Rodney Purvis on campus

[8893]

Love me some Purvis for having the courage to speak the truth.

He’s obviously free to say whatever he wants, however he wants, but I think it would be a lot more courageous for him to address it directly with Kevin Ollie instead of serially subtweeting him about it eight years later.

 

[krinklecut]

That “something” was his divorce

Or the same shift in whatever it was also lead to the dissolution of his marriage. We don’t know!

 

[Huskybass]

He’s obviously free to say whatever he wants, however he wants, but I think it would be a lot more courageous for him to address it directly with Kevin Ollie instead of serially subtweeting him about it eight years later.

Please. You apologists are really something else. The guy totally quit doing his job and collected millions of dollars anyway. Why do you think the players transferred out en masse? They saw that the guy was completely inept. The fact that some of you people can't see this 4 years later is mind-boggling. He was never qualified to be a head coach and Shabazz absolutely was running the show. I am so glad that Purvis called him out.

I'd love to hear George bBaney's honest take. Unfortunately, he is probably too much of a gentleman and too tactful to ever do that.

 

[aburks41]

Or the same shift in whatever it was also lead to the dissolution of his marriage. We don’t know!

Him being a cheat was not just contained to his coaching job. Let’s just leave it at that…

 

[8893]

Please. You apologists are really something else. The guy totally quit doing his job and collected millions of dollars anyway. Why do you think the players transferred out en masse? They saw that the guy was completely inept. The fact that some of you people can't see this 4 years later is mind-boggling. He was never qualified to be a head coach and Shabazz absolutely was running the show. I am so glad that Purvis called him out.

You missed my point, but I’m glad you got the chance to reveal yours again, so I’ll make mine on that issue clear— again.

I’m not apologizing for anything. I think Ollie is due some credit for the National Championship and the season prior to that, as well as whatever he did to that point to earn Calhoun’s faith. I saw his coaching and energy, and I saw the change. I don’t think he is due sole credit for those successes, as the athletes, personnel and Calhoun’s continued presence—and some luck—all combined to make it possible. But I think it’s wrong to suggest, as you and many others state repeatedly, that he is due no credit at all.

I also think that he is due the lion’s share of the blame for the death spiral we suffered thereafter. The AAC didn’t help, but he actively hurt the program by not doing his job, and I could see the lack of coaching and the lack of energy. And alienating Calhoun is inexcusable. He deserved to lose his job.

That’s the example that prompted my “black or white” post. I don’t think either situation is an all-or-nothing one.

As for Rodney, unless he has addressed his gripes directly with Ollie himself, what’s been posted here is not what I consider “called him out.” He hasn’t even had the courage to use his name. But I’m not much for tweeting as a way to handle personal issues in any event. That was the point of my reply to you.

 

[Huskybass]

I will defend Ollie's run to my dying day. There is no reason that team with only one NBA player should have won a national championship and it may indeed be the least talented team ever to win a title.

With all that said, I remember being apprehensive as soon as I heard about the divorce and I'm speculating but I think Ollie became more jaded and self-absorbed. His attitude change definitely affected individuals on the team and the staff and the results were subsequent lackluster seasons.

I sincerely wonder "what if Kevin Ollie never was divorced" and I believe if that was an alternate reality, Ollie would still be at UConn but given the circumstances, I'm thrilled Dan Hurley is our coach.

We had the best guards in the country, that's a very big part of winning a National Championship. We also had decades of D1 Head Coach experience on the bench in Blaney, Hobbs, and Miller. As those guys departed, the program declined.

 

[mauconnfan]

Him being a cheat was not just contained to his coaching job. Let’s just leave it at that…

Well done

Reading Rodney’s tweets there seem to have been some issues without a doubt. He I will listen to, Sid I won’t just wasn’t a good basketball player so his fault he didn’t see the court. The fact a player like Rodney didn’t get a lot better would seem to have some legitimacy. But also agree with @8893 he shouldn’t be addressing them on tweets this much after his career. But I like Rodney always did!

 

[UConn990411]

I get his point though. KO is the easy scapegoat for purvo. He may have some valid points. But I’d also like to see him take some accountability for how his career turned out. It’s not KO’s fault he couldn’t stop stepping out of bounds or shof 37% from the field his junior season. KO shares a fair portion of the blame. BUT some of these guys just weren’t good enough. And in the end that may have been KOs greatest flaw. The inability to land UConn level talent. And even in that the AAC played a role. Nothing is black and white

If Purvis was the exception in terms of underachieving players, then sure. But his main point was that they had a lot of talented players over the years, and none of them developing into NBA players is a testament to how poorly that program was run.

I will defend Ollie's run to my dying day. There is no reason that team with only one NBA player should have won a national championship and it may indeed be the least talented team ever to win a title.

With all that said, I remember being apprehensive as soon as I heard about the divorce and I'm speculating but I think Ollie became more jaded and self-absorbed. His attitude change definitely affected individuals on the team and the staff and the results were subsequent lackluster seasons.

I sincerely wonder "what if Kevin Ollie never was divorced" and I believe if that was an alternate reality, Ollie would still be at UConn but given the circumstances, I'm thrilled Dan Hurley is our coach.

I’m not trying to be dismissive of the impact personal matters can have on someone professionally, but he was getting paid millions of dollars to do a job that he stopped putting effort into for years. It feels like an excuse to say the divorce accounted for years of incompetence.

 

[MTBingNinja]

These Ferrari takes are gold!!!!

 

[HooperScooper]

Him being a cheat was not just contained to his coaching job. Let’s just leave it at that…

That was the rumor at the time. None of us know though. Unless someone wants to call Stephanie and ask.

 

[Travelman6]

I’m sure this site will have a field day with this one

Most of us kind of knew that and said as much, even THAT year.

 

[ctchamps]

You missed my point, but I’m glad you got the chance to reveal yours again, so I’ll make mine on that issue clear— again.

I’m not apologizing for anything. I think Ollie is due some credit for the National Championship and the season prior to that, as well as whatever he did to that point to earn Calhoun’s faith. I saw his coaching and energy, and I saw the change. I don’t think he is due sole credit for those successes, as the athletes, personnel and Calhoun’s continued presence—and some luck—all combined to make it possible. But I think it’s wrong to suggest, as you and many others state repeatedly, that he is due no credit at all.

I also think that he is due the lion’s share of the blame for the death spiral we suffered thereafter. The AAC didn’t help, but he actively hurt the program by not doing his job, and I could see the lack of coaching and the lack of energy. And alienating Calhoun is inexcusable. He deserved to lose his job.

That’s the example that prompted my “black or white” post. I don’t think either situation is an all-or-nothing one.

As for Rodney, unless he has addressed his gripes directly with Ollie himself, what’s been posted here is not what I consider “called him out.” He hasn’t even had the courage to use his name. But I’m not much for tweeting as a way to handle personal issues in any event. That was the point of my reply to you.

This link addresses the most salient point that has not been discussed up to this point and that is both Bazz and Boat stated it was KO that convinced them to remain with the program after JC’s retirement and UConn was placed on a post season ban.

No Number 4 if KO wasn’t able to Keep Bazz/Boat

Every thing you state echoes my position. At the very minimum we have no number four if Kevin doesn’t keep those two players. The only way anyone can not give KO any credit is to convince themselves Bazz was lying.

Bazz had a great relationship with KO. The hug they gave each other after winning the NC was genuine. My concern about Bazz speaking out against these tweets is based on the relationship these two had forged after JC retired.

 

[CL82]

It’s amazing how hard so many of us fight to make it seem like every situation is black or white, despite our own lives and experiences repeatedly teaching us that most things are gray.

I suppose that’s true but the absence of anyone coming to KO‘s defense makes me think that the gray may be very dark, like a charcoal gray, in this case.

Well, let’s give it time and see what others say, if anything.

 

[huskyinfl]

If I win the lotto I'm going to lock down courtside seats for the rest of UConn's existence and call it the Rodney purvis out of bounds zone. Ferrari parking only.

 

[CL82]

If Shabazz was our coach in 2014, this is where the season ends imo:

I've said it before, but if nothing else, I think Ollie was the perfect person to manage the relationship between these two Alpha dogs, which was the biggest key to winning that National Championship.

Giving Bazz a breather after after that, and keeping Boat in the game, was a great move, and I don't know if a Calhoun or a Hurley makes that same decision.

LOL, I haven’t seen that in years. The question is would modern refs have given Boat a flopping penalty.

You don’t even I’m not sure if that video is more support for Ollie‘s coaching, or the idea that Bazz was acting as coach.

 

[CL82]

He’s obviously free to say whatever he wants, however he wants, but I think it would be a lot more courageous for him to address it directly with Kevin Ollie instead of serially subtweeting him about it eight years later.

How do you know he hasn’t tried to do exactly that?

 

[ctchamps]

LOL, I haven’t seen that in years. The question is would modern refs have given Boat a flopping penalty.

You don’t even I’m not sure if that video is more support for Ollie‘s coaching, or the idea that Bazz was acting as coachhttps://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaab-the-dagger/set-up-to-fail-when-he-was-hired--uconn-s-kevin-ollie-has-instead-beat-the-odds-062027702.html#origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F&cap=swipe,education&webview=1&dialog=1&viewport=natural&visibilityState=prerender&prerenderSize=1&viewerUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Famp%2Fs%2Fsports-yahoo-com.cdn.ampproject.org%2Fc%2Fs%2Fsports.yahoo.com%2Famphtml%2Fblogs%2Fncaab-the-dagger%2Fset-up-to-fail-when-he-was-hired--uconn-s-kevin-ollie-has-instead-beat-the-odds-062027702.html

To me it shows both. If the rumors were correct at the time there was no love loss between Bazz and Boat.

 

[8893]

How do you know he hasn’t tried to do exactly that?

I don’t. It was an assumption based on the subtweets, which would be even more odd imo if he had already taken it up directly with Ollie.

But it could be incorrect nonetheless. Just like many other assumptions about these issues.

I just don’t see the value in relitigating them now.

 

[Mazhude]

He’s obviously free to say whatever he wants, however he wants, but I think it would be a lot more courageous for him to address it directly with Kevin Ollie instead of serially subtweeting him about it eight years later.

Why does it have to be one or other? Who knows if he already cleared the air with KO long ago? One does not preclude the other...

 

[ctchamps]

So even if I concede that KO did zero coaching after JC retired, as ridiculous as that postulation is because nothing was leaked before the NC, I require proof that Shabazz and Ryan lied about staying with the program because of Kevin, that JC’s only reason for supporting KO after the NC was because he was concerned what the fan base felt about his post retirement handling of the transition, that KO was offered the permanent coaching position because he completely fooled the AD about his coaching. Or proof that players and assistant coaches told the AD that Bazz did it all and the AD ignored all that information. Or that KO had zero to do with bringing in Omar Calhoun, Lasson Kromah or Amida Brimah into the program.

I was as upset as anyone what happened at the end but I need proof to support that KO did nothing to earn credit for that fourth championship.

 

[Mazhude]

I don’t. It was an assumption based on the subtweets, which would be even more odd imo if he had already taken it up directly with Ollie.

But it could be incorrect nonetheless. Just like many other assumptions about these issues.

I just don’t see the value in relitigating them now.

I see immense value in seeing what players who were there living it feel about how things played out. We've been guessing for a long time about a lot of this stuff.

 

[Mazhude]

So even if I concede that KO did zero coaching after JC retired, as ridiculous as that postulation is because nothing was leaked before the NC, I require proof that Shabazz and Ryan lied about staying with the program because of Kevin, that JC’s only reason for supporting KO after the NC was because he was concerned what the fan base felt about his post retirement handling of the transition, that KO was offered the permanent coaching position because he completely fooled the AD about his coaching. Or proof that players and assistant coaches told the AD that Bazz did it all and the AD ignored all that information. Or that KO had zero to do with bringing in Omar Calhoun, Lasson Kromah or Amida Brimah into the program.

I was as upset as anyone what happened at the end but I need proof to support that KO did nothing to earn credit for that fourth championship.

I think the body of work should be all the proof you need.

 

[8893]

I see immense value in seeing what players who were there living it feel about how things played out. We've been guessing for a long time about a lot of this stuff.

Knock yourself out.

Perception is reality.

 

[Alum1620]

This link addresses the most salient point that has not been discussed up to this point and that is both Bazz and Boat stated it was KO that convinced them to remain with the program after JC’s retirement and UConn was placed on a post season ban.

No Number 4 if KO wasn’t able to Keep Bazz/Boat

Every thing you state echoes my position. At the very minimum we have no number four if Kevin doesn’t keep those two players. The only way anyone can not give KO any credit is to convince themselves Bazz was lying.

Bazz had a great relationship with KO. The hug they gave each other after winning the NC was genuine. My concern about Bazz speaking out against these tweets is based on the relationship these two had forged after JC

You speak about a relationship that occurred early in KO’s tenure but most of the tweets occurred after Bazz graduated

 

[Mazhude]

Knock yourself out.

Perception is reality.

Agreed. Players follow a coach or tune him out based on perceptions. Players decide to stay or leave based on perceptions. Players tell other players to follow them or stay away based on perceptions. So, now that I'm all knocked out, who managed perceptions more poorly, me or KO? And psssst, little secret, no one's ever paid me to be a coach...