Hurley, Crean, Pikiell

[MadRU]

What we do know:

Pikiell loves Rutgers
Pikiell loves his players
Pikiell thinks very highly of his staff
Pikiell has tremendous respect and confidence in AD Hobbs
Pikiell as much as anyone is pushing the Practice Facility and all its positives moving the program forward.
Pikiell just signed a contract extension with a high buyout.
Pikiell loves competing in the B1G, always saying its the best athletic and academic conference in the country

 

[TRU2RU]

4 things we don't know
1. How much interest UCONN has
2. what Pikiell's feelings are regarding how hard it is getting quality players to come to RU
3. Pikiell's true feelings about current roster
4. Pikiell's feelings about moving family

I don't know thew answer to these so i don't know whether him leaving is feasible.

One thing we do know: Pikiell just agreed to a contract with a huge buyout & I am sure that if he had plans on leaving he would have forced RU to lower the buyout clause.

 

[LevaosLectures]

AAC is not a bad league when it comes to quality of teams. Their problems are more due to money and lack of TV exposure.

Exactly this. Nothing really wrong with the basketball so much. It's also a decent football conference which makes it a much better home for UConn overall than the Big East.

 

[Plum Street]

If pike did leave, who would we go after as HC? Take another run at Danny Hurley ? Or go with knight or Hobbs?
I don’t think pike is going anywhere .

 

[higgins3]

Ten dollar dog bet that Pikiell is not going anywhere.

 

[Ruthinking]

AAC is not a bad league when it comes to quality of teams. Their problems are more due to money and lack of TV exposure.

So if they had ham, they could have ham and eggs...if they had eggs.

 

[RUJMM78]

4 things we don't know
1. How much interest UCONN has
2. what Pikiell's feelings are regarding how hard it is getting quality players to come to RU
3. Pikiell's true feelings about current roster
4. Pikiell's feelings about moving family

I don't know thew answer to these so i don't know whether him leaving is feasible.

Items 2&3 have been faced by previous Rutgers head coaches especially item 2 with unsatisfactory results.

 

[MADHAT1]

My opinion>UConn isn't a top spot anymore and Pike despite his being part of that program as a player and coach (1991-92) isn't going to take a step back in his profession just to try and revive a program that time passed by .

 

[Degaz-RU]

Exactly this. Nothing really wrong with the basketball so much. It's also a decent football conference which makes it a much better home for UConn overall than the Big East.

Well, the other issue with the AAC is that it's a conglomeration of schools who don't have much in common except for the old Big East leadership trying to pull in good football schools after the departures of WVU, Cuse and Pitt.

I mean, seriously, does anybody really think the UConn Husky blue-bloods want to be playing Tulsa, East Carolina, Tulane, and UCF in basketball? Not to mention there's no real regional rivalries for them, with the sole possible exception of Temple.

The AAC conference is absolute crap, and UConn would give its proverbial left nut to get out of there. Despite the "alumnus" angle, I really can't believe Pike would actually want to be a head coach in that conference after being in the B1G.

 

[LevaosLectures]

Well, the other issue with the AAC is that it's a conglomeration of schools who don't have much in common except for the old Big East leadership trying to pull in good football schools after the departures of WVU, Cuse and Pitt.

I mean, seriously, does anybody really think the UConn Husky blue-bloods want to be playing Tulsa, East Carolina, Tulane, and UCF in basketball? Not to mention there's no real regional rivalries for them, with the sole possible exception of Temple.

The AAC conference is absolute crap, and UConn would give its proverbial left nut to get out of there. Despite the "alumnus" angle, I really can't believe Pike would actually want to be a head coach in that conference after being in the B1G.

Pike stuff aside, the bottom line is it's a 3 or 4 bid conference you can win a title from. You think Cincy minds right now?

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Items 2&3 have been faced by previous Rutgers head coaches especially item 2 with unsatisfactory results.

Do you have insight on Pikiell's thoughts about whether HE can recruit to RU?

 

[Caliknight]

Win win. Everyone loves Pike and wants him here. He is a great coach for this program. If he decides his heart is in a different place if they were to offer him the job, Rutgers gets $5MM.

That's a nice nest egg to lure another coach.

 

[bowlgoal]

It's not as attractive as it once was; but Uconn needs to hire a name guy. Once they go in the other direction, the program will never rebound (no pun intended). Pike is here to stay. New facility, extension, working for Hobbs and being in the Big 10 are far better than going to a mess like UCONN.

 

[eja92]

SP is not leaving RU.

 

[RUsojo]

Rutgers fans

1. Unrealistic Expectations: This a an NIT team, maybe a bubble team, but definitely over .500 this year.

2. Paranoid: Oh no our coach under performed and has won 6 conference games in 2 seasons another team is going to pay his $5M buyout and offer him a big raise because he’s such a good coach!

Either people need to calm down, or if you really think Pikiell is a high priority target, you need to work under the assumption that your year to year expectations are wayyyyyy to high and understand that the rest of the country (ADs, Coaches, Experts) actually believe it’s IMPOSSIBLE TO WIN AT RUTGERS and winning 6 conference games, playing defense, andrebounding is a enough to prove Pikiell is an amazing coach. That means we’re destined to be a basement dweller forever.

Which is it?

*repost

 

[Professor726]

Rutgers fans

1. Unrealistic Expectations: This a an NIT team, maybe a bubble team, but definitely over .500 this year.

2. Paranoid: Oh no our coach under performed and has won 6 conference games in 2 seasons another team is going to pay his $5M buyout and offer him a big raise because he’s such a good coach!

Either people need to calm down, or if you really think Pikiell is a high priority target, you need to work under the assumption that your year to year expectations are wayyyyyy to high and understand that the rest of the country (ADs, Coaches, Experts) actually believe it’s IMPOSSIBLE TO WIN AT RUTGERS and winning 6 conference games, playing defense, andrebounding is a enough to prove Pikiell is an amazing coach. That means we’re destined to be a basement dweller forever.

Which is it?

*repost

Uconn will pay for a big name if they can.

 

[Steve91562]

Whatever happens, I like the hires Hobbs has made in the past. It starts at the top. If Pike leaves, Hobbs will land another good candidate. The RU position is starting to have some appeal coinciding with more institutional support.

Having said that, I don't think he leaves.

 

[Upstream]

Whatever happens, I like the hires Hobbs has made in the past.

Hires? Plural? Other than Pike, which hire do you think is clearly a good hire?

 

[AreYouNUTS]

Hires? Plural? Other than Pike, which hire do you think is clearly a good hire?

- the entire men's hoops staff
- Ash (yes, some of us feel this is a good hire...at least a MAJOR step above the previous one...)
- Cundari, from Seton Hall, as our pitching coach (baseball)

...really interested to see how he handles Track and Field. Mulqueen has been here for way too long this sport needs a shot of adrenaline in a major way. Yes, very familiar with the "why's and how's," thank you, just pointing out that this is a GREAT chance for a fresh start.

** I believe tennis(w), swim/dive(w), were also his hires.

*** likely will make a few following next year (2018-2019) IMHO possibly volleyball, men's soccer, field hockey (can't seem to get over the hump) softball (off to a 12-11 start this year following 2 straight B1G tourney appearances) all kinda headed towards a change soon or soon'ish.

 

[czxqa]

Couple thoughts.
As pointed out earlier in this thread, BC will fight tooth and nail to block an ACC invite, as they have done in the past.

Yukon is not downgrading football to rejoin BE. Not happening. They're building new stadiums for baseball, soccer, and softball. The project is budgeted at $60mm and funded by bonds. Repayments are largely being funded by a $5 ticket surcharge for football, $2 ticket surcharge for hockey and basketball, and $1 for men's/women's soccer. They started charging that surplus for the 2017 football season, so downgrading to FBS really doesn't seem a viable option if they want to have any hope of meeting their financial obligations.

A side note to that, it took them 4 years to raise the $25mm in donations for the project. Couple that with an expensive buyout of Bob Diaco they're still paying for, the up to $10mm they will end up paying Ollie, the poor payout from the AAC as well as the windfall from the Big East name buyout going away, and we can see that a) no megadonor is likely to step out of the woodwork to save them, and b) guys with a big buyout from their current school plus the $3mm+ annual salary will be a tough nut to crack.

A Courant podcast today with men's hoops beat writer Dom Amore discussed possible replacements. The conversation began and ended with Dan Hurley, with a Calhoun redux or possibly Tom Crean if they whiff on Hurley. Pike's name was not mentioned once in the entire half hour segment.

 

[Virginiarufan]

Uconn basketball is now feeling the effects of conference realignment that their football team began feeling 4+ years ago. They're in a league full of southern directional schools that none of their fans want to be associated with. Their football program is all but dead and the only hope for bball is to re-join the Big East if the BE will have them and that's a big if.

 

[RUonBrain]

**IF** UConn wants Pike, that is good for us as Pike can show he is in demand.

(And I think he would stay here at RU)

 

[MadRU]

Coach Pikiell on Mad Dog radio just finished up and said we will get players at RUTGERS. Sure sounds like he is planning to stay and build a program here.

 

[ruman]

UConn fans think they deserve Billy Donovan, Mark Few, Rick Petino, Frank Martin, Tony Bennett, Tom Crean or John Thompson III, after all UConn is a top job, in their minds. lol

JTIII is available

 

[ruman]

I bet Mark Schmidt gets that job

See

 

[Scarlet Shack]

Going to be very interesting to see how UConn handles this next hire

Remember ...Ollie was a former player and assistant under Calhoun....and they just canned one of the “family”. No idea if that was with or against Calhoun’s blessing, or if he even cares.

May be very hard to hire “within the family” when you just fired one of your own...but to go “outside the family”, well, that is uncharted territory for a program that has had jim Calhoun’s name on it for 30 years and his successor for another 5 plus.

UConn next hire could either rejuvenate or wreck that program

 

[fluoxetine]

The AAC isn't a bad basketball conference TBH. It's not nearly as deep as the Big Ten but it might be better or at least comparable to the SEC or the PAC12. They perennially have 2-4 ranked teams. The bottom of the conference stinks but the top of the conference is solid basketball. It's probably the right place for UConn.

The AAC is definitely the best after the big 6 (power 5 plus Big East), but it is not the Big Ten.