I'd be a bit concerned, were I a UConn fan

[longtimefan]

Very good post. My only point of contention is the UConn brand and potentially 'falling off the map', in part due to poor performance and Big East instability.

I agree that the Big East football conference is in shambles (obviously) but I think the demise of Big East basketball is greatly exaggerated. There's no doubt that losing Syracuse, Pitt, West Virginia and ND hurt, but if any conference could afford to lose 1 elite program (Syr), 2 good programs (Pitt, WVU) and one decent program (ND) it is the Big East.

How many other conferences could lose programs of that stature and still have run out UConn, Louisville, Georgetown, Villanova, etc.

The ACC and Big10 may have surpassed the Big East in hoops, but let's not pretend a program with 3 National Titles in the past 13 years is going to turn into UMass (as so many Syr fans like to bust our balls about) after a slight downturn.

Your concern should be that the BE is still in no way stable. Louisville (and Cincy), not to mention you Huskies, would get out at the drop of a hat. And who knows if the BB-onlys are going to want to be playing hoops (not to mention all the Olympic sports) vs. the likes of SMU, Memphis, Houston, etal.

 

[jdubs30]

Very good post. My only point of contention is the UConn brand and potentially 'falling off the map', in part due to poor performance and Big East instability.

I agree that the Big East football conference is in shambles (obviously) but I think the demise of Big East basketball is greatly exaggerated. There's no doubt that losing Syracuse, Pitt, West Virginia and ND hurt, but if any conference could afford to lose 1 elite program (Syr), 2 good programs (Pitt, WVU) and one decent program (ND) it is the Big East.

How many other conferences could lose programs of that stature and still have run out UConn, Louisville, Georgetown, Villanova, etc.

The ACC and Big10 may have surpassed the Big East in hoops, but let's not pretend a program with 3 National Titles in the past 13 years is going to turn into UMass (as so many Syr fans like to bust our balls about) after a slight downturn.

If the Big East stays like it is right now, it's still an upper-tier conference (I wouldn't use the word elite) in my mind; Louisville, Cincinnati, Georgetown, UConn, Marquette, Villanova, and even the re-emergence of Providence, Seton Hall and St.John's.

I think I should define what I meant by conference instability:
* There are rumors of the basketball-only schools breaking off, I'm not sure how true those are, but that would be a massive blow
* No one knows how the "new" Big East will affect recruiting; look, if you got a kid from CT who wants to go to UConn regardless, he will go; but we can't say for sure how many of these top recruits will want to go to this new conference and play the likes of Houston, SMU, etc. Kids care less about conference affiliation and more about opponents and TV air time. I don't have much knowledge about the TV contracts, but will Big East still get Big Mondays in a few years? Will CBS still want to broadcast those Saturday Big East afternoon games? Will ESPN still want Big East on Saturday night for the BET championship (on the prime slots on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday)? Basically, will the top kids take less national publicity and "lesser" opponents (this is subjective obviously, but you kind of see what I mean) just because they want to play for Steve Lavin, Kevin Ollie, or JT3?

Like I said above, I think Ollie is a tremendous recruiter, but even he will have a tough time recruiting right off the bat.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

If the Big East stays like it is right now, it's still an upper-tier conference (I wouldn't use the word elite) in my mind; Louisville, Cincinnati, Georgetown, UConn, Marquette, Villanova, and even the re-emergence of Providence, Seton Hall and St.John's.

I think I should define what I meant by conference instability:
* There are rumors of the basketball-only schools breaking off, I'm not sure how true those are, but that would be a massive blow
* No one knows how the "new" Big East will affect recruiting; look, if you got a kid from CT who wants to go to UConn regardless, he will go; but we can't say for sure how many of these top recruits will want to go to this new conference and play the likes of Houston, SMU, etc. Kids care less about conference affiliation and more about opponents and TV air time. I don't have much knowledge about the TV contracts, but will Big East still get Big Mondays in a few years? Will CBS still want to broadcast those Saturday Big East afternoon games? Will ESPN still want Big East on Saturday night for the BET championship (on the prime slots on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday)? Basically, will the top kids take less national publicity and "lesser" opponents (this is subjective obviously, but you kind of see what I mean) just because they want to play for Steve Lavin, Kevin Ollie, or JT3?

Like I said above, I think Ollie is a tremendous recruiter, but even he will have a tough time recruiting right off the bat.

Again, all pretty valid points. I basically agree with what you're saying and that the future of the conference comes down to the next media rights deal for the Big East. If the TV dollars are respectable (below ACC levels, but not the $5M a year some predict) and the games are still on ESPN or prominently featured on a revamped NBC Sports (I'm fully in the stay on ESPN camp FYI) the program will be fine going forward.

Like you said, we as fans, point way more emphasis on conference realignment and opponents when it comes to recruiting. A kid chooses a school based on the staff, NBA polishing and TV exposure. I think conference alignment and opponents play a small role in the decision. If you really want to go to Georgetown you're probably going there regardless if you'll play SMU, Houston, etc. instead of Wake Forest or Boston College once a year (used to lower level programs for a point of comparison).

Note: This is all my take on Big East basketball. I think Big East basketball is still a very viable conference, albeit significantly weakened. Big East football, I don't have much faith in going forward, not due to competition but due to national perception.

 

[orangehomer]

I'm not sold on Ollie long term but I support him getting a 4 year or so try out.

He spent 13 years in the NBA and played for all kinds of coaches. Towards the end of his career, he was on the team to show players like Durant and Lebron how an NBA professional behaves. He had a roster spot as a roll model.

He is a big part of the UCONN family and will be keeping people like Ray Allen and Rip and Okafor close to the program and maybe bringing in a Lebron James (with Ray) up to Storrs for a run. This has to help with recruiting.

I think he will be a great recruiter. Everyone says good things about him but it doesn't sound like the "nice" things people say - it sound sincere to me. His passion and commitment is obvious.

I hope Calhoun is an advisor to Ollie - not getting involved in practices or confusing the hierarchy. It has to be Ollie's team and I'm not sure that Calhoun fully embrace that.

first of all, "spending 13 years in the nba" has zero to do with coaching. absolutely nothing. otherwise michael jordan would be the best college coach in the history of man. let me preface this by saying that no one knows what any guy will do as head coach until they are head coach. having said that, ollie hasn't coached, the guy has almost zero experience. maybe he works out, maybe he doesn't but uconn doesn't know any better than a guy off the street whether or not this guy can coach a major college program. i remember when syracuse name hopkins as coach-in-waiting, and uconn fans snickered and said they would hire a national name. hmmm.

second, are you really trying to convince me that ray allen playing on a team with lebron is somehow going to influence uconns recruiting. cmon man that is a reach.

third, there is absolutely no proof that ollie is a "great recruiter". who did he land exactly? boatright changed after being recruited over at west virginia. daniels fell in uconn's lap, not too mention drummond who reclassified at the last second and had to take someone else's scholly. how is that recruiting?? recruiting is finding guys when they are young, targeting them, and landing them. uconn is supposed to be getting top ten guys not top 100.

 

[temery]

My take is that Calhoun wanted Ollie to replace him, but the AD was only willing to go with Ollie if Calhoun agreed to the arrangement you mention.

He'll be playing more golf than micromanaging Ollie.

Not about Kevin Ollie as coach, but about him as co-coach.

Read this piece.

I've been an informal student of how organizations respond to leadership, especially new leadership. At the current time, I am approaching my own retirement after 38 years in higher ed (25 with the same program), and at 63 years of age. I could have stayed in my job for many more years (like Calhoun).

When I leave, I won't be "hanging around"; I won't be an unofficial advisor or ghost boss. I won't even discuss that sort of role with my employer nor my replacement (who I had limited input into hiring; it was a wide open search).

With my own various internal promotions and job assignments over the years, I was always blessed with predecessors in my positions who didn't linger around, watching over my shoulder, and certainly not having a vote on whether I kept my job or not. And in turn, I did the same in how I interacted with the people who replaced me; I got out of their way and their business as fully as I could.

For JC (or any other retiree) to be given that much of a vote for whether his hand-picked replacement choice will stick around or not, is just not good organizational management, in my book. And something called a "hands-on advisory role" is an oxymoron; you're either advisory, or you're hands-on, i.e., you're the coach (or officially the co-coach), or not.

I guess I shouldn't care if JC's "hanging around" role winds up messing things up for UConn; they are, afterall, UConn. I just don't think, organizationally, that the "John Thompson model" is a good one for any school or organization to follow.

I feel strongly enough about this that I would not even want JB to play a similar role to Calhoun's when JB goes. I hope he just says "Goodbye. It's been great. Hop, it's all yours, here are the keys. Call me only when you feel the need. Give 'em hell!"

Curious as to how many of you feel as I do --or not-- re: JB's post-retirement role.

 

[Ghost]

I think I should define what I meant by conference instability:
* There are rumors of the basketball-only schools breaking off, I'm not sure how true those are, but that would be a massive blow
* No one knows how the "new" Big East will affect recruiting; look, if you got a kid from CT who wants to go to UConn regardless, he will go; but we can't say for sure how many of these top recruits will want to go to this new conference and play the likes of Houston, SMU, etc. Kids care less about conference affiliation and more about opponents and TV air time. I don't have much knowledge about the TV contracts, but will Big East still get Big Mondays in a few years? Will CBS still want to broadcast those Saturday Big East afternoon games? Will ESPN still want Big East on Saturday night for the BET championship (on the prime slots on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday)? Basically, will the top kids take less national publicity and "lesser" opponents (this is subjective obviously, but you kind of see what I mean) just because they want to play for Steve Lavin, Kevin Ollie, or JT3?

You bet they will - it's going to be the marquee game on ESPN4.com exclusively for XBox Live customers.

 

[orangefan13]

Recruiting > Coaching imo

 

[jdubs30]

Uconn has won rings with top 100 guys. We will have our first insights into Ollie as recruiter on Oct 13th. Uconn battling Illinois/FSU for top 25 guard XRM. He cut his list to three after Ollie was named HC.

UConn has won rings with 100 guys WITH one of the best coaches of all time, there's a big difference there. XRM is almost a must-get for Ollie, he would set the course for everything else.

 

[jdubs30]

Agreed, but the statement was to refute that UConn Should be getting top 10 guys. We simply haven't had that many top 10's in our history. Drummond for Sure, but after that, I couldn't rattle off another for you. Burger AA's for sure, but less than most think, and rarely a top 10.

Yes UConn doesn't get many top 10's, but how many times have looked at a UConn team and thought, "they just don't have talent", we might be saying it this year, but mainly because of the mass exodus.

Whoever says Ollie hasn't proven that he can recruit doesn't realy know what they're talking about.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Yes UConn doesn't get many top 10's, but how many times have looked at a UConn team and thought, "they just don't have talent", we might be saying it this year, but mainly because of the mass exodus.

Whoever says Ollie hasn't proven that he can recruit doesn't realy know what they're talking about.

Well, let's not go crazy on what a great recruiter Ollie is. He's been there 2 years, and is credited with bringing in 3 top recruits, right?

 

[SmilinBob]

JC is way too alpha dog for Ollie to get the respect he needs from his players, this is worse than a a coach in waiting. If they are ever looking at JC during practice or games instead, this is a huge problem.

 

[jdubs30]

Well, let's not go crazy on what a great recruiter Ollie is. He's been there 2 years, and is credited with bringing in 3 top recruits, right?

He's brought in some nice pieces and recruits always mention him by name. I'm not saying he's the best recruiter of all time, but he's no slouch and I don't think if he failed as the head coach it would be because he was having issues recruiting.

 

[longtimefan]

He's brought in some nice pieces and recruits always mention him by name. I'm not saying he's the best recruiter of all time, but he's no slouch and I don't think if he failed as the head coach it would be because he was having issues recruiting.

But, won't he have a much less attractive product to sell vis-a-vis what Calhoun has been pitching for the past 15 years?

 

[IthacaMatt]

He's brought in some nice pieces and recruits always mention him by name. I'm not saying he's the best recruiter of all time, but he's no slouch and I don't think if he failed as the head coach it would be because he was having issues recruiting.

My point is that for all the talk of how great a recruiter he is, there is a very small sample size. He got Roscoe and the 2 guards. Those are his big time recruits, right? I think Drummond signed because of JC, although I could be mistaken; I don't follow UConn so closely that I know which assistant is recruiting which kids. But I think that the little bald dude, Murphy, pulled as many good recruits as Ollie has so far. I don't think it's that hard to sell a program like UConn when Calhoun was the coach as it is to do it on your own.

 

[Sgt Cuse]

He's brought in some nice pieces and recruits always mention him by name. I'm not saying he's the best recruiter of all time, but he's no slouch and I don't think if he failed as the head coach it would be because he was having issues recruiting.

When he is let go next year the administration will give a lot of reasons, but I agree with you the underlying reason will not be recruiting.

Ollie is a dead man walking because management will not be able to stomach him as a representative of the University. No way he is given a long time gig.

Why would Calhoun power play this guy into the role, when he knows it won't work? Makes me think his problems with current management override his value of the long term health of UConn basketball.

 

[rstone7727]

UConn will probably be looking for a new HC right about the time Bruce Pearl becomes eligible to work again (2014 I think). Wouldn't he be a perfect fit in Storrs? couchburn

 

[jdubs30]

But, won't he have a much less attractive product to sell vis-a-vis what Calhoun has been pitching for the past 15 years?

Yes he will. But UConn is still a major brand and if Ollie can sell it right they should be ok getting kids; there's plenty of programs in America taht recruit well after big name coaches (granted not as big as Calhoun) leave (Xavier, Marquette, Cincinnati). It's not like they're going from UConn to University of Maine after this. I think the conference stability will be the biggest thing Ollie has to overcome (along with the 1yr contract), it's really a unique and almost unprecedented situation.

My point is that for all the talk of how great a recruiter he is, there is a very small sample size. He got Roscoe and the 2 guards. Those are his big time recruits, right? I think Drummond signed because of JC, although I could be mistaken; I don't follow UConn so closely that I know which assistant is recruiting which kids. But I think that the little bald dude, Murphy, pulled as many good recruits as Ollie has so far. I don't think it's that hard to sell a program like UConn when Calhoun was the coach as it is to do it on your own.

Well I can't say for sure who Ollie is responsible for (Drummond, Boatright, Calhoun, etc), but if you look at recruits who are mulling an offer from UConn almost the first thing they mention right after Calhoun is how much they like Ollie. It is a small sample size, but he's done pretty well from as far as I can tell. He's much more of an influence than other/past assistants such as Hobbs, Blaney, Sellars, etc.

UConn isn't a "hard" sell, but it does make it harder when these recruits have offers from other top tier Big East and ACC schools.

When he is let go next year the administration will give a lot of reasons, but I agree with you the underlying reason will not be recruiting.

Ollie is a dead man walking because management will not be able to stomach him as a representative of the University. No way he is given a long time gig.

Why would Calhoun power play this guy into the role, when he knows it won't work? Makes me think his problems with current management override his value of the long term health of UConn basketball.

Ollie is an extremely difficult situation and his back is against the wall. There's alot more to this than what's on the surface, Calhoun will still have a role in the program; but will it be a big enough role that he's part of the decision to extend Ollie or not? Who knows