Details on Ollie's firing

[CL82]

Ok I'm a general counsel and senior HR executive. Contract or no contract, inconsistent treatment of like situations is a potential problem in the employment context, particularly when you start dealing with unions and, more importantly, protected classes. That said, I think UConn has a compelling story to tell here. Hall of fame coach retires but leaves behind numerous compliance issues. School articulates importance of strict compliance to new coach. Coach proceeds to not only fail to comply with rules, but then mislead administrators about the nature of the violations. It is the stressing of compliance at the time of hire that, if true (and I think the records supports that it is), is compelling here.

I think different contract language may be a material fact as well.

 

[8893]

I thought about this and I disagree. KO->Dan Hurley is a big victory on it's own. If KO actually paid a player's mom, he's has no defense. And $10M is a material number for this athletic department. It's not optimal because KO is choosing to go down in flames, and because that UConn will get a bit smokey but it isn't a pyrrhic victory by any means.

Replacing Ollie with Hurley is a red herring. I agree that’s a win, but they didn’t need to go through this to do that.

It is interesting that the paying the player’s mother hearsay allegation by Miller does not appear to have been used as a basis for the just cause. As they say, there’s a reason for the hearsay rule and that appears to be the vast majority of what Miller provided.

I have no idea what the number would have been if they had reached a deal without going through this and I have yet to hear from anyone who does. I do expect this to have repercussions beyond this week.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Ok I'm a general counsel and senior HR executive. Contract or no contract, inconsistent treatment of like situations is a potential problem in the employment context, particularly when you start dealing with unions and, more importantly, protected classes. That said, I think UConn has a compelling story to tell here. Hall of fame coach retires but leaves behind numerous compliance issues. School articulates importance of strict compliance to new coach. Coach proceeds to not only fail to comply with rules, but then mislead administrators about the nature of the violations. It is the stressing of compliance at the time of hire that, if true (and I think the records supports that it is), is compelling here.

I completely agree that in the context you mention, and specifically with a protected class like Kevin is, you'd need to build the case and not arbitrarily enforce a provision for the wrong reason. That's why most companies build the file needed to terminate poor performers. What I'd disagree with, as raised by some posters (not you), is that generally being bad at your job (Ollie) vs being fantastic at your job (Calhoun), is insufficient as a reason for different treatment.

So aside from your very valid compliance point, I think it is also perfectly legitimate to enforce a clause like that due to general, poor performance. I am sure that UConn's evaluations and personnel records for Ollie will reflect multiple instances of them expecting more from him. UConn would have built that case. I don't think Ollie is even alleging that there is any racial aspect to his termination is he?

 

[Excalibur]

I think different contract language may be a material fact as well.

Calhoun's contract used to be available on the Courant site. It's not anymore, but Geno's 2008 contract is. It has similar cause language regarding NCAA violations. I think it's safe to assume that Calhoun's had it as well.

 

[CL82]

Calhoun's contract used to be available on the Courant site. It's not anymore, but Geno's 2008 contract is. It has similar cause language regarding NCAA violations. I think it's safe to assume that Calhoun's had it as well.

Hadn't seen this. Agree.

Edit:
Calhoun's contract is still on the UConn site - link

Here is the relevant language from Calhoun's contract:

It is interesting that violation isn't the trigger for the termination of the contract, it is the removal of the coach due to just cause that terminates it.

 

[CL82]

Replacing Ollie with Hurley is a red herring. I agree that’s a win, but they didn’t need to go through this to do that.

Disagree. You can't hire Hurley without firing KO.

It is interesting that the paying the player’s mother hearsay allegation by Miller does not appear to have been used as a basis for the just cause.

Yes, it is. Maybe that information wasn't known to the university?

 

[freescooter]

I'm afraid we will remember and care if it scares away all these recruits we are supposed to be close with and that does worry me because it adds to the AAC issue.

Recruits give not $ hi tee one about whether a former coach got fired or paid or dropped off the Brooklyn Bridge. The ones we are now recruiting probably don’t even know who Kevin Ollie is? They know and care about Dan Hurley and what he can do for them. They care about Kevin Ollie and his situation about as much as they care about Burr Carlson’s.

 

[8893]

Disagree. You can't hire Hurley without firing KO

Come’on CL. They could have fired KO for any reason at any time; the just cause simply voids the buyout.

I’m not suggesting that they should have stroked him a check for the full amount. Again I have no idea what was offered or what was demanded, but I have a hard time believing KO demanded it all and wouldn’t budge or that they offered nothing. This to me is the greatest unknown. I want to know what the opportunity cost was for both to avoid this.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[Madmannsucks]

Yeah, UCONN will be paying a decent amount of salary Ollie is owed.

May lose arbitration, but Ollie would probably win in court, based on all the JC stuff.

 

[Waquoit]

He was losing games because he couldn't be bothered to do his freakin job.

 

[Fishy]

Those guys both must post on the Boneyard because no one outside of here cares about this.

No one cares.

Take all the tweets in the universe about it and it they wouldn’t compel a $1,000 payment to Kevin Ollie, let alone $10,000,000.

 

[jimva]

I undertsand that I was responding to another poster who said this was just a story on the BY and not getting alot of play in the real world.

To be clear, I did not say it was just a story on the BY. I said it was getting more attention on the BY than the real world. And this is how it should be so many on here are diservidly sensitive to anything negative after the past couple years. My point is this is not a big deal and will pass sooner than we think - the world has a very short attention span.

 

[MadDogRevival]

DeCourcy wrote: "Kevin Ollie's only "violation" was losing games."
Nice tongue-in-cheek attempt, but Wrong.
It was the pathetic effort and lack of dedication. The "losing games" would have been a lot less rough going down for all of us if KO had looked and behaved like he actually gave a 7uck the last 24 months he was getting paid millions a year.
His "violation" was more "acting like a loser" than "losing." Not the same thing.

 

[tentoes4rings]

KO earned the original 5 year extension but not the additional 3 years. This would be the final year of his original 5 year extension. I think a settlement of $3 million would be fair since he earned those 5 years.

 

[LIuconn]

I can't read all these posts. So is UConn going forwards? Are we looking at serious punishment?

 

[Javjudah]

This will continue to get messy and will be very bad publicity for UConn should this not come to a mutual settlement soon. This will cause more damage to UConn Basketball than KO should this not stop soon. Herbst and Benedict doesn’t understand the importance of damage control at this time. The crazy thing is I always knew Ollie firing of Miller was going to lead to this... Miller is coming after UConn next... Is Miller lying to get back at Ollie and UConn? money and incompetence by Herbst and Benedict is bringing UConn down. Ollie wanted everyone to know who the rats are and who was burning UConn down...

 

[8893]

No one cares.

Take all the tweets in the universe about it and it they wouldn’t compel a $1,000 payment to Kevin Ollie, let alone $10,000,000.

Ok, how about a dollar for an oyster then?

 

[TRest]

This will continue to get messy and will be very bad publicity for UConn should this not come to a mutual settlement soon. This will cause more damage to UConn Basketball than KO should this not stop soon. Herbst and Benedict doesn’t understand the importance of damage control at this time. The crazy thing is I always knew Ollie firing of Miller was going to lead to this... Miller is coming after UConn next... Is Miller lying to get back at Ollie and UConn? money and incompetence by Herbst and Benedict is bringing UConn down. Ollie wanted everyone to know who the rats are and who was burning UConn down...

If KO's defense is that he isn't the only incompetent cheater on campus, he might want to come to the table. Which is what that statement being released today probably means.

 

[Stainmaster]

They will never accept that he should have been fired. (Hi 99 and stairs).

What a fake news liar you are. Get your head checked, whacko.

 

[Stainmaster]

DeCourcy wrote: "Kevin Ollie's only "violation" was losing games."
Nice tongue-in-cheek attempt, but Wrong.
It was the pathetic effort and lack of dedication. The "losing games" would have been a lot less rough going down for all of us if KO had looked and behaved like he actually gave a 7uck the last 24 months he was getting paid millions a year.
His "violation" was more "acting like a loser" than "losing." Not the same thing.

Aren’t you an attorney, Frank? You should know better than this.

 

[Pudge]

Is the National Media suggesting ... other Universities would just pay him the $10m?

This is the normal. It is playing out in the public space. But ... MY IMPRESSION ... was Kevin Ollie was told what was coming & could have taken a buyout sub $10m. This is about losing games. And everyone that is a stakeholder in a dynamic program losing faith and confidence in KOs ability to do the job. He did do crazy things outside the boundary; and some was done in previous Calhoun era and in other UConn sports. But ... to just get to a settlement number. The finger wagging is silly.

 

[freescooter]

Of course nobody is suggesting that other universities would have paid the $10 million. Everyone knows that they would all do the same thing. Try to negotiate then if that failed, fire for cause. And if UConn or anyone else paid the money. There would be an equal and opposite complaint about how we paid a loser who violated NCAA rules from the minuscule like shooting a few hoops to the massive like sending players to illegal workouts and maybe paying off recruits parents.

Kevin Ollie had one job. Win basketball games. If he had done that he’d be the coach and this would result in at most a reprimand. He failed. Good bye and good riddance.

 

[huskymedic]

Eaton-Robb AP Story: UConn: Ollie fired for impermissible contact, workouts

>>Benedict said Ollie had three times certified to him that the program was in compliance with all NCAA rules.<<

 

[CL82]

He said the university provided him with a list of 120 NCAA secondary violations by athletic coaches across all sports at UConn from 2010 to the present that didn’t result in the firing of the coach.