Scholarship table
KO on coachspeak guys: "They can all kiss my ass... Go f*ck yourself, just win."He's a treasure. He's a crazy person, but a treasure.
I love Kevin O'Neill. But he's only 64 years old and hasn't coached anywhere in 8 years - and wasn't terribly successful toward the end.So what I am saying is, I wouldn't take a lot of coaching advice on the modern college game from Kevin O'Neill.
I was wondering if any of the Analytics guys here took umbrage with KO’s rant against their hoops worldview. I see the point he was trying to make, but I also understand the value of analytics. He kind of echoed AL’s famous line that a good coach starts a “party on the court” and keeps it going. Great team play, it’s something anyone can see. When are analytics helpful? When are they not? Not taking sides here on Analytics, just trying to understand how college coaches today should use them.
My view is Eye Test combined with Analytics is the winning approach. Helps prevent overly analytical and overly emotional approaches. KO saved MU so he always has a place in the history of the school. Things didn't work out for the rest of his career and that happens in sports sometimes.
I think K.O.'s Head Coaching opportunities post Marquette, were not a good fit for him at all. I think he could and perhaps would have had much better results at some other places. Tennessee has been a difficult place for many coaches to coach for a long time. K.O. was a fish out of water there. Northwestern has been a very difficult place to win for a long time.
Barnes Pearl and Martin all won at Tennessee. Wasn't going to be a contender but it's certainly winnable there. Same with USC. Northwestern I definitely agree, it's where coaches go to die.
Martin left because of the hostile environment there.Bruce Pearl has an over top social personality that can and did win over a difficult crowd at Tennessee, just as he has done elsewhere. He also of course won games. Rick Barnes had two decades of good experience prior to going there, and was a better fit there than K.O. for a variety of reasons. Barnes has received lots of criticism there by some fans and some boosters despite his success.I don’t think Tennessee is a fit for everyone, and it certainly wasn’t for K.O.
Doesn't mean he didn't win there...
No it doesn’t. In my opinion it is a more difficult place to be successful, and fit, for some. And I think K.O. was one of those.