KO - Victim of discrimination and denied due process?

[JMick]

Hes not this massive sympathetic figure you're making him out to be. He hurt his own reputation. Maybe he should have tried harder and none of us would be having this conversation right now and he'd still be the coach.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Having said that, few have ever received such preferential treatment as a job applicant than Kevin Ollie. In truth, there were not even other applicants allowed to go through the process. He was handpicked by Calhoun and moved to the front of what would have been a long and prestigious line. !

Well, it's hard to say that with a straight face if you remember the history. Yes, only Ollie was considered for the job, but that's because Calhoun retired on the eve of the season and there was no one else who could have been considered at that point. It was totally a JC power play against the AD, who was Warde at the time, right? So Warde only offered Ollie a 9 month contract to start. Nine months! Talk about a slap in the face. But he did phenomenally well at first. (Afterwards, not so much.)

It was only with that success that he was given the big boy contract with the ridiculous buy out number. So, it's rational for Ollie to have some lingering hard feelings about the way he was treated by UConn at the outset of his tenure, even if strings were pulled to get him the job in the first place.

 

[IthacaMatt]

The only discrimination on UConn's part was against a coach who was woefully inadequate at the job and in way over his head.

Horrible coaches are not a protected class, and the contract as written gives UConn wide leverage to invoke just cause at their discretion.

They chose to do so for KO and not for JC because KO was atrocious at his job, not because he's black, as is well within their right.

I hear what you're saying, but once you get union lawyers involved protecting members of the union, they will fight like dogs, and this is one of the dirty cards that will get played.

 

[CL82]

Again, you are missing the critical point that Ollie breached his contract and isn't entitled any money under it's terms. That's not a particularly hard concept and it is well established at this point.

Might they be willing to pay KO some "go away" money? They might. But every day this drags on that value drops.

 

[BlueMAB]

Warde only offered Ollie a 9 month contract to start. Nine months! Talk about a slap in the face.

There was no disrespect in that contract. Ollie had never been a head coach at any level, and Warde had no choice but to accept him as the next coach. He had to earn the next contract because the first was literally gifted to him. It's the AD's job to pick coaches, not the departing HC. So Warde did exactly what he should have done. Nobody is entitled to the keys to one of the best jobs in college basketball. There were very few of us defending that decision, but it was the right one.

 

[JMick]

We'll see what? That reply doesn't even make sense

 

[Paesano]

Uh oh, DMIL has gotten quiet. Me thinks he heard something....

 

[Mokum]

Yes I can see and understand the point you make. After reading it, I tried putting myselve in Ollies shoes, I can see how he might think this way, but I think he is in serious denial. He did not do a good job after the NC, and he was apparently committing violations. I guess for me it is pathetic to see rich people and wealthy organizations argue over 10 million bucks. Why not accept 3 or 4 million and consider yourselve lucky considering your track record the last couple years. What's the matter, 3 or 4 MILLION is not enough to hold you over until you find a new job? I would never ever worry about money again if I was handed that. But I am very happy with a simple life, others aren't.

 

[Paesano]

Correct me if I am wrong but Ollie has until tomorrow to decide if he wants to go to arbitration or not. He got the letter from Herbst on June 19th and has 2 weeks to respond, right?

 

[huskymedic]

Correct me if I am wrong but Ollie has until tomorrow to decide if he wants to go to arbitration or not. He got the letter from Herbst on June 19th and has 2 weeks to respond, right?

15 days from receipt of the Step 2 decision:

 

[CL82]

Have to be getting close. Hopefully the parties are talking to see if common ground can be reached for settlement.

 

[Paesano]

Have to be getting close. Hopefully the parties are talking to see if common ground can be reached for settlement.

Yeah, we should hear something by Wednesday.

 

[TJT]

The longer this plays out, the uglier it will get. The threat of KO spilling the beans on past staff's indiscretions along with the race card were always possible and it looks like that day is here. The specter of a black vs white angle does not bode well for UConn given the past white coach that had transgressions was not fired and KO himself was replaced with a white coach. If I am not mistaken, Ollie is the only African-American that UConn has ever hired to be head coach of one of its three main sports (MBB/WBB/MFB). In this day and age, that would not be considered a good record inclusion wise. It will reflect negatively on UConn if the only African-American coach ever hired for one of its main sports claims to have been treated differently and blames race for this. Getting a bad rap on race relations in sports can be difficult to escape.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Uh oh, DMIL has gotten quiet. Me thinks he heard something....

Or, perhaps less simply says more. After all, most of us don't know what we don't know. Just sayin' ...

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Yeah, we should hear something by Wednesday.

Fireworks?

 

[CL82]

The longer this plays out, the uglier it will get. The threat of KO spilling the beans on past staff's indiscretions along with the race card were always possible and it looks like that day is here. The specter of a black vs white angle does not bode well for UConn given the past white coach that had transgressions was not fired and KO himself was replaced with a white coach. If I am not mistaken, Ollie is the only African-American that UConn has ever hired to be head coach of one of its three main sports (MBB/WBB/MFB). In this day and age, that would not be considered a good record inclusion wise. It will reflect negatively on UConn if the only African-American coach ever hired for one of its main sports claims to have been treated differently and blames race for this. Getting a bad rap on race relations in sports can be difficult to escape.

Why is it that new posters seem to think the Ollie matter is UConn's Armageddon?

 

[Tenspro2002]

I would happily consign KO to be the coach of South Florida.

 

[Hoophound]

The longer this plays out, the uglier it will get. The threat of KO spilling the beans on past staff's indiscretions along with the race card were always possible and it looks like that day is here. The specter of a black vs white angle does not bode well for UConn given the past white coach that had transgressions was not fired and KO himself was replaced with a white coach. If I am not mistaken, Ollie is the only African-American that UConn has ever hired to be head coach of one of its three main sports (MBB/WBB/MFB). In this day and age, that would not be considered a good record inclusion wise. It will reflect negatively on UConn if the only African-American coach ever hired for one of its main sports claims to have been treated differently and blames race for this. Getting a bad rap on race relations in sports can be difficult to escape.

That’s a pretty small sample. We hired Pasqualoni, Diaco, Ollie and Hurley in recent years. You can’t count Edsall because he was a re-hire of a known commodity—— at a very heavy discount. So, that’s 1/4 of new hires that is African Amercian.

Whites make up about 61% of the population and blacks 12%. That makes any assertion of discrimination in hiring tough to justify. Especially, with the large majority of basketball assistants in recent memory being black.