UConn, Kevin Ollie no longer have excuses.

[bmayuc]

I don't believe those P5 conferences wanted UConn football. Basketball paid the price.

This is garbage. We are recruiting players. We are not coaching or developing them. Our gameplans, execution, skill development have been adominable. You want to look at the problem, look at the staff, starting with Ollie. Football has nothing to do with this.

We have 4 VERY CAPABLE GUARDS(ok 3 w/ alterique out) and we are an ATROCIOUS passing team. We run no plays, we execute the plays we run even worse. We pass up wide open shots to drive into traffic, we have terrible spacing...

AND THATS JUST OFFENSE.

Defensively we have lost our identity as a low-percentage defense that eats glass. people are driving to the rim with impunity, punking us on the boards, etc.

its all falling apart. Ollie has to be accountable to that.

 

[RJScootin]

The p5 already has football teams that, in many years, are even worse than Uconn. I mean, Kansas, for real?

BC was good this year but most years they are lucky to be slightly better than Uconn.

etc.

Tv market and fan base mean something. Big Ten from what I've read took Rutgers for their connection to my city and tv market.

 

[RJScootin]

This is garbage. We are recruiting players. We are not coaching or developing them. Our gameplans, execution, skill development have been adominable. You want to look at the problem, look at the staff, starting with Ollie. Football has nothing to do with this.

We have 4 VERY CAPABLE GUARDS(ok 3 w/ alterique out) and we are an ATROCIOUS passing team. We run no plays, we execute the plays we run even worse. We pass up wide open shots to drive into traffic, we have terrible spacing...

AND THATS JUST OFFENSE.

Defensively we have lost our identity as a low-percentage defense that eats glass. people are driving to the rim with impunity, punking us on the boards, etc.

its all falling apart. Ollie has to be accountable to that.

Hold on! I'm not giving Ollie a pass. I'm was talking straight reason on being left out of conference realignment. Trust me you got the wrong guy. I've been killing Ollie before it was cool.

 

[Kenny11]

Uconn basketball is a very easy target right now for lazy writers.

I don’t think Ollie is doing a good job currently but there are many circumstances that are being left out of these articles and podcasts etc.

 

[Paesano]

You can do whatever you want. I'm just simply stating that some aren't looking at the entire picture.

Yeah but there are people on both sides that are guilty of not looking at the entire picture.

 

[jibsey]

Maybe the scouting was no good, how else are mid major big men better than ours? In any case that’s completely on KO. He and Chillious are supposed to stock the roster and if they can’t get the talent someone else needs to try. If this season breaks down badly in the next 4 weeks the AD should start looking, but don’t fire KO until the end of the season.

 

[Storrs South]

Zagoria's response to the article

 

[TRest]

Yeah but there are people on both sides that are guilty of not looking at the entire picture.

Perception is reality. Vitale and Greenberg were waxing nostalgic for a UConn program that belongs to another time, not pushing an ESPN agenda to put us in the newest BE.

 

[Huskymagic]

When you have Donny Marshall making public proclamations that we need to return to the Big East and then you have Greenberg and Jay Williams making the same statements a year later on national broadcast multiple times, you know you have a BIG PROBLEM. We have a coaching problem more than a conference problem, but UCONN still needs to return to the BIG EAST.

Everybody that has eyes can see this. It won't solve our coaching problems, but for sure it will help with recruiting as the national profile and perception of UCONN will have the name BIG EAST still attached to it.

That way when we make a coaching change, it will be much easier to recruit the right candidate.

 

[JMick]

Zagoria's response to the article

We won't be able to fire him without the boosters so that's a good sign

 

[lange10]

Zagoria's response to the article

Has anyone figured out the actual cost to terminating him after this season. I’ve seen like 8 different numbers thrown around.

 

[JMick]

Has anyone figured out the actual cost to terminating him after this season. I’ve seen like 8 different numbers thrown around.

It appears to be $10mm+ if he gets fired without "cause" and doesn't want to negotiate it.

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

Zagoria's response to the article

Without an NIT (I put some value in the NIT) birth (and at least 2 wins there) he deserves to be shown the exit. This based off the present 2018 recruiting class...coupled with what our roster could look like in 2018-19. Mitigating factors =No one of substance transfers & Adams/Larrier return (asking for both is unlikely) or replacing JA/TL with 4*'s or GS 4* quality. Ok Chill?

I think meeting this threshold is reasonable (and fluedy would even agree right?) and generous for a program with such a proud history. Personally I want KO to succeed. Every game I root for the team to be successful (some here will take the L's for KO's head). Internally some/most would argue the program is a complete train wreck.

My thoughts on this year is we are not a NCAA tournament caliber team. I would be pleasantly surprised just to hear our name called (which is sad). From a return on investment perspective as it relates to the coach ect ect...

I think the administration could keep KO through next year regardless of any of my standards. Lets face it even KO on a personal level would accept the terms of this deal. He would have to if he really bleeds blue. When/if the above fails to happen I will make my feelings known. The goodwill relating to the 2013/14 title will be gone.

Until then....

GO HUSKIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hmmmm

 

[lange10]

It appears to be $10mm+ if he gets fired without "cause" and doesn't want to negotiate it.

Saw your post with that number. Hoping you’re wrong. If that’s right I’m afraid Ollie will be at the helm long enough to entirely run this program into the ground. Still think Hurley, Pikiell, or Crean coming in after this season could salvage things.

 

[JMick]

Saw your post with that number. Hoping you’re wrong. If that’s right I’m afraid Ollie will be at the helm long enough to entirely run this program into the ground. Still think Hurley, Pikiell, or Crean coming in after this season could salvage things.

There are others insisting that it's not true and the number is much lower. From what I've seen in the contract that doesn't seem to be the case. There's also a lot of crap going on behind the scenes that could potentially be used as leverage to lower the buyout number but that's just wishful thinking and would probably get ugly fast.

 

[intlzncster]

Zagoria's response to the article

We won't be able to fire him without the boosters so that's a good sign

With Zagoria, "talking to fans and boosters" could very well mean 'reading the Boneyard'. Just saying.

 

[CL82]

This work?

UConn, Kevin Ollie no longer have excuses for their struggles

Dauster? That's the same guy as that podcast.

 

[nadav]

With Zagoria, "talking to fans and boosters" could very well mean 'reading the Boneyard'. Just saying.

Yes!

 

[nadav]

Dauster? That's the same guy as that podcast.

Yeah, the guy who didn’t know Gilbert was hurt 24 hours ago.

 

[Deadrody]

The brutal world of sports really. There's almost no perspective on the mitigating circumstances outside of the injuries and transfers (which are valid excuses, especially the first.) No mention of a program once surrounded by other healthy (and regional) programs with decades long traditions and rivalries now relegated to playing directional and forget-me-not schools. No mention of recruiting with your hands tied by behind your back (not including a reduction of scholarships) until the start of just a couple short years ago. Those things don't exist in a vacuum. They have lasting effects that are imperceivable to the casual fans™ - and seemingly national writers.

Also, “It was like we never, you know, seen a zone before,” is a quote frequently heard out of Lord Calhoun's mouth so that part is not new to the program.

Here's the thing. All the transfers last year ? They're not a cause, they're an EFFECT. And comparing Ollie to Calhoun just doesn't fly. Kevin Ollie is NOT Jim Calhoun.

 

[Paesano]

There are others insisting that it's not true and the number is much lower. From what I've seen in the contract that doesn't seem to be the case. There's also a lot of crap going on behind the scenes that could potentially be used as leverage to lower the buyout number but that's just wishful thinking and would probably get ugly fast.

As I have said before, there is a way out of this contract. But, yes, it will be ugly. Almost as ugly as the team is right now.

 

[Huskybass]

UConn has all it needs to make this happen at the end of the season. There is plenty of stuff that the pom pom wavers either don't know about or refuse to acknowledge, but it's there.

 

[jibsey]

We’re better with Gilbert in but that’s not helping us against big teams. KO has failed to recruit quality bigs for years. We used to be a high flying team under Calhoun, even when we couldn’t shoot. Now we can’t play above the rim or shoot.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

As a 'cuse fan, you have to fire KO. Sure you've had bad luck with both injuries and conference re-alignment. But even if your conference isn't exactly elite, .

I for one do not blame the conference, in fact I will go so far as to say that a school does not need tto belong to a power conference to be able yo be at Syracuse in an important game. I've seen Rhode Island do it. I've seen Richmond do it. I've seen Vermont do it. I've seen Dayton do it.

It does not appear to be that difficult a task.

 

[UConnNick]

So, what are these nebulous and yet unstated specific reasons why UCONN will be able to extricate itself from the buyout provisions in Ollie's contract? Suddenly we seem to have an entire cavalry of contract attorneys here waiting to pounce.