'd try that kind of crap with Geno.

Kevin can and will tell prospects that he'll be there for longer than a year. No question about it. He believes in himself and others do and will.

 

[2Infinity]

Nathan never should have asked the question at that time/place, and tell me how a coach is supposed to recruit when he can't tell the prospect if he'll be there longer than a year. Cripes, he hung an anchor around KO's neck and told us what a swell swimmer he'll be. You could see the reaction in KO's face as WM ran his mouth.
Yes, KO doesn't have a coaching resume, but has the faith of the guy we put all our faith in. That's not good enough for WM. Anyone know how long a contract Manuel got when Buffalo gave him his first AD job? I suppose if Ward goes to Atlantic City or Vegas, its only to the $2 table.
Wonder if he'd try that kind of crap with Geno.

There's no doubt that Ollie was aware he was going to be selected a while ago. All the recruits recently have mentioned how much they love coach Ollie...and I'm guessing they were either told...or had a strong feeling that KO would be the new head coach. I'm not worried about KO getting recruits..even with just a one year contract. In fact, I'd be surprised if he doesn't land one or two more quality recruits in the next few weeks!! He WILL be a success at UConn!!

 

[businesslawyer]

Frankly, I think a lot of this was staged. Given how modest KO's salary was, if Manual believed he would be the permanent coach he would have given him a two or three year deal and been quick to pull the trigger.

I think Manual has decided he has to at least do a search and look for alternatives.

 

[ctchamps]

Fleud, can you expand on your second sentence? Who are those people and what are their perspectives?

The majority of the posters in this forum bleed husky blue. The biggest debate in this forum is whether KO's lack of experience is a problem or not.

I didn't have any other concerns until my wife offered an opinion. It basically translates to this: there are people who are not passionate about men's bb, or worse, people who love the University and dislike the notoriety of the men's program. In this latter category I would include fans of other sports who are envious of the bb program. Also there are people only interested in academics. These people will primarily focus on the APR issue and express the need to bolster the image of the University - a front to their real agenda of wanting men's bb to become unimportant. And among some of them there could be a concern that KO's communication is a detriment to this goal. They will never express it, not in this day and age. They would find a politically acceptable problem when insisting his contract not be renewed.

Shortly after she expressed this opinion, Jay Bilas in his commentary about JC stated the sport lost the last of his kind. He said JC was a blue collar coach who spoke it like it was, whether it should have been spoken or not. He said with all the money in college sports the trend has changed to a "corporate image" of coaches. So the big question isn't just whether KO can coach but can he coach and demonstrate the "corporate image" for UConn?

 

[nomar]

Fleud, I thought you meant people with actual power. I don't think Manuel cares whether KO says "ask" or "aks."

 

[2Infinity]

Frankly, I think a lot of this was staged. Given how modest KO's salary was, if Manual believed he would be the permanent coach he would have given him a two or three year deal and been quick to pull the trigger.

I think Manual has decided he has to at least do a search and look for alternatives.

I believe that Manuel decided to forego the search for one year, if not for a much longer period! This was the compromise that he, Herbst and JC reached! You can just hear JC saying something like....Look...just give him one year to show that he has it ... and you too will be a believer!! I believe Herbst and Manuel bought in. Recall all the thank yous that Ollie bestowed on them at the presser as well! It just makes too much sense.

If it doesn't work out, then Manual can assemble his search committee next year. After all, he has to protect HIS reputation as the new AD as well. All you have to do is to look up to Amherst to see what happens when you appoint a loyal assistant who has never coached..following the departure of someone highly successful and give him an extended contract right off the bat. Bruiser wasn't able to handle it...and the program fell into obscurity! This is Manuel's insurance policy, but he'll never have to use it...because IMO, KO WILL succeed!!

 

[aceboon]

Chris Mannix, an NBA & Boxing reporter for SI on Ollie

Chris Mannix ‏@ChrisMannixSI
As @WojYahooNBA points out, Thunder GM Sam Presti hoped to groom Ollie as his top lieutenant and, undoubtedly, a future NBA general manager

19h Chris Mannix ‏@ChrisMannixSI
Kevin Ollie is enormously respected in both NBA and college circles. College HC, NBA HC, NBA GM, he could have written his own ticket