Is this his "dream" job? Hope he stays put for a long time and builds something but I am concerned if Uconn comes calling maybe after this year, then he listens and could potentially be turned into a negative recruiting campaign for the coveted 2018 class. There is something special brewing here. Hopefully UConn being in the AAC is the ultimate barrier to him seriously considering it if they do reach out and the impending rumors which may get louder with every UConn loss.
Uconn/Pikiell
- Thread starter gordel1
- Start date
I've thought about this as well. Honestly though we're in the better conference and Pikiell has the opportunity to be UConn's Calhoun at Rutgers. We have a practice facility coming and updated facilities on the horizon. The ceiling at Rutgers is pretty high.
Kevin Ollie won a national championship in 2014. I am curious how much job security he has. UConn is on path for a certain awful year especially by their standards. Being both Uconn Alums you know Ollie and Pikiell are in close contact. I agree the ceiling at Rutgers is much higher but UConn is still considered a traditional power and very difficult not to hear out your alma mater.
Like I've said before, let's hope UConn wins just enough to keep Ollie as head coach. In the mean time we need to start the Keep Pike and Staff fund. I've never felt more positive about Rutgers hoops, ever. We need him to stay at least five years.
I like threads that bash Uconn's irrelevant athletic department more. How much longer will they be able to last at the FBS level? Will they be able to pay Ollie's salary when another school or the NBA comes calling? And will they be able to match what we can pay coach Pikiell? I highly doubt it.
Uconn is dead and I couldn't care less.
Uconn is dead and I couldn't care less.
All I can say, is that Pikiell could have been offered the UCONN job before Ollie and didn't get it and stayed at Stony Brook for a long time. Personally, I love this coach and his staff and if we manage to over-achieve and finish with a winning record the way you keep a coach of his caliber around is to extend his contract another two years as well as his assistants. Yes, it may be too early to do that, and I don't think one bad year and Ollie gets the boot. But IMO, Pikiell is OUR Jay Wright. We need him to stay a long time and build this right. In my view he is the best coach we've had on the banks in 20+ years. We need to keep him around for a long time.
I think Pikiell likes it at RU. He seems to love NJ. U Conn is in a difficult spot at this time. I hope Steve stays at RU for many many years. He is in perhaps the best conference in the country.
Plus who's to say we dont get a brand new basketball/ice hockey arena in 10 years after we get fully funded in the B1G? UConn cant even fire their version of Kyle Flood in football and theyre talking about poaching Pike in Year 3 of the B1G era for RU?
I guess coaching at your alma mater could be a huge attraction. But coaching in the B1G seems like a much bigger pond than the AAC.
UConn giving up the folly of FBS football -- long term, it's just not a good bet, even though they got farther faster than we did, the ship has all but sailed -- and moving their other sports into the Big East would make them much more of a threat in this type of situation. Although some people here don't think so, the Big East will be fine going forward, and playing Villanova and Georgetown and even Providence every year has to be more fun for the fans there than Tulane, East Carolina and UCF.
In the American, the only pull they would have on Pikiell is the alma mater one. That is canceled out by the Calhoun shadow issue. I think we're safe.
In the American, the only pull they would have on Pikiell is the alma mater one. That is canceled out by the Calhoun shadow issue. I think we're safe.