Watching the Master at Work

[NewCorn]

He made the statement. I watched the cellphone video yesterday before it was taken down, and I heard it. (You may have noticed that an entire thread discussing the video and linking to it, that had about 30 posts as of late Sunday afternoon, has also been deleted from this forum.)

I am not at all convinced that Geno expected his comment (or the other comment about Duke and how they prepared Azura) to become public. I assume that the video and the thread were removed because either Geno or someone in the UConn athletic department emphatically requested that it be taken down. He may have thought that a general summary might eventually leak out, and perhaps he didn't mind if that happened, but I can't believe he wanted it on video.

As I said on the deleted thread, recording the cellphone video and posting it publicly, if it was done without Geno's knowledge as I suspect, was a breach of trust.

The other thing that I find strange is that none of the print reporters who cover the team has written anything about it. Verification cannot be an issue -- I'm sure someone copied the video before it was removed, and the reporters could obtain it from that person (maybe Raoul?). I can understand that the reporters don't want to poison their relationship with Geno or UConn by publishing "dirt" on the program, but this statement certainly meets the test of newsworthiness and should be published if the reporters take their journalistic mission seriously.

The other aspect of this whole issue is the negative effect that the statement may have on AEH's ability to play at another school. I'm sure that she, her family, and Geno agreed a few weeks ago that the public posture would be that UConn was a "bad fit" and that AEH chose to transfer. By making this statement, Geno has abrogated that agreement if it existed (and I cannot imagine that it did not). Maybe Geno allowed that if another school who was considering a scholarship offer to her asked for his perspective, he would be honest in private about the real reason, but that is different from making this statement in a semi-public forum.

I don't understand how, if she was disregarding his instructions as he says, she got all the playing time that she got in the first eight games. Even in the game against Duquesne in Toronto (her last game in a UConn uniform), she got plenty of minutes relative to the other bench players. If she was persistently tuning out his instructions, wouldn't he start by keeping her off the floor while other freshmen played, before pulling her scholarship offer? Something doesn't compute.

I like your thinking.

 

[HuskyNan]

(You may have noticed that an entire thread discussing the video and linking to it, that had about 30 posts as of late Sunday afternoon, has also been deleted from this forum.)

No, it wasnt

 

[Woof 101]

If Geno made the statement about AEH attributed to him here. That was a horrible thing to do. If this is a post that has been taken down, good. Perhaps Geno realized he had embarrassed himself and regrets it. There is no justification for a world-famous coach to publicly humiliate a teenager who is no longer on his team. That would be just mean, accomplishing nothing positive. I choose to believe Geno never made that statement.

I had to like this, I can't stop laughing , great comedy relief. I choose to believe Geno never made that statement.

 

[CocoHusky]

(You may have noticed that an entire thread discussing the video and linking to it, that had about 30 posts as of late Sunday afternoon, has also been deleted from this forum.)

No, it wasnt

This was the first time I did not have fun editing photos of a UConn game because I was thinking of my last post(sorry it no longer exists). This was a post that I got responses and likes from people that have never responded or clicked liked my posts before. It was an amazing time I wanted to share with True UConn fans.

 

[oldude]

I think the fact that the post has been taken down speaks loudly about the propriety of it.

Probably so, but context and intended audience is relevant in this instance.

 

[HuskylnSC]

Whether He said it or not. Probably all of us have had that moment when our honesty overtakes our tact. All I know about the situation is the lady seemed very nice. I like her. I wish her well. I am thrilled we have 3 tremendous freshmen. I would always like to have 3 members of each class. Let's get on with the season.

 

[Mdoggie]

Yes shocking to hear him say it like that, and it made me wonder if there were others he felt that way about. Maybe it was the wine talking.

Did you actually hear it?

 

[HoopsFan21]

Did you actually hear it?

Yes. The 35 minute video of the event was posted here for about two hours from 5-7 pm Sunday.

 

[scubadog]

scubadog, as for innuendos and what was seen or heard according to people here...I realize you are a new member as of Tuesday and I welcome you as I am sure many will. Having said that do realize there are several here that cover the team better than most beat writers. You can scroll back through the archives and quickly see who they are. You are not going to find much innuendo here. If they said Geno said it that is because they were standing there and heard it. As for the video that has been removed I am sure it can be found as it must have been forwarded to some. It was a great contribution by a very devoted fan, obviously underappreciated by the powers that be.

First of all , I've watched this board for years. Worked for the University. You obviously misinterpreted my statement. If Geno was big enough to rant in the first place , thus opening up the controversy himself, then why did they take the video down? Personally , I have noticed changes in Geno the last couple of years. Maybe Geno is getting just a little too much attention. Regardless of the situation or reason , why even speak about it in public ? These are young student athletes . Some make mistakes. Coaches make mistakes, even though most people on this board put Geno on the " perfect" pedestal. In my mind, iy was taken down , because Geno doesn't really want to explain himself. So why say anything in the first place. Stupid on his part !

 

[CocoHusky]

First of all , I've watched this board for years. Worked for the University. You obviously misinterpreted my statement. If Geno was big enough to rant in the first place , thus opening up the controversy himself, then why did they take the video down? Personally , I have noticed changes in Geno the last couple of years. Maybe Geno is getting just a little too much attention. Regardless of the situation or reason , why even speak about it in public ? These are young student athletes . Some make mistakes. Coaches make mistakes, even though most people on this board put Geno on the " perfect" pedestal. In my mind, iy was taken down , because Geno doesn't really want to explain himself. So why say anything in the first place. Stupid on his part !

Because they is not him. "They" are the people who moderate this board. In the moderators judgement the content was removed. You and other posters have assumed, stated or implied that the video was taken down at the request of the school or Geno himself. If you turn that into a question of the moderators the answer might surprise you but it would definitely put you on much more solid footing. Geno made the comments and I bet you he would stand up to those comments, if asked. If you have been watching for as long as you claim you would realized that Geno doesn't give a mosquito's behind about what goes on the BY-thank God. I'm with you on the "perfect" pedestal ( there shouldn't be one) but when you say "Maybe Geno is getting just a little too much attention" you confuse me. Really, "too much attention" caused Geno to say that?

 

[HuskyNan]

@CocoHusky Danny was talking about the original post, not this one :

He made the statement. I watched the cellphone video yesterday before it was taken down, and I heard it. (You may have noticed that an entire thread discussing the video and linking to it, that had about 30 posts as of late Sunday afternoon, has also been deleted from this forum.)

 

[HuskyNan]

First of all , I've watched this board for years. Worked for the University. You obviously misinterpreted my statement. If Geno was big enough to rant in the first place , thus opening up the controversy himself, then why did they take the video down? Personally , I have noticed changes in Geno the last couple of years. Maybe Geno is getting just a little too much attention. Regardless of the situation or reason , why even speak about it in public ? These are young student athletes . Some make mistakes. Coaches make mistakes, even though most people on this board put Geno on the " perfect" pedestal. In my mind, iy was taken down , because Geno doesn't really want to explain himself. So why say anything in the first place. Stupid on his part !

Because they is not him. "They" are the people who moderate this board. In the moderators judgement the content was removed. You and other posters have assumed, stated or implied that the video was taken down at the request of the school or Geno himself. If you turn that into a question of the moderators the answer might surprise you but it would definitely put you on much more solid footing. Geno made the comments and I bet you he would stand up to those comments, if asked. If you have been watching for as long as you claim you would realized that Geno doesn't give a mosquito's behind about what goes on the BY-thank God. I'm with you on the "perfect" pedestal ( there shouldn't be one) but when you say "Maybe Geno is getting just a little too much attention" you confuse me. Really, "too much attention" caused Geno to say that?

No one at UConn has said anything regarding the video. It was my decision alone to remove it.

 

[CocoHusky]

No one at UConn has said anything regarding the video. It was my decision alone to remove it.

Thank you @HuskyNan. Hopefully this will better ground ALL our assumptions.

 

[scubadog]

No one at UConn has said anything regarding the video. It was my decision alone to remove it.

Obviously you run the board, but, why did you remove it ? Seems we all should have access to anything that was truthfully said .

 

[scubadog]

Because they is not him. "They" are the people who moderate this board. In the moderators judgement the content was removed. You and other posters have assumed, stated or implied that the video was taken down at the request of the school or Geno himself. If you turn that into a question of the moderators the answer might surprise you but it would definitely put you on much more solid footing. Geno made the comments and I bet you he would stand up to those comments, if asked. If you have been watching for as long as you claim you would realized that Geno doesn't give a mosquito's behind about what goes on the BY-thank God. I'm with you on the "perfect" pedestal ( there shouldn't be one) but when you say "Maybe Geno is getting just a little too much attention" you confuse me. Really, "too much attention" caused Geno to say that?

Yes. I've been watching the board long enough to know Geno has no problem letting this board, or the fans know he doesn't care what they think. And that's fine too. It's his basketball team. I was just surprised by the statement in the first place. Not the content, but that it was made in the first place. Now, once the statement is made then we as fans have every right to make our own judgements. That's just the way it is. My observance of Sunday's game was everyone on the bench looked happy and upbeat to me.

 

[CocoHusky]

Yes. I've been watching the board long enough to know Geno has no problem letting this board, or the fans know he doesn't care what they think. And that's fine too. It's his basketball team. I was just surprised by the statement in the first place. Not the content, but that it was made in the first place. Now, once the statement is made then we as fans have every right to make our own judgements. That's just the way it is. My observance of Sunday's game was everyone on the bench looked happy and upbeat to me.

You are not alone in thinking that the statements by Geno should not have been made.
My disagreement with your post was the part where you stated that Geno had a hand in removing it from this board. Hopefully you now realized that was not correct.

 

[scubadog]

You are not alone in thinking that the statements by Geno should not have been made.
My disagreement with your post was the part where you stated that Geno had a hand in removing it from this board. Hopefully you now realized that was not correct.

Absolutely

 

[Zanzman]

Why speculate on ones character if you don’t know them

 

[meyers7]

All we really know, according to Geno, is AEH was not doing something Geno had asked her to do. It could have been basketball related, or it could have been school related (missing classes, missing tutoring sessions) or not putting in the time in the weight room, or not participating in the team building things they do, not following CD's rules. There's a lot of things asked of these kids in this program.

I'm sure a lot of kids want to do things there own way. That just doesn't work at UCONN.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

This is supposedly what he said in a video that has now been taken down:

That is exactly what was said, except as I heard it he mispoke and said "she's not there anymore, because I did not want her here anymore." I do suspect that Geno came to realize it was not beneficial for the program to have put out an official "non-reason" for her departure, have the kid go public with I decided UConn was not for me and have people questioning what was going on. Most of the time honesty is the best policy. I remain glad to have had the truth come out; I'm sorry the video was taken down. It was about the best half hour of Geno I have ever seen/heard.

 

[JoePgh]

I do suspect that Geno came to realize it was not beneficial for the program to have put out an official "non-reason" for her departure, have the kid go public with I decided UConn was not for me and have people questioning what was going on.

Unfortunately, I think you may be right about this, although I don't think he intended it to be a public, "on the record" statement, but rather something that leaked out to people who really wanted to know. That's why I don't think he would have wanted the cellphone video to be posted publicly.

I see a parallel to the situation where Candace Parker was left off the 2016 Olympic team, and after the Olympics an article appeared which contained several quotes from Geno, and also an unattributed paragraph about Candace not playing "inside the sandbox" on the 2012 Olympic team. That is the same modus operandi: a "not for attribution" statement that is almost certainly true, but casts a player (in that case Candace, in this case AEH) in a bad light in order to make Geno's decisions look more justified and less concerning. As a third example, some of the details that leaked out about the reasons for Samarie Walker's departure fit the same pattern.

Personally, I would prefer that a Hall of Fame coach with 11 NC's could be big enough not to feel the need to defend his reputation by disparaging basketball players who are negatively affected by his coaching decisions (and to do so "off the record"). He could have remained silent in all of these situations, and lived with the criticism that the Raouls of the world would inevitably make. But, as some of us recognize, Geno isn't perfect.

In this case, the result is that an 18-year-old young woman is probably going to find it harder to get a basketball scholarship at another school because of the comments that he made.

 

[oldude]

Unfortunately, I think you may be right about this, although I don't think he intended it to be a public, "on the record" statement, but rather something that leaked out to people who really wanted to know. That's why I don't think he would have wanted the cellphone video to be posted publicly.

I see a parallel to the situation where Candace Parker was left off the 2016 Olympic team, and after the Olympics an article appeared which contained several quotes from Geno, and also an unattributed paragraph about Candace not playing "inside the sandbox" on the 2012 Olympic team. That is the same modus operandi: a "not for attribution" statement that is almost certainly true, but casts a player (in that case Candace, in this case AEH) in a bad light in order to make Geno's decisions look more justified and less concerning. As a third example, some of the details that leaked out about the reasons for Samarie Walker's departure fit the same pattern.

Personally, I would prefer that a Hall of Fame coach with 11 NC's could be big enough not to feel the need to defend his reputation by disparaging basketball players who are negatively affected by his coaching decisions (and to do so "off the record"). He could have remained silent in all of these situations, and lived with the criticism that the Raouls of the world would inevitably make. But, as some of us recognize, Geno isn't perfect.

In this case, the result is that an 18-year-old young woman is probably going to find it harder to get a basketball scholarship at another school because of the comments that he made.

I agree with just about every point you make, with the exception that AEH will find it harder to get a scholarship. That certainly wasn’t the case with Te’a Cooper, and with all the schools out their desperate to bring in talent, most coaches will overlook any warning signs, particularly if they need a shooting guard.

 

[CocoHusky]

I agree with just about every point you make, with the exception that AEH will find it harder to get a scholarship. That certainly wasn’t the case with Te’a Cooper, and with all the schools out their desperate to bring in talent, most coaches will overlook any warning signs, particularly if they need a shooting guard.

A Geno non-recommendation carries significantly more weight in the world of WCBB than a Holly Warlick non-recommendation.

 

[oldude]

A Geno non-recommendation carries significantly more weight in the world of WCBB than a Holly Warlick non-recommendation.

Perhaps so, but there are certainly coaches out there who's first and only priority is winning, that will believe that AEH can help their team

 

[RockyMTblue2]

but casts a player (in that case Candace, in this case AEH) in a bad light in order to make Geno's decisions look more justified and less concerning.

There are some loaded words there. Much as I do not want to continue this chat on this topic: UConn spent considerable time and money recruiting Espinosa Hunter. She took a seat at the table that could have been filled by another talented guard. I'm sure the whole coaching staff was involved in this decision. It took a lot of intransigence on the player's part to chuck all the effort of recruiting and trying to train her to come to a decision which surely, still will be used in the recruiting wars to bad mouth UConn. So Geno's decision, the program's decision, to fire Espinosa Hunter was not lightly taken. Asked to chose between the well being of a program and someone who seriously screwed up, I'm taking the program with neither PC squeamishness or regret. She can land somewhere and do exactly what she wants: take Tenn or Ohio as perfect examples.