Has the gag order been lifted?

[Penfield]

You do realize they could have ‘saved’ the program by firing Ollie and paying the buyout right?

Having the man who handpicked Ollie unleash a rat to the NCAA is only ‘saving’ the program if one ignores that had leadership not run the athletic department into an iceberg they wouldn’t have to stoop so low to get out if paying.

Now you’ve got all this AND they still haven’t won yet.

Honestly I don't even think they would have had to pay the entire buyout. Even half would have made the school look better, but no they had to play hardball and now UConn gets raked over the coals again. It's either the NCAA or the Media constantly barraging us, and it never seems to end. The admin can't seem to avoid stepping on grenades either.

 

[whaler11]

1. They are giving away football home games to net $1M. They don't have $10 to spend on an ex coach
2. Seeking to be paid for a job you are no longer doing is disgraceful. Why should Ollie get any money after being fired from a job he was bad at? The fairest outcome would be if he paid back the salary from last year.
3. What is "all this"? Nobody will care about this. By self reporting and firing the coach who committed the violations UConn reduces any impact from the violations.

1. That’s their own fault - it’s amazing you want to nail Ollie for being inept but not leadership.
2. LOL - so should Benedict and Herbst and Warde for the deals they signed then.
3. Yes nothing to see here. Just an athletic department using a rat to blab third party hearsay to the NCAA. Let’s celebrate the people so inept they have to put the department at risk to clean up the mess they made.

 

[Penfield]

Don't know about shady per se, but I think that KO wasn't a big fan of the time and effort needed to recruit. He was also a guy who just won a natty when he had NBA talent but was struggling with out it. Chill was a way to address that. For what it is worth most of the board was excited about that hire.

Chill = Nike EYBL and shoe companies are the way you funnel money

Why the hell did Fultz go to Washington?

Edit: BTW this is just Ollie trying to play the game that everyone else was playing - so not necessarily and indictment against him. He obviously thought getting recruits would solve all his problems even though I think at this point it's pretty clear he was failing at the coaching aspect as well

 

[JimHurley]

I will be at as many St Joe's games as my schedule allows riding Miller to the point that Calhoun will want to fight me too. And I'm ok with that at this point because he's harboring a rat.

This is going overboard. Ollie has himself to blame for what’s coming to light.

 

[gwhuskyfan]

This whole thread is good >>

 

[CL82]

Honestly I don't even think they would have had to pay the entire buyout. Even half would have made the school look better, but no they had to play hardball and now UConn gets raked over the coals again. It's either the NCAA or the Media constantly barraging us, and it never seems to end. The admin can't seem to avoid stepping on grenades either.

Pen how do you know that UConn didn't offer $5M and KO said no? We have no idea what the exchange was. My guess is that UConn offered something and KO said no. That guess is no more or less valid than yours, but they both are just guesses.

 

[kansashusky]

You do realize they could have ‘saved’ the program by firing Ollie and paying the buyout right?

Having the man who handpicked Ollie unleash a rat to the NCAA is only ‘saving’ the program if one ignores that had leadership not run the athletic department into an iceberg they wouldn’t have to stoop so low to get out of paying.

Now you’ve got all this AND they still haven’t won yet.

Can you prove the unleashing of the rat by Calhoun?

 

[August_West]

This is going overboard. Ollie has himself to blame for what’s coming to light.

This isn't absolving Ollie of blame.

It's holding a scumbag rat accountable for his own actions.

 

[superjohn]

As an aside.

This is just ramping up. This isn't the end of this at all by saying " that's enough for just cause, we are done now" .

It probably is enough for cause . No problems there.

But what I'm talking about is the ancillary dirt that the administration and Calhoun and this process has caused is going to be unearthed and dragged across national news for quite a while now.

It ain't going to be pretty.

Morning Joe led off with it, right before the crying Central American babies.

Also would love to see a 76 year old Calhoun kick the s^^t out of you. Make sure you bring a friend to do the recording.

 

[8893]

Morning Joe led off with it, right before the crying Central American babies.

Also would love to see a 76 year old Calhoun kick the s^^t out of you. Make sure you bring a friend to do the recording.

Hand raised!

 

[HuskyHawk]

Meh, $10M will test a lot of guys' "classinesss." I will say this though. We now know that KO was given a letter outlining these events a few days before he was fired. His best opportunity to get out of this with some cash in hand was a quick and quiet exit in exchange for a dramatically reduced payout. If his representation was telling him otherwise or suggesting that he hold out for the full $10M they were doing him a huge disservice. The let's crap on a beloved Hall of Fame coach gambit is not going get them a dime and the entire process is trashing what's left of KO reputation.

I wouldn't expect it. But sometimes you need to play the long game. No MLB player with a huge inflated contract that they aren't worth is going to give up the money. Because it won't impact them later. But you see executives and others stepping down all they time and giving up big salaries. They are thinking long term. Employers respect people who hold themselves accountable.

A young-ish coach, who has 30 more years of potential employment and still has a good reputation should have had the wisdom to do what you suggested. Step aside gracefully, admit some mistakes and take a small buyout. Then look for work elsewhere. Now his reputation has taken a further hit, and when UConn bounces back under Hurley he will look even worse.

If he thinks he really was doing the job and trying his best, he needs to see a mental health professional. I think he's got some real problems and is in danger of going down a very dark path. I hate to see that. As much as I wanted him gone, I would have liked to see him land an NBA assistant job and turn things around for himself.

 

[Penfield]

Pen how do you know that UConn didn't offer $5M and KO said no? We have no idea what the exchange was. My guess is that UConn offered something and KO said no. That guess is more or less valid than yours, but they both are just guesses.

True, I can't say for sure that didn't happen.

I guess the question will be if it would have been worth $10 mil to avoid the negative publicity & airing our dirty laundry once again. Will Benedict and Herbst be able to sleep well at night based on the actions they took? Will Ollie? We will probably never know the complete answers.

The way this plays out I think it really would have benefited UConn to reach an agreement with Ollie before all of this stuff had come out. If he wasn't willing to negotiate then there isn't much they could do I guess, but that doesn't let them off the hook in my opinion.

 

[August_West]

Morning Joe led off with it, right before the crying Central American babies.

Also would love to see a 76 year old Calhoun kick the s^^t out of you. Make sure you bring a friend to do the recording.

I'm not scared. I would love him to lay a hand on me . I would then own one of his beachfront houses . I'd let him hit me and not lift a hand.

But let's be real here. He will have me removed before he lays a hand on me. Harboring rats softens men.

 

[BlueMAB]

Did they have all this information already? I thought it only came to light when Miller talked about it in the University’s internal investigation, as a result of which they then self-reported to the NCAA. After that, Miller testified for the NCAA, right?

I'm not sure.

 

[AntG168]

I will be at as many St Joe's games as my schedule allows riding Miller to the point that Calhoun will want to fight me too. And I'm ok with that at this point because he's harboring a rat.

Since when have all you law abiding citizens who’d rat just as quick to save your butts, become Italian mobsters. This is hysterical

 

[Penfield]

Since when have all you law abiding citizens who’d rat just as quick to save your butts become Italian mobsters. This is hysterical

Did the NCAA approach Miller or did he approach the NCAA?

 

[August_West]

Since when have all you law abiding citizens who’d rat just as quick to save your butts become Italian mobsters. This is hysterical

I've never ratted on anyone. And I've been tested.

Have you?

 

[AntG168]

I've never ratted on anyone. And I've been tested.

Have you?

I’ve never had to. I’m a law abiding citizen lol

 

[August_West]

I’ve never had to. I’m a law abiding citizen lol

Bully for you.

 

[huskymedic]

The way this plays out I think it really would have benefited UConn to reach an agreement with Ollie before all of this stuff had come out. If he wasn't willing to negotiate then there isn't much they could do I guess, but that doesn't let them off the hook in my opinion.

It came out via FOIA request by the media? It was coming out sooner or later.

 

[superjohn]

I'm not scared. I would love him to lay a hand on me . I would then own one of his beachfront houses . I'd let him hit me and not lift a hand.

But let's be real here. He will have me removed before he lays a hand on me. Harboring rats softens men.

Yep, you should roll with KO. He might even give you $30K for the Lap Band.

 

[CL82]

The way this plays out I think it really would have benefited UConn to reach an agreement with Ollie before all of this stuff had come out. If he wasn't willing to negotiate then there isn't much they could do I guess, but that doesn't let them off the hook in my opinion.

It's always a value proposition. In this case the question is is the PR worth the money offered? I strongly suspect that UConn's counsel would have offered something. I've said before $4.5M over three years felt like the right number, again though, who knows?

Keep in mind though they weren't buying silence. They were buying a gracious KO walking away with dignity. The narrative would have been something like "I've always tried to do the right thing and helping out the mom of kid who already played for me seemed like the right thing to do. It didn't give me any competitive advantage. But I understand that what that I did violated NCAA rules, though it didn't occur to me at the time. I apologize to all involved, the university and the fans for my mistake." That's has value to UConn and to KO, but the time for that option has passed.

Not sure what you mean letting UConn off the hook. For what?

 

[August_West]

Yep, you should roll with KO. He might even give you $30K for the Lap Band.

Don't need a lap band I'm now 227 down from 28o or so

 

[August_West]

Support the boneyard!!

Here is the boneyard Amazon link to rat headgear to wear to ST Joe's games.


Amazon product ASIN B002BBE0E8

I bought one. I'll buy two more for people who commit to going to a St Joe's games with me.

 

[gwhuskyfan]

True, I can't say for sure that didn't happen.

I guess the question will be if it would have been worth $10 mil to avoid the negative publicity & airing our dirty laundry once again. Will Benedict and Herbst be able to sleep well at night based on the actions they took? Will Ollie? We will probably never know the complete answers.

The way this plays out I think it really would have benefited UConn to reach an agreement with Ollie before all of this stuff had come out. If he wasn't willing to negotiate then there isn't much they could do I guess, but that doesn't let them off the hook in my opinion.

Disagree on the negative publicity -- to the outside they'll get worked up over it for a day. Like when Edsall didn't give a Diaco recruit the scholarship.