an offer he couldn’t refuse. He’s a Final Four caliber coach.
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We should have made Hurley
- Thread starter tetonpanther
- Start date
Agreed. This is the most dominate tourny run to the Final Four in a long time. Wins by 24, 15, 23, and 28 points averages 22.5 win margin per game. ‘96 Kentucky holds the record of tourny win margin at 21.5.
UConn brand way better than Pitt's, he had a choice and made the better one. We'll get there!
I remember back then that Pitt offered a good amount more and he took that back to UConn they upped their offer to Hurley and he took the job. Still below Pitts offer. I don’t think he had any interest in coming to Pitt
Totally agree. Watched his post game celebrations with family, players, etc., then media interviews. He would have fit in perfectly in Pittsburgh, particularly with Narduzzi. Blue collar, family history in his sport, live of community and family! Really wish we would have got him.
That said, he’s never coming here now and I think ADHL made a remarkable pivot in getting Capel after seeing Hurley pick UConn. Let’s hope Capel and take the next step and truly build a long term, nationally relevant program. I really like Capel, so fingers crossed!
I think we have to remember how awful of a position our program was in at the time. Even if Hurley somehow accepted the job, is he still going to the Final Four after five years with the rebuild that was required here? No way to know for sure.
Yes, no way to know for sure. I think he would have had us back to 20+ wins a lot sooner than Capel, however. And who knows what happens from there. He's one of the top coaches in the tournament and Capel isn't. This year Capel did a good job. If Capel can improve on that for the next 2 or 3 years and get us to an Elite 8 or Final 4, then we can say Capel is on equal footing with Hurley. Let's hope he can.
Weren’t you riding for Sean Miller last week?
Next week maybe you can suggest firing Capel and hiring the FAU coach.
Next week maybe you can suggest firing Capel and hiring the FAU coach.
UConn is one of the Top 10-15 jobs in the country. UConn basketball is right behind the blue bloods.
We offered him much more money than UCOnn.
He knew uconn was a better program and always wanted that job
My money is on PittPoker suggesting it.
Sorry but he fits in MUCH BETTER where he is right now. That fan base and program is maybe one tick below the NitWits in arrogance, entitlement and head in the sand apologists for their dirty, cheating HOF former head coach Calhoun and their smarmy, we’re better than you fan base at every old BE Tournament I ever attended. Hurley = Great Coach. Egomaniac as a person. Don’t care for him one iota. That being said he was a much better hire than Jeff at the time but he was only using Pitt to get the job he really wanted and that is where he is today. Again I’d root for Satan if the UConnvicts were playing an away game in Hell 🔥
Idk, he's coaching at the biggest basketball brand in the Big East and has never finished higher than 3rd. Current run notwithstanding, he's been a disappointment there.
He’s also a complete and utter Jagoff that the Yinzers would have eaten alive
Hell for 10 million I’d have taken the job !Ten Million would have done it.
He absolutely did what was best for him .
My impression was that ADHL gave her best shot at him, but he REALLY much preferred UConn.
I don’t agree with this notion that UConn was many steps above us at the time of the hire.
We beat that ass a lot over a 10-12 year span and had a better record than them the last 10-12 years of the old Big East. Big sample size of being right there or better.
They leave and proceed to lose around 14-15 games a year on average for the next 5/6 years. Not too different than us. I may have gone entire years at that point without thinking of UConn basketball.
It’s very true that we fell off a cliff around 2017. But that could very well have been seen as an anomaly still when he was hired.
So sure, we were horrible up until 6 months ago…but let’s not let that cloud the proceeding 15 year period to when Hurley took that job. Our standing as a program diminished in the period after that.
We beat that ass a lot over a 10-12 year span and had a better record than them the last 10-12 years of the old Big East. Big sample size of being right there or better.
They leave and proceed to lose around 14-15 games a year on average for the next 5/6 years. Not too different than us. I may have gone entire years at that point without thinking of UConn basketball.
It’s very true that we fell off a cliff around 2017. But that could very well have been seen as an anomaly still when he was hired.
So sure, we were horrible up until 6 months ago…but let’s not let that cloud the proceeding 15 year period to when Hurley took that job. Our standing as a program diminished in the period after that.
Should’ve done it with Howland since UCLA is notorious for not paying. Maybe 10 years for $30 million?
That and because the administration wanted to become a basketball school at that time. Howland would’ve done to Pitt what Olson and Calhoun did at Arizona and UConn, respectively.
That and because the administration wanted to become a basketball school at that time. Howland would’ve done to Pitt what Olson and Calhoun did at Arizona and UConn, respectively.
This is a bad take. UConn and Syracuse ran NE basketball for decades, and UConn is in the middle of one of the best recruiting grounds in the country
Let's see, "we beat their
ass a lot over a 10 -12 year
span." Yes, we did, BUT
as a program they were
NCAA champs four times,
1999, 2004, 2011, 2014.
Also final 4 team in 2009
and 2023 so far. Also twelve
elite 8 appearances from
1964 to 2023. Also 19 Sweet
16 appearances, They and
we are in two separate
hemispheres when looking
at NCAA appearances and
programs as a whole.
As for Hurley, he's an East
Coast guy and probably
looked to stay there.If we
were ever going to hire him
maybe we shoulda when he
coached Wagner and came
into the Pete and beat Dixon's
#15 ranked panthers 59-54.
Wagner went 25-6 that yr.
and Hurley moved on to
Rhode Island and now
UCONN.
I guess if you don’t count getting UCONN to the FF for the first time since 2014 and dominating the tournament while doing so he’s been a terrible disappointment.
Not sure the rest of the world starting with UCONN nation got your memo on that.
We beat that ass a lot over a 10-12 year span and had a better record than them the last 10-12 years of the old Big East. Big sample size of being right there or better.
Of course, during that same stretch UCONN won 4 NCs, went to 5 FFs, 8 Elite 8s, won the BE regular season 5 times and the BE tournament 4 times. So I guess if none of that matters Pitt was clearly the better program or right there with them.
I don’t need a lesson in our tourney disappoints during those years. We know.
No one said we were “clearly a better program”. They clearly had more tournament success. We won more games. Sure - I’d take the titles like anyone else.
My points were to counter this notion of being nowhere in the ballpark of them., and to note they were also down for a number of years and were playing in a much lower profile conference at the time.
I also get that the more time passes, that our “great years” become just selective endpoints and the overall program success becomes more important.
It wasn’t out of the question for someone to be seriously considering both programs at the time Hurley was hired. I stand by that point.
No one said we were “clearly a better program”. They clearly had more tournament success. We won more games. Sure - I’d take the titles like anyone else.
My points were to counter this notion of being nowhere in the ballpark of them., and to note they were also down for a number of years and were playing in a much lower profile conference at the time.
I also get that the more time passes, that our “great years” become just selective endpoints and the overall program success becomes more important.
It wasn’t out of the question for someone to be seriously considering both programs at the time Hurley was hired. I stand by that point.
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I understood your point, but the Pitt program was a raging dumpster fire at the time, UCONN was just languid. Also Hurley knew the turf in the northeast and saw a conference that appeared at the time to have a lot less congestion at the top than the ACC. .
IDK. Maybe look up the meaning of "notwithstanding".
Uconn was 4th in the BE this year. Getting hot in a water downed NCAA isn't John Wooden- like.
IDK. Maybe it’s a bit disingenuous to assess the man’s accomplishments while ignoring the biggest one?
If you think Pitt was a better program than UConn at the time Hurley took the job you’re a moron. It wasn’t even close. Take off the blinders. What Howland and Dixon did here was nothing short of amazing. They caught lightning in a bottle. Jamie saw it was coming to an end
They’re gonna win the title and have a top 5 class coming in. Stop it
Stop what? T-9th, 5th, 3rd, 3rd and T-4th has been his results at the BE equivalent to UNC.
THEYRE IN THE FINAL FOUR. Who gives a shit what they finished in the regular season lol.
He took over a program Ollie left a mess.
In the Big East, which has proven to be a better conference than the ACC, he has finished 3rd, 3rd, 4th, has a final four, 3 tourneys and has a top 5 class coming in.
Ignoring his biggest accomplishment of going to the final four and being the title favorite and then reloading to try and discredit him is hilarious. He’s 102-55 at UConn and it’s only that bad because of the mess Ollie left.
He’s a fantastic coach, program builder and has built a monster that will most likely win multiple national titles starting with this year.
Who is ignoring it? Good run, just like the other 3 teams.
Maybe I'm mistaken but didn't Ollie win a title and get fired 5 years later?
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Jamie brought it to an end.
His last 5 years, he led Pitt to college basketball purgatory. Too good to make major changes & not nearly good enough to win anything that matters.
Water-downed?? The best teams are in the Final 4. The pretenders have been eliminated, like Texas, Gonzaga, Kansas State, Houston, Alabama, Kansas, Purdue, Arizona. That's the beauty of this tournament. And it's enjoyable to watch. The best team will win this tournament.
Correct. He got fired because of what a mess UConn was in when he left. What Hurley is doing given the state of that program is amazing. He’s gonna win multiple titles there.
Sounds like you’d rather have a Shaka Smart type year then go to the Final Four and probably win the national title with a lot of your team returning and bringing in a top 5 class. Not me
He’s one of the ones who thinks if you praise Hurley for the amazing job he’s done building UConn somehow discredits Jeff Capel as if they’re in any way related.
