UConn fans perception versus National perception

[superjohn]

The thing is that you don't need to do this. The writing has been on the wall. Basically everybody has conceded that it might be time for a change after this season, next year at the latest. Yet it's still not good enough for you. You still have to blatantly misrepresent what other people are saying, dramatize a picture that is already bleak enough, and remind people of your opinion every five minutes. You can't let the truth stand for itself without the petty distortions. We're talking about Gary Parrish here, I'm assuming? You don't want to advertise being on his side even when he's right.

Yep, Gary Parrish is who I'm talking about. Facepalm.

 

[superjohn]

Jesus goshdarn Christ.

We’re not defending Ollie. We’re fine with him going. Good bleeping riddance.

Maybe a few of us are just aware that it’s kind of difficult to be both a program constantly excoriated by the national media and an enticing job opportunity.

When literally nobody agrees with the nonsense you've been pushing for the past year, it might be a you problem.

 

[Walker11]

Really? A guy who was at an A10 program until a few years ago? A guy at a small school with limited resources who makes half of what we pay our coach?

Yes. It is actually a ridiculous suggestion.

 

[Robertelamin]

Really? A guy who was at an A10 program until a few years ago? A guy at a small school with limited resources who makes half of what we pay our coach?

He played at Xavier. He could have gone to Ohio St this year and he turned them down. I think he is a lifer at Xavier.

 

[August_West]

Yep, Gary Parrish is who I'm talking about. Facepalm.

So who are you talking about?

Or is that only to be shared in your PM chain?

 

[Huskybass]

For the sake of argument let's put aside what we will pay KO's replacement.

Who is paying the buyout?

Better yet, how is the word "cause" defined in his contract. If it includes substandard performance, then that is certainly apparent.

 

[djct1999]

Are you on crack? Very few P5 schools would pay anyone $3M. They don't care that much about basketball. And you think Dan Hurley, who has done nothing, will earn that from somebody else? No. Here is the entire list of guys who make that much at P5 schools. One of whom has since been fired.
1. Louisville Rick Pitino $5,057,000 $7,769,200 $750,000 --
2 Kentucky SEC John Calipari $7,140,000 $7,435,376 $50,000 --
3 Duke ACC Mike Krzyzewski $5,550,475 $5,550,475 -- --
4 Kansas Big 12 Bill Self $4,752,626 $4,932,626 $525,000 --
5 Michigan State Big Ten Tom Izzo $3,582,751 $4,251,751 $350,000 --
6 West Virginia Big 12 Bob Huggins $3,575,000 $3,590,000 $690,000 --
7 Michigan Big Ten John Beilein $3,370,000 $3,370,000

The next two coaches are in the AAC, Marshall and Ollie. Notice anything about the list? Basketball schools, with the possible exception of WVU. The majority of P5 coaches make much less and are more accomplished than Hurley. Bobby Hurley is making $1.3M at ASU

I do notice something about that list. They are all in the P5. Bobby Hurley got 1.3 for his first ever P5 chance coming from Wagner. He will get a huge raise. If you think Danny Hurley will come to UConn for 1.5 a year, you are on crack. Your perception is far from reality.

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

The program can recover from Ollie's damage. The damage to the program from staying in this garbage league is irreversible.

my fear is that our window is closing ever so fast to get out. What is appealing about Uconn sports right now besides the women's team?

 

[HuskyHawk]

I do notice something about that list. They are all in the P5. Bobby Hurley got 1.3 for his first ever P5 chance coming from Wagner. He will get a huge raise. If you think Danny Hurley will come to UConn for 1.5 a year, you are on crack. Your perception is far from reality.

Clueless. There are 7 P5 programs that pay more than us. The rest pay less. The 1.3 is the raise that Bobby got, up from 1.2 when he was hired. The market isn't what you think it is.

 

[djct1999]

Clueless. There are 7 P5 programs that pay more than us. The rest pay less. The 1.3 is the raise that Bobby got, up from 1.2 when he was hired. The market isn't what you think it is.

I get that. There is no way UConn will be in the top 10 with its next hire. Throw in the buyout and you are simply out of the Dan Hurley market. Clearly I have a better understanding of the market than you do. Seems that you are clueless. Whats your point anyway? The KO situation and contract was unique. UConn is in a much different place now. What do you think that Dan Hurley will get in the open market? Before you answer, look at what Rutgers just did.

 

[buddy]

my fear is that our window is closing ever so fast to get out. What is appealing about Uconn sports right now besides the women's team?

I think the window has closed and is locked tight. UConn fans need to make the most of it and hope to field competitive teams as member of the AAC for the remainder of its existence.

 

[UConnNick]

Jesus goshdarn Christ.

We’re not defending Ollie. We’re fine with him going. Good bleeping riddance.

Maybe a few of us are just aware that it’s kind of difficult to be both a program constantly excoriated by the national media and an enticing job opportunity.

I seriously doubt that most coaches consult with, or give serious consideration to the national media, when deciding whether or not to take a job offer.

If schools are looking for a new coach, it usually means their program is headed in the wrong direction. There will be plenty of negative press out there on any of those. Coaches are looking at things like salary, facilities, location, quality of family life, history of the school, and the commitment of the administration to the program. What a bunch of national pundits are writing or saying about a program should be way down that list. Usually, programs in trouble are in trouble for a reason. The new coach will be expected to fix whatever those reasons are, and they understand that's what will be expected from them.

As an example, two bad seasons in a row are not going to deter a quality coach like Chris Mack at Xavier from taking the UCONN job, if the money and everything else is a significant upgrade from his present position.

 

[dennismenace]

The program can recover from Ollie's damage. The damage to the program from staying in this garbage league is irreversible.

It is really looking like it's time for both to go. The football program (and I am not what you call a knowledgeable fan) and now the basketball program are making the non choice of Uconn a P5 choice a "told you so" item. Unless the Admin. knows something we don't we have fallen much further behind. Get back into the Big East, recruit and compete with a new coach and park the football team someplace else before it is too late.

 

[The Funster]

We had been playing better but went backwards tonight against a team that was no better than UCF or Tulane. I wouldn't make too much out of this loss. The Villanova game will likely be ugly but we can be competitive in the AAC.
Ollie's future is another issue.

If the team was moving in the right direction this is a game we would have won. IMO, getting trounced in this embarrassment of a game is an indictment of KO's ability to lead a team. Ther only way to overcome this loss would be to drub Nova and we all know that's not happening.

 

[tcf15]

 

[HuskyHawk]

I get that. There is no way UConn will be in the top 10 with its next hire. Throw in the buyout and you are simply out of the Dan Hurley market. Clearly I have a better understanding of the market than you do. Seems that you are clueless. Whats your point anyway? The KO situation and contract was unique. UConn is in a much different place now. What do you think that Dan Hurley will get in the open market? Before you answer, look at what Rutgers just did.

Rutgers just gave their existing coach, who was paid much less when he came from Stony Brook, a raise to $1.6M-$1.8M. I think that's about what Hurley will get, which is almost double his current salary. I think UConn, with the buyout, will try to keep the salary around $2M a year or less. Dave B. probably doesn't want to get burned again. We can agree to disagree. I hear people here talking up Hurley, but he is not a Brad Stevens or Gregg Marshall level commodity. Not even close. He's a young guy who looks like he might turn into something. But no big time P5 schools are going to be chasing him. Louisville isn't going to hire him. Pitt probably won't either.

 

[Penfield]

All these guys thought Ollie was the best thing since sliced bread 4 years ago, just like most of us. If you polled them 4 years ago how many would have guessed he would have an NBA gig at this point in his career? Now they get to pile on because they have no investment in the outcome. This whole thing sucks. It's not fun for any of us, and it's even worse when you have to listen to these blowhards take shots. It's like they enjoy rubbing our faces in a mess that we didn't make.

The question I would ask most of them is if they would have handled the situation any differently than the UConn administration did? When would they have pulled the plug on Ollie?

As long as I have been a UConn fan I have dreaded the end of the season. I always found hope they could win the next game, whether they needed to pull off a conference tourney run to stay alive, or if it was a pointless NIT game it didn't matter to me. I dread the end of this season, not because I will miss watching UConn basketball games, but because I know this off season will be full of turmoil no matter what decisions Herbst and Benedict make. I don't want Kevin Ollie to lose his job because it will mean that he failed and I never want one of our guys to fail, but I've also accepted that it probably inevitable at this point. I also realize that it might not happen this off season, and that means even more shots from the media, and endless complaining from our fan base.

 

[HuskyHawk]

All these guys thought Ollie was the best thing since sliced bread 4 years ago, just like most of us. If you polled them 4 years ago how many would have guessed he would have an NBA gig at this point in his career? Now they get to pile on because they have no investment in the outcome. This whole thing sucks. It's not fun for any of us, and it's even worse when you have to listen to these blowhards take shots. It's like they enjoy rubbing our faces in a mess that we didn't make.

The question I would ask most of them is if they would have handled the situation any differently than the UConn administration did? When would they have pulled the plug on Ollie?

As long as I have been a UConn fan I have dreaded the end of the season. I always found hope they could win the next game, whether they needed to pull off a conference tourney run to stay alive, or if it was a pointless NIT game it didn't matter to me. I dread the end of this season, not because I will miss watching UConn basketball games, but because I know this off season will be full of turmoil no matter what decisions Herbst and Benedict make. I don't want Kevin Ollie to lose his job because it will mean that he failed and I never want one of our guys to fail, but I've also accepted that it probably inevitable at this point. I also realize that it might not happen this off season, and that means even more shots from the media, and endless complaining from our fan base.

He can end the endless complaining by winning games and showing an improved product with a well coached team. I don't have anything against him. I think he lacked the experience he needed to take this job. I think he is under extreme pressure as JC's hand picked successor. It's tough to follow a legend. Belichick failed with the Browns. Francona failed in Philly. Josh McDaniel failed in Denver (he is likely to get his second shot soon). My hunch is that this is probably the worst place for Kevin Ollie right now. He may become a great coach, but this isn't the right situation. I hope he realizes it, looks for a new job and moves on.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Wow, I've been hesitant before but now hearing that everybody in the whole country thinks he should be out is pretty eye-opening. Props to you for finding the time to talk to all of them.

In fairness he's had a lot of free time since he stopped posting on here.

 

[Stainmaster]

Money. Dan Hurley makes under $1M. Ollie makes over $3M. All but 9 coaches are paid less than we pay KO. One of those is Marshall. So most P5 and BE coaches could get a nice raise here. We also have history that most schools don’t, and better facilities than most.

That salary isn’t sustainable going forward given the dire financial straits the AD is in, and the importance of history in attracting coaches is vastly overrated.

Seriously, where do we get the money for another $3M contract? Our current/the next AAC TV deal? Ticket revenue? State funding? Booster dollars? The AD is hemorrhaging money. We’re not going to be a financial upgrade for the kind of coach the program needs to become relevant again.

 

[Stainmaster]

When literally nobody agrees with the nonsense you've been pushing for the past year, it might be a you problem.

It’s not my fault you’ve somehow convinced people of the actual nonsense that the damage KO has done to the program will be undone once he’s fired.

 

[Stainmaster]

Also: Chris Mack has an NBE program that was ranked in the top five a couple of weeks ago. It also happens to be his alma mater and right in the sweet spot of where he has recruiting experience. To think he’d leave that for a team in a worse conference with a Frankenstein roster, one tourney birth in four years, and a requirement of top-notch New England and East Coast recruiting is bizarre to me.

 

[August_West]

Better yet, how is the word "cause" defined in his contract. If it includes substandard performance, then that is certainly apparent.

It doesn't.

No contract uses that for metric as a basis for " cause"

 

[olehead]

Just read twitter. National media thinks the program is a laughing stock.

That's hurtful and just plain sucks, aaaaargh!!

 

[intlzncster]

Money. Dan Hurley makes under $1M. Ollie makes over $3M. All but 9 coaches are paid less than we pay KO. One of those is Marshall. So most P5 and BE coaches could get a nice raise here. We also have history that most schools don’t, and better facilities than most.

The next coach will be lucky to get $2m imo, taking into account the need to fund the buyout. jmo