So who still thinks Shaka Smart is not a good coach?

[freescooter]

I posted a while ago that Smart would be a good replacement for Calhoun. I got lots of pushback that he was unproven, he would struggle against better competition and other similar nonsense. So given that he finished the regular season 26-8, got to the A-10 finals in his first year in the league, finished ahead of Butler and has a 5 seed in the upcoming Tournament, anyone still think he isn't a terrific coach? Reminds me of a young Jim Calhoun. Of course we have Kevin Ollie who is probably going to be fine. Probably will win 20 games a year from now until he retires at UConn.

 

[Bryan Lord]

Yea he's good. Did anyone not think he was good though?

 

[businesslawyer]

Either Smart or Stevens would have been an excellent coach at Uconn for the simple reason that they are both excellent coaches. We got a coach who should also be an excellent coach who we also believe should be a good fit for this particular program.

You need to pick a fight over nothing tournament week why?

 

[WhereistheDove?]

I don't remember anyone saying he wasn't a good coach. I remember plenty of people saying they'd rather have Ollie or that Shaka wasn't the guaranteed superstar coach that some of his supporters were making him out to be, but those are two VERY different things. I believe you're being a little overdramatic here.

 

[Dogdeacon]

I told you so?! Really.

I think most basketball fans acknowledge that Smart is a good coach last year and no one expected him to fall on his @ss this year.

But isn't your entire point based on the fact that you think UConn should have hired him? Don't they have to at least conduct a coaching search and interview him for those points to be valid? To post here nyah nyah told you so that UConn should have inquired about, interviewed then tried to hire Shaka Smart is so deep into never-never fantasy land its hardly worth even a post on an inane message board. They never conducted a search. We never got to hear about who they'd consider. We never got to hear about who was interested. No interviews or feedback therefrom. No offers extended. No acceptance.

Bottom line is Jim Calhoun picked the coach not you and he made a DAMN good choice. Deal with it.

 

[superjohn]

I've never heard anyone say that Shaka Smart isn't a good coach, all anyone ever says is what a great coach he is. Does anyone still think Kevin Ollie is not a good coach?

 

[UConn5]

Shaka is a great coach and if Ollie wasn't a viable option he would have been my choice for the position. There were rumors last year that Shaka wanted the UConn position badly and that was why he turned down the Illinois job, although I don't he actually turned down Illinois on the basis of the wish of UConn when JC hadn't even retired yet.

 

[HobokenHusky]

I posted a while ago that Smart would be a good replacement for Calhoun. I got lots of pushback that he was unproven, he would struggle against better competition and other similar nonsense. So given that he finished the regular season 26-8, got to the A-10 finals in his first year in the league, finished ahead of Butler and has a 5 seed in the upcoming Tournament, anyone still think he isn't a terrific coach? Reminds me of a young Jim Calhoun. Of course we have Kevin Ollie who is probably going to be fine. Probably will win 20 games a year from now until he retires at UConn.

He's a phenomenal coach, anyone who says that he is not is misguided.

Ollie appears to be a very good coach in his own right already and will only get better.

He also has UConn blood running through his veins and would gladly stay here another 25 years. His hiring also appeased basically every significant alumni that is tied to the program, and created goodwill.

That last paragraph is the key. Even if Smart ends up the better coach, we made the right hire.

 

[SoCalCanine]

cmon guys, you're being hard on free here, after all he has a long wait for the next Husky loss, he HAS to post about something!!!

 

[HuskyBballFan]

Typical strawman argument from freescooter.

 

[Inyatkin]

Maybe people said he was unproven because -- follow along here -- at the time he was unproven. Now he's proven. Fire Ollie!

 

[Kitaman]

Let it go............................

 

[Bryan Lord]

Fire HCKO!

 

[Gurleyman]

I posted a while ago that Smart would be a good replacement for Calhoun. I got lots of pushback that he was unproven, he would struggle against better competition and other similar nonsense. So given that he finished the regular season 26-8, got to the A-10 finals in his first year in the league, finished ahead of Butler and has a 5 seed in the upcoming Tournament, anyone still think he isn't a terrific coach? Reminds me of a young Jim Calhoun. Of course we have Kevin Ollie who is probably going to be fine. Probably will win 20 games a year from now until he retires at UConn.

He's a great coach, no question. But the guy who did great at VCU before Smart was a great coach too - he recruited all those guys that Smart took to the Final Four - and he went to Alabama and hasn't done anything there. And the guy at VCU before that was a good coach too, and went to Oklahoma but got canned there. You just never know how it translates. It's one thing to take your program into a slightly better conference and maintain continuity with your system and players, and another to take over a new program and try to duplicate the same success. Look at Todd Lickliter, too - left Butler for Iowa and lasted 3 years.

The "we should have hired this guy" theory also carries with it the assumption that the guy would want the job. With our conference uncertainty, a hot coach on everyone's wish list would have probably waited out a more stable situation. There were unsubstantiated rumors Smart had his eyes on UConn, but that was before the conference realignment left UConn without a chair. A new president, new AD and no conference makes for a tough sell to someone who isn't desperate.

 

[Palatine]

I posted a while ago that Smart would be a good replacement for Calhoun. I got lots of pushback that he was unproven, he would struggle against better competition and other similar nonsense. So given that he finished the regular season 26-8, got to the A-10 finals in his first year in the league, finished ahead of Butler and has a 5 seed in the upcoming Tournament, anyone still think he isn't a terrific coach? Reminds me of a young Jim Calhoun. Of course we have Kevin Ollie who is probably going to be fine. Probably will win 20 games a year from now until he retires at UConn.

I don't think there was any push back. I don't recall anyone saying he would struggle.

I do recall much support for Olllie.

 

[8893]

Smart was my preferred choice to replace JC until the day KO was introduced as our new head coach. As soon as I heard and saw KO that day I knew we got another great one, too.

 

[upstater]

Does anyone still think Kevin Ollie is not a good coach?

There are at least two redundant questions asked in this thread.

 

[LeeOtisWilson]

If SN leaves we will see how good of a coach KO is. You cannot judge a coach from the prior coach's recruits.

Looking at the team without SN though it will be a .500 year at best

 

[upstater]

If SN leaves we will see how good of a coach KO is. You cannot judge a coach from the prior coach's recruits.

Looking at the team without SN though it will be a .500 year at best

I agree. Shaka Smart deserves absolutely no credit for the Final 4.

 

[Gurleyman]

If SN leaves we will see how good of a coach KO is. You cannot judge a coach from the prior coach's recruits.

Looking at the team without SN though it will be a .500 year at best

Too simplistic of an argument. You can learn a lot about a coach, but you're right - admittedly you can't get a full picture. However, if your take is that a coach can be only evaluated when he has only his own recruits, then never mind SN, we won't be able to truly judge Ollie until Facey-Samuel-Brimah are seniors and his other classes are behind them (and even this class was put together with a very late start).

Many also thought we were looking at a .500 season this year even with Napier.

 

[phillionaire]

So who thinks Kevin Ollie isn't a good coach?

 

[HuskyBballFan]

If SN leaves we will see how good of a coach KO is. You cannot judge a coach from the prior coach's recruits.

Looking at the team without SN though it will be a .500 year at best

LOL. Welcome to the board. You'll fit right in.

 

[mauconnfan]

If SN leaves we will see how good of a coach KO is. You cannot judge a coach from the prior coach's recruits.

Looking at the team without SN though it will be a .500 year at best

Agreed.......this was a great returning team after losing 4 starters from last years team AND they had so much to play for!!

 

[SeattleHoop]

I agree. That is why I picked VCU to win the national championship in my bracket.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

If SN leaves we will see how good of a coach KO is. You cannot judge a coach from the prior coach's recruits.

Looking at the team without SN though it will be a .500 year at best

That's what most of us were saying about this season.