People who resort ot namecalling usually have no real argument, but I'll make two points...first drive five miles outside Louisville and nobody cares about Louisville...they only care about Kentucky basketball. Look at their radio network, for example and its the 2nd tier stations in areas outside Louisville. Think WDRC rather than WTIC in Hartford, something like that. to catch the UL games in some areas you need to drive to the top of the nearest hill, climb th ebiggest tree and point your radio at the moon, though UK comes in loud and clear. (note to hegotgame, you don't actually have to climb a tree...it is a metaphore). 2nd, They have some big donors obviously, and of course they want to win, but they are perfectly happy, indeed I would say thrilled, to make an elite eight or a final four. But they don't expect to win and they don't question why they don't. I'm not calling for him to be fired, and Louisville fans aren't calling for him to be fired...in fact they love him, which is kind of the point. If UCONN fans were told we were getting the highest paid coach (at the time) in the game and his results were similar to Pitino's, there woud be rumblings aobut his ability to win it all. You clearly don't remember the mid-90s at UCONN. Calhoun had taken a team that had never finsihed above .500 in th econference and made it a national power, made multiple deep runs into the NCAA tourney. there was an undercurrent of questioning as to whether he could ever take UCONN to the Final Four or ultimately a national championship, and there was even talk about replacing him with Tom Penders. That is more pressure than Pitino has seen or ever will see at Louisville.
I'm not sure what your point is about Denny Crum...He won two national championships back in the 1980s, but by 2000 Louisville was no longer a national power...they were more or less a high mid major. And that was fine with them. And if Pitino's teams start ot follow the same path, from top 5 to top 25 over the next few years, they'll be fine with that, too. That is the difference. Finally, on kevin Ollie...to me that isn't a commentary on how desireable the UCONN job is. It is a commentary on how Jim Calhoun has dominated the scene. The very idea that one of the most desireable (and even if its 11, 12 or 15 out of 300 plus, that is pretty damned high) jobs in the country is even thinking seriously about replacing a hall of famer with a guy who, as a coach, is essentially a nobody says that Calhoun has incredible influence over the athletic department and the athletic landscape of this state. Frankly, this is one area where I fault both Manuel and Herbst (though her to a lesser degree since filling the basketball coach job is technically in Manuel's court). The next time the question is asked, he should tell folks that this is UCONN, not some community college. it is one of the most desireable jobs in college basketball, so of course he is not automatically promoting an assistant with 2 years experience. His wishy washiness is very unbecoming in an otherwise pretty impressive performance.
