Ollie fighting to keep his job..Link from ESPN | Page 9 | The Boneyard

Ollie fighting to keep his job..Link from ESPN

Fishy said:
They’ll negotiate a settlement. There won’t be a Perry Mason moment in court on this one.
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Lol. For the non-lawyers out there over the age of about 55, there is never a Perry Mason moment in court. Or if you're between 40 and 55, there is never a Matlock moment in court. If you're under 40, it'd be that Few Good Men - you're GDed right I ordered the code red - moment. If you're younger yet, I'm not sure what goofball legal show represents you, but the moment Fishy is referring to, I believe, is when the good lawyer gets the bad guy to fess up on the stand. Never happens.

When do companies litigate? When the amount you are likely to win (or lower your loss) in court is greater than the amount you're going to pay a lawyer (lawyer fees are usually not recoverable).
 
ZenConn said:
Just cause is having Sean Miller on tape discussing payments to DeAndre Ayton.
Just cause is Roy Williams' players taking fake classes at UNC.
Just cause is having the balance sheet of ASM Sports agency showing Dennis Smith Jr, Isaiah Whitehead and a whole boatload of players getting payments. (LOL @ the dude that got less than $100)
Just cause is Lemont Evants, Chuck Person, Book Richardson and Tony Bland being charged.

So which head coach has been fired here? Which AD has been fired here? None.

Just negotiate the settlement and be done. There's no reason to drag KO's name in the mud before he's actually charged with anything. He's still a part of the UConn family.
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This post is silly for 100s of reasons. You or I have no idea what UConn tried to do. Those other coaches/ADs are winning therefore people look the other way this is how the scam of college sports keeps moving forward. KO was not winning so the AD wasn’t willing to look the other way. It’s pretty simple to understand.

As for the UConn family thing, can we stop saying this? Idc if he was the founder of the school he is a terrible coach he needs to go and if there is cause he shouldn’t get paid. His job was to win he didn’t do that, and worse he is under investigation.
 
JMick said:
even if he broke the smallest rule possible, the contract is pretty damn clear that it's cause to terminate the buyout provision. you don't get to decide what rule constitutes a firing and what doesn't.
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There were recruiting rules broke by Jim Calhoun and he was not fired by UConn. The school did not discipline him to my knowledge as it was the NCAA that suspended him for games back in 2011. One has to think Ollie and his lawyers will bring that up and accuse the school of treating him differently. How can one coach be fired for breaking a rule while his predecessor wasn't? KO may actually have a good case. This all looks like it is going to get really messy and possibly very public. It would not surprise me if we even saw the race card eventually thrown out there.
 
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ZenConn said:
Just cause is having Sean Miller on tape discussing payments to DeAndre Ayton.
Just cause is Roy Williams' players taking fake classes at UNC.
Just cause is having the balance sheet of ASM Sports agency showing Dennis Smith Jr, Isaiah Whitehead and a whole boatload of players getting payments. (LOL @ the dude that got less than $100)
Just cause is Lemont Evants, Chuck Person, Book Richardson and Tony Bland being charged.

So which head coach has been fired here? Which AD has been fired here? None.

Just negotiate the settlement and be done. There's no reason to drag KO's name in the mud before he's actually charged with anything. He's still a part of the UConn family.
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Severity does not matter
 
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gtcam said:
This allows me to think that this was all a surprise and the school's AD, Pres, McHugh and BoT did not seek some type of amicable parting solution - something that should have occurred Time for a complete housecleaning - start with McHugh ...
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huskymedic said:
McHugh is easy... he’s been retired since December!
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Forget it, Bluto's rolling! ;)
 
Ollie is technically a state worker.....as a union representative for the state and a state it's hard as hell to prove "just cause". I am guessing they will lose and pay him a large portion of the especially if you display the academic state of the program when he took over and Calhoun was still a paid consultant. The program lost scholarships and had a post season ban.
 
I cannot believe there is any way this happened without DB or someone at the school first floating the possibility of an “amicable” parting of ways with a reduced buyout.

My guess is that conversation went one of two ways. Either there was a number mentioned (say 2 million) that KO considered insultingly low. Or the conversation never got to a number. DB may have raised the possibility of reaching a resolution that works out for the best interests of everyone and KO replied with something about how “only quitters quit and I’m not a quitter” or rats and ships or something and basically made it clear he wasn’t willing to negotiate. And so now we have this unfortunate development as a way of getting KO’s attention and forcing him to the negotiating table.

This should have ended with Ollie announcing his “resignation,” and walking away with ~$3 million and DB making supportive public comments highlighting KO’s many contributions and successes both as a player and a coach.

Something broke down and eventually we’ll find out what that was. Either DB somehow forgot he had the most leverage before KO’s integrity was publicly impugned and didn’t try to negotiate first (which I find hard to believe), or we didn’t have the money to make even a good-faith parting offer, or KO was unwilling to stand down (either on principle or for financial reasons). None of these options are terribly positive. Let’s just hope it’s over soon.
 
BTW - to all the people making arguments as to whether this was properly "for cause" or not for cause, you should just stop. You don't have all of the information that DB has. I promise you. You're jumping the gun. It's possible that DB has info from the FBI investigation that is not publicly known. Maybe UConn already did an internal investigation. Maybe UConn already had dirt on him and they were biding time. It's entirely possible that the two sides reasonably disagree on what "just cause" is. The law is full of gray, and very often two intelligent lawyers can look at the same set of facts and believe that a court will reach two different results. It happens.
Gotta let the facts come out before you can even begin to assess "just cause." It's unripe, wild speculation at this point.
 
polycom said:
KO was not winning so the AD wasn’t willing to look the other way. It’s pretty simple to understand.
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So in essence, he was fired based on performance. I have no problems with that but don't say that it's just cause based on the investigations that are still ongoing.

In the end, KO might be guilty after it's all said and done but you don't go about firing the guy based on the assumption that he is.
 
ZenConn said:
So in essence, he was fired based on performance. I have no problems with that but don't say that it's just cause based on the investigations that are still ongoing.

In the end, KO might be guilty after it's all said and done but you don't go about firing the guy based on the assumption that he is.
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How do you know they are assumptions?
 
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How does the act of filing this lawsuit help UConn in any way? It only helps Ollie and he’s put himself over the entirety of the program.

I think this happening during the conf finals, NCAA selection and tourney keeps it off the ‘major story’ radar screen. Basketball fans would rather watch and care about basketball games.

Hopefully Ollie’s lawyer knows what he did or didn’t do and advises his client to take a settlement. As much as people argue it COULD be a bad look for UConn we overfocus on that aspect b/c UConn is what we all care about. But it’s a very bad look for Ollie and if he lost the Just cause fight he is 100% never coaching college again. My fear is Ollie knows that’s the case regardless, somehow is simultaneously in denial about his transgressions & how he’s hurting UConn & himself; thus he’s got nothing to lose by fighting to bitter end.
 
UConnDan97 said:
I think we can still go after another coach, but we would do it with the uncertainty of how much money we can apply to the new coach due to a lack of clarity on how much we still have to pay the old one...
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That's why this whole situation looks like it's headed toward a return of Calhoun, on at least an interim basis, because he'll agree to work cheap.
 
noeynox said:
Well the AD agreed to the buyout...so I don't know that he isn't an idiot. As this gets uglier, the national media is going to be brutal on UConn for this. It's Saturday and the conference tournaments are on. Someway, somehow, this should have been handled better.
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That's exactly why it's happening now.
 
MadDogRevival said:
BTW - to all the people making arguments as to whether this was properly "for cause" or not for cause, you should just stop. You don't have all of the information that DB has. I promise you. You're jumping the gun. It's possible that DB has info from the FBI investigation that is not publicly known. Maybe UConn already did an internal investigation. Maybe UConn already had dirt on him and they were biding time. It's entirely possible that the two sides reasonably disagree on what "just cause" is. The law is full of gray, and very often two intelligent lawyers can look at the same set of facts and believe that a court will reach two different results. It happens.
Gotta let the facts come out before you can even begin to assess "just cause." It's unripe, wild speculation at this point.
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KO doesn't know this either because if he did he wouldn't be fighting it tooth and nail.
 
polycom said:
How do you know they are assumptions?
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How do you know that there's facts? It obviously hasn't been shared with KO because he wouldn't be fighting it if he's committed a violation.
 
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ZenConn said:
How do you know that there's facts? It obviously hasn't been shared with KO because he wouldn't be fighting it if he's committed a violation.
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Yes he would... he’d fight either way. Why do people plead not guilty in court? For the chance for jury/ judge to see things your way.
 
jorge34 said:
That would be the perfect solution if you wanted to end the program completely, as the lawsuit would be frivolous.
And the chances of a decent coach ever considering the university of ct would be zero.
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B-S!! The guy dragged the program down and the only reason he wants to fight for cash he doesn't deserve is a freakin union is willing to drag this thing out in court til the university is forced to decide whether it's cheaper to settle or not. One of these days someone needs to fight fire with fire. The University of Connecticut has gone above and beyond as far as providing training facilities, head coaching salaries, providing a unique student experience and positioning itself so that student athletes get an exceptional opportunity to audition for potential employers on nation wide TV. I predict that by the time the women win their 12th National Championship a new men's head coach will be named.
 
polycom said:
Yes he would... he’d fight either way. Why do people plead not guilty in court? For the chance for jury/ judge to see things your way.
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I don't think KO would but we'll see.
 
noeynox said:
Sure. I get that, it's why it's hard to judge what case UConn has without knowing the details of the "Just cause".
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How about that, at long last recognition by someone an overwhelming majority of us are unlikely to know the details of the "Just cause". Message # 193 in the thread: congrats noeynox! ;) Additionally, many people appear to only presume contributing factors to a purported "Just cause" may be limited to purported NCAA allegations alone.
 
We can only hope the University had their ducks in a row before this. I hope that the "cause" is pretty strong. It would not help our situation to come off looking like the University was grasping at straws just to get rid of him because the team hasn't won more games the last two seasons.
 
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polycom said:
Yes we will. Why do you think KO would act differently than the average person?
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Because the average person isn't hand picked by JC to be his successor and lead a group of young men to a national title. I sure hope I'm not proven wrong though.

That's enough. I'm dropping off the polycom call.

image.jpg
 
This is on Ollie 100%. You know for damn sure the school tried to work something out because the last thing it needs is more controversy and disruption. True colors shining through and it's not national flag blue... it's green.
 
FWIW. UConn took the lowest road possible in this instance. KO took a program in a complete shambles. They were banned from the tourney. JC was despised by the media and the university. He was forced to step down. Seems to be conveniently forgotten. Based I performance over the last 2 years, I can easily see the desire to fire him. Seeing all the comments about him being lazy and having no character personally offend me. But you are entitled to your opinion. Whatever the reason, he has fallen off. When the investigation news came out, my opinion was the school played a hand in "reporting". When this was leaked to the press, I believe the school played a hand in this. The smear campaign appears to be an effort to not have to pay what they contractually agreed to. I go back to Dee Rowe, have attended hundreds of games all around the country. I have never personally been more disgusted with the university than with this situation.
 
polycom said:
Stop this whaler you don’t want to blow up the AD and start again.
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He doesn't? Why not?

I don't know enough about the other departments within the university to say anything definitive, but it wouldn't surprise me if they did an audit and found the AD to be the most mismanaged crapfest across the board, at least since 2010 and maybe even before that. I'd have no problem with burning it all down and starting over again.
 
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