Assistant coaches deserve more credit for men's success

There's been a lot of talk about coach Jim Calhoun this season.

At first, it was "not a dime back."

Then, it was an illness that kept him out of the Huskies' NCAA first round game against Chattanooga.

And most recently, it's been the alleged recruiting violations with ex-UConn player Nate Miles.

Even as the Huskies get set to take on Michigan State in the Final Four, you can see the wear and tear behind Calhoun's smile.

Now, I'm sure this season hasn't been easy on the Hall of Fame Coach. And in fact, I know this season hasn't been easy on a lot of UConn fans. The whole Dyson injury, waiting on Ater Majok and losing Charles Okwandu to academic ineligibility - it's been tough.

But, throughout the course of the season, the Huskies have stuck together, five-as-one, and overcome all these adversities.

Go ahead, give the credit to A.J. Price as the senior leader who seems to hit every clutch shot UConn needs. Or maybe you can give some credit to Hasheem Thabeet for becoming one of the most dominant defensive forces in the country. Then again, Jeff Adrien has been called "the rock" by Calhoun, and where would this team be without their double-double machine.

Everyone can claim some credit for the Huskies success this season. But when it comes down to it, there's one guy in my mind who has constantly stepped up in every situation, filled in when needed to and just has been solid all season long.

I'm talking about associate head coach George Blaney.

The assistant coaches rarely get any credit. Sure, Blaney got some media time when he coached UConn to the 56-point beat down of Chattanooga, but other than that, no one has heard about all the great things these coaches have done this season.

Let's start with Blaney. Honestly, he is Calhoun's right-hand-man. Blaney also is his personal psychologist, therapist and consultant.

If you've ever been to a UConn game, I'm sure you know what I mean. Calhoun is notorious for challenging every call an official makes. When the referee won't listen to Calhoun's rant (which happens a lot), he immediately turns to Blaney and pleads his case. Blaney, in turn, listens.

Since Blaney's first arrival in 2002, he's done it all for Calhoun. But few people know Blaney's personal history.

As a player at Holy Cross in the late 1950s and early 60s, Blaney scored 1,012 points in his college career and led the Crusaders to back-to-back 20-win seasons.

After college, Blaney was drafted in the 1961 NBA draft by the New York Knicks in the fourth round. He played with the Knicks during the 1961-62 season, averaging 3.3 points and 1.3 assists a game. It wasn't superstar numbers, but the man still played professional basketball.

Eventually, after working head coaching jobs at Stonehill College, Dartmouth, Holy Cross and Seton Hall, Blaney spent one year at Providence College as the assistant coach before coming to UConn.

If you saw Blaney in the streets, he'd seem like your average 6-foot-1, lanky white guy. At the very least, you wouldn't think this man played in the NBA.

But when you see Blaney on the bench, sitting next to Calhoun, you see a man who knows the game of basketball. More importantly, you see a man who compliments Calhoun's coaching style.

Now, sitting next to Blaney are assistant coaches Andre LaFleur and Patrick Sellers, and if you praise Blaney's efforts this season, you have to praise what LaFleur and Sellers have done as well.

While the assistant coaches don't necessarily have to listen to each one of Calhoun's rants, they serve the team in other beneficial ways.

Let's say, for example, Jeff Adrien does something stupid on the court. Calhoun takes him out, yells at him a little bit and then sends him off to the bench. LaFleur or Sellers then goes down and talks to Adrien and lets him know what's up, in a, let's just say, calmer manner.

It's these little things that the assistant coaches do that have propelled this team to a position where they can play for a National Championship.

But to emphasize just how little credit these guys get, let me run through an event that actually happened.

I was sitting in the media-overflow section of the Villanova, UCLA game in Philadelphia. Sellers was two seats down from me - notebook in hand - scouting the two teams. After a few minutes, a security guy came over and told Sellers that he had to leave because he didn't have a media badge. There were plenty of open seats; Sellers could have easily stayed without harming anyone. Even after explaining that he was an assistant coach with UConn, the security guard made him leave.

What I'm trying to say is that all UConn fans should be grateful for all the unnoticed hard work the other coaches put into this program.

While we have a very talented group of student-athletes, Blaney, LaFleur and Sellers make up a very talented group of assistant coaches.