Which 5, Current Head Coaches Would Be Your Top Picks to Succeed JC?

[Dann]

i'm not a cooley guy, but hes a perfect example of this stuff.

he was at some lower schools and was a asst at one point at bc correct? i think i remeber that being the case. then he gets his shot. hes the coach at fairfield u. thats a mid major. he does a good job(thats arguable but go with it) and then gets his chance to goto a major program. he lands at providence which plays in a big boy conf. not here to argue providence record wise. he can now do 2 things if were talking a sucessful job there. 1 he can do well there and eventually get a high major/bb job on day or 2 he can do well there and continue to build that school from a major/big boy conf member to a high major team and stay there for life becuase it is his home town school. #2 is extremely rare in cb now. cooley may do it and more power to him. but when u guys talk about mid major coaches u have to think about it. they don't go from mid majors to bluebloods over night for a reason. thats a extremely rare thing at best.

those coaches get better jobs in major conf's for teams or other major programs and then if they do well and want to move up then look at high majors/bluebloods. but those jobs are extremely rare to come by becuase those schools are so special and the flip side is the schools only want a ceetain type of coach who can plug and play most times.

 

[Ts5034]

I would have put it at 99% before Susan Herbst and Warde Manuel came onto the scene. I'm now putting it at 70% or so, since I don't think that they are set in the "Land of Steady Habits" habits, or if they feel similarly about the "Calhoun family tree" like many of the UConn fans and alums do. I could be wrong.

I actually think its the exact opposite. If Hathaway were still here then it may have been about a 50-50 shot at best Ollie gets it. Just look at how he handled the football hire. I remember a couple years ago the rumor that Calhoun wanted a say in naming the next coach and thats why it took them so long to agree on the contract. All everyone has been saying from the start is that Herbst loves Calhoun. With Hathaway out its probably staying in the family. I dont think Warde Manuel will want to rock the boat so early in his career as the AD considering the hire of the new basketball coach will be the first major challenge he faces.

 

[Dann]

I actually think its the exact opposite. If Hathaway were still here then it may have been about a 50-50 shot at best Ollie gets it. Just look at how he handled the football hire. I remember a couple years ago the rumor that Calhoun wanted a say in naming the next coach and thats why it took them so long to agree on the contract. All everyone has been saying from the start is that Herbst loves Calhoun. With Hathaway out its probably staying in the family. I dont think Warde Manuel will want to rock the boat so early in his career as the AD considering the hire of the new basketball coach will be the first major challenge he faces.

exactly.

and also no way jc is so good and ok with warde coming in if he knows warde is going to rock the crap out of the boat soon. no way. im all for the family and i think its best longrun. all the signs from the ath dept show that they are also with timelines for things and how they are handling stuff.

warde will rock the boat eventually but he will wait. it will be a football thing years from now or a decision on upgrading sports.

 

[tzznandrew]

I'll say it now as I've said it before: I really like KO, but I am not comfortable in giving over the coaching reigns to a 2 year assistant who has never coached a game himself.

Now, here's where things may change: perhaps Blaney retires and KO becomes the Associate Head Coach, and JC stays for 3 more years.

Am I in love with this? No. But I'm not as uncomfortable.

 

[Burnsbros23]

1.Shaka Smart
2.Gregg Marshall
3.Fran Franshilla
4.Anthony Grant
5.Kevin Ollie

 

[johnhuskies95]

i said i would be interested in seeing what he does. that name and his bball iq family following are going to land him something one day again if he can show some promise. hes now at a mid major. if he can continue to build on what he did this year and eventually get a major job( a upgrade to a bcs confs basically or another top team school) then we will see. if he does well there this could be years down the road and perfect time for us. who knows. his name is one you keep a eye on though.

Ok, but you do know that he was awful at Texas Tech, a BCS job?

 

[hungry husky]

Shaka, Buzz, Ollie, Stevens, Chris Mack.

 

[Burnsbros23]

Yah C'mon Pat Knight was terrible at Texas Tech and just won with none of his players why would we want him? and I want nothing to do witht he Knight family.

Chris Mack is a really interesting name not sure how much I like him yet tho.

Buzz to UConn seems really unrealistic. He is a Texas guy if he goes anywhere it would probably be down there.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Cooley may become a quality coach but a bit if reality needs to be considered. A few years back many PC fans were convinced that Keno and his assistants would dominate the northeast for decades. Midway through his second season they were ready to ride him out of town on a rail. The second anyone begins working for that program their fan base is ready to anoint him as a better version of Gavitt and Pitino.

There happen to be quite a few positives on the KO idea.

1 - He had a reasonably long NBA career due solely to his hard work and determination. These are qualities that are necessary in order to become a quality head coach.

2 - He is a character person of the highest level. Kids who are worth having s part of our program will gravitate towards a man like him.

3 - His background (Crenshaw High School may as well have been 50,000 miles away from Beverly Hills) will make it easy for him to relate to most of the kids he will be recruiting.

4 - Being a point guard in basketball is akin to being a middle infielder in baseball in that there is no way around being fully involved in every part of every play. That he was a point guard for Larry Brown (at a couple of stops, by choice of the coach) in the NBA is reason to believe that he has a far better understanding of the entirety of the game than most potential candidates.

5 - He is someone who can truly credit being a UConn Husky as playing a major role in his success in life. He will be able to sell the school to recruits as a great place to build their future better than most as it won't merely be a line coming from him.

I am convinced that JC's plan (or vision if you will) is for Glen Miller to take Blaney's role and KO to run the show. At that point I imagine Freeman becomes a true assistant and it would not surprise me to see Donyell joining the staff to coach the bigs. I could not only live with this, I would have no problem going to war with that staff.

I believe that at the moment Herbst and Manuel are taking a wait and see approach. There is no reason to make any waves today (as it would only cause problems) and they likely are willing to observe and when the time arrives, determine whether the best path is to let JC run the succession process or if the school should tell JC "this is not your decision". I also believe that JC will at a minimum honor the remainder of his current contract (two more seasons) and would not be shocked if he lasts another year or two beyond that.

 

[sammydabiz]

1. The Hurley's
2. Sean Miller
3. Shaka Smart
4. Buzz Williams
5. Ollie

 

[Dann]

Ok, but you do know that he was awful at Texas Tech, a BCS job?

yes, thats why hes at lamar right now. he got thrown into the fire there trying to follow his dad. not to mention that school isn't exactly a bball school but yes its a major/big conf program. pat to me had alot of jc in him(not to mention his dad), running on the court there and getting into it with officials all the time. his couple years at tt were messy and they were like a .500 team i think. didn't he laos take over in like the middle of a year or something? anyway his name got him that chance. he needed to do the route all other do first and now hes doing that. if hes sucessful at it then people will notice, thats why it would be wise to keep a eye on him.

 

[UConnDan97]

I actually think its the exact opposite. If Hathaway were still here then it may have been about a 50-50 shot at best Ollie gets it. Just look at how he handled the football hire. I remember a couple years ago the rumor that Calhoun wanted a say in naming the next coach and thats why it took them so long to agree on the contract. All everyone has been saying from the start is that Herbst loves Calhoun. With Hathaway out its probably staying in the family. I dont think Warde Manuel will want to rock the boat so early in his career as the AD considering the hire of the new basketball coach will be the first major challenge he faces.

You may be right, but I still think that the chances are slightly lower now than before. Let's take the football hire as an example: there was (or at least appeared to be) a REAL chance that Hank Hughes was going to be the next coach of the UConn Huskies. In fact, if Hathaway didn't make the Pasqualoni decision, I'm not sure he doesn't make Hughes the full time coach and wait a bit to see how it goes. At the time, Addazio was already at Temple, Leach had ZERO chance, and I don't think that the administration was endeared to Whipple at all (which is why I think that move ultimately didn't happen).

In contrast, I could have pictured a press conference for that hire with Herbst and Manuel just coming out early on and saying, "We're a national brand, and we need a coach who will reflect that brand. While we appreciate all of Hank Hughes' efforts, we will be interviewing other candidates with the intention of hiring the next football coach at the University of Connecticut" or something to that effect.

I could be wrong, though...

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I personally believe that JH had two and only two candidates in his sites to run the football program: Whipple and Pasqualoni. I also believe that at least until he spent some time face to face with Pasqualoni, Whipple was #1 on JH's list.

 

[rw005]

Non UConn affiliate: Mark Few or Haith, I would like

UConn affiliate: Ollie with Donyell as one of the assistants.

 

[UConnDan97]

I should also follow up on all my previous statements by saying I'm not opposed to the Kevin Ollie move if it happens. It's actually a win-win. I think he would do a good job and it would be good for all the reasons mentioned by FfldCntyFan. But if it doesn't work out after a couple of years, the administration will switch gears, and the next big name coach will put his stamp on the program and not be "The guy that followed Calhoun".

I'm rooting for Kevin, and I hope it works out for the best...

 

[Burnsbros23]

Why Frank Haith? He cheated at Miami got them on probation possible more. Then took a team of no one he recruited and did well but lost in the first round.

 

[Dann]

my whole argument is that im 100% on the family first off but if not then lets talk names....for people who want to argue names thats all fun and fine but you arguing names for next year. we dont need a coach for next year. jc will be here with the crew for atleast 2 more years so you have to think down the road a bit. argue names for 2015. not 2012. thats the issue. you let guys like smart and stevens do it elsewhere before here. these couple years would give them that time, you dont take then this summer. thats why i brought up pat knight. miller is clearly a home run that would be a tough get. im done with this, had my fun and hope u guys hate me more now that ever. i'm just tired of seeing 5 thread s a day on smart, stevens, and so on. if its news on jc or those coaches doing things that all good. but there are way to many "so how about smart or stevens is the guy" threads considering the figure we have on our sidelines. go huskies

 

[MattMang23]

I've only quickly skimmed but has anyone even mentioned Billy Donovan? And if not, why?

1. Billy Donovan- total package: recruiting, gets the most out of players, has northeast roots, winner. I realize he's an unrealistic choice, but that wasn't the question.

2. Jay Wright- has shown he can win in the Big East, he can recruit and he's personable.

3. Brad Stevens- Gets more with less.

4. Shaka Smart- See Brad Stevens

5. Mark Few- No chance at him, he's not leaving the Zags to fly across the country and settle at a school he has no ties to.

Honorable mentions:

Sean Miller- Big East connections (although we can't consider Pitt BE anymore I guess)

Ed Cooley- Work in progress... someone to watch if he can produce more at Providence, his recruiting is off to a great start. Seems content at his alma mater, PC though.

Tom Moore- Did a lot of UConn's legwork in recruiting. Had very good regular seasons at Quinny in 09-10, and 10-11 but doesn't appear to be a very good tournament coach.

 

[PolisHusky]

I like Buzz Williams because he is passionate about his team and I love that they do the full court press and don't stop pressing until the game clock hits zero. However, I also find him to be a little annoying too.

Ollie would be a good choice....if he is surrounded by a good coaching staff. Youth can be great, but Ollie is unproven. If he can bring in some other assistants that really can work and develop the big guys, that is a huge challenge. In another respect, he is becoming a good recruiter and really connects with his players. However, do you think that Ollie will be just like Calhoun or will he create/innovate the half-court offense.

Smart and Stevens will undoubtedly have a list of suitors after the dust settles from the season. I don't know how attractive our offer will be....replacing a hall of fame coach vs. getting into the big time at a place with lower expectations to begin with and building his own legacy. Plus, who says Calhoun is even leaving? These guys may be somewhere else before we need to search for a coach.

I like the idea of jay wright. He has a good demeanor and personality, but I'm not particularly excited about having the small line-ups stacked with guards. I like the traditional line-ups and I think that he can come to uconn and get more talented players from NYC. Imagine Ollie coaching his guards? Sadly, I don't see much potential of wright or Williams making an intra-conference move.

 

[stick]

Non UConn affiliate: Mark Few or Haith, I would like

UConn affiliate: Ollie with Donyell as one of the assistants.

Lay off the crack pipe. You name two coaches that have zero chance to be a coach here. Few would never come here, nor would we want him. I wouldn't hire Haith to coach an America East team.

 

[DogMania]

1. Sean Miller (if possible, hands down option #1)
2. Kevin Ollie (with Hobbs and Miller on staff and very well paid) recruiting will be great, half the battle
3. Brad Stevens (Can't deny the success , replace with Shaka if Shaka hadn't gone to Illinois)
4. Karl Hobbs (I think he will be a very successful head coach again)
5. Billy Donovan (Gainesville loves him but New England never leaves the soul, you never know)

I don't see why Miller would leave Zona. He's building something up at one of the traditionally good elite programs. Is he an east coast guy? Why do folks bring him up? I'm not been super impressed with his Xs & Os. I tend to like a coach that stresses hard nose D. That doesn't sound like Zona or Miller.

I don't know what to think of KO. I sure would have liked to see what he could have done this season when JC sat out a couple times. It was an obvious window to do that and IMO could have been handled with George playing the role of mentor, with the understanding that KO is a possible candidate to succeed JC. Ideally, you want a coach that has a track record of winning and bringing in big time recruits. Ollie might turn out to be an outstanding head coach, but we won't know till he gets that job here or somewhere else.

Stevens has proven he's a successful coach. I have no problem with his system. His teams run a variety of stuff on offense and play some pretty tough man-D similar to what UConn runs. Since he recruits at a different tier for the most part, he would have some proving to do as far as bringing in blue chip talent. He seems to have a good nose for talent though. His players seem to perform higher than their rankings dictate. I think his overall success and name he made for himself would attract high level recruits if he coached at a high major program. He'd be my top choice but I've heard he's a mid-western guy who might not want to come east.

Hobbs - His resume in both winning and recruiting is lacking. Nah.

Donovan - Now he's an interesting one. He's been at UF for a while. I wonder if he'd like a change in scenery. I haven't watched his coaching style all that closely. He seems to do well when he has a super athletic line-up. Just not sure how well he is able to adjust his coaching to his personnel. He's recruited well, but hasn't always won the recruiting wars against the big boys as much as I'm sure he'd like. You often win an NC not with those 1 or 2 big time recruits but with the players who round out that 8 to 9 player rotation.

Some have mentioned Shaka Smart. I'm not sure what I think about him. He seems to get his players to play awfully hard. He sometimes plays that full court pressure D, reminiscent of UConn in the early 90s. The problem with that is teams that play that way usually run out of gas and simply can't win an NC playing that way for 6 games in a row. But for those who think that's all he has his players do, that's not true. He does get his players to play tough half-court D. It's his offense that doesn't seem the most imaginative. I'm not sure what to make of that. Recruiting, he seems to have a nose for talent. Until he arrives at a high major, it's hard to tell how good he'll be at recruiting blue chip talent.

One thing we have to keep in mind is that the best coaches, although they have their preferred styles, learn how to adapt to their personnel. Some successful mid-major coaches do a great job at the next level and adjust their offense and defense to the upgraded talent. Some don't. Until you give them a try, who knows? What I look for is how they handle the players they have, handle themselves along the side lines, how they manage games (close, from behind and with a lead) and from a selfish standpoint, run a system that I enjoy watching. I like a team that turns teams over, is good in transition but is solid in the half-court, where NCAA championships are often won.

If I had a choice, I'd be okay with Stevens, Smart and Donovan. If they give it to Ollie, I'd be fine with that too. It's just we won't know what he brings to the table until you give him that shot.

 

[defense]

I believe that KO would be a wise choice, but JC would have to groom him for the next two years. To accomplish this, Blaney needs to retire asap and KO should be promted to his spot. I honestly don't see the value Blaney brings t0 the program. Yes, he has decades of experience, but he was terrible in JC's absence. Seemed like the kids didn't respect him and he brought zero emotion.

 

[NHUConnfan]

1) Shaka Smart - This guy has shown he can win with Xs and Os with minimal talent in high pressure situations. Put him into a situation where he will be at a destination school, and the vibes that he has with young kids right now...he could bring some special classes into UConn with a will to win big.
2) Brad Stevens - I love this guy. Cool, calm, collected. Also very much like Shaka Smart...good Xs and Os guy. Probably would not be able to recruit as well as Shaka at UConn, but he'd still do a damn good job.
3) Mark Few - Let's be honest, he isn't coming here. But could you imagine...
4) Buzz Williams - I hold Buzz in the highest esteem of coaches. The guy is smart and he really can do stuff with lesser talent as well. Plus, he has a command of his players. They respect him more than the typical coach-player relationship.
5) Sean Miller - He would be great at UConn. A fantastic recruiter. A young talent. Not sure how he'll pan out, which is why I place him 5th. He hasn't proven anything unlike the four up there (I'm not really counting Arizona last year because a) it's the Pac-12 b) they had one insanely good player c) he didn't win the game that mattered the most

Bonus: Josh Pastner. I like this guy a lot. I think he can recruit very well. Coaching ability is questionable, but easily still in the top 30%.

As far as Kevin Ollie being named the successor - just think about this...if UConn didn't reach out to someone not in the system, we would have never gotten Calhoun!

 

[NHUConnfan]

@DogMania

Rumors about Miller leaving 'Zona have been rampant since the NCAA last year. I think it's clear he wants out, but there are only a few jobs he'd take to replace them. He's shooting high...real high. I think UConn could very well be on that list.

 

[defense]

Let's say Sean Miller wanted to coach here, what would be the repercussion on recruiting and alumni support by bringing in an outsider versus KO? Would the former players shun the program if UConn passed on KO?