You know one fact -- that Calhoun thinks Blaney should be coaching in Calhoun's absence. Is Calhoun infallible? Of course not. But is the smart money on you being right on this or Calhoun? Blaney was an outstanding coach at Holy Cross. Period. Both by record and what people thought of him. And Holy Cross was at a higher level then than it is now. (Probably A-10 equivalent.) He was no more than fair at Seton Hall, and certainly failed in the program's eyes, but there are certainly good reasons why coaches aren't likely to succeed at Seton Hall.
Slow down, he made the NCAA tournament three times at Holy Cross and won 0 games in the tournament. They played in the ECC, MAAC and Patriot League, not exactly the ACC. Blaney took over in 1972: Following the team's championsip years in the 1950s, the Crusaders have been ranked only occasionally by the Associated Press. After appearing in 65 of 116 total weekly polls (56%) in the 1950s, the Crusaders appeared in only 5 of 126 weekly polls (4%) in the 1960s and 9 of 148 (6%) in the 1970s. The Crusaders have not been ranked nationally since 1977. Is he your grandfather?
Are you serious? You think there was a 68 team tournament those years? You think A-10 schools are routinely ranked? He was a good coach. Find someone who covered New England basketball in the 70s and early 80s who didn't think he was a good coach and then talk to me. Instead of trying to reinvent that career a generation later. And yes -- anyone who disagrees with ludicrous crap thrown at a good individual must have skin in the game. God forbid there are people who just think you should make sure you are correct before blasting another human being.
That is a good assessment. Blaney was well respected at Holy Cross. In fact, he did a pretty nice job of reviving the Holy Cross program which was struggling in the later years of Jack Donahue's tenure. Donahue was a good coach, I think but his teams never could quite get over th ehump against first BC during the Cousy years, they Providence, and UMass and UCONN.
The program was in the dumps until Willard took over. Even if he was a "good" coach in the 70s and 80s you seem to think that is relevant now. It is not. Do you want to hire Rollie Massimino? The game has changed. Anyone who has a clue about basketball could tell you that his coaching over this stretch has been terrible. I am not saying he is bad person, I am sure he is a great guy, but if my best friend worked for me and could not get the job done I wouldn't sit here and ignorantly defend his job performance while my company went down the ****ter.
Well, if I by your definition don't know anything about basketball why in the world are you engaging me? He is not whom I would hire to be UConn's coach. I am not claiming that he is today the same coach he was when at Holy Cross. I am merely saying that there is mot likely a reason Calhoun has handed him, and not Lefty, KO or Hobbs, the reigns, and that in any event George Blaney is not really coaching the team -- he is babysitting it. Which, given his track record, there is no reason to doubt he is capable of doing. It is Jim Calhoun's team, and it is playing pretty much the same unfortunate way it was playing while Jim Calhoun is on the bench.
It is Jim Calhoun's team, and it is playing pretty much the same unfortunate way it was playing while Jim Calhoun is on the bench.[/quote] With Calhoun coaching we lost 5 games, 3 without Boatright. The loses with Boat were to ND and GTown, pretty good teams. Blaney has lost 5 games already, all with Boatright, to teams like Seton Hall and Ruty. Not sure how that is the same????? But hey he is a good guy so why question he is ability to "babysit"
Blaney is probably just JC's little Massachusett's binkey who gives him the warm and fuzzies as the ying to his yang. Well this yang ain't meant to be the head of the dragon at a top tier D1 program - at this point probably better off in a pair of yellow slacks with a 9 iron down in Palm Beach.
I think you have no idea what you're talking about. In a time when it was much tougher to get to the NCAA tournament, there were only 32 teams in 1977, Blaney got Holy Cross there for the first time in 21 years. Yeah, they lost, but unlike today's seeding, they ended up against the favorite, Michigan in the first round. That wouldn't have been the matchup in the "modern" tournament, either. Seeding actually began the following year. Prior to that teams were assigned mostly by geography with some modifications for balance, to avoid playing on your home court (Rupp arena was a venue so Kentucky played in the East that year and holy Cross was sent to play in Rupp). he got back 2 additional times, in 1980 in a 48 team format and 1993 by which the 64 team field had been established. he also went to a bunch of NITs when the NIT still meant something. And he did it at a time when Holy Cross, under Fr. Brooks, was de-emphasising athletics.
Except for a few differences: You and I didn't play Div 1 college basketball and spend a dozen years in the NBA runing the offense. College is a lot more about recruiting than x's and o's. Ollie deserves a shot even if he only has a 2 year window.
well at least we can all agree that "Calhoun should seriously reach out to Brad Stevens" is probably one of the stupidest posts we've seen here in recent history.
