As he tries to re-energize Brooklyn, Kevin Ollie’s willing to repair his side of bridge to UConn

[JMick]

He has twice as many nattys than Hurley

Yeah and what happened after that?

 

[bazz&boujee]

Multiple things can be true at once.. ya kno

 

[JungleLobo]

Yeah and what happened after that?

He cashed a check for what the state owed him and now is getting pro money.

Kind of stupid what the complaints were now that everyone is getting paid

 

[87Xfer]

Hard pass.

I just don't obsess over this like a lot of people here do. But explain to me like an adult what would be the downside of this being smoothed over, and both sides reconciling? The guy is a big part of UConn history either way.

 

[JMick]

He cashed a check for what the state owed him and now is getting pro money.

Kind of stupid what the complaints were now that everyone is getting paid

Ok you are as clueless as I thought you were. Try again next time

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

No other fanbase would even entertain this conversation if he was their coach and cratered the program the way he did.

That’s absurd. For the vast majority of Division 1 programs Ollie would be remembered as the coach who brought them their only national championship, because at most places they have zero.

The university made a stupid gamble and it blew up in their faces. End of story. They should have negotiated a buyout like any other “big time” program would have done and put it to bed. They tried to be too clever and ended up with egg on their faces.

 

[Improviser]

Could still talk to the team and send messages to the team via skype or FaceTime this way he isn’t on campus.

Does the team really care whether or not he talks to them or sends them messages?

Unless, somehow he turns things around for the Nets and that sends a message of rehabilitation or redemption. IDK.

On the other hand, if Ray Allen or Emeka or Andre sent messages, that would be another story, probably.

 

[JungleLobo]

Ok you are as clueless as I thought you were. Try again next time

Ok boomer

 

[JMick]

Ok boomer

Another swing, another miss

 

[CL82]

. At the end of the day time heals and I would love that situation to transpire. If we can do that, it would be great.”

Well, I mean if he is sincere a $15 million donation to the the university or Bleed Blue for Good would be a good start.

 

[John]

That’s absurd. For the vast majority of Division 1 programs Ollie would be remembered as the coach who brought them their only national championship, because at most places they have zero.

The university made a stupid gamble and it blew up in their faces. End of story. They should have negotiated a buyout like any other “big time” program would have done and put it to bed. They tried to be too clever and ended up with egg on their faces.

This x1000

 

[willie99]

Life's about healing and friendships, not anger

KO fought for his money like anyone would, he's protecting his life and his family. I don't like some of the things that happened, but that's what happens when two sides lawyer up, it's going to get ugly

Truthfully I think UConn was just as stupid for thinking they could get away with no buyout. They should have offered him 5 million up front, I think both sides walk away happy. But they chose to lawyer up too

I was on the Ollie bandwagon longer than most, and I know today I was wrong. Sure he had a lot of injuries, but too many kids jumped ship and he recruited very few championship level players. The program was in decline, but he'll always be a large part of our legend

 

[CL82]

We can't ignore that he coached a team through the 4th championship. Trying to tell our story while skipping over Ollie is not realistic.

There's no need to skip over Ollie, neither the good, nor the bad. Just forgetting about everything that happened, would be skipping over the bad. Cheating, getting caught, alienating kids, phoning in his job, lying to the A.D., lying to the NCAA, pushing Jim Calhoun out of the university for a time, smearing Calhoun's good name after saying that Jim was a "father figure" to him are all part of the bad

 

[CL82]

I’m not sure you understand the finer points of the difference between “for cause” and “because”.

It was a calculated risk to go “for cause” and there wasn’t a strong enough legal case for it.

That's not actually what happened. What happened was that the arbiter decided that the provision in Ollie's contract which said that cheating was caused for dismissal was not gonna be enforced, because the union contract superseded it the union contract said Ollie could only be dismissed "serious" off fences. The arbiter decided that Ollies cheating, lying to the A.D., lying to the NCAA, etc. did not become serious until after he got a three-year cause penalty for being a cheating a liar. In essence the arbiter decided Ollie's actions changed character from "not serious" to "serious" by an event that occurred after them.

 

[JMick]

There's no need to skip over Ollie, neither the good, nor the bad. Just forgetting about everything that happened, would be skipping over the bad. Cheating, getting caught, alienating kids, phoning in his job, lying to the A.D., lying to the NCAA, pushing Jim Calhoun out of the university for a time, smearing Calhoun's good name after saying that Jim was a "father figure" to him are all part of the bad

And what has he done on his side to reconcile? Has he publicly taken any responsibility for his part in what happened?

It's so weird that people are so desperate to see this guy around the program. What benefit does it serve when the guy can't even say "hey I screwed up"

 

[CL82]

And what has he done on his side to reconcile? Has he publicly taken any responsibility for his part in what happened?

It's so weird that people are so desperate to see this guy around the program. What benefit does it serve when the guy can't even say "hey I screwed up"

Just apologizing to Jim Calhoun would go along way for me. If he did that and then dated his racial discrimination accusations against the university that would pave the way for a reconciliation.

 

[John]

And what has he done on his side to reconcile? Has he publicly taken any responsibility for his part in what happened?

It's so weird that people are so desperate to see this guy around the program. What benefit does it serve when the guy can't even say "hey I screwed up"

You want him to take out a full page ad in the Courant?

 

[JMick]

You want him to take out a full page ad in the Courant?

They literally just asked him about it and he didn't even allude to any of it being his fault

He hasnt even acknowledged his role in any of it nevermind made amends

 

[John]

They literally just asked him about it and he didn't even allude to any of it being his fault

He hasnt even acknowledged his role in any of it nevermind made amends

So the way I'm understanding your world, any coach who underperformed during a portion of their tenure needs to issue a public mea culpa before they can be reassociated with a program?

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

The funniest part about all of this is that the people who were most spectacularly wrong about the outcome of Ollie’s case continue to litigate their position on this board and have the temerity to call the people who were correct about the outcome from inception “clueless.” It’s great. Self-awareness is overrated anyway.

 

[BGesus4]

You all can save me with the soap box “he cheated” stuff. Calhoun did worse and was caught doing worse.

Ppl who don’t want him to come back, feel that way because he ran the program into the ground from a win-loss perspective. The holier than thou, “he’s a bad person”, “he’s a cheater” is ridiculous and the same ppl singing that song would be lionizing him if he had been going to final fours and getting one seeds.

 

[JMick]

So the way I'm understanding your world, any coach who underperformed during a portion of thier tenure needs to issue a public mea culpa before they can be reassociated with a program?

Does it not matter why they underperformed and how they acted afterwards?

If you dump your girlfriend and she takes a dump on your counter on her way out, are you really going want to talk to her again before she apologizes?

 

[John]

Does it not matter why they underperformed and how they acted afterwards?

If you dump your girlfriend and she takes a dump on your counter on her way out, are you really going want to talk to her again before she apologizes?

Can I have your tickets for Welcome Home Kevin Ollie Night?

 

[HuskyHawk]

I’m not sure you understand the finer points of the difference between “for cause” and “because”.

It was a calculated risk to go “for cause” and there wasn’t a strong enough legal case for it.

It was plenty strong enough. Some times they get things wrong. They got that very wrong.

 

[UCTitleTown]

His Twitter profile says "2014 NCAA National Champion Coach". When it says he played at UConn and adds "UConn" to the "2014 NCAA National Champions", I'd say he's serious about mending fences. I don't think he's ready. Have no idea how UConn feels, but probably won't happen until the next AD.