Good article.

[noeynox]

title is a little misleading. I think this guy nails it.

UConn is handling the Kevin Ollie situation all wrong

 

[Northbound]

Seems pretty reasonable.

 

[Rocktheworld]

Yeah, indeed misleading; first sentence is “Kevin Ollie did this to himself”

 

[the Q]

Really hard to say much until we know what these alleged violations are.

 

[GemParty]

Seems fair, but we are under investigation. Eventually we will find out long after this is settled, if KO was clean.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Misleading headline, Calhoun's quote offered out of context, a rather abrupt ending, and the first I've read mentioning race (though it refers to mentions elsewhere, and it is neither totally implausible nor right on the money IMO).

The whole discussion is too big for me to follow or be certain of anything until there are announcements of fact.

 

[Travelman6]

This is one of those things where everyone wants to have an opinion despite very few actually knowing what is fully going on and not really acknowledging that they do not totally know.

Maybe the UNI is acting unfairly. Maybe Ollie has skeletons in the closest. Who knows.

 

[uconnphil2016]

Misleading headline, Calhoun's quote offered out of context, a rather abrupt ending, and the first I've read mentioning race (though it refers to mentions elsewhere, and it is neither totally implausible nor right on the money IMO).

The whole discussion is too big for me to follow or be certain of anything until there are announcements of fact.

A Dime Back mentioned it on their podcast, said that former players agreed with the firing but not the for cause and were wondering if race had anything to do with it

 

[Travelman6]

wondering if race had anything to do with it

Highly highly doubt it. That card is played too often.

 

[uconnphil2016]

Highly highly doubt it. That card is played too often.

I mean, the idea that race colors the way that we see people is just a reality, and that Black people are valued less in our society than White people is also a reality--that's not any kind of opinion, but just based in basically every statistical metric that could measure the well being of groups in our country.

I don't think it is a factor in this situation. Folks are pointing to Bob Diaco getting his buyout, but Diaco wasn't under an investigation and Diaco's buyout was more manageable. This decision is the result of being broke and nothing else.

With that being said, I don't really understand the argument of loyalty in college athletics to begin with. There is no place for loyalty, or even morality really, in the business of college sports. It's a corporation, and corporations only care about the bottom line and do what they can to secure their own best interest--why should we be any different? The only legitimate question should be whether claiming just cause serves our best future interests or not. I don't think that's the way college sports should be, but it's the way that they are, and our failure to play by those rules (or lack of rules) has held us back for too long.

 

[Dogdeacon]

Well now we have that guy's opinion after he looked at UConn's record under Ollie and had his assistant research when the contracts were signed. He concluded Ollie's coaching & contract was bad, really Dr.?!

Also why include the section on race? If he'd looked into it and found nothing it serves no purpose other than inflammatory.

Then the overall conclusion that other schools have tried to get out of bad contracts therefore that's what UConn is doing is unfounded supposition. I honestly can't understand why a handful of people are such staunch defenders of employment contracts when <1% of people have one and when in this case the alleged suffering party has already made more money than 99.95% of humans make in a lifetime. To me a logical conclusion is that we know Ollie did a terrible coaching job in many aspects, so more support for a straight line hypothesis that this bad job extended to compliance and other fire-able acts or omissions?

 

[Stinger92860]

Well now we have that guy's opinion after he looked at UConn's record under Ollie and had his assistant research when the contracts were signed. He concluded Ollie's coaching & contract was bad, really Dr.?!

Also why include the section on race? If he'd looked into it and found nothing it serves no purpose other than inflammatory.

Then the overall conclusion that other schools have tried to get out of bad contracts therefore that's what UConn is doing is unfounded supposition. I honestly can't understand why a handful of people are such staunch defenders of employment contracts when <1% of people have one and when in this case the alleged suffering party has already made more money than 99.95% of humans make in a lifetime. To me a logical conclusion is that we know Ollie did a terrible coaching job in many aspects, so more support for a straight line hypothesis that this bad job extended to compliance and other fire-able acts or omissions?

At least he did not take from the Boneyard.

 

[uconn_jack]

wondering if race had anything to do with it

Race has nothing to do with it. $$$ does.

 

[CL82]

For the past few days I've paid attention to the conversation around this situation, and on a few occasions, I've seen race come up as a reason to why UConn is going about things this way. But, I'm not buying it. Two mistakes were made here, and race had nothing to do with either of them. The first one was that UConn repeatedly overpaid an under qualified coach, and the second one was that Ollie sold his almamater a dream.

It was a bad marriage from the beginning, but if Ollie would have been better at his job, UConn would be playing this weekend, and I wouldn't have written this column.​

Does anyone doubt the last sentence?

FWIW, I like this guy's take that Ollie's performance was okay, but for UConn MBB, just okay isn't enough.

 

[Pudge]

How do you not RE-up with a guy after they win a National Championship? And you pay him a Market rate? Is Ollie getting paid Izzo-K-Pitino like money ... he wasn’t.

This is a sad arc. The “race” line seems obligatory for a black sportswriter. The guy didn’t perform.

Unlike many, I don’t see “just cause” as anything other than leverage in negotiating. Ollie will get some of that money. (Of course, I know nothing) But, this is the response when you float the idea to KO that he’s been fired and we’d sure love you to back off the contractual payoff. And he says no. This is HIS University ... still. I hope there is a quick resolution.

 

[Rocktheworld]

A Dime Back mentioned it on their podcast, said that former players agreed with the firing but not the for cause and were wondering if race had anything to do with it

AD Dave:
“We gotta get this black guy out of there. I’m just glad we’re losing and under investigation so we have an excuse to not pay him”
Herbst:
“Totally agree. Way too many black guys on staff too. We need more white people on the sidelines for UConn”


WTFFFFFF???

 

[RipCity]

“School doesn’t want to pay huge buyout to bad coach if they don’t have to.”

Huge shocker. How about this? Want your money? Don’t risk sanctions in recruiting and don’t suck at your job.

The situation is unfortunate, but handling it any different would only hurt UConn long term. And insinuating that it is about race is insane.

 

[temery]

I'm lost. When did this become about race?

 

[Rocktheworld]

I mean, the idea that race colors the way that we see people is just a reality, and that Black people are valued less in our society than White people is also a reality--that's not any kind of opinion, but just based in basically every statistical metric that could measure the well being of groups in our country.

Ahhh, “implicit racism” or more aptly named “tribalism”. That’s the root of this

Then maybe Glenn Miller should file a complaint that race was a factor in his firing. He’d have more claim to that than KO would here (not that I think KO is gonna go that route)

 

[RipCity]

I'm lost. When did this become about race?

It’s 2018, everything boils down to race and gender.

 

[freescooter]

Ollie’s performance was ok? On what planet? Maybe for a d3 program somewhere but that’s about it.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Ollie’s performance was ok? On what planet? Maybe for a d3 program somewhere but that’s about it.

I feel like he did alright that one season...

 

[uconnphil2016]

Ahhh, “implicit racism” or more aptly named “tribalism”. That’s the root of this

Then maybe Glenn Miller should file a complaint that race was a factor in his firing. He’d have more claim to that than KO would here (not that I think KO is gonna go that route)

I literally said it wasn't about race...

 

[August_West]

The situation is unfortunate, but handling it any different would only hurt UConn long term

Thats not true.

Paying the buyout wouldve been the cleanest for all involved. I understand why that wasnt done but it has absolutely muddied up the situation.

 

[temery]

Ahhh, “implicit racism” or more aptly named “tribalism”. That’s the root of this

Then maybe Glenn Miller should file a complaint that race was a factor in his firing. He’d have more claim to that than KO would here (not that I think KO is gonna go that route)

I highly doubt Ollie has made this about race.