Words About KO From Ray

[ctchamps]

If you are always negative, you will be right sometimes.
It doesn't make you smart.

I said a long time ago, just because I realized KO could not coach the team, does not mean I agreed with the group that was calling for his head for 6 years.

I would like them to complete their victory lap and I would like the defenders to stop.

Move on.

I have to disagree with you on this one. We should be able to handle opposing viewpoints. And I don't believe anyone should dictate censorship.

 

[Fishy]

If you are always negative, you will be right sometimes.
It doesn't make you smart.

I said a long time ago, just because I realized KO could not coach the team, does not mean I agreed with the group that was calling for his head for 6 years.

I would like them to complete their victory lap and I would like the defenders to stop.

Move on.

No one was calling for his head for six years.

Stop whining.

 

[ctchamps]

Whining? Telling you that our old coach was in way over his head well over a year ago and that Hurley would be our new coach.



Also, who are you?

That's not whining. More of a reference to you losing it and promising you were never going to post here again. And the hundreds of times before that where you complained. Complaining about the same thing over and over again when results are not attainable is my definition of whining.

 

[Tenspro2002]

This is thread # 965 in the ongoing KO Rehabilitation movement led by a small cadre of folks that want to portray KO as some kind of victim. The only he's a victim of is his own incompetence.

A lot of people would kill to be Peter-Principled into a multi-million-dollar salary.

He is no victim.

 

[CL82]

The KO is "one of us" crowd continuously bring him as if they keep talking about him history will be different. Let it go it's over KO has moved on UConn has done the same. Hence the won't let it go. It being the fact that KO was the coach here.

Well he was a coach here, right? I think it is enough to have replaced him. No need to drop his picture and bio down the memory hole right?

 

[polycom]

Well he was a coach here, right? I think it is enough to have replaced him. No need to drop his picture and bio down the memory hole right?

Yes but why does that matter now? He isn't the coach any longer and while he was here it wasn't a good coach outside of the championship which I do not give him much credit for. (My opinion not going to debate it)

His memory should be that he won us a championship nothing further.

 

[ctchamps]

The KO is "one of us" crowd continuously bring him as if they keep talking about him history will be different. Let it go it's over KO has moved on UConn has done the same. Hence the won't let it go. It being the fact that KO was the coach here.

I hope you realize that you are asking others to do what you can't do.

 

[Matrim55]

I hope KO's able to take a couple of years off and find some peace, and then on the other side of it is able to find the perfect job for himself. I also hope that someday he comes back to Gampel and the crowd gives him a standing ovation.

I'm very excited for the Hurley era.

 

[jibsey]

I'm not in a position to know if KO killed himself with effort in his job with us but maybe Ray is. The only people who could shed light on it probably aren't talking, guys like Glenn Miller and last years assistant coaches so many are correct in saying that speculation is useless, but Ray was defending KO's effort saying he should take a year off. Coming out of a North Korean prison you might need a year off, basketball coaching not so much.

 

[ctchamps]

Yes but why does that matter now? He isn't the coach any longer and while he was here it wasn't a good coach outside of the championship which I do not give him much credit for. (My opinion not going to debate it)

His memory should be that he won us a championship nothing further.

His memory should be whatever people want it to be. How about he was an important player for UConn. How about he helped the UConn program with his NBA career.

It matters not what defenders or attackers of KO write. All of us fall victim one time or another with having a need to defend our viewpoint and take it personally when people disagree with us.

BTW kudos to @JMick. He led the last push to get fans to speak with one voice in removing KO. I thought it was a foolish concept. I believe he's over valuing the importance of Boneyard's opinions. Also didn't like the way he felt it was necessary to "bully" people into agreeing with him. But in this thread he didn't feel the need to attack people with opposing viewpoints.

He had an objective, feels he won, and legitimately has moved on. I'm impressed.

 

[Chief00]

Not surprised by this at all. Taken with JC's recent comments and the players reaction at the Hurley announcement, the evidence is piling up that the negative reaction in this forum was primarily fans building up a case to get their way as opposed to the actual situation.

People conveniently forget that Chief00 was not alone in making the claim Dyson was a horrible player because he never contributed to a final four. They brought up his outside behavior and lack of discipline at the time. All but one fan has dismissed that as nonsense. These were totally irrational claims that jaded fans needed to make because they needed to find a scapegoat for a season that ruined their happiness.

So in your World, walking intoxicated into a hotel lobby 8 hours before leaving for a noon game is ok.

Also in your World, Calhoun never suspended that player for failing drug tests.

All that is “nonsense” you say? It’s funny because a couple of years ago Jerome was very honest about some mistakes he made regarding game prep. His coach said Jerome always played hard but questions about his game prep or putting in extra hours was fair.

Actually what I said was JD did not win an NCAA tournament game. Therefore, I could not understand why others felt we would have won the F4 if he wasn’t injured. Personally, I think we would not have gotten that far because Stanley never would have blossom and we wouldn’t have had the team play.

 

[ctchamps]

I hope KO's able to take a couple of years off and find some peace, and then on the other side of it is able to find the perfect job for himself. I also hope that someday he comes back to Gampel and the crowd gives him a standing ovation.

I'm very excited for the Hurley era.

I don't know if he needs some time off. Either way I'm with you and hope he can be successful in some other capacity.

 

[ctchamps]

So in your World, walking intoxicated into a hotel lobby 8 hours before leaving for a noon game is ok.

Also in your World, Calhoun never suspended that player for failing drug tests.

All that is “nonsense” you say? It’s funny because a couple of years ago Jerome was very honest about some mistakes he made regarding game prep. His coach said Jerome always played hard but questions about his game prep or putting in extra hours was fair.

I don't think those behaviors are right.

Singling him out when so many fans went to school with other players and report similar behaviors by them is my issue. There were a lot of reasons for that season. You made him the the single reason for that dismal season.

You were the individual who incited the pitchfork crowd. You're behavior during that episode was every bit as bad if not worse than what you feel Jerome did. And you still struggle to move on.

 

[SubbaBub]

KO was on top of the world in 2014. The next 4 years were a personal and professional disaster. I'm sure he took it hard. He deserves a break. Hopefully he will be welcomed back when decides to resurface.

 

[Huskybass]

You don't get it. His resentment doesn't support retaining KO. Same with mau and stationmaster. They argued against fan behavior that was and still is behavior that is a poor look for UConn.

When Bazely decommited from Syracuse several UConn fans went to the Cuse board to observe their crying. That's the look fans who hate our program love to see when they come to this forum. The record these past two seasons was the cake. Our whining was the icing.

During the last two seasons there were games that were decent. In my book a fan of the program doesn't isolate themselves to one myopic position. A fan of the program supports the players, coaches and outcomes in a positive way, even as they critique things negatively. It's called balance. The anti KO sentiment was so strong people avoided the win threads. Tell me how that backs up the players? Or the program? Or future coaches and players?

Tell me how it benefits the program or helps Hurley when UConn fans dismiss any of KO's accomplishments. If Hurley goes to a recruit and says two UConn coaches have been able to win NCs at UConn (an argument some posters refute when they refuse to give KO any credit) don't you think that helps him more to convince a recruit about the UConn brand than if NCs are all about one coach? I do.

KO deserves credit for what he accomplished his first two seasons, including a National Championship.

The next 4 seasons as a whole were basically a disaster. UConn played in a TOTAL of 3 postseason games over that 4 year period, and that includes the NIT.

I am happy to give KO credit for not only the National Championship season, but also his initial 20 win season. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to be optimistic about after 2014 and that's why the Ollie defenders get whalloped in every one of these debates.

 

[noeynox]

Let's hope that Hurley turns things around. You're whining made me cringe almost as much as these past seasons. There is nothing you have done that makes me believe you won't do the same if Hurley flounders.

That's actually commendable. It means the only thing that matters are results, and personal feelings get set aside.

 

[pj]

KO was learning on the job and improving as a coach I think, but no telling how long it would have taken him to reach his ceiling as a head coach, or how good that ceiling would have been. Hurley definitely seems an upgrade. Still, hope KO learned some lessons and succeeds if he ever gives college head coaching a second try.

 

[intlzncster]

I don’t think that KO got lazy, he obviously had some issues finding the right players for the system he wanted to play. When Miller was let go, Jim Calhoun had some comments that supported Miller. So far, I’ve only seen comments from Jim in support of Hurley or maybe I missed it. I’ve not seen or heard his comments about supporting KO, which if true, tells me all I need to know.

For the record, I posted this on another thread.

JC on KO:

"I was still saddened by what happened. Kevin (Ollie) is my guy. But I know he'll bounce back. Like everything in life, it's difficult."

 

[intlzncster]

To the OP, these positions are meat grinders. Leadership is never easy and being in the public eye like these positions are just magnifies the challenges. I'm by no means making excuses for KO. You have to perform as the HC of a UCONN basketball program. If you don't, you need to step aside or understand you will be pushed aside. I'm simply saying that KO may be a very good person and a very capable basketball guy. He may simply not have been ready or not a good fit as the HC of a program such as UCONN.

The lack of empathy from many is a bit of a head scratcher for me. I know I don't always succeed as a leader. I'm very grateful for the fact that when I don't perform particularly well most of the media in the northeast isn't pointing their finger at me.

Let's hope the guy gets back on his feet and back into a basketball setting that is enriching for him.

I liked your post and agree with a number of the sentiments, but when you are paying a guy $3m per year to steward a top shelf public program, empathy only goes so far (rightly so). It's a very put up or shut up occupation. That's why the remuneration and benefits are so great.

I'm empathetic to KO failing, but at the end of the day, he wasn't ready.

 

[intlzncster]

Do people here ever waver in their commitment to their job? My guess is yes, otherwise the traffic on this board wouldn't be what it is.

Again, these guys are paid egregiously well, and are afforded benefits most of us dream about, so they are held to a standard where complacency and wavering in commitment is not an option. It's a public, high profile job which requires complete and total commitment of the mind, body and soul. JC damn near killed himself for the job.

 

[intlzncster]

A lot of people would kill to be Peter-Principled into a multi-million-dollar salary.

He is no victim.

While I appreciate a good joke, KO didn't exactly Peter-Principle his way into anything. He didn't fail his way to the top. Succeeded beyond expectations for years. Unfortunately, he was allowed to jump several rungs on the ladder (taking the escalator) without paying the price and putting in the time. Still managed the highest level of success, but was unable to sustain it.

Perhaps KO could have been more permanently successful if he had started on the bottom rung of the HC ladder, as Hurley has done.

 

[intlzncster]

KO deserves credit for what he accomplished his first two seasons, including a National Championship.

The next 4 seasons as a whole were basically a disaster. UConn played in a TOTAL of 3 postseason games over that 4 year period, and that includes the NIT.

I am happy to give KO credit for not only the National Championship season, but also his initial 20 win season. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to be optimistic about after 2014 and that's why the Ollie defenders get whalloped in every one of these debates.

What's funny is, if KO detractors had been more magnanimous about giving credit for his first two years, a lot more people would have been on board with the KO is failing movement. But by saying that success was largely due to JC, they took away from the impact of all their other (valid) points.

 

[David 76]

I have to disagree with you on this one. We should be able to handle opposing viewpoints. And I don't believe anyone should dictate censorship.

I agree on diverse opinions. And I learned from people who were ahead of me on the dump Ollie issue. There are others who equate cynicism with intelligence and like a broken clock they will occasionally be right. That's all.

 

[BlueDogs]

To the OP, these positions are meat grinders. Leadership is never easy and being in the public eye like these positions are just magnifies the challenges. I'm by no means making excuses for KO. You have to perform as the HC of a UCONN basketball program. If you don't, you need to step aside or understand you will be pushed aside. I'm simply saying that KO may be a very good person and a very capable basketball guy. He may simply not have been ready or not a good fit as the HC of a program such as UCONN.

The lack of empathy from many is a bit of a head scratcher for me. I know I don't always succeed as a leader. I'm very grateful for the fact that when I don't perform particularly well most of the media in the northeast isn't pointing their finger at me.

Let's hope the guy gets back on his feet and back into a basketball setting that is enriching for him.

The difference between you and KO is he was making $3 Million a year. Under any ordinary measure that is an extraordinary amount of money. Most people won't make half that in 20 years of hard work. Most CEOs don't make anywhere near that kind of annual compensation. So, I don't have empathy for KO in the least. Any semblance of perspective vanishes with fans and college sports. You want the big money, then perform. Otherwise, get out and stop the pity party.

 

[superjohn]

What's funny is, if KO detractors had been more magnanimous about giving credit for his first two years, a lot more people would have been on board with the KO is failing movement. But by saying that success was largely due to JC, they took away from the impact of all their other (valid) points.

I've always given him all the credit in the world for his first 2 years. Winning it all made him fat and happy, his weaknesses were exposed, and he ran it into the ground. He will be welcomed back when Hurley fixes the mess. Time for everyone to move on.

 

[Tenspro2002]

What's funny is, if KO detractors had been more magnanimous about giving credit for his first two years, a lot more people would have been on board with the KO is failing movement. But by saying that success was largely due to JC, they took away from the impact of all their other (valid) points.

I've been very consistent on this, as an early KO skeptic.

He wildly exceeded expectations in 2013 and 2014 (though not everything was perfect -- even then there were signs that his offense was not exactly "PhD in basketball" level). He did an incredible job getting his players (yes, they were his players, though they were predominantly JC's recruits) to buy in and develop into a cohesive team playing tough defense and clutch offense. He deserves credit for all of that.

When the job involved recruiting his own raw material and molding them as individuals and a team, he failed spectacularly in terms of talent identification, intangibles identification, player development, and team strategy.

Edit: To expand on this, he succeeded in 2013 and 2014 in large part due to JC having provided him with tough, coachable kids who were eager to learn and win. KO gets credit for taking those kids the rest of the way. He was horrible at finding that kind of recruit on his own though.

 

[AdamaNation]

What would Jesus do?

 

[Huskybass]

KO was learning on the job and improving as a coach I think, but no telling how long it would have taken him to reach his ceiling as a head coach, or how good that ceiling would have been. Hurley definitely seems an upgrade. Still, hope KO learned some lessons and succeeds if he ever gives college head coaching a second try.

Improving in what ways? What did you see this past season that was good?

 

[pj]

Improving in what ways? What did you see this past season that was good?

I think the recruiting improved - agree with Chief on that one. I think there was some player development, although there could have been more if Onuorah had sat. Once Gilbert went down they had significantly less talent than last year and so it was a bit of an accomplishment to get a similar record -- performance:talent ratio was better although still not nearly as good as Hurley's. Those are the three major ways you assess a head coach, and all improved versus the prior year. It looked like we weren't going to get many transfers or de-commits if KO had stayed on, so player retention was on track to improve too.

I think KO got help from JC, Blaney, Hobbs, etc his first few years, and demonstrated some significant strengths that complemented theirs. Then he lost the support of those ex-head coaches, and demonstrated a number of deficiencies in his own capabilities. He was slow to learn about his own weaknesses and figure out how to fix them, but he seemed to be making progress over the last year.

 

[JMick]

I think the recruiting improved - agree with Chief on that one. I think there was some player development, although there could have been more if Onuorah had sat. Once Gilbert went down they had significantly less talent than last year and so it was a bit of an accomplishment to get a similar record -- performance:talent ratio was better although still not nearly as good as Hurley's. Those are the three major ways you assess a head coach, and all improved versus the prior year. It looked like we weren't going to get many transfers or de-commits if KO had stayed on, so player retention was on track to improve too.

I think KO got help from JC, Blaney, Hobbs, etc his first few years, and demonstrated some significant strengths that complemented theirs. Then he lost the support of those ex-head coaches, and demonstrated a number of deficiencies in his own capabilities. He was slow to learn about his own weaknesses and figure out how to fix them, but he seemed to be making progress over the last year.

this isn't correct.