Ok so I know right now feels like a tense and anxious time for UConn fans right now. There is a lot of strong emotions and some negativity. The emotions stem from the fact that many of us are passionate fans of the program, and thats great.
But lets take a step back and look at whats been put out there so far and view whats been said in the context of what we knew from 5 years of KO at the helm of the program:
1) Ollie's relationship with the players: Everything we have known before this past few days indicate Ollie is a players' coach and players and recruits love him because he's a genuine guy who cares about the kids beyond just the basketball court. So any insinuation that players have lost faith in Ollie seems hard to believe.
A poster stated he saw JA like a tweet about staff failing to develop big men at UConn, but I just checked Jalen's "likes" on his twitter account and there was no such thing. He could have removed it so I am not saying the poster is lying, but maybe it was a different twitter handle that liked the tweet. Don't know. Maybe it was geared towards Glenn Miller and hence the pressure to find another big man coach.
But anything contradicting the notion that players love Ollie is hard to believe.
2) Glenn Miller: We all know that Oz is the most connected poster on any UConn forum to the coaching staff and program. His information is very valuable and very much appreciated by the UConn faithful. When he says Glenn Miller has been relieved of his duties I don't doubt it at all. However Glenn has not been released as of yet. I do not think Ollie would just fire Glenn.
I can see why it would make sense for all parties including Glenn to move on to different paths. I think Glenn is a great assistant coach who has a lot of experience & knowledge and he bleeds blue. He is a native of CT, played for UConn as well as Calhoun at Northeastern. I think he would be a great addition on any coaching staff.
However, our bigs development has been a weakness of sorts, but its unfair to put all the blame on him. He was the lead recruiter when it came to Hamidou and while the blame can't be pinned on Glenn losing Hamidou while believing he was in our bag was not a good look. It was clear Hamidou was intending to go to UK for a while, because Bamba said Hamdiou was recruiting him to go to UK way before he even committed to UK. So it was a clear failure of intelligence.
Steve Enoch's feeling of not having developed as much as he and his father hoped may have started the discussions of whether it is time to move on for Glenn.
One thing is for sure, KO is extremely loyal, and that was often seen as his biggest weakness. He wouldn't sub out players when they made mistakes and he kept giving Rodney and Brimah chances to prove themselves, so I am very confident that KO will not just leave Glenn hanging but instead would help land at some other program on his feet.
3) Steve Enoch: Saying the news of him asking for his release was shocking is an understatement. I think he has all the tools to be a great big. KO has said he has the ability to be one of the best offensive big men to come through UConn (now that is some very high praise). I mean you see his talent flash before your eyes. The guy ended the season with 17 straight free throws made, that says a lot about the ability of a 6'11 man child of a center.
I know a lot of good programs will be on him, and I wouldn't be surprised if other programs were already reaching out to him (or more likely his parents) even before the season ended. Its a brutal cut throat world out there when it comes to recruiting and poaching players from other teams. I think KO is realizing that more and more as he gains experience as a head coach, especially after the Hamidou failure.
I still have hope though that Steve will take the time to really consider his options and may opt to come back to UConn, if a new big men coach is selected. The starting 5 spot is his to lose, and I'm sure KO will reach out to him again.
4) KO & clubbing: I can't believe this is even a talking point. Andersonfro has generally been a very good poster, so I am shocked to hear this kind of accusation coming from him. Its hard to believe KO being a heavy drinker and a constant presence at clubs. I know by saying this there are a lot of KO haters who will latch onto this because of their dislike for KO. But here are some facts, KO is in tip top shape physically. Even at his age he can outrun and prob outplay some of the players on his team. When KO was a player at UConn he was known to have avoided drinking in general, and settled down with his wife to be (now ex-wife) fairly quickly. When he was at OKC Durant said himself while other players would be out enjoying themselves KO would be going to church. Every religious recruit has raved about KO. So this accusation about him hitting up clubs and being a drinker doesn't match the facts we all know about KO. So lets just snuff this rumor before it starts spreading.
5) Finally, there is nothing wrong with having different view points. Debate can be healthy, but lets all be respectful of one another. No need for the extracurricular vocabulary or adjectives. Yes there seems to be ominous clouds over the program right now but I very much trust KO to lead us out of this. He has won a ship before, and he's a great role model, and I am confident he will lead us to the promise land again.
