Ollie threatening to sue UConn

[freescooter]

The majority of the spending by the basketball program is not with taxpayer funds. It's through athletic revenue and fundraising. Not a dime back.

In fact taxpayer money covers only about 25-26% of UConns operating budget. And it has been going down for a while.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Dickie V w/ the Deadspin article. Love how the “casual” follower to the situation always pick the low hanging fruit violation to call out:

Regrettably, Dickie V isn't better than this.

 

[Madmannsucks]

I understand that someone who is twenty years older than you seems ancient, and that you have taken a very personal affront to his alleged off-court conduct, but you've become Johnny One Note with this shtick and it's really odd, and really off. We get it. You know bad stuff about him and it offended and hurt you very deeply.

Forever is a long time. He screwed up here for sure, but I believe he will find a better place and reliable employment to support himself at some point. 45 is a bit too soon to be writing anyone off. Some day you will realize that.

I mean everyone thought Jim Bakker was done too.

 

[Whtdmd]

UCONN is not broke. The athletic department is thanks to the clown DB. He screw up by offering contract extensions to Diaco and Ollie. He lost 6 million to Diaco n is now covering his butt by taking the low road and trying to screw KO out of his $10 million. Chief told us that DB already had a booster that is ready to foot the $10 million buyout. There was never a booster. UCONN's operating budget is in the red but that was from the last state budget projection. Since that time, the state revenue has been revise upwards by over 2 billion over the next 2 yrs. The state will fix most of the UCONN shortcomings. The school will also save some money by further consolidating some Universities. The UCONN AD is a man made disaster due to David Benedict. This is the same AD that was a no show in the half time of the SMU game when they honor all the UCONN student athletes. Come on Susan, pull the trigger and fire DB

 

[Rocktheworld]

Regrettably, Dickie V isn't better than this.

He’s basically the Fox News of college bball these days

 

[Yorkeez4]

I hate to say I was right but I tried to explain to the people on here that are delusional that Herbst and Benedict handling of this matter was irresponsible. They put the entire program at risk. There claim for cause to fire Ollie is BS and everyone knows it. Herbst and Benedict tried to smear Ollie’s name to avoid paying him and it’s backfiring on them. The so called “violations” Ollie committed happens at Every School in the country.

I believe UConn offered a buyout because without one there would absolutely be a public battle. Corporations generally agree to reasonable settlements to avoid the publicity surrounding litigation. I also believe that, for whatever reason, KO chose not to accept it. He may have even made a counter offer. Given the contract language it is hard to believe KO thought he would get the total buyout - but who knows maybe he is that delusional. KO was not willing to accept UConn’s offer and UConn was not willing to accept KO’s counter - so the gloves came off. It appears to me that KO has now decided to take this all the way because he has little to lose. IMO the $$ UConn will settle for goes down each day. KO is looking more and more like he is in desparation mode. I still think a settlement is possible because arbitration/court decisions are so uncertain even when you hold all the cards.

My other thought is the UConn lawyers are thinking - “wow we can have a lot of fun with this one and look like heroes when we save UConn millions of dollars”.

What risk is to the program - not reporting violations to the NCAA results in greater penalties so the school was going to report them. Recruits will care less and as long as Hurley doesn’t end the same way all will be well.

 

[DMIL]

And ignore that the reason that this is being discussed in public is because Ollie's representation chose to take their case to the media, probably because they realize it cannot be won at arbitration or in the courts.

Or just maybe it is because of the "RAT" Glenn Miller" and potential collaboration with the Administration to support their "Cause" provision of Ollie's contract. Yup...the same disgruntled Glenn Miller that undermined Kevin Ollie during his tenure under him. Sure, I suspect there was serious resentment by Miller once Ollie became head coach. Sure, there may have been significant disagreements in coaching philosophies that just may have been warranted. Sure, there may have been some friction once Kevin Ollie decided he did not want to be a JC puppet anymore after winning the NC rightly or wrongly.

I guess KO should have made that clear prior to applying for the head coaching job at UCONN i.e. "under no circumstances that I will be JC's puppet with Glenn Miller reporting back". My sense is that if Ollie would have made that clear he would not have been pushed to be head coach of UCONN MENS BASKETBALL. Of course, this is all speculation and could be hypothetical but certainly not off the table as a possibility of factor here. And...don't get me wrong...I'm a huge JC fan and was a fan of Glenn Miller until I found out about his "RAT" behavior. Again, you can disagree but you have to keep family business in house. Talking about leaping over a "RED LINE".

 

[CL82]

Or just maybe it is because of the "RAT" Glenn Miller" and potential collaboration with the Administration to support their "Cause" provision of Ollie's contract. Yup...the same disgruntled Glenn Miller that undermined Kevin Ollie during his tenure under him. Sure, I suspect there was serious resentment by Miller once Ollie became head coach. Sure, there may have been significant disagreements in coaching philosophies that just may have been warranted. Sure, there may have been some friction once Kevin Ollie decided he did not want to be a JC puppet anymore after winning the NC rightly or wrongly.

I guess KO should have made that clear prior to applying for the head coaching job at UCONN i.e. "under no circumstances that I will be JC's puppet with Glenn Miller reporting back". My sense is that if Ollie would have made that clear he would not have been pushed to be head coach of UCONN MENS BASKETBALL. Of course, this is all speculation and could be hypothetical but certainly not off the table as a possibility of factor here. And...don't get me wrong...I'm a huge JC fan and was a fan of Glenn Miller until I found out about his "RAT" behavior. Again, you can disagree but you have to keep family business in house. Talking about leaping over a "RED LINE".

But you realize all that is in the public record because Ollie's counsel FOIA'd the information. Once UConn released it to them, they could not deny it to other requesters.

But wait you wrote "rat" in all caps so I'm sure that's more important.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

UCONN is not broke. The athletic department is thanks to the clown DB. He screw up by offering contract extensions to Diaco and Ollie. He lost 6 million to Diaco n is now covering his butt by taking the low road and trying to screw KO out of his $10 million. Chief told us that DB already had a booster that is ready to foot the $10 million buyout. There was never a booster. UCONN's operating budget is in the red but that was from the last state budget projection. Since that time, the state revenue has been revise upwards by over 2 billion over the next 2 yrs. The state will fix most of the UCONN shortcomings. The school will also save some money by further consolidating some Universities. The UCONN AD is a man made disaster due to David Benedict. This is the same AD that was a no show in the half time of the SMU game when they honor all the UCONN student athletes. Come on Susan, pull the trigger and fire DB

Credible poster? Methinks not

 

[DMIL]

But you realize all that is in the public record because Ollie's counsel FOIA'd the information. Once UConn released it to them, they could not deny it to other requesters.

But wait you wrote "rat" in all caps so I'm sure that's more important.

Sure...but the broader point here is that lines were already crossed and I'm sure the undermining and back stabbing by Miller was a contributing factor to Kevin letting him go. So yes there was a bunch if "ISH" going on behind the scenes when it was supposed to be all KUMBAYA. All it takes is a "RAT" to undermine and entire operation and it's related chemistry. Having a "RAT" on the staff like that certainly wasn't helpful. I understand why he went dark, pulled back, distanced himself from our beloved Jim Calhoun. Again; it is great that we are moving on with Hurley however I can't be mad at Ollie for deciding he wasn't going to be a puppet anymore. I certainly recognize that there is a contingent out here that is completely at peace with a "RAT" conspiring with beloved University to support an eventual "Cause" finding for Ollie's termination. I hope that our beloved Jim Calhoun had nothing to do with any of this including co-signing on Glenn Miller's actions. This by any means strategy was a choice and some believe this had to be done this way as messy as this is but lets stop putting all of this on Ollie.

 

[JMick]

Sure...but the broader point here is that lines were already crossed and I'm sure the undermining and back stabbing by Miller was a contributing factor to Kevin letting him go. So yes there was a bunch if "ISH" going on behind the scenes when it was supposed to be all KUMBAYA. All it takes is a "RAT" to undermine and entire operation and it's related chemistry. Having a "RAT" on the staff like that certainly wasn't helpful. I understand why he went dark, pulled back, distanced himself from our beloved Jim Calhoun. Again; it is great that we are moving on with Hurley however I can't be mad at Ollie for deciding he wasn't going to be a puppet anymore. I certainly recognize that there is a contingent out here that is completely at peace with a "RAT" conspiring with beloved University to support an eventual "Cause" finding for Ollie's termination. I hope that our beloved Jim Calhoun had nothing to do with any of this including co-signing on Glenn Miller's actions. This by any means strategy was a choice and some believe this had to be done this way as messy as this is but lets stop putting all of this on Ollie.

Literally all of this is on Ollie. All he had to do was actually try at his job and this wouldn't have happened.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

He’s basically the Fox News of college bball these days

Half brand, half dotard
He did add some color to the Ray Allen dunk mix, which everybody really should watch if you haven't already..nless you're an uninterested Ollie shill with no greater interest here than muddying the waters.

 

[CL82]

Sure...but the broader point here is that lines were already crossed and I'm sure the undermining and back stabbing by Miller was a contributing factor to Kevin letting him go. So yes there was a bunch if "ISH" going on behind the scenes when it was supposed to be all KUMBAYA. All it takes is a "RAT" to undermine and entire operation and it's related chemistry. Having a "RAT" on the staff like that certainly wasn't helpful. I understand why he went dark, pulled back, distanced himself from our beloved Jim Calhoun. Again; it is great that we are moving on with Hurley however I can't be mad at Ollie for deciding he wasn't going to be a puppet anymore. I certainly recognize that there is a contingent out here that is completely at peace with a "RAT" conspiring with beloved University to support an eventual "Cause" finding for Ollie's termination. I hope that our beloved Jim Calhoun had nothing to do with any of this including co-signing on Glenn Miller's actions. This by any means strategy was a choice and some believe this had to be done this way as messy as this is but lets stop putting all of this on Ollie.

So to sum up:
1) After 2014, Kevin Ollie wasn't a very successful coach at UConn.
2) After 2014, Kevin Ollie wasn't a very engaged coach at UConn.
3) Kevin Ollie committed numerous violations of NCAA rules including impermissible benefits to players.
4) Kevin Ollie repeated lied about these violations to his employers in writing.
5) Under the terms of his contract violations of NCAA rules terminates the obligations to any future earnings under the contract.
6) Kevin received proper notice of these violations and filed a grievance, which has been properly handled under UConn's collective bargaining agreement.
7) Kevin's union rep. claimed that UConn could not hire another coach, which would have devastated the program.
8) Kevin's legal counsel requested documents via the FOIA effectively putting them in the public domain but now complains that the information he requested is publicly known even though he notified the press of his letter requesting the information. (Note that if he had filed suit and requested the information under the discovery process, they would not have been in the public domain. Choosing to get this information via FOIA was a costly mistake.)

... but "KUMBAYA", "ISH", "RAT" so UConn is at fault, not Kevin?

Do I have that right?

 

[Whtdmd]

Credible poster? Methinks not

All r facts, u cant handle the truth

 

[willie99]

You have no problem with flying kids down to Atlanta to work with an outside trainer? Again, as his contract states it doesn't matter the significance of the violations but that doesn't sound all that insignificant to me. Rules were broken and he lied about it, Ollie and his lawyers have never even disputed this.

we're talking about this in a legal sense, and no I don't think the courts are going to throw out a 10 million contract for that

do you? seriously?

that can be passed off as random stuff, and that's why precedence does matter

 

[Stainmaster]

that can be passed off as random stuff

Oh boy.

 

[DMIL]

So to sum up:
1) After 2014, Kevin Ollie wasn't a very successful coach at UConn.
2) After 2014, Kevin Ollie wasn't a very engaged coach at UConn.
3) Kevin Ollie committed numerous violations of NCAA rules including impermissible benefits to players.
4) Kevin Ollie repeated lied about these violations to his employers in writing.
5) Under the terms of his contract violations of NCAA rules terminates the obligations to any future earnings under the contract.
6) Kevin received proper notice of these violations and filed a grievance, which has been properly handled under UConn's collective bargaining agreement.
7) Kevin's union rep. claimed that UConn could not hire another coach, which would have devastated the program.
8) Kevin's legal counsel requested documents via the FOIA effectively putting them in the public domain but now complains that the information he requested is publicly known even though he notified the press of his letter requesting the information. (Note that if he had filed suit and requested the information under the discovery process, they would not have been in the public domain. Choosing to get this information via FOIA was a costly mistake.)

... but "KUMBAYA", "ISH", "RAT" so UConn is at fault, not Kevin?

Do I have that right?

Understood my friend but if you're making the case that this is 100% on Ollie then yes I'm in disagreement with that narrative. I know it sounds good and it's the easy thing to believe so we can all just feel good about moving on and getting back to dominating NCAA Men's College Basketball. Sure Ollie has responsibility here however the University does as well and had much more control of the circumstances driving the ultimate reason of why we are where we are now. Ollie didn't hire himself.

When Ollie looks back at this I'm sure if he could change something within his overall decision making over the last 6 years he would have bounced after the NC knowing the vile he is absorbing from his own UCONN family. Loyalty doesn't mean "ISH" and he got burned. Yes, that is on Ollie! Lesson learned for Ollie is that you always take care of self and pro-actively manage your worse case scenario risk. Know the power structure and politics of the situation. He thought he was untouchable after the NC. That was his biggest mistake. He actually thought he owned a program that JC built. Thinking he had more power and influence than he actually had. You need power and influence when situations go left and it really doesn't matter when everything is going great. He had no real firewall except for that contract.

 

[UCDaveD]

we're talking about this in a legal sense, and no I don't think the courts are going to throw out a 10 million contract for that

do you? seriously?

that can be passed off as random stuff, and that's why precedence does matter

JFC

 

[CL82]

Understood my friend but if you're making the case that this is 100% on Ollie then yes I'm in disagreement with that narrative. I know it sounds good and it's the easy thing to believe so we can all just feel good about moving on and getting back to dominating NCAA Men's College Basketball. Sure Ollie has responsibility here however the University does as well and had much more control of the circumstances driving the ultimate reason of why we are where we are now. Ollie didn't hire himself.

When Ollie looks back at this I'm sure if he could change something within his overall decision making over the last 6 years he would have bounced after the NC knowing the vile he is absorbing from his own UCONN family. Loyalty doesn't mean "ISH" and he got burned. Yes, that is on Ollie! Lesson learned for Ollie is that you always take care of self and pro-actively manage your worse case scenario risk. Know the power structure and politics of the situation. He thought he was untouchable after the NC. That was his biggest mistake. He actually thought he owned a program that JC built. Thinking he had more power and influence than he actually had. You need power and influence when situations go left and it really doesn't matter when everything is going great. He had no real firewall except for that contract.

All on KO, probably not. Mostly (if you count his representation as KO), probably.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Understood my friend but if you're making the case that this is 100% on Ollie then yes I'm in disagreement with that narrative. I know it sounds good and it's the easy thing to believe so we can all just feel good about moving on and getting back to dominating NCAA Men's College Basketball. Sure Ollie has responsibility here however the University does as well and had much more control of the circumstances driving the ultimate reason of why we are where we are now. Ollie didn't hire himself.

When Ollie looks back at this I'm sure if he could change something within his overall decision making over the last 6 years he would have bounced after the NC knowing the vile he is absorbing from his own UCONN family. Loyalty doesn't mean "ISH" and he got burned. Yes, that is on Ollie! Lesson learned for Ollie is that you always take care of self and pro-actively manage your worse case scenario risk. Know the power structure and politics of the situation. He thought he was untouchable after the NC. That was his biggest mistake. He actually thought he owned a program that JC built. Thinking he had more power and influence than he actually had. You need power and influence when situations go left and it really doesn't matter when everything is going great. He had no real firewall except for that contract.

Perhaps we will find out over time if there were or are behavioral health issues that might have made a change of venue not such a snap. Perhaps not.

Those who know and matter to the proceedings aren't posting here. Or if they are, that's not what they are posting about transparently . In great likelihood, they are monitoring here.

 

[jostar1]

Isn't he currently suspended with pay? At the very least he's walking away without however much money he earns while this process plays out. He's getting something, so to say he should be happy with anything they offer doesn't make any sense.

According to the ESPN article, he was terminated effective June 19, 2018.

"This false and defamatory claim was released without prior notice to Coach Ollie and no attempt was made by the University of Connecticut to protect Coach Ollie from this false and defamatory claim or to disavow it," says the letter from Madsen, Prestley & Parenteau, the law firm representing Ollie. "The release of the confidential transcripts was coordinated to coincide with the publication of the news that Coach Ollie's employment was terminated by you on June 19, 2018."

Ollie demands retraction from UConn, may sue

 

[Chief00]

Golly gee wilikers I want to go to the Capital Grille, where fancy suits drive cool cars too. Oh and keep the ladies happy. Can I get in on Ollie’s deal. Let’s see,be bad at my job, break the rules, lie about it to my boss. Yeah, that’s the ticket!

Just trying to fine a settlement solutions rather than this mutual destruction which has taken a toll on KO.

 

[Waquoit]

I hate to say I was right but I tried to explain to the people on here that are delusional that Herbst and Benedict handling of this matter was irresponsible. They put the entire program at risk. There claim for cause to fire Ollie is BS and everyone knows it. Herbst and Benedict tried to smear Ollie’s name to avoid paying him and it’s backfiring on them. The so called “violations” Ollie committed happens at Every School in the country.

Ollie put the the program at risk by gross dereliction of duty.

 

[Chief00]

UCONN is not broke. The athletic department is thanks to the clown DB. He screw up by offering contract extensions to Diaco and Ollie. He lost 6 million to Diaco n is now covering his butt by taking the low road and trying to screw KO out of his $10 million. Chief told us that DB already had a booster that is ready to foot the $10 million buyout. There was never a booster. UCONN's operating budget is in the red but that was from the last state budget projection. Since that time, the state revenue has been revise upwards by over 2 billion over the next 2 yrs. The state will fix most of the UCONN shortcomings. The school will also save some money by further consolidating some Universities. The UCONN AD is a man made disaster due to David Benedict. This is the same AD that was a no show in the half time of the SMU game when they honor all the UCONN student athletes. Come on Susan, pull the trigger and fire DB

What you stated is not correct. I never said that a booster was paying $10 million. I said the money was available to terminate him. The termination was for well supported cause - UConn knew it wouldn’t be paying anything close to $10 million. The facts people in the public know now, UConn has known for a long time.

 

[SouthBayHusky]

All r facts, u cant handle the truth

Weren’t you the same person who told everyone as the fact that Kevin Ollie would not be fired and would be back next year guaranteed? Credibility !?