The other 50% of being a CBB coach...

[dogpause]

KO had a great NBA education that was ideal for a future coach; maybe the best ever. However, coaching college also involves successful recruiting, which has its own learning curve. Kevin has the brains and the personality to be really good at recruiting, but he doesn't have the same preparedness.

I give him credit for the recruits he's signed, and for his ability to recognize talent. I also give him credit for aiming high. He'll continue to be a great teacher and motivator, he'll continue to challenge for championships, and recruiting will get easier and better. He's the best young coach in the NCAA, IMO.

 

[Mike Honcho]

Well, this is the definition of talking out of your a**. He doesn't have the same preparedness. What exactly are you basing this off of?

 

[david]

Maybe he's too busy winning the national title in his first ever chance with a 7 seed to be prepared for recruiting a couple of kids we might not even need.

 

[Inyatkin]

Maybe he's too busy winning the national title in his first ever chance with a 7 seed.

Funny how this has already slipped people's minds.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Do we not have Purvis, Hamilton, Jalen Adams and Steve Enoch all due to KO?

It sucks we missed out on some guys, but I think it's a bit over blown even if we don't get Stone.

KO is amazing, the conference is an issue and honestly being a cold weather campus doesn't help either.

 

[aceboon]

Lol @ doesn't have the same preparedness, man go take a nap and stop posting out of your ass.

 

[UConnfan8]

this post was so loaded....its like he was trying to insinuate insult through compliment....or bargaining...

 

[BUConn10]

Ill defend OP here. KO is the best coach in the country and wouldnt trade him for ANYONE, yet you cant believe that KO who has been in the NBA for the last 13 years (besides his last 3 years on the UConn staff) knows all the ins-and-outs of the high school recruiting game. Recruiting is dirty business and a guy like KO may take a few years until he learns the "behind the scenes" requirements of recruiting. Have any of you ever been recruited by a D1 coach, do you have any idea what goes into building up a prospects ideas of joining your program, or how the negative recruiting of other coaches impacts the entire process? Recruiting is absolutely something that a coach develops as he goes along and gets a feel for the landscape, its not exactly a mental art like coaching or X's and O's.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

I have no doubt that KO is a dynamo on the recruiting trial.

It would be illogical to think that a guy who literally no one has a negative thing to say about - who, in fact, people go out of their way to gush about in terms of his personality, class, charisma - couldn't sell a ketchup popsicle to a woman in white gloves. I think the bigger issue is that he's the head coach. He's the CEO and he's got a million demands on his time beyond x's and o's and - yes - recruiting.

Notice that the teams that are slaying it on the recruiting trail tend to have a Book Richardson, an Antigua, that greaseball Rohrsson, and even (gulp) Hopkins to do the leg work. KO should be a closer. It seems unreasonable to me to expect the head coach to effectively run the basketball program and be the driving force behind recruiting.

Oh yeah, and our league is dog____.

 

[GlastonTim]

Ill defend OP here. KO is the best coach in the country and wouldnt trade him for ANYONE, yet you cant believe that KO who has been in the NBA for the last 13 years (besides his last 3 years on the UConn staff) knows all the ins-and-outs of the high school recruiting game. Recruiting is dirty business and a guy like KO may take a few years until he learns the "behind the scenes" requirements of recruiting. Have any of you ever been recruited by a D1 coach, do you have any idea what goes into building up a prospects ideas of joining your program, or how the negative recruiting of other coaches impacts the entire process? Recruiting is absolutely something that a coach develops as he goes along and gets a feel for the landscape, its not exactly a mental art like coaching or X's and O's.

Last I heard, Glen Miller was on the staff, I think he knows the ins and outs of recruiting.

 

[jibsey]

Cannot believe the process has changed one iota from JC to KO and in recruiting which is sales you win and lose, and the sales package we can present is beyond impressive. Also some kids want to stay a reasonable distance from home to give family a chance to see them. We have no argument on that.
You can have streaks and get nothing and then all of a sudden get hot but there is one thing. KO is a VERY moral person who probably won't make up crap just to get a signature, not saying JC wasn't moral but I'm certain some of these coaches will get down and dirty just to get the job done. Also remember that recruits see what we already have ( which is already good) and want to make sure they get their PT although that don't seem to bother Kentucky or Duke.

 

[Uconn77Duke74]

We just won a national Championship with ZERO all Americans. Kentucky had 7 on that team. Relax everyone. 10 toes in is all we need and we'll be fine again!

 

[caw]

I agree Ollie surely is just warming to the recruiting game, as head coach:

Facey (top 100)
Samuel (top 150)
Brimah (top 250)
Purvis (transfer but top 25)

Hamilton (top 25)
Cassell (transfer but top 150)
Lubin (top 250)

Adams (top 25)
Enoch (top 75)
???

By rankings 2015 is already his best class and he's got a 50/50 shot at a top 5 player in Stone. I'm not sure where 2016 will end up but 2017 looks like it could be fantastic.

 

[warbler1055]

I am not sure that KO is lacking in any preparation or recruitment experience. By all accounts the recruits all rave about him. Why we strike out on some of them is not something easily explained. UConn has so much to offer.

 

[aceboon]

Ill defend OP here. KO is the best coach in the country and wouldnt trade him for ANYONE, yet you cant believe that KO who has been in the NBA for the last 13 years (besides his last 3 years on the UConn staff) knows all the ins-and-outs of the high school recruiting game. Recruiting is dirty business and a guy like KO may take a few years until he learns the "behind the scenes" requirements of recruiting. Have any of you ever been recruited by a D1 coach, do you have any idea what goes into building up a prospects ideas of joining your program, or how the negative recruiting of other coaches impacts the entire process? Recruiting is absolutely something that a coach develops as he goes along and gets a feel for the landscape, its not exactly a mental art like coaching or X's and O's.

That's all fair, but knocking his preparation? Dude has no clue what KO or the rest of the coaching staff is doing behind the scenes when it comes to recruiting.

 

[Hugo]

That's all fair, but knocking his preparation? Dude has no clue what KO or the rest of the coaching staff is doing behind the scenes when it comes to recruiting.

Agree that we have no clue about how prepared KO is and it's silly to knock him for that. But that covers both scenarios of being well prepared and being not fully prepared as well. Truth is none of us really know the level of preparation being done by KO and the staff.

IMO, the issue is more the recruiting exposure and experience KO has. Recruiting is more of an art than a science. KO has been at it only a short time and is going against more experienced recruiters. A lot of recruiters have been on these kids longer than we have, especially in the case of Stone, giving them an advantage. It takes time to build up the contacts and skills needed to recruit nation-wide. Results so far, within a limited time frame, have been pretty good and if we do land Stone, I'd say we are in great recruiting position for the future and everyone will forget this topic until next year when we miss out on some recruits. If we don't land Stone, I'm sure there will be some long and dire posts about our future as a program. Fortunately, a program is not defined by a single recruit or recruiting season.

We are a program and although there may be some bumps in the recruiting road we will figure that out and be fine.

 

[Dave Carlson]

Ill defend OP here. KO is the best coach in the country and wouldnt trade him for ANYONE, yet you cant believe that KO who has been in the NBA for the last 13 years (besides his last 3 years on the UConn staff) knows all the ins-and-outs of the high school recruiting game. Recruiting is dirty business and a guy like KO may take a few years until he learns the "behind the scenes" requirements of recruiting. Have any of you ever been recruited by a D1 coach, do you have any idea what goes into building up a prospects ideas of joining your program, or how the negative recruiting of other coaches impacts the entire process? Recruiting is absolutely something that a coach develops as he goes along and gets a feel for the landscape, its not exactly a mental art like coaching or X's and O's.

One guy who was recruited by several D1 coaches is Kevin Ollie, who played point guard for us in the early 1990s. He went to ABCD camp, knew Sonny Vaccaro since he was 16, might understand how all this college basketball recruiting business works.

 

[chapwilvaug72]

olliewood should really own los angeles and if he does someday he will keep chicago and nyc as reinforcements

huskies already own balto (but how did melo escape the husky jaws? grades?)

 

[intlzncster]

We just won a national Championship with ZERO all Americans. Kentucky had 7 on that team. Relax everyone. 10 toes in is all we need and we'll be fine again!

Yeah but I'd rather have the 7 All Americans. Especially because KO would coach them.

 

[intlzncster]

Last I heard, Glen Miller was on the staff, I think he knows the ins and outs of recruiting.

Glen Miller, while a good guy and good coach, doesn't strike me as a killer. He's much too placid for that, more accountant-y if you will. Give us a guy who kind of makes your skin crawl. Those are the guys who dominate on the recruiting trail.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Glen Miller, while a good guy and good coach, doesn't strike me as a killer. He's much too placid for that, more accountant-y if you will. Give us a guy who kind of makes your skin crawl. Those are the guys who dominate on the recruiting trail.

I don't know what kind of salesman he is - I suspect not a great one - but Glen is by no means placid.

 

[CallMeBruce]

I don't know what kind of salesman he is - I suspect not a great one - but Glen is by no means placid.

 

[intlzncster]

I don't know what kind of salesman he is - I suspect not a great one - but Glen is by no means placid.

Fair enough, I was talking more about his presentation. Placid is probably not the word I was looking for.