All things Dan Hurley/UCONN THREAD

[Rhody72]

I have been on the record for a long time that I am an Al Skinner fan......

Anyone who is not an Al Skinner fan is weird.

Except for the UMass part, but we forgave him for that .....But it was very cool that he played with Dr. J. in college.

Al and Dr J played during the era of freshman basketball. Al's freshman year was Julius's last year (he went pro after his Jr year). So, Al and Dr J never actually played on the same team. Al played with little Rickie and his long hair.

[ace]

UCONN has James Bouknight in for an official visit this weekend. They are expecting to get a commitment from Bouknight soon. Hurley was recruiting him for URI when he was here. Bouknight is going to the URI vs UCONN football game today. They are expecting less than 17,000 fans (stadium holds 40,000). The competition for Bouknight is Miami. He visited Miami last weekend and went to their football game where they get about 60,000 fans. UCONN also have the recruits stay in downtown Hartford 30-40 minutes from campus for their entire visit.

The other recruit they have scheduled for a visit is James Gaffney. He is rated #161. They are still in the running for two top 50 prospects but no visits are scheduled. If he doesn’t get one of them, his recruiting class will be very much on the level of URI’s.

The plan seems to be to get 3 recruits in the Fall and then see what happens in the Spring for the other 2 spots, if they’re still open. They’re somewhat still in the mix for Cockburn and Achiuwa, who are said to be signing in the Spring.

Both new coaches are affected by the work their predecessors did (Hurley’s work helps Cox, Ollie’s... not so much). If Hurley can get a class at UConn that’s close to his ‘18 class at URI, I think that’s a win in year one.

We know UConn football sucks. As Dave alluded to earlier this week, Dan’s good at recruiting around bad football.


This was retweeted by Dave, TJ, Jerrell, and the Rhody MBB account, so apologies all if you’re seeing it again.

[Rhody83]

UCONN could end up with a great class if they get two out of three of the prize recruits - Precious, Akok & Cockburn.
Precious seems to be slipping away.
Ace, how come you left off Akok?
If they end up with Bouknight and Gaffney, not so great.
I am surprised by the low number of OV in Sept for UCONN based on all the players they are involved with.

[Billyboy78]

Is that Tom Moore on the right? Yuck. He's not family to URI.

[Rhody83]

He is family to Dan though

[Billyboy78]

He is family to Dan though

The corrupt older brother?

[ace]

He is family to Dan though

Not really.

In a world where Moore is still st Quinnipiac, Hurley still takes the UConn job.

UCONN could end up with a great class if they get two out of three of the prize recruits - Precious, Akok & Cockburn.
Precious seems to be slipping away.
Ace, how come you left off Akok?
If they end up with Bouknight and Gaffney, not so great.
I am surprised by the low number of OV in Sept for UCONN based on all the players they are involved with.

I would be pleasantly surprised by two top 50 recruits in year one, not what I expect. They have five open spots. They’re not going to end up with just Bouknight and Gaffney, although I imagine it’s possible they’ll be their first two commits. It’s September 15. I’m not judging anyone’s class yet. Again, a top 30ish class like his ‘18 at URI would be a nice start. I didn’t mention Akok because I don’t know his plans whereas Achiuwa and Cockburn have been pretty clear about visiting and committing later.

[TruePoint]

I wouldn’t be mad if Tom Moore got hit by a bus.

[Rhody83]

I agree they will end up with 4 or more recruits. Dan will just keep dropping down the list if he doesn’t get his priority recruits.
If Bouknight and Gaffney are his top two recruits, the UCONN fans wont be happy.
I watched Bouknight play several times last year with Dana. He didn’t do much.

I a separate note. I am surprised by the empty football stadiums in tweets and IG post from basketball recruits - Pitt is completely empty and so is Indiana. UCONN was under 17,000 today and half the crowd didn’t comeback for the 2nd half.

[ATPTourFan]

I wouldn’t be mad if Tom Moore got hit by a bus.

Friar Talk board will quote that post and say the "mods" here want people to die. Book it.

[TruePoint]

Haha they did something like that with me a few years ago. Some people have no sense of humor.

[Billyboy78]

I saw MacDuffie 3 times, I think, last year. Bouknight was the 3rd best player on the team behind Dana and Massoud. We'll see which one is the main guy this year with Dana gone.

[Rhody83]

I felt Bouknight was 3rd also. Two of the games I saw Dana was the best player for MacDuffie.

[reef]

That is a great pic of course minus Slimy Tommy Moore !!

[Rhode_Island_Red]

Haha they did something like that with me a few years ago. Some people have no sense of humor.

That's what happens when you stay too long at the mental hospital -- kind of like the ending to "One Flew Over the Kuckoo's Nest."

[Iggy1979]

Ace: I think your expectations are low. There's no reason Hurley couldn't land a top rated recruiting class

[ace]

Ace: I think your expectations are low. There's no reason Hurley couldn't land a top rated recruiting class

And I would be thrilled! My expectation for 2019, though, is a class similar to his ‘18 Rhode Island class, so somewhere around top 30ish. Time will tell, but some of their targeted bigs are in no hurry to commit anywhere.

But that’s how I do sports. Keep expectations low, then celebrate when they are surpassed.

[Rhody72]

Dan;s gone - so should this thread.

[Running Ram]

Seriously get rid of this thread, can we please move on? It sort of makes us look silly. Lock it up and let it fade

[rambone 78]

Yeah I think it's time to put this to rest....

hey we've never had threads on any of our other ex coaches...…

unless you count Baron 2.0 lol...….

[Rhody83]

First Brandon Adams and now Bouknight. I thought Dan went to UCONN to recruit a higher level player than he could get at URI.

[ace]

stay pressed, 83

[NYGFan_Section208]

I think bitching about it makes people look silly. Don't read it or don't post on it and it will disappear. If it doesn't, it's because some like it. I find it interesting and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

I don't like Hazelnut coffee, but it's still there staring at me on the menu every day and those bast@rds at Dunkin' keep serving it anyway.,.

[Running Ram]

Whatever, keep glorifying our former coach by giving him his own ongoing thread. It's cool. I really don't post on it and when it was relevant my only two posts were in regards to my hopes the thread would fade away, which is still might hope, but if you guys want to continue sucking dan hurley's wind, have it. I love Hazelnut, but screw Dunkin'

[Rhody83]

I love Dunkin but not Hazzelnut.

[NYGFan_Section208]

I love Dunkin but not Hazzelnut.

Same.

[reef]

Some breaking news about NCAA files charges against Ollie so I guess that's good news for UConn so they may not have to pay him ???

[CT Rhody]

Some breaking news about NCAA files charges against Ollie so I guess that's good news for UConn so they may not have to pay him ???

If true, how does the school go without substantial penalties as well?

[Rhody83]

The university was not cited as a culprit in the notice of allegations.

"The NCAA's notice of allegations is part of a process we have been expecting," the university said in a statement. "We believe its allegations are consistent with our original, internal findings and our joint investigative work with the enforcement staff. We maintain that the actions we have taken to date remain appropriate and consistent with the type, nature, and severity of the levied allegations.

[Rhode_Island_Red]

The university was not cited as a culprit in the notice of allegations.

"The NCAA's notice of allegations is part of a process we have been expecting," the university said in a statement. "We believe its allegations are consistent with our original, internal findings and our joint investigative work with the enforcement staff. We maintain that the actions we have taken to date remain appropriate and consistent with the type, nature, and severity of the levied allegations.

I guess "lack of institutional control" doesn't matter when a school works out a "self-report" deal with the NCAA to avoid paying $10 million it doesn't have. Kind of like the spy who kills one of his own to show he's not a spy.

[Rhody83]

I don’t think UCONN did anything wrong. Unless you can prove they knew of the violations and hid them/didn’t report them. These aren’t major violations. UCONN’s position is they self reported when they found out about them. I believe they self reported during the year (way before firing Ollie).

[SmartyBarrett]

Here's a good rundown.

https://deadspin.com/report-kevin-ollie ... 1829412795

[CT Rhody]

I don’t think UCONN did anything wrong. Unless you can prove they knew of the violations and hid them/didn’t report them. These aren’t major violations. UCONN’s position is they self reported when they found out about them. I believe they self reported during the year (way before firing Ollie).

Lack of institutional control is what the NCAA hits every school, don’t understand how reporting some violations allows a school out in this process. If Uconn doesn’t get penalized just as severely as other schools have been for similar type infractions, than the NCAA is a wrong in this instance.

[Rhody83]

If the infractions are small AND the school self reports. I am not an expert on NCAA violations. UCONN got hit hard before when their Ast Coach was acused of more serious violations.

[TruePoint]

As much as I hate UConn, I don’t think they should be severely punished based on the NCAA’s findings. However, also because of the minor nature of the violations, I don’t think it is reasonable for them to claim they fired Ollie for cause. They fired him for performance and tried to create “for cause” pretext using these minor, trivial infractions that probably shouldn’t even be against the rules. They should have to pay Ollie his money.

[Rhody83]

As much as I hate UConn, I don’t think they should be severely punished based on the NCAA’s findings. However, also because of the minor nature of the violations, I don’t think it is reasonable for them to claim they fired Ollie for cause. They fired him for performance and tried to create “for cause” pretext using these minor, trivial infractions that probably shouldn’t even be against the rules. They should have to pay Ollie his money.

I agree but Ollie signed a contract with zero tolerance and he knew he violated rules on three occasions - sending players to Atlanta to workout with a professional trainer, having Ray Allen talk to a recruit on the phone and shooting baskets with a recruit during his visit. He violated his contract. I realize if he was winning they wouldn’t have fired him for those violations but that isn't how contracts work. You don’t get what ifs.

[adam914]

That list of violations is ridiculous. It says more about how much of a joke the NCAA is then anything about Ollie.

[Rhody83]

Guessing Hurley isn’t using any more UConn football games as part of official visits. UConn lost 49-7 at home today. They are 0-4 vs FBS teams losing by an average of 44 points. Not going to help that deficit in the Athletic Dept budget either.

[ace]

Guess Dan will have to change his recruiting strategy, as football success was such a cornerstone of his URI recruiting pitch. The NCAA gets cranky when you lie to them. Own up, and this probably isn’t a thing for Ollie, personally. He is and has been in a rough spot. And, read the room, KO- in that situation, be on your best behavior. Chris Mack knows that. The UConn program is most likely to lose a scholarship for next season or have some recruiting travel restrictions. Ollie seems to have really wanted to be the UConn head coach, which is understandable, but not to have to actually do all that is required of the job. I kind of wonder if Chris Mullin is following a similar path, not with allegations but with commitment.

[rhodylaw]

Honestly it seems like these “self-reported” NCAA issues were a direct result of UConn sucking. Would UConn self report these violations about Jim Calhoun? It was an excuse to fire the coach without paying him. I really like DH, he is a good coach, he better do really well or watch his back at UConn. I still would have waited for Cuse job if I was him.

[adam914]

I really like DH, he is a good coach, he better do really well or watch his back at UConn.

Can't this kind of be said about every legit D1 job in the country though? Usually if you don't do really well you are going to be in trouble. Unless your name is Baron of course!

I really doubt Hurley went to UConn expecting to be given a job for life even if he loses every year.

[reef]

They will give him time and I think he will turn it around. I can see him dancing by year 3. If no dancing by year 4 the natives will be getting restless ????

[rambone 78]

If they don't make the tourney by year 2 the natives will be getting restless, for sure.

Year 3 or 4? He would be in really deep if that happens.

The pressure to win there is 10x what it was here.

[bigappleram]

My prediction is he is tourney bound either year 2 or 3 tops. You bet based on data, the data says Dan will win since he has done it at every job he's had. High school, low major, mid major and no reason to believe it won't extend to Uconn.

[RF1]

I really like DH, he is a good coach, he better do really well or watch his back at UConn.

Can't this kind of be said about every legit D1 job in the country though? Usually if you don't do really well you are going to be in trouble. Unless your name is Baron of course!

I really doubt Hurley went to UConn expecting to be given a job for life even if he loses every year.

Coaches have pressure on them all the time and often get fired. Hurley knew this going to Storrs. Based on the ugliness of what happened with their firing of Ollie, an alumnus that won a national championship, I am sure Dan is aware of the pratfalls. I would think he knows all his actions and anger outbursts are being closely monitored and documented for future use toward a possible firing with cause so the school can get out of paying him if he does not succeed enough on the court.

[Rhody83]

Dan will win at UCONN. This year is a wash year (not his players). He is getting a top Recruiting class this year. They will show promise next year and be very good the following year. They aren’t firing him. The AD would have to lose his job first. They can’t afford to pay the $2.5 million per year they would owe him.

[RF1]

Dan will win at UCONN. This year is a wash year (not his players). He is getting a top Recruiting class this year. They will show promise next year and be very good the following year. They aren’t firing him. The AD would have to lose his job first. They can’t afford to pay the $2.5 million per year they would owe him.

No problem. UConn doesn't pay fired coaches. If they don't continually succeed, the school trumps up a reason for just cause, publicly humiliates them, and screws them over by refusing to pay their contract buyout.

[rhodyruckus]

I think Dan and anyone with common sense would walk into the UConn situation knowing that it is high profile and there are risks. The only problem with UConn from a head coach's standpoint versus the other major jobs is the "walking the walk" part from the administration. When Tom Crean was under-performing at Indiana, they had no problem giving him a $4 million buyout and sending him on his way, with little fanfare. It seems based on the Ollie situation that UConn is either not operating under the same financial comfort and/or just doesn't have the people up top prioritizing running a smooth ship versus getting every last nickel from the program.

They must be bleeding cash from the football program, whereas a majority of the schools in the P5 conferences can actually use proceeds from gate attendance, TV contracts etc to fund the basketball program even after paying for football-centric expenses. Basketball and not football is the cash cow, which is fine for smaller Catholic schools from their former conference, but is a tough thing to come by for a state school.

[Da_Process_Survivor]

the natives will get restless when the shine wears off and they see that while being able to recruit and being good at the "rah rah", his in game coaching and adjustments leaves much to be desired.

you can out talent teams in the A10 and mask that...you cant against the teams UConn expects to play against.

[rjsuperfly66]

I think Dan and anyone with common sense would walk into the UConn situation knowing that it is high profile and there are risks. The only problem with UConn from a head coach's standpoint versus the other major jobs is the "walking the walk" part from the administration. When Tom Crean was under-performing at Indiana, they had no problem giving him a $4 million buyout and sending him on his way, with little fanfare. It seems based on the Ollie situation that UConn is either not operating under the same financial comfort and/or just doesn't have the people up top prioritizing running a smooth ship versus getting every last nickel from the program.

They must be bleeding cash from the football program, whereas a majority of the schools in the P5 conferences can actually use proceeds from gate attendance, TV contracts etc to fund the basketball program even after paying for football-centric expenses. Basketball and not football is the cash cow, which is fine for smaller Catholic schools from their former conference, but is a tough thing to come by for a state school.

The Big10 is bringing in something like $50 million a year from their TV contracts. The AAC is bringing in like $2 million. It's definitely about the financials. Football schools can't compete with the TV revenue being generated by the P5, and that trickles into basketball. That's why they would all run if offered, even if the geographics made no sense (such as UCONN trying to join the Big10 or even worse, the Big12).