Details on Ollie's firing

[UChusky916]

UConn Investigation Alleges Some Players Took Part In Impermissible Workouts Under Kevin Ollie

Thought this deserved its own thread. Lots of information on the just cause for his firing now public.

 

[JMick]

Has the gag order been lifted?

 

[andy34]

Herbst upholds Kevin Ollie’s termination, case headed to arbitration

From Borges, on the same topic, but with a much greater focus on the union's response. A few thoughts:

The union is right to defend Ollie, and they're technically right that other violations haven't been met with dismissal. That said, the impermissible workouts described by Amore are honestly pretty damning. To have guys flying around, staying at hotels, and working out off the books with some friend of his seems surprisingly careless, to be honest. And not being upfront with Benedict makes me think that Ollie isn't going to do well in arbitration. Even the violation where he shot a few hoops with a recruit, while a ridiculously silly rule, seems like an unforced error on his part.

 

[UConnRock]

One side of story, but if Ollie lied or tried to cover up actual events then it seems pretty solid. The shoot around and the Ray Allen call are pretty weak, but the Derek Hamilton stuff seems quite agredious and would likely go beyond an “incidental” violation.

 

[BlueMAB]

One side of story, but if Ollie lied or tried to cover up actual events then it seems pretty solid. The shoot around and the Ray Allen call are pretty weak, but the Derek Hamilton stuff seems quite agredious and would likely go beyond an “incidental” violation.

Almost.

"egregious"

 

[UconnU]

One side of story, but if Ollie lied or tried to cover up actual events then it seems pretty solid. The shoot around and the Ray Allen call are pretty weak, but the Derek Hamilton stuff seems quite agredious and would likely go beyond an “incidental” violation.

Especially if parents are even inquiring about it.

 

[HawkHusky]

Just-cause confirmed.

The phone call/shoot-around wouldn't have been enough, but the all-expenses paid trip to Atlanta with an outside-trainer is damning.

 

[huskysupporter]

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

 

[HawkHusky]

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

As Bob from Bob's Discount Furniture would say, "I doubt it!"

 

[jibsey]

Recruits didn’t get arranged calls to former players under Calhoun? Did they fly the players to Atlanta or just transport them when there?

 

[UconnU]

Recruits didn’t get arranged calls to former players under Calhoun? Did they fly the players to Atlanta or just transport them when there?

It appears like they flew them to Atlanta.

 

[Pudge]

We can’t use the Ray Allen phone?

Honestly. Some here want to lean forward like the University. Without the more enhanced details, I’m going with Mr Bailey of the AAUP. The University sought a reasoning to not pay the contract. Only the details of Mr Hamilton will change this path.

 

[starpka]

We can debate all we want about how bad the violations are, but the crux of this matter is captured here in this paragraph of the story.

As the documents were released, Michael Bailey, director of the UConn chapter of the American Association of University Professors, issued a statement, accusing UConn of a “double standard,” because it did not terminate other coaches, including Jim Calhoun, for NCAA violations in the past.

If I was a betting man, I would bet that Ollie wins this thing in a court with this argument.

 

[gtcam]

Coach K sets up meetings for recruits with former players and the likes of LeBron, KD and others - every coach who has any former players of note have done so
Shooting hoops with a recruit - if the ball bounced KO's way during a visit where the recruit was shooting in Gampel and KO hoisted a shot - yeah that's a bad one
Ray has a phone conversation with recruit - that's bad but DH arranges to have Coach Blaney talk to someone he wants to have at UConn and everyone applauds that.
I have no idea about the "Atlanta trips" and that needs to be explained much more
If he did do some "egregious" things - fine no pay at all but I have yet to see anything that is deserving of a complete shutout
I hate the "he did it so you have to treat me the same" crap but JC did do a real lot of shady things and the only people harmed were the players who played after he "retired"
Listen - the guy didn't do his job as a recruiter to get the right bunch of kids and he failed - I would agree to severing ties due to lack of accomplishments in producing an acceptable product- no argument on that claim at all
But this stuff - AD David Benedict is proving he is just that a DB IMHO. Personally, I would like to see him out of here. Christ he couldn't even keep his buddy Lashlee here more than one season
Just cause- HawkHusky couldn't wait to say that, love it that you got it out of your system!!!
KO is gone - let's get past this and talk about the present and future of the team not KO

 

[BlueMAB]

We can debate all we want about how bad the violations are, but the crux of this matter is captured here in this paragraph of the story.

As the documents were released, Michael Bailey, director of the UConn chapter of the American Association of University Professors, issued a statement, accusing UConn of a “double standard,” because it did not terminate other coaches, including Jim Calhoun, for NCAA violations in the past.

If I was a betting man, I would bet that Ollie wins this thing in a court with this argument.

Did Calhoun have a clause in his contract that specifically stated there was a zero-tolerance policy in place for any NCAA violations?

If not, throw that argument out of the window because there is no double-standard. There was a standard that Ollie had to meet, and he didn't.

 

[JMick]

Coach K sets up meetings for recruits with former players and the likes of LeBron, KD and others - every coach who has any former players of note have done so
Shooting hoops with a recruit - if the ball bounced KO's way during a visit where the recruit was shooting in Gampel and KO hoisted a shot - yeah that's a bad one
Ray has a phone conversation with recruit - that's bad but Dan Hurley arranges to have Coach Blaney talk to someone he wants to have at UConn and everyone applauds that.
I have no idea about the "Atlanta trips" and that needs to be explained much more
If he did do some "egregious" things - fine no pay at all but I have yet to see anything that is deserving of a complete shutout
I hate the "he did it so you have to treat me the same" crap but JC did do a real lot of shady things and the only people harmed were the players who played after he "retired"
Listen - the guy didn't do his job as a recruiter to get the right bunch of kids and he failed - I would agree to severing ties due to lack of accomplishments in producing an acceptable product- no argument on that claim at all
But this stuff - AD David Benedict is proving he is just that a DB IMHO. Personally, I would like to see him out of here. Christ he couldn't even keep his buddy Lashlee here more than one season
Just cause- HawkHusky couldn't wait to say that, love it that you got it out of your system!!!
KO is gone - let's get past this and talk about the present and future of the team not KO

no u

 

[huskymedic]

We can debate all we want about how bad the violations are, but the crux of this matter is captured here in this paragraph of the story.

As the documents were released, Michael Bailey, director of the UConn chapter of the American Association of University Professors, issued a statement, accusing UConn of a “double standard,” because it did not terminate other coaches, including Jim Calhoun, for NCAA violations in the past.

If I was a betting man, I would bet that Ollie wins this thing in a court with this argument.

One could argue that the game changed after UConn was slapped with the Lack of Institutional Control violation back in 2010?

If the university’s expectations regarding compliance/NCAA matters were clearly communicated when KO was hired and agreed to - what did or didn’t happen to Calhoun is irrelevant.

 

[BlueMAB]

The University sought a reasoning to not pay the contract.

And they found reasoning when they discovered numerous NCAA violations. Unless Calhoun had the same clause in his contract (which would be surprising) then it doesn't matter, because we can't use the Ray Allen phone, we can't fly players to Atlanta for workouts, and we can't do the other things Ollie did.

If Calhoun had a similar clause, Ollie will get every cent he's owed. If not, he's looking at $0 or a whole lot less than $10MM.

 

[starpka]

Did Calhoun have a clause in his contract that specifically stated there was a zero-tolerance policy in place for any NCAA violations?

If not, throw that argument out of the window because there is no double-standard. There was a standard that Ollie had to meet, and he didn't.

Well, I guess we will find out what Calhoun had in his contract when this goes to court. But we can rest assured that this argument will be tested, unless of course UConn decides to settle, which they should have done in the first place before they fired KO.

 

[BlueMAB]

Well, I guess we will find out what Calhoun had in his contract when this goes to court. But we can rest assured that this argument will be tested, unless of course UConn decides to settle, which they should have done in the first place before they fired KO.

Whether or not we paid Ollie the $10MM, this info would have come out. That ship sailed once the NCAA began their investigation. Firing him, and fighting the buyout, at least means we can try and limit the penalties by showing that we took action.

 

[navery12]

One side of story, but if Ollie lied or tried to cover up actual events then it seems pretty solid. The shoot around and the Ray Allen call are pretty weak, but the Derek Hamilton stuff seems quite agredious and would likely go beyond an “incidental” violation.

Some might even say, rock solid

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Well, I guess we will find out what Calhoun had in his contract when this goes to court. But we can rest assured that this argument will be tested, unless of course UConn decides to settle, which they should have done in the first place before they fired KO.

You don't think the university attempted settlement, or you know they didn't?
I'm asking because I don't know.

 

[HawkHusky]

You don't think the university attempted settlement, or you know they didn't?
I'm asking because I don't know.

IMO there's no way UCONN didn't try to settle and make it an amicable split.

 

[Kenny11]

Nothing really bad but definite violations. Ollie’s reputation shouldn’t take any hits on the bright side for him..but his money might.

 

[champs99and04]

The really big part of the story that people are missing: how were these violations reported?

Because it sure sounds like UConn committed violations, just like any other program, and then decided whether it would be financially convenient to report them. And that would be really bad.