Two HOF coaches

[GemParty]

Both Jim & Geno at one school. The two greatest program builders ever.

Jim started in the Fieldhouse with a roof that leaked. Facing household Big East names.

Geno came from Virginia, who he claims had everything you could dream of athletically. He wanted the DePaul job & didn't get an offer. He gets hired by CT & they don't even have a band. Starts the girls winning from nothing.

My question is how did CT keep two of the most successful basketball coaches ever, without another school poaching them in over 50 Yrs of service?

 

[Vuce]

Because UConn is a damn special place. It is also why so many of us have so much angst over the current destruction of the men’s team. For alums such as myself it hurts to sit at those games and watch with disbelief what is going on

 

[krinklecut]

That's how the 30-for-30 will start. "How did this sleepy Connecticut town turn into Basketball Mecca...and how did it all get torn down?"

 

[August_West]

We came close to losing Jim once. How close is up to debate but he was definitely entertaining a move to South Carolina.

In the end we got real lucky with both.
Jim simply because his New England roots were and are deeper than any other calling he may have had.

Geno, because ( and this has been the case since the late 90's ) where is he going? After what he built here any move is a downgrade for program and most likely money.

 

[Jaker]

Because the Big East was the best basketball conference in the nation at one time and coaching in the league was very desirable.

 

[superjohn]

We came close to losing Jim once. How close is up to debate but he was definitely entertaining a move to South Carolina.

In the end we got real lucky with both.
Jim simply because his New England roots were and are deeper than any other calling he may have had.

Geno, because ( and this has been the case since the late 90's ) where is he going? After what he built here any move is a downgrade for program and most likely money.

Luck in the sense that they are both so good but John Toner did his due diligence and knew what the hell he was doing. He knew we were a sleeping giant, Gavitt knew we were a sleeping giant, Bobby Knight knew we were a sleeping giant, and so did Calhoun and Auriemma.

They stayed because Calhoun was in the best basketball conference in the country and he built a team that was a perennial national title contender. Auriemma stayed because he created the best program the sport of women's bball has ever seen. It doesn't hurt they were in a state with no pro teams and they were the two largest figures in the entire state.

Anytime the importance of Jim Calhoun and Geno Auriemma is brought up John Toner's name should also be mentioned.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Both Jim & Geno at one school. The two greatest program builders ever.

Jim started in the Fieldhouse with a roof that leaked. Facing household Big East names.
I believe Gamble was in the works before JC
Geno came from Virginia, who he claims had everything you could dream of athletically. He wanted the DePaul job & didn't get an offer. He gets hired by CT & they don't even have a band. Starts the girls winning from nothing.

My question is how did CT keep two of the most successful basketball coaches ever, without another school poaching them in over 50 Yrs of service?

We used to be a great basketball state and the men’s team had a rich if local tradition goiing back to the Hugh Greer days 195o’
Many Conference Titles ,NCAA,and NIT appearances and even a final 8
We got in the Big East because of our basketball fans this long tradition.
It didn’t hurt being the only Big Time program in a pretty populous state.
With an abundance of B.B. fans.
We got Jim Calhoun because of those two facts and him leaving was never much of an option because he never wanted to be far from his Boston roots
He was a son of New England through and through and he had the best Basketball Job ( Celtics excepted) in the area.
The state was rich with jobs and affluence to pay outrageous ticket prices.
Which translates into very respectable coaching salaries.
We had a rabid fans and great student body who loved basketball . The men played in probably the best basketball conference with incredible exposure.
Could he have left sure, but the likelihood was never very great.
The women’s story is somewhat different.
The School took and still takes the sport much more seriously than pretty much any school in the country.
After they had some success they became the media darlings of The New York liberal elite. They have what could rightly be called a Cult following. Really maybe a half dozen schools in the whole country approached that type of status. Can you name a better women’s position ?
Conference was almost irrelevant . UConn’s success raised the Big East programs with it.
UConn women are in the process off doing the same thing to the AAC.

 

[GemParty]

It worked out for us with these two. Harder than it looks to sustain.