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Who Will Coach For The UConn Men? Dan Hurley, Jim Calhoun Expected To Be On The School's Radar

http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-mens...story.html

"Calhoun will be 76 in May. He probably wouldn’t sign for more than two years, and a coach that age, with a short contract, could make recruiting even more challenging for UConn, which suffers from its loss of prestige and the change in conferences to the American Athletic Conference."


UCONN is considering bring back Calhoun if they cannot land a top coach this year.

Sports media and UCONN fans constantly decry the loss of prestige from moving to the AAC as a reason for their decline. Talk about a "woe is me" attitude. Dan Wolken pointed out on twitter yesterday that Cincinnati has remained nationally relevent in the AAC as a counter to that line of thought. It hasn't been easy, but UCONN did win the National Championship just 4 years ago. National Champs to losing team with a losing culture....that's quite the decline. Perhaps it's something more than being in the AAC...

Perhaps with the lower AAC payouts, there is less money available for their recruiting bagmen.

(03-11-2018 11:57 AM)Bruce Monnin Wrote:  Perhaps with the lower AAC payouts, there is less money available for their recruiting bagmen.

They just had a 4 star PG decommit because the Ollie firing.

(03-11-2018 08:41 AM)jarr Wrote:  Apparently UL folks seem pretty confident that Mack is all but a done deal. There seems to be a lot of reports floating out there that seem to confirm this. Where does X turn if Mack leaves? Other than Matta, I think all of their coaches have been hired internally going back to Staak. Do they hire Bill Murray's kid?

Mack is never leaving. He’s a lifer on Victory Parkway

(03-11-2018 12:39 PM)Billy_Bearcat Wrote:  

(03-11-2018 08:41 AM)jarr Wrote:  Apparently UL folks seem pretty confident that Mack is all but a done deal. There seems to be a lot of reports floating out there that seem to confirm this. Where does X turn if Mack leaves? Other than Matta, I think all of their coaches have been hired internally going back to Staak. Do they hire Bill Murray's kid?

Mack is never leaving. He’s a lifer on Victory Parkway

I wouldn't be so sure.

(03-11-2018 09:17 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  

(03-11-2018 08:41 AM)jarr Wrote:  Apparently UL folks seem pretty confident that Mack is all but a done deal. There seems to be a lot of reports floating out there that seem to confirm this. Where does X turn if Mack leaves? Other than Matta, I think all of their coaches have been hired internally going back to Staak. Do they hire Bill Murray's kid?

Travis Steele

My best guess as well at this point.

(03-11-2018 10:21 AM)Cat-Man Wrote:  

(03-11-2018 08:41 AM)jarr Wrote:  Apparently UL folks seem pretty confident that Mack is all but a done deal. There seems to be a lot of reports floating out there that seem to confirm this. Where does X turn if Mack leaves? Other than Matta, I think all of their coaches have been hired internally going back to Staak. Do they hire Bill Murray's kid?

Pat Kelsey.

I think Steele is more likely even though Kelsey is a grad.

(03-11-2018 12:52 PM)BcatMatt13 Wrote:  

(03-11-2018 12:39 PM)Billy_Bearcat Wrote:  

(03-11-2018 08:41 AM)jarr Wrote:  Apparently UL folks seem pretty confident that Mack is all but a done deal. There seems to be a lot of reports floating out there that seem to confirm this. Where does X turn if Mack leaves? Other than Matta, I think all of their coaches have been hired internally going back to Staak. Do they hire Bill Murray's kid?

Mack is never leaving. He’s a lifer on Victory Parkway

I wouldn't be so sure.

Agreed. I don't think Mack is looking to leave, but UL could triple his salary. Plus iirc, his wife is from the city and her family remains there.

Would Steele be a continuation of the Sean Miller/Book Richardson recruiting philosophy?

Interesting...

Quote:Report: Georgia has offered Thad Matta its basketball coaching job

https://www.dawgnation.com/mens-basketba...ium=Social

(03-13-2018 09:54 AM)eroc Wrote:  Interesting...

Quote:Report: Georgia has offered Thad Matta its basketball coaching job

https://www.dawgnation.com/mens-basketba...ium=Social

Strange move. Matta had OSU on a huge downward trend his last several years and he's in poor physical health. That seems like a Jim Harrick type UGA hire again to me. Bringing in a guy who has had past success but is now in full blown retirement mode.

(03-13-2018 10:59 AM)Marcus Wrote:  

(03-13-2018 09:54 AM)eroc Wrote:  Interesting...

Quote:Report: Georgia has offered Thad Matta its basketball coaching job

https://www.dawgnation.com/mens-basketba...ium=Social

Strange move. Matta had OSU on a huge downward trend his last several years and he's in poor physical health. That seems like a Jim Harrick type UGA hire again to me. Bringing in a guy who has had past success but is now in full blown retirement mode.

Agreed! Baffling if true.

I think that could be a good hire....possibly GA's version of Tennessee's Rick Barnes' career rejuvenation.

(03-13-2018 10:59 AM)Marcus Wrote:  

(03-13-2018 09:54 AM)eroc Wrote:  Interesting...

Quote:Report: Georgia has offered Thad Matta its basketball coaching job

https://www.dawgnation.com/mens-basketba...ium=Social

Strange move. Matta had OSU on a huge downward trend his last several years and he's in poor physical health. That seems like a Jim Harrick type UGA hire again to me. Bringing in a guy who has had past success but is now in full blown retirement mode.

I was never impressed with Matta. He parlayed someone else's players into success in all 3 of his coaching stops at Butler, XU and OSU. Granted, he took over a 14-16 OSU team, but they had some good young talent with JJ Sullinger and future B10 POY Terence Dials already on the roster. He did land the "Thad 5", but I'm not sure how much that had to do with him as much as it had to do with O$U's deep pockets.

(03-13-2018 11:14 AM)Cat-Man Wrote:  

(03-13-2018 10:59 AM)Marcus Wrote:  

(03-13-2018 09:54 AM)eroc Wrote:  Interesting...

Quote:Report: Georgia has offered Thad Matta its basketball coaching job

https://www.dawgnation.com/mens-basketba...ium=Social

Strange move. Matta had OSU on a huge downward trend his last several years and he's in poor physical health. That seems like a Jim Harrick type UGA hire again to me. Bringing in a guy who has had past success but is now in full blown retirement mode.

I was never impressed with Matta. He parlayed someone else's players into success in all 3 of his coaching stops at Butler, XU and OSU. Granted, he took over a 14-16 OSU team, but they had some good young talent with JJ Sullinger and future B10 POY Terence Dials already on the roster. He did land the "Thad 5", but I'm not sure how much that had to do with him as much as it had to do with O$U's deep pockets.

At osu he did inherit some talent. However, he also had his best recruiting class. Lots rumors about how he landed some of those kids though.

He should stick to chasing smurfs...

(03-13-2018 11:12 AM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  I think that could be a good hire....possibly GA's version of Tennessee's Rick Barnes' career rejuvenation.

Barnes has always been a far better X's and O's coach that Matta IMO. Big difference between the two from that standpoint.

(03-13-2018 11:14 AM)Cat-Man Wrote:  

(03-13-2018 10:59 AM)Marcus Wrote:  

(03-13-2018 09:54 AM)eroc Wrote:  Interesting...

Quote:Report: Georgia has offered Thad Matta its basketball coaching job

https://www.dawgnation.com/mens-basketba...ium=Social

Strange move. Matta had OSU on a huge downward trend his last several years and he's in poor physical health. That seems like a Jim Harrick type UGA hire again to me. Bringing in a guy who has had past success but is now in full blown retirement mode.

I was never impressed with Matta. He parlayed someone else's players into success in all 3 of his coaching stops at Butler, XU and OSU. Granted, he took over a 14-16 OSU team, but they had some good young talent with JJ Sullinger and future B10 POY Terence Dials already on the roster. He did land the "Thad 5", but I'm not sure how much that had to do with him as much as it had to do with O$U's deep pockets.

Agreed. I'm sure he'll have no problem getting involved with the AAU $cene in Atlanta, but he's been underachieving now for several years with elite talent at OSU. And I think people overlook his health issues as well. They are pretty serious. I'd be shocked if he wins consistently at UGA when he wasn't able to do so anymore at OSU.

Yeah but he didn't exactly keep the welcome mat in pristine condition in his time at Texas. I see a lot of similarities in those types of hires if GA snags Matta. Matta would likely bring a pretty stout staff as well.

SEC schools have made it dear that the guys they are hiring and paying commensurately raise the profile considerably. Alabama, Auburn, Mississippi State, Tennessee, etc. have all raised the bar with splashy hires in the past few years rather than the up and comer from a smaller conference. They are snagging guys who have experience and hardware. GA is now trying to do the same. Would not be surprised to see Ole Miss try to get a big upgrade over AK, too.

(03-13-2018 11:39 AM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  Yeah but he didn't exactly keep the welcome mat in pristine condition in his time at Texas. I see a lot of similarities in those types of hires if GA snags Matta. Matta would likely bring a pretty stout staff as well.

There are a lot of hires like that, which typically don't work out too well when they are on the downward spiral of their career. Tennessee just got lucky that it worked with Barnes. While he had success at Texas I'm not sure he was ever a great "fit" there. Places like Clemson and Tennessee are much better fits for him being from a small town in Western NC and all. I think a culture change is what he needed and he found the right fit. As for Matta, who knows, but he's a Midwest guy and I really do think people are overlooking the health issues.

(03-13-2018 11:44 AM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  Would not be surprised to see Ole Miss try to get a big upgrade over AK, too.

Starting to sound like they are going to be hiring Kermit Davis from MTSU.