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Official Realistic Options for Next HC of UCONN

How did Geno do coming out of the Debbie Ryan tree? ;)

I'd love pitino, but as i stated above, he's only 52 and he doesn't have the very recent scandal hanging over his head. It's also pretty cool to tell a recruit 'when I was coaching Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, Paul George a few years ago' kids listen.

We are getting neither, so this debate is very hypothetical.
 
We don’t know that. A prior poster mentioned that Louisville may have jumped the gun on Pitino. He has adamantly denied any wrong doing in this matter. UConn should interview him and collect all the facts. I don’t know if the US attorney’s office will tell UConn whether they will be charging Pitino with anything but UConn can ask them if he is the target of any current investigations. He is the best available coach and this point isn’t even debatable. You never ever take the most talented candidate for a job off the table because of judgmental bullshit or rumors or the hasty actions of another school, if that is what they were. It’s very negative and presumptuous thinking to do otherwise.
 
I would take Billy in a HEART BEAT! Pitino............at first I thought this was a joke but here is where I am on this......I hate Calamari as you all know but if everyone was cheating and the NCAA is doing NOTHING about it..... guess its time to say F-it like everyone else.
 
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Dominick that is correct. The guys who are nitpicking Pitino seem not to recall that there were assorted sins committed on Calhoun’s watch at UConn. The way you have to look at this is like choosing a gangster to run a business. If you start telling me that you favor Lucky Luciano over Al Capone because Luciano was good to his kids, I am just gonna laugh and say you really don’t get it. And that’s what is going on with some posts here. The objective is to bring someone in who can win championships.
 
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If Pitino wants to come, ill pick him up at Bradley myself. Coaching at an elite program without the scrutiny of a power 5, might be win-win for him. You can thrive at a mid major in basketball because you don't need 85 freaks.

But Donovan is an A+ hire as well. Anyone who thinks differently hasn't been paying attention the last 15 years.
 
I would take Donovan (if Pitino said no) over Dan Hurley, but last time I checked Donovan is employed and under contract with OKC Thunder.

Between Pitino and Hurley I take Pitino. Although Hurley is being mentioned prominently, it’s premature and presumptuous to do so, because Georgia and Pitt will go hard after him with cash and Power 5 credentials which may make those destinations better ones for him or Donovan, if Donovan is fired which I don’t think will happen until after NBA playoffs if at all. UConn can’t wait til the end of June to see if Donovan gets fired.

It's ridiculous that Crean is being mentioned. All he can really do is recruit. He can't coach, his teams are weak on fundamentals and defense which was well documented at Indiana. He is also the iconic inventor of the blow-by handshake, and we don't need a sore loser (or any other kind of loser) as our head coach.
 
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Sure looked to me like Hurley got outcoached today by Davidson's McKillop. Rhode Island had a terrible last possession also in NCAA tournament last year. But that contested airball sure looked like UConn/Ollie offense to me.

On the other hand kudos to John Calipari and his young UK team for winning the SEC tourney.
 
I don't like Hurleys line-up.... same smallball crap that you can't win with vs. P-5 teams on a regular basis...6-5, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 and 6-8 starters
 
the Blades said:
I don't like Hurleys line-up.... same smallball crap that you can't win with vs. P-5 teams on a regular basis...6-5, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 and 6-8 starters
Click to expand...

LOL
What would you like him to do given his roster?

http://www.gorhody.com/sports/m-baskbl/2017-18/roster

This is Rhode Island, its not like he has unlimited options at every position and thinks this is the optimal way to win games. He makes due with what he has, rather well I would say.

I think its safe to assume Danny understands the benefits of size in basketball.
He probably picked some of that up from his hall of fame coach/father, brother, his own playing career, and 8 years of being a head coach...................

I can tell you what I like about him.
His teams constantly get better

Wagner Record 2009-2010 (year before Hurley arrived)
Conference: 3-15
Overall Record: 5-26

2010–11 Wagner 13–17 9–9 6th
2011–12 Wagner 25–6 15–3 2nd

Rhode Island record 2011-2012 (year before Hurley arrived)
20–14 (9–7 A-10 play)

Rhode Island Rams (Atlantic 10 Conference) (2012–present)
2012–13 Rhode Island 8–21 3–13 T–14th
2013–14 Rhode Island 14–18 5–11 10th
2014–15 Rhode Island 23–10 13–5 T–2nd NIT Second Round
2015–16 Rhode Island 17–15 9–9 7th
2016–17 Rhode Island 25–10 13–5 T–3rd NCAA Round of 32
2017–18 Rhode Island 25-6 15-3 1st NCAA Round?


 
Calhoun_for_President said:
LOL
This is Rhode Island, its not like he has unlimited options at every position and thinks this is the optimal way to win games. He makes due with what he has, rather well I would say. I think its safe to assume Danny understands the benefits of size in basketball.
Click to expand...

Fair points which I am more than aware of ...It needs to be discussed if he interviews..
 
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I am aware of Hurley's track record but I am leery of him. Perhaps I have not seen his teams play enough, but I have watched URI in a couple big games the past 2 years and I was not impressed with them in crunch time. I saw way too much confusion and disorganized play. He is a flavor of the month kind of guy like Shaka Smart once was- don't get too high on him. There are better candidates out there.
 
My candidates in order of preference:

1. Rick Pitino
2. Billy Donovan (if available)
3. Eddie Cooley
4. Mark Schmidt
5. John Becker
6. Danny Hurley

(Last place candidate only if everyone else says no)

Tom Crean
 
Here is an article in which Jacobs takes a few parting shots at Ollie and forecasts an ugly fight:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ct...-bitter-fight-could-be-ahead-for-12743884.php

Best case scenario for UConn is that Ollie gets a NBA assistant job which will motivate him to move on and maybe settle for $2 million or less. Otherwise UConn will have to lay all the crap on him on the table to prove just cause. Depending on what they can crap on him which we don’t yet know, taking a settlement might be a good idea for him.
 
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Some salary numbers-
Providence........Ed Cooley................$2,204,030
Creighton..........Greg McDermott......$1,326,553
URI....................Dan Hurley..............$1.1 million (aprox)

also ..
 
KhalidShockedTheWorld said:
Here is an article in which Jacobs takes a few parting shots at Ollie and forecasts an ugly fight:
Click to expand...

Glad somebody in the media said it, where are the pom pom guys now ???

"If anybody made sense of the way he distributed minutes among his big men this season, please write me, because I took calculus and I can't figure it out. Small wonder Eric Cobb lost his mind yelling at Ollie. If anybody wants to defend his offensive system, please write me, because I also took kindergarten finger painting and what the Huskies ran seemed almost as simple. I swear I thought a CYO coach might run out of the stands and draw up an inbounds play. There were so many faux bravado comebacks that fell short, it was kind of pathetic. "

also from Jacobs....???? issues outside of the NCAA stuff ????
"We don't know if the school will cite problems with personal or ethical conduct away from the NCAA investigation. And until we do know, it is impossible to begin mopping up what could turn into the ugliest and messiest of UConn family wars."
 
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I certainly didn’t expect Jacobs to defend Ollie, but there are some real zingers in that article. I understand that when coaches get fired shots usually do get taken as the firing needs to be discussed and analyzed from the perspective of the employer, but Jacobs really fired off some tremendous shots. Pretty much no stones were left unturned.
 

"All indications are that Hurley is at or near the top of UConn’s wish list. Calhoun, meanwhile, remains an option if UConn strikes out on its top targets."

"Names such as St. Bonaventure’s Mark Schmidt and Vermont’s John Becker have been mentioned in media reports, but UConn is expected at this point to go for a more high-profile hire."
 
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Crean and Matta don't thrill me. But we've been dating Roseanne Barr the last 6 years, these guys are Sandra Bullock/Halle Berry in comparison.

Martin would bring some grit back. But I'm good with the young jersey kid who grew up in the game leading us into a basketball Renaissance.
 
Crean should be the last choice. I have no idea why he is such a media darling. If you look at his record closely and see why he was fired it was because he sucked. All he is good at is blow-by handshakes.

I like Martin- he is very Calhoun-like and his teams consistently play good D and overachieve. He is the best of the names mentioned above.
 
Crean was only offered the Georgia job because Matta, their preferred choice, withdrew. Crean can have that job, to me he is a stuffed shirt who managed to become a media darling based on nothing. He is a minimally accomplished coach who went to a Final 4 because he had Dwayne Wade who at the time was the best player in college. His main contribution to college basketball and American sports is to introduce the blow-by handshake, which to me is something of an ignominious distinction. I am very happy he will not get to coach UConn. I doubt he will do any better at Georgia than he did at Indiana. He will probably do as well as Mark Fox, the guy Georgia just fired.
 
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Honestly I think we may all be a little naive about the next coach at UConn. It's being assumed that UConn will have the money to pay Hurley or whomever emerges as the top candidate; I make no such assumption. It's also being assumed that UConn will have no competition for Hurley, when in fact, not only will Pitt and other schools go hard after him, but he may not want to wait around to find out how the Ollie situation shakes out, and that may take a month or perhaps several months to resolve. Why should Hurley wait, when he will have other, possibly better offers from Pitt and/or other schools?

I also wonder whether the Ollie situation will leave a cash strapped UConn with precious little money to offer, forcing UConn to go into thrift shop mode in the coaching search. Can UConn have afforded to pay $3.2 million annually to Hurley for 6 years, which is exactly what the less deserving Crean just got from Georgia?

I looked for precedent on the Ollie situation and I found one: when Kansas terminated Turner Gill as their football coach, Gill was owed a $6 million buyout and it had to be paid in 120 days. The Kansas AD basically had to go to the boosters and ask for the money to pay Gill off, otherwise Kansas would have defaulted on its obligation because it did not have the money. But how does Dave Benedict ask people like Blades for $6-10 million or close to it, when he is the one who gave Ollie the extension and the favorable buyout clause? I think all of this is not being considered by a lot of people here, although if any of you end up getting a telephone call from Dave Benedict asking for some financial help, I am sure you will start thinking about it then. This is why I think a guy like Pitino, severely damaged goods but still a great coach, can and will be fetched for a bargain basement price once Ollie is paid off. That's how all of this will shake out.

All of this is alluded to in Colin McEnroe's piece which I posted in the other thread. He is saying what is only being whispered in private offices behind closed doors on the UConn campus.
 
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KSTW your the only one this board that seems naive and who's coming to conclusions, it's like your having a conversation with yourself the last few days ...I've just been linking stories from the " EXPERTS" and a few facts....

By the way....Matta told Goodman he wasn’t ready to come back to work just yet.
 
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I don't think so, I think the so called experts don't know what the financials are or will be and that is what will dictate how it all shakes out. I feel this more and more since I read the McEnroe article. I think he is on to something and the more I read about precedent the more I think it's naive to think UConn will snap its fingers and easily get the top candidate out there.
 
By the "experts" I mean these sports writers who need to fill pages and get clicks. McEnroe is nothing but a political shill so, F#CK him !
As you may have noticed in these 3 pages since FEB. I've made no such conclusions or assumptions about a new coach except these.... "I'm sure there would be plenty of P-5 coaches who'd be sniffin' around for the Uconn job ( $$$ wise)... but KO's got such a huge buyout, it's a bigger problem".( lack of $$$)... and ..."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.. "

So I think I covered most of this stuff light years before you and your boy McEnroe's epiphany... LOL! ... Actually before KO got fired....But it's not my problem yo ! .... It's a Uconn problem and they better chose wisely if they want the fans to come back...

PS... let me give you a little inside info on Pitino:



 
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As a URI post-grad alum, I have an interest in their basketball program. Unfortunately, they haven't been on television very much this year, at least until the last month. After Ollie's firing, I've watched their last three games paying particular attention to their style of play. Clearly, they aren't the most talented team out there, so it speaks very well of Hurley that they're where they're at right now. I don't have a sophisticated enough understanding of offensive schemes to comment much, other than to say that they seem to move well without the ball, get open looks, can get the ball to players on the inside, don't get called for illegal screens, don't turn the ball over often, crash the boards, and they can grab some offensive rebounds despite not having great size. One thing that concerns me, though, is the number of defensive lapses they seem to have. Their help defense is almost non-existent. I can't count the number of times I've seen a defender get beat, and the ball handler have a clear path down the center of the lane for a layup. Even worse is the confusion when they have to switch on D. It's like a fire drill, and invariably someone is left open for a dunk. That seems like something that should have been corrected in December, and shouldn't be that prevalent at this point of the season.

All that being said, I think he would be a great hire for UConn. I would really like to see what he could do with better talent. I'm torn between wanting to see URI make a deep run (really wanting to see them beat Duke), and having them eliminated this weekend so UConn can officially go after him.
 
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KhalidShockedTheWorld said:
How about Nate Oats?
Click to expand...
First I heard of him last night, but Buffalo was nice the way they destroyed Arizona. Checked his background, he's similar to Frank Martin (long time HS coach in Miami b4 he got his first CBB job @ Northeastern in 2000)..... In Oats case around 10 years in HS, when Bobby Hurley hired him from his HS job to UB after he was recruiting one of his HS players to URI (EC Mathews). Oats has only been in CBB since 2013 and took over for Hurley on the fly @ UB.....here's his money details:

The Buffalo News is reporting that they have sources putting the new Salary in the 550,000 to 600,000 dollar rage, which is slightly higher than Bobby Hurley was offered back in 2015.
Nate Oats Signs a Five Year Extension - Bull Run
 
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Danny Hurley is going to cost at least $3 million a year and I figure Oats can be fetched for around $1 million or so, which might be closer to UConn’s budget. Therefore, I see Oats as a good “value” hire. If he is a younger Frank Martin it’s a worthwhile investment.
 
KhalidShockedTheWorld said:
Danny Hurley is going to cost at least $3 million a year and I figure Oats can be fetched for around $1 million or so, which might be closer to UConn’s budget. Therefore, I see Oats as a good “value” hire. If he is a younger Frank Martin it’s a worthwhile investment.
Click to expand...
You’re assuming uconn will need a “value” higher. i would like to believe the powers that be had a pretty convincing internal argument for letting KO go when they did so let’s see this play out first. Way 2 early to know if Oates can even recruit, let alone coach...IMHO.
 
With rapidly declining attendance, declining TV contract revenue due to being in the AAC, and massive State budget cuts, not to mention the potential liability on the Ollie contract of up to $10 million having to be paid, all of which are known facts, may I be so bold as to ask where is the money coming from to pay either Danny Hurley or name your choice of top coach, as opposed to the "value" hire?
 
again, to my point, you have no idea whether that $10m will be payable. and again to my point, why would they fire him for cause so early if they didn’t have a plan. maybe ur right & their plan all along was to fire him quickly so they can get a value name...my opinion is different. just doesn’t make sense plus JC still has a voice. so we can argue back n forth but my opinion is not gonna change. doesn’t mean i’m right, but doesn’t pass my sniff test either.
 
KhalidShockedTheWorld said:
With rapidly declining attendance, declining TV contract revenue due to being in the AAC, and massive State budget cuts, not to mention the potential liability on the Ollie contract of up to $10 million having to be paid, all of which are known facts, may I be so bold as to ask where is the money coming from to pay either Danny Hurley or name your choice of top coach, as opposed to the "value" hire?
Click to expand...

KSTW , what are you worried about ?.... I thought you liked being in the AAC ? .... that's what you've been telling us all along, when I told you about these future AAC....money issues ..that were going to be a huge problem for Uconn if they didn't get into a P-5... Well I guess that "big fish in the small pond" that you were pushing didn't work out. So I guess instead of a big Uconn fish story.... it's now more like " the chickens have come home to roost" lead by KO .... But I'm glad your finally up to speed with what, the Blades, was preaching here years ago..;)
 
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The numbers are what they are with the AAC. It was a bad decision. UConn should have joined the Big East in basketball and gone independent in football. Allowing football to drive the decision was a huge mistake that very substantially hurt the basketball team. It’s taken me a while to realize it but better late than never. It was a mistake, plain and simple.
 
KhalidShockedTheWorld said:
The numbers are what they are with the AAC. It was a bad decision. UConn should have joined the Big East in basketball and gone independent in football. Allowing football to drive the decision was a huge mistake that very substantially hurt the basketball team. It’s taken me a while to realize it but better late than never. It was a mistake, plain and simple.
Click to expand...

Wrong again, this was a P-5 decision or bust for Uconn....What were they supposed to do leave and give up millions in exit fees ? .(In 2015-16, UConn received $10,523,469 from the AAC, followed by Cincinnati ($9.485 million) and South Florida ($9.144 million)...... the exit fees are drying up but the Big East is no financial solution when the P-5's are making in the insane range of $25-50 million + a YEAR ( Big Ten Payouts to Exceed $50 Million ) because of FB......While "Most Big East teams, without the benefit of big-time football, received between $2.3 million to close to $3 million from the league in 2015 ".... So the BE is no solution either, when you have a $10 million buyout for KO ? Nope it was P-5 or bust..... you can afford to hire a bad coach or 2 with that kind of cash !
 
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