Caron Butler on how former players view UConn

[Husky25]

Maybe and then he would be owed for the remainder of the contract. Sadly, for Kevin at least, he did cheat, in violation of his contract, and he did lie about it to both his employers and the NCAA, also in violation of his contract, and thus his contract terminated and he's isn't entitled to any payment under it.

I love how people obsess on an imagined "real reason for firing KO" instead of his proven breach of his contract.

I don't understand the disconnect.

UConn may have very well, deep down in places places they don't talk about at parties (this is in all actuality exactly what boosters talk about at parties), wanted to fire Ollie over wins and losses and even if the money was quite the obstacle, they were prepared to do just that. However, Ollie gave them a reason and a substantiated legal argument to not buy him out.

Ethical? Moral? It's a gray area. Legally? Seems far more black and white.

Take the money out of it and think about your respective daily lives. A great deal of us probably toe (or cross) the legal line because the action is probably not a big deal according to to our own moral code. Doesn't mean there aren't real consequences.

If I hypothetically drive with my cruise set in the mid 70's, a policeman would be acting within his duties to pull me over, even though my experience indicates they generally look the other way up to a certain amount and I feel comfortably in the clear.

Now suppose the timing is toward the end of the month, they need to meet their quota, and my taillight is out. No way I'm not getting stopped.

 

[Tenspro2002]

What role did Calhoun play in Ollie's divorce?

Clearly KO's ex had an affair with Calhoun.

That would explain everything.

 

[Husky25]

What is the point to this question. Clearly not what was said here.

Clearly it was facetious. The only issue I had with how Calhoun left the program is the timing of his retirement. Yet, it didn't stop UConn from winning a national title less than two years later.

 

[Husky25]

Clearly KO's ex had an affair with Calhoun.

That would explain everything.

Clearly Calhoun owes Ollie $10M.

 

[8893]

If I hypothetically drive with my cruise set in the mid 70's, a policeman would be acting within his duties to pull me over, even though my experience indicates they generally look the other way up to a certain amount and I fee comfortably in the clear.

Now suppose the timing is toward the end of the month, they need to meet their quota, and my taillight is out. No way I'm not getting stopped.

And what if the same officer, hypothetically, either says “Oh, good evening, Coach Calhoun, here’s a warning, please carry on”; or “Mr. Ollie, please step out of the car and place your hands behind your back. You have the right to remain silent...”, depending on who is driving?

 

[Husky25]

And what if the same officer, hypothetically, either says “Oh, good evening, Coach Calhoun, here’s a warning, please carry on”; or “Mr. Ollie, please step out of the car and place your hands behind your back. You have the right to remain silent...”, depending on who is driving?

Transgressor has little to do with the transgression(s), which is why I kept it the same.

 

[Madmannsucks]

And what if the same officer, hypothetically, either says “Oh, good evening, Coach Calhoun, here’s a warning, please carry on”; or “Mr. Ollie, please step out of the car and place your hands behind your back. You have the right to remain silent...”, depending on who is driving?

And THAT is why people are being too dismissive about the discrimination. We can explain it all away. Neither contract allowed for misconduct of any kind. That is how coach JC got dragged into this. To similar scenarios, two people treated vastly different. That will be presented to a jury. I am not saying he was or wasn't, but that is the key here.

 

[superjohn]

And what if the same officer, hypothetically, either says “Oh, good evening, Coach Calhoun, here’s a warning, please carry on”; or “Mr. Ollie, please step out of the car and place your hands behind your back. You have the right to remain silent...”, depending on who is driving?

And there it is. Please don't do this.

 

[Huskybass]

Clearly Calhoun and Ollie were treated differently. But the honest take is that it was based on success and performance, not on any discrimination.

Add to that the fact the UConn had recently come off probation and it is highly likely that UConn needed to run a tighter ship, hence a zero tolerance policy on infractions.

I still think KO has a terrible case from a legal standpoint, but the case does have some settlement value in order to put this saga in the past.

 

[Captbluefin]

KO had a job. He was failing miserably at his job. If he did his job he would still be here regardless.

JC had a job and did his job. Hence why he got to stay as long as he wanted.

If KO did not let 2014 get to his head and worked his but off to capitalize on his success recruiting and preparing and coaching his team he would have never been in his situation.

Its a pretty cut and dry situation. He failed to do his job. He also committed violations that gave the school a way out. It’s in black and white in the contract. If he did his job he still would have been able to keep it.

Caron is a great Husky but if he was failing in the NBA he knew he was done. He needs to stay in his lane because Ollie failed at his job. Everyone who fails at their job has consequences Ollie, Caron, you and me.

Ollie lived on 10 day contracts in the NBA. He finally got a big $$ long term deal and screwed it up.. It’s to bad but he failed to seize his big break he had worked for..

 

[Huskybass]

KO had a job. He was failing miserably at his job. If he did his job he would still be here regardless.

JC had a job and did his job. Hence why he got to stay as long as he wanted.

If KO did not let 2014 get to his head and worked his but off to capitalize on his success recruiting and preparing and coaching his team he would have never been in his situation.

Its a pretty cut and dry situation. He failed to do his job. He also committed violations that gave the school a way out. It’s in black and white in the contract. If he did his job he still would have been able to keep it.

Caron is a great Husky but if he was failing in the NBA he knew he was done. He needs to stay in his lane because Ollie failed at his job. Everyone who fails at their job has consequences Ollie, Caron, you and me.

I agree with everything you said except the part about Caron needing to stay in his lane. He simply answered a question during a podcast interview. He answered the question honestly, but he wasn't there to actively campaign for Ollie or try to be adverse to UConn. He simply provided an honest answer to the question that was posed. They talked about lots of other topics and it was a good listen. The Boneyard has given his statement way more legs than it ever would have gotten otherwise.

 

[8893]

Clearly Calhoun and Ollie were treated differently. But the honest take is that it was based on success and performance, not on any discrimination.

Add to that the fact the UConn had recently come off probation and it is highly likely that UConn needed to run a tighter ship, hence a zero tolerance policy on infractions.

I still think KO has a terrible case from a legal standpoint, but the case does have some settlement value in order to put this saga in the past.

KO had a job. He was failing miserably at his job. If he did his job he would still be here regardless.

JC had a job and did his job. Hence why he got to stay as long as he wanted.

If KO did not let 2014 get to his head and worked his but off to capitalize on his success recruiting and preparing and coaching his team he would have never been in his situation.

Its a pretty cut and dry situation. He failed to do his job. He also committed violations that gave the school a way out. It’s in black and white in the contract. If he did his job he still would have been able to keep it.

Caron is a great Husky but if he was failing in the NBA he knew he was done. He needs to stay in his lane because Ollie failed at his job. Everyone who fails at their job has consequences Ollie, Caron, you and me.

Ollie lived on 10 day contracts in the NBA. He finally got a big $$ long term deal and screwed it up.. It’s to bad but he failed to seize his big break he had worked for..

Agree fully with both, except the Caron stay in his lane thing. He was asked and he answered. That's his opinion.

 

[Captbluefin]

You guy are right the “stay in his lane” was a wrong he was just answering a question. I just don’t like him backing Ollie over a school that gave him such a opportunity.

 

[huskyinfl]

You called people here "maniacs" for literally no reason. Nobody denies he controls his life or shapes his future. I don't recall (and you refused to quote) anyone saying they'd do anything to prevent him from having future success.

And people "liked" the post.

Strange indeed.

I'm not your personal research department. No reason. Have you read these threads? You are acting like it's court and some how your demand for me to do something has actual meaning. It doesn't. Yes there are many maniacs here.

 

[Martin]

The other note here is that Caron was a former criminal who no major program would touch. Had Calhoun and the UConn admissions folks not looked past his past so to speak he might well have spent his career in Turkey or Latvia or someplace rather than the NBA.

You need to substantiate this. It’s not fair at all to claim this and not post anything along with it to prove it.

 

[superjohn]

Ollie lived on 10 day contracts in the NBA. He finally got a big $$ long term deal and screwed it up.. It’s to bad but he failed to seize his big break he had worked for..

Living on 10 day contracts early on but he had a 5 year stretch where he made about 15 million in the nba and he made about 20 million for his playing career. There should be no tears for KO.

 

[Dogdeacon]

Does a 25yr employee that built a business deserve to be treated differently than the 6yr employee that inherits that built business?
Why wasn't Ollie hired & paid to be coach emeritus if he did the same things JC did? He didn't, he wasn't.
Let's not pretend me or anyone else is biased because Calhoun was a head coach for 40 years including coaching UConn successfully from 1986 - 2012 versus Kevin Ollie's career spanning 6 years. This is comparing Lindsay Lohan's acting career to Elizabeth Taylor's & saying they should be treated & regarded similarly.

It is mind boggling to me that this happened to a guy that played in the NBA for over a decade and was once one of the hottest coaching commodities. Why not repeat the hard work take your lumps and keep moving forward mantra that worked in basketball for so long? Isn't this yet another clue that maybe, just maybe Ollie was seriously derelict in his duties?! Many, many coaches have lost and gotten 2nd, 3rd and 4th chances - but the fact that this is out of the question for Ollie doesn't tell his supporters anything? The NCAA didn't give Calhoun a show-cause because he won?!! Even before the show cause there was no effort (hmm sounds like a pattern), attempt or interest on schools, teams or Ollie's part to coach again. Even Al Skinner got jobs and BC flat out said he was fired for being lazy (but winning, ironically).

 

[huskymedic]

Clearly Calhoun and Ollie were treated differently. But the honest take is that it was based on success and performance, not on any discrimination.

Add to that the fact the UConn had recently come off probation and it is highly likely that UConn needed to run a tighter ship, hence a zero tolerance policy on infractions.

I think some people forget that Ollie was on the staff when Calhoun (for failing to promote an atmosphere of compliance) and UConn (for failure to monitor) were finally whacked by the NCAA (I know that the Miles stuff happened before Ollie was on the staff but he was there for the NCAA colonoscopy into the program).

UConn was actually still on the resulting probation when Ollie was named head coach (probation ended in beginning of 2014).

 

[Huskybass]

I think some people forget that Ollie was on the staff when Calhoun (for failing to promote an atmosphere of compliance) and UConn (for failure to monitor) were finally whacked by the NCAA (I know that the Miles stuff happened before Ollie was on the staff but he was there for the NCAA colonoscopy into the program).

UConn was actually still on the resulting probation when Ollie was named head coach (probation ended in beginning of 2014).

I meant when he signed the contract at issue.

 

[BlueMAB]

Wrong again - one of the strengths for UConn recruiting is its history in the NCAA and in the NBA. Hurley would be a fool not to use former NBA greats that attended UConn while talking to recruits and their parents. So those UConn greats need to be on the university's side.

Hurley has invited them and welcomed them back into the family. He didn't fire Ollie, and he didn't refuse to pay the remainder of the salary. So the former players are punishing current players and coaches by refusing to accept his invitations.

And what if the same officer, hypothetically, either says “Oh, good evening, Coach Calhoun, here’s a warning, please carry on”; or “Mr. Ollie, please step out of the car and place your hands behind your back. You have the right to remain silent...”, depending on who is driving?

fun fact. Benedict was never Calhoun’s boss.

also, these hypotheticals don’t accurately translate.

Too little context.

Circumstances changed for UConn after being unnecessarily banned from the tournament

 

[BlueMAB]

UConn was actually still on the resulting probation when Ollie was named head coach (probation ended in beginning of 2014).

point was made several times but some people just don’t care.

 

[BlueMAB]

Yes there are many maniacs here.

Pot/Kettle

 

[Woodson]

Jim Calhoun is a diety at UCONN, that said, the condition he left the program in was less than ideal to say the least. The conference move, KO's divorce, broken rules, all contributed to the situation, but dropping the entire blame on KO is unfair, bad coach that he ended as.

Eh that’s a bit of a stretch. Conference affiliation isn’t on Calhoun, and the NCAA ban was a joke. Not to mention he left KO with a core group of players that would go on to win a national championship.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

This whole thing needs to be cut out and go in the rear view mirror today. How do they not get this even if they think they are right?

It is kind of amazing that you see it so clearly and express it so definitively and still it isn't being done the way you know it needs done.
How do you account for that?

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

2013-2016 Ollie was a great coach that could have kept UConn afloat until it got back to the Big East where he would have thrived. 2018 Ollie was mailing it in and deserved to be canned.

The 2014-15, directly after the National Champtionship felt frustrating and disappointing at the time. The team finished 5th in the AAC and lost in the opening round of the NIT. The following season was better, but still had an AAC 6th place finish, and went no further than the NCAA 2nd round. I don't see how Ollie gets accurately labeled a "great coach." How do you come up with that label?

I'm not going to argue with anyone who wants to label defeating Martell, Wright, Izzo, Hoiberg, Donovan, and Calipari as "great." I won't downplay of qualify the accomplishment, and it was a joy to witness and cheer for. Precious little after that approached such heights, and I'm surprised that anyone would offer that line of thinking.