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Official Realistic Options for Next HC of UCONN

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Calhoun_for_President

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Jul 18, 2004
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OK Folks
We all know there is nothing to look forward to with UCONN basketball except the eventual ouster and replacement of Kevin Ollie as Head Coach.

The team is unwatchable
All of the threads are rightfully negative about how bad things are

Let's sprinkle some optimism into the gloom and doom.
Come one come all, give us your wish list of potential replacements.
Please make them realistic, John Calipari requests need not be posted.

I will start:
Danny Hurley - URI
Eric Musselman - currently Nevada and ex NBA HC
 
Calhoun_for_President said:
OK Folks
We all know there is nothing to look forward to with UCONN basketball except the eventual ouster and replacement of Kevin Ollie as Head Coach.

The team is unwatchable
All of the threads are rightfully negative about how bad things are

Let's sprinkle some optimism into the gloom and doom.
Come one come all, give us your wish list of potential replacements.
Please make them realistic, John Calipari requests need not be posted.

I will start:
Danny Hurley - URI
Eric Musselman - currently Nevada and ex NBA HC
Click to expand...
 
Calhoun_for_President said:
OK Folks
We all know there is nothing to look forward to with UCONN basketball except the eventual ouster and replacement of Kevin Ollie as Head Coach.

The team is unwatchable
All of the threads are rightfully negative about how bad things are

Let's sprinkle some optimism into the gloom and doom.
Come one come all, give us your wish list of potential replacements.
Please make them realistic, John Calipari requests need not be posted.

I will start:
Danny Hurley - URI
Eric Musselman - currently Nevada and ex NBA HC
Click to expand...


Yes, I am one of the remaining few who still back KO, but objectively I think there is a 95% chance that KO will be the head coach next year. If he misses the tournament next year then the odds flip and he will very likely be let go. In the event he is replaced I think here are a few realistic good candidates:

1) Chris Mack
2) Mark Few
3) Danny Hurley
4) Chris Beard

Fans who think Mack and Few are not realistic options really don't understand the UConn brand. We are a top academic school, with top facilities, near recruiting hotbeds of NYC and Boston, great history and winning traditions, with great fan base and fan support. UConn is a much better program than wither Gonzaga or Xavier.
 
i would agree with Afg that void of a "just cause" situation, KO will be back next year. The interesting thing is, his contract may give him that xtra year he needs to at the very least have some relative talent on the team. Not sure what he'll do with it, but think about if everyone comes back. Amuse me for a minute. Carlton at the 5, no friggin clue who's at the 4, Polley, Sid Wilson....and even TL at the 3. JA of the ball (Vital & matthews as his back-up) and AG at the top (with Akinjo backing him up). Assume no contribution out of Kisunas & Cobb somehow gets booted. I would actually rather play Diarra at the 4 than anyone under 200 lbs per my comments on another thread. So, either Pork Chop needs to eat more pork chops, or he's SOL. Kwintin may be quitin. No minutes for him. That's all 14 possible roster players next year. Great? no. Good? should be. NCAA's? should be. KO needs to do some soul searching and figure out how to make the whole better than the sum of its parts like JC did in his earlier years.

Ok, so i havent answered the question posted on here, so here goes. If KO were to get KO'd for next season here are a few coaches i would like to see compete for the UC HC position...and have at least a shot at coming to Storrs.

I like Chris Mack but think he's solid at Xavier. Not underestimating the UC brand, just sayin he's good at a hoops only school in a solid league.
Dont really know much about DHurley, meaning i havent watched him coach at all. I do think he would look at UC as an attractive landing, but he may be in on P5 coaching gigs once his season is over.

Timing will leave Pikiell out if it's next year but he's the guy i'd love to see in Husky colors.

No way i see Mark Few making the move. Love the guy and would take him in a heartbeat...just dont see that happening.

Nick McDevitt (UNC Ashville). Of course absolutely no relations to uconn hoops or even the northeast. But that's where assistant coaches come in. Bring back GM, keep RM as ass't coach, promote KFree to ass't coach, bring in a big man ass't coach and we're off to the races...

Larry Brown. Go ahead and laugh. I know there are many things working against him but for the love of god he HAS to be at the age where he wants to stay in one place. I actually think SMU was the place for him. My point here is we either look for up-n-comers who, if they do well, will probably move on....or older coaches who've been around the block and are looking for a landing spot to finish out their career.

I have no answers but gun-to-head it's DHurl
 
There are better coaching prospects that have not been named here. Nobody really knew either Calhoun or Geno when John Toner hired them. You guys are just throwing out flavor of the month candidates. Few and Mack are very good coaches but they aren’t leaving their gigs for UConn. The best next candidate is a lower division 1 or division 2 coach you never heard of right now.
 
KSTW, i know you've been asked b4, and i'm sure you dont mean anything by it, but please stop the "you guys" stuff. Although i never heard of GA, i certainly heard of JC prior to him landing at UC. This was suppose to be a fun exercise but as my friend says when his wife comes home "the fun police just showed up". Of course there are more names. I can name 10 guys w/o blinking. Would that help? So, you really think a DII coach will be chosen as the next Univ of CT men's basketball coach? Interesting.
 
One other thing, I think there has been some selective amnesia on Hurley. He had some weird, never totally explained leave of absence from Seton Hall, I think to deal with mental health issues. Although it was never really disclosed what happened. The first game he missed was against UConn which then blew out Seton Hall. Hurley was the starting point guard. He was supposed to have missed that game with the flu, it was later revealed that he had “personal issues”. He then quit the team and claimed burnout. I thought it all sounded suspect at the time. To me all of that spells character issues.......don’t want to totally throw the guy under the bus, but none of it sounded good and all of this is not a public record so we will never know.
 
Calhoun was viewed as a surprise when he was hired. He wasn’t on the media’s short list of the favorites at that time. My recollection is that various Big East and top assistant coaches were having their names thrown around. Calipari was an assistant at Pitt and I believe he was one of the prospects at the time.
 
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Kelvin Sampson to add a name.

He has some skeletons in his closet, but if we are going to land a coach with a track record, he's probably going to have some baggage.
 
DH seems to be the flavor of the month. If URI has another impressive showing in the tourney, he may get scooped up by the end of April.

Will UCONN pull the trigger on Follie by then?
I'm trying to think of bigger jobs than UCONN that will have openings at the end of the year, and none are coming to mind
 
Hurley's contract expires in 6 weeks- April 7, 2018. He gets $300K base and $297K in bonuses and incentives which sounds like an underpay (compared to KO), but he is still highest paid State employee in Rhode Island.

He will have plenty of suitors and seems destined for the Power 5.
 
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There are going to be a butt load of vacancies in the near future. Get Hurley signed right now, by the end of this we'll be begging Otzelberger for a visit.
 
Mack is an Xavier alum.

Few has turned down some great jobs. He clearly loves that Pacific NW lifestyle. He appears to be a Gonzaga lifer.

Plus, the NCAA Investigation will make some coaches take a wait and see approach with UConn.
 
You guys deserve a way better coach than Ollie. And I think you guys will have another coach by the end of the season. What I don't get is this talk about it being blamed on Tulsa and the AAC for UCONNs struggles. Cincinnati hasnt dropped off in talent since moving to the AAC. Until Memphis upset Houston the other day, we had just as many ranked teams as the Big 12. All of the blame should go to Ollie, the guy can't coach. You guys deserve better, but the people making excuses sayings it's because of the conference and Ollie is a good coach is what's holding UCONN back
 
Russ Wood said:
Mack is an Xavier alum.

Few has turned down some great jobs. He clearly loves that Pacific NW lifestyle. He appears to be a Gonzaga lifer.

Plus, the NCAA Investigation will make some coaches take a wait and see approach with UConn.
Click to expand...

Out of curiosity, which great jobs did Few turned down?
 
TULSARISING said:
You guys deserve a way better coach than Ollie. And I think you guys will have another coach by the end of the season. What I don't get is this talk about it being blamed on Tulsa and the AAC for UCONNs struggles. Cincinnati hasnt dropped off in talent since moving to the AAC. Until Memphis upset Houston the other day, we had just as many ranked teams as the Big 12. All of the blame should go to Ollie, the guy can't coach. You guys deserve better, but the people making excuses sayings it's because of the conference and Ollie is a good coach is what's holding UCONN back
Click to expand...

I do think AAC has had a negative impact on UConn brand and with recruiting but it gets overplayed. AAC is still a solid conference and continues to get better overall.

Our losses the past few seasons have largely been a result of injuries, departures, and some big recruits the didn't pan out (i.e. Terry Larrier, & Purvis).
 
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Afghusky15 said:
I do think AAC has had a negative impact on UConn brand and with recruiting but it gets overplayed. AAC is still a solid conference and continues to get better overall.

Our losses the past few seasons have largely been a result of injuries, departures, and some big recruits the didn't pan out (i.e. Terry Larrier, & Purvis).
Click to expand...
I think you guys can get a really good mid major head coach with the UCONN name. I have been disappointed with our coach this year, we are really just a pinch above mediocre. Yes, we are on a 6 game winning streak but we haven't beaten anybody, unfortunately, I think we are stuck with him for 2 more years.
 
TULSARISING said:
I think you guys can get a really good mid major head coach with the UCONN name.
Click to expand...

And with the Uconn money..(NCAA | Finances | USA TODAY)...

Ollie has turned into a dud and this is all on him. Hell the guy had the #8 recruiting class (2016 Team Rankings) in the country 2 years ago and has been in the top 3 in the AAC..... 4 out of the last 5 years. But he still can't develop players or get any of them to buy into what he's preaching, as misguided as he is and they play. Like I said the money Uconn pays him ( $3.1 Mil ) is better than about 90% of the coaches in the P-5. As of last year he was in the top 10 in all of CBB:

The 10 Highest-Paid College Basketball Coaches
more salaries- Mens-basketball | Coach | Salaries | USA TODAY

For that type of cash I'm sure there would be plenty of P-5 coaches who'd be sniffin' around for the Uconn job... but he's got such a huge buyout, it's a bigger problem.
 
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Tulsarising,

Ollie inherited a team in 2012-13 that had very talented returning guards in Napier and Boatright. After Ollie had success early, UConn panicked that they would lose him and gave him a contract with a punitive buyout provision that effectively insulates him from being fired until May 2019. Now Ollie is unhireable as a head coach, by anyone, and UConn is stuck with him for at least one more year. He will inevitably be fired, and the only question at this point is how bad will be the damage done by him and his underachieving coaching staff.

The AAC has not helped attendance because there is no natural rivalry between Tulsa and UConn like there was between UConn and Syracuse, for example. This lack of rivalry games and natural competition between league schools has also hurt recruiting as players are not impressed by any rivalries. The teams UConn is competing for recruits with are mostly the Big East, A-10 and ACC, as opposed to other AAC schools.
 
Afghusky15 said:
Out of curiosity, which great jobs did Few turned down?
Click to expand...
He reportedly turned down Oregon, Indiana, Arizona, Tennessee and Wisconsin, to name a few.

The guy grew up in Oregon he has been at Gonzaga for 21 years. He worked his way up from graduate assistant to head coach.
 
If they bring him back next year, the hole may get so deep, it's going to take awhile and the perfect hire(Calhoun part two) from turning into a perennial loser.

He should go coach an NBA that is trying to tank and get more ping pong balls for the lottery. That is the only value he has to a team as a coach.

i went from dvr'ing the games and watching twice(sometimes rewinding) to not even knowing when they are playing now. Pathetic.
 
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ashamed to say i left at the 12 minute mark. used to pride myself by never leaving til game was over. i don’t care that they came back. watched them go from 10 up to 23 down to a team that just lost their best player. With a 75 minute drive leaving early was the best option.
 
The one piece of good news is I believe they can't get to 20 losses. 19 losses is possible if they lose out, but 20 not possible.
 
KhalidShockedTheWorld said:
Tulsarising,

Ollie inherited a team in 2012-13 that had very talented returning guards in Napier and Boatright. After Ollie had success early, UConn panicked that they would lose him and gave him a contract with a punitive buyout provision that effectively insulates him from being fired until May 2019. Now Ollie is unhireable as a head coach, by anyone, and UConn is stuck with him for at least one more year. He will inevitably be fired, and the only question at this point is how bad will be the damage done by him and his underachieving coaching staff.

The AAC has not helped attendance because there is no natural rivalry between Tulsa and UConn like there was between UConn and Syracuse, for example. This lack of rivalry games and natural competition between league schools has also hurt recruiting as players are not impressed by any rivalries. The teams UConn is competing for recruits with are mostly the Big East, A-10 and ACC, as opposed to other AAC schools.
Click to expand...
I can see your point, but it should not have had that kind of an impact. I mean, look at Cincinnati, they haven't dropped off at all, and like I stated earlier, I believe we have just as many ranked teams as the Big 12. We are kind of in the same boat with Haith. ( surprisingly the team has actually been playing pretty well) but for the most part we are very inconsistent. After all of the players graduated in 2015, we signed him to a 3 year contract , so we are stuck with him.... I wouldn't panic too much on your guys part. You will get a good coach who can get UCONN back.
 
the Blades said:
And with the Uconn money..(NCAA | Finances | USA TODAY)...

Ollie has turned into a dud and this is all on him. Hell the guy had the #8 recruiting class (2016 Team Rankings) in the country 2 years ago and has been in the top 3 in the AAC..... 4 out of the last 5 years. But he still can't develop players or get any of them to buy into what he's preaching, as misguided as he is and they play. Like I said the money Uconn pays him ( $3.1 Mil ) is better than about 90% of the coaches in the P-5. As of last year he was in the top 10 in all of CBB:

The 10 Highest-Paid College Basketball Coaches
more salaries- Mens-basketball | Coach | Salaries | USA TODAY

For that type of cash I'm sure there would be plenty of P-5 coaches who'd be sniffin' around for the Uconn job... but he's got such a huge buyout, it's a bigger problem.
Click to expand...
Wow, I had no idea they were paying him that kind of money, you guys should have no problem getting a prime time coach.
 
TULSARISING said:
We are kind of in the same boat with Haith. ( surprisingly the team has actually been playing pretty well) but for the most part we are very inconsistent. After all of the players graduated in 2015, we signed him to a 3 year contract , so we are stuck with him....
Click to expand...
Yet only Cincinnati and SMU have more American Athletic Conference wins, starting with the 2014-15 season, than Tulsa. Tulsa was picked to finish eighth in The American Preseason Poll and will likely finish fourth.

Considering what's going on in the college basketball world, people in Tulsa should breathe a sigh of relief about where their program is right now.
 
Russ Wood said:
Yet only Cincinnati and SMU have more American Athletic Conference wins, starting with the 2014-15 season, than Tulsa. Tulsa was picked to finish eighth in The American Preseason Poll and will likely finish fourth.

Considering what's going on in the college basketball world, people in Tulsa should breathe a sigh of relief about where their program is right now.
Click to expand...
I will be the 1st to say I am suprirised at how well they have turned things around and even more glad that we aren't involved in any scandals. I won't get my hopes up though because we have been so inconsistent in the past.
 
Russ Wood said:
Yet only Cincinnati and SMU have more American Athletic Conference wins, starting with the 2014-15 season, than Tulsa. Tulsa was picked to finish eighth in The American Preseason Poll and will likely finish fourth.

Considering what's going on in the college basketball world, people in Tulsa should breathe a sigh of relief about where their program is right now.
Click to expand...
Also had a question for the UCONN faithful, has the blame on Tulsa been because of the rivalry aspect? Or is it because Tulsa isn't a name brand?
 
There is no “blame” on Tulsa, the AAC just isn’t a good/ideal conference for UConn based on natural geographical rivalries. Tulsa appears to be a better fit for the conference than UConn does.
 
Tulsa guy from my perspective as a Uconn season ticket holder for 3 different sports for 25 + years, I could write a book on this stuff ( and have on this site) but Tulsa isn't even on the radar as far Uconn's frustration regarding conference re-alignment. I could start with:

1. ESPN's poaching to destroy the old Big East( when it was about to become a free agent on the TV market/ loss of millions to Uconn) so they could prop up the ACC for financial gain. Caused by terrible conference leadership (the commissioner(s) from Providence College) who never cared squat about FB.
2. loss of the BCS NY's bowl slot,
3. the loss of the conference BB tourney in MSG (NYC)
4. and yes the loss of rivals like Georgetown, Nova and also Cuse, Pitt, WVU and even BC (round 1 of CR) who Uconn was playing in both sports after we spent around $200 million to upgrade FB in the late 90's .....was a punch in the head too.

Everyone but Uconn ( a BE charter member ) and late arrivals Cincy and USF came out fine when the dust cleared in CR... so it sucks to be us.

But even the Catholic schools new Big East is a skeleton of it's old self with a bunch of midwest schools and most of Uconn's top rivals gone. So for me I could care less about that new BE. Plus the AAC is probably better than the old Big East in FB. Especially after Miami, Va Tech left and the group of geniuses at the Catholic schools voted to keep Penn St. out when Joe Paterno was pushing to join the BE back in the day.

( ps, Tulsa guy.... when you guys gonna step up and add a baseball team ?... the AAC is no joke in that sport either )
 
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the Blades said:
Tulsa guy from my perspective as a Uconn season ticket holder for 3 different sports for 25 + years, I could write a book on this stuff ( and have on this site) but Tulsa isn't even on the radar as far Uconn's frustration regarding conference re-alignment. I could start with:

1. ESPN's poaching to destroy the old Big East( when it was about to become a free agent on the TV market/ loss of millions to Uconn) so they could prop up the ACC for financial gain. Caused by the terrible conference leadership (the commissioner(s) from Providence College) who never cared squat about FB.
2. loss of the BCS NY's bowl slot,
3. the loss of conference tourney in MSG (NYC)
4. and yes the loss of rivals like Georgetown, Nova and also Cuse, Pitt, WVU and even BC (round 1 of CR) who Uconn was playing in both sports after we spent around $200 million to upgrade FB in that late 90's .....was a punch in the head too.

Everyone but Uconn ( a BE charter member ) and late arrivals Cincy and USF came out fine when the dust cleared in CR... so it sucks to be us.

But even the Catholic schools new Big East is a skeleton of it's old self with a bunch of midwest schools and most of Uconn's top rivals gone. So for me I could care less about that new BE. Plus the AAC is probably better than the old Big East in FB. Especially after Miami, Va Tech left and the group of geniuses at the Catholic schools voted to keep Penn St. out when Joe Paterno was pushing to join the BE back in the day.

( ps, Tulsa guy.... when you guys gonna step up and add a baseball team ?... the AAC is no joke in that sport either )
Click to expand...
Haha out athletic budget is a joke right now, fans are very fickle in Tulsa ( attendance is a big problem) too many Oklahoma and Oklahoma State fans) I don't think we could afford it. That's the reason we scheduled Texas and Arkansas this year.
 
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the Blades said:
Related reading:
New URI assistant (Tom Moore) sees some Jim Calhoun in Dan Hurley...
Click to expand...

Well not a good look from Hurley on SR night @ URI vs. a 13-15 team, also noticed he plays alot of small ball, which personally I can't stand :
Rams Suffer 30 point Loss on Senior Night at the Hands of Saint Joseph's

Also regarding Pikiell, I just checked...Did Rutgers jump the gun on that extension ? looks like he's grabbed another last place finish in the B1G
Big Standings................B1G...overall
Rutgers.......................... 3-15....13-18

Might not be easy finding a decent northeast centric coach who would stick around to build this program back up (and once it is).... after what KO's done to it..
 
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Huge home losses on senior night are an embarrassment.

Rutgers sucks monkey balls, although not sure UConn would have a better record in Big 10 or B1G, whatever it’s called.
 
KhalidShockedTheWorld said:
Huge home losses on senior night are an embarrassment.

Rutgers sucks monkey balls, although not sure UConn would have a better record in Big 10 or B1G, whatever it’s called.
Click to expand...
Rutgers talent level vis-à-vis othe B1G programs is pretty low.

Pikiell is doing a good job given what he has to work with and where that program has been for so long.
 
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