Ollie Officially Fired

[pj]

Tough news for Grants in West Hartford Center.

And Blaze Pizza.

 

[unother]

If they can do this in this manner to KO, if I was a prospective coach I would wonder what tactics they would use to fire me. If he is being fired for losing, which we all know to be the case just say it and do it, you negociated the contract and now want to wiggle out. I actually would have more respect for Benedict if they didn't pull this crap. When they fired Perno at least they were honest and honorable doing it.

They have wiggle room, they'll use wiggle room. Business nothing personal.

 

[uconNYC]

The coverage of Ollie's firing in the media and social media shows UConn is far from irrelevant, as some of our detractors like to claim.

 

[Tuna]

And you think what I posted didn't make any sense?

It didn't and it still doesn't. Why are you still talking?

 

[Padutch5]

Here comes the media assault


Seth Davis on Twitter

Strange comment. “If they were winning” which they were not doing. Ollie is a nice guy. Great, but nice guys can be losers , which Kevin turned the program into.
To those of us who actually went to the games, this year it appeared that Ollie was tired and had lost the team (again) and Calhoun. Benedict said he was going to interview each player. Would be interesting to know how many of them told him they were leaving. Rumors said quite a few.

 

[WestHartHusk]

I hear you. I just think the situation sucks all around and there will be some hard feelings from KO. It's hard to see one of your own leave like that. I'm not saying it was necessarily wrong for Uconn to pull the trigger either.

These are situations that you don't wish upon anyone. It's a difficult move for both UConn and KO. Whether it's the wrong or right move only time will tell.

I hope that a few years from now when the dust settles UConn can bring him back and honor him for the Championship and his playing years.

Fair enough. I expect the hard feelings, but also hope he reflects on what got him in this situation: 1) hiring yes-men, 2) thinking he was above receiving help, and 3) slacking in core responsibilities.

In any event, this is about the one millionth example of why you don't hire alumnus - it almost always ends like this.

 

[Confident Carl]

UConn has to be careful with this. If the cause relates to something not egregiously wrong, Ollie will fight it hard. Could get ugly. Ollie could further hurt UConn if he ever saw anything wrong while he was not head coach. Would not be surprised by threats of leaking dirty laundry. An ugly public divorce with Ollie could also negatively impact the hiring of a new coach. The UConn administration must tread lightly on this process so it does not blow up in its face.

I read some of Ollie's contract online and under just cause it refers to the UCONN employee Collective bargaining agreement Article 13.6. Go to page 21-23 for just cause wording. Leaves much for interpretation, facts and reading between the lines. I will post the contract link after this. Can't put two links in one post.

Link to Collective Bargaining agreement (not sure if this is most recent one) refer to Article 13.6:

Current Agreement | Public Information on Collective Bargaining with the UConn Chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP)

Curious what anyone might see in these documents.

Again I thank KO for his passion and love ❤️ for UCONN and wish him the best. This news is captivating for any true UCONN fan. Let's hope for the best for all parties that thing get squared away amicably.

 

[Excalibur]

It didn't and it still doesn't. Why are you still talking?

You should be glad that there are three of us paying attention to what you say. Everyone else is ignoring you.

Being too stupid to understand my point is on you.

 

[Padutch5]

How about as an assistant to Jim Calhoun at St. Joseph?

 

[4UConn]

I wonder what JC's role was in the firing, if any. Ollie was his guy, and then there was the fallout.

 

[Confident Carl]

I read some of Ollie's contract online and under just cause it refers to the UCONN employee Collective bargaining agreement Article 13.6 Go to page 21-23 for just cause wording. Leaves much for interpretation, facts and reading between the lines.
I will post the contract link after this. Can't put two links in one post.

Link to Collective Bargaining agreement (not sure if this is most recent one) refer to Article 13.6:

Current Agreement | Public Information on Collective Bargaining with the UConn Chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP)

Curious what anyone might see in these documents.

Again I thank KO for his passion and love ❤️ for UCONN and wish him the best. This news is captivating for any true UCONN fan. Let's hope for the best for all parties that thing get squared away amicably.

Here's a contract link I found:

Auriemma, Ollie sign extensions with UConn. Read them in their entirety here

 

[JMick]

They should negotiate a buyout. It reflects badly on Ollie and AD Dave that it has gone this far. But, note that AD Dave has leaked to the press that the "just cause" was only Adams and Larrier having an impermissible practice -- a trivial offense. They are giving Ollie a chance to negotiate the buyout with no significant public accusations. More than likely, they have much more severe NCAA violations they can pull out if they need to win a lawsuit. That would poison the well at UConn, damage the next coach, and severely damage Ollie's reputation. Hopefully it won't come to that. With this move Ollie knows (a) he's out no matter what, it's only a matter of how much money and how bad a reputational hit he walks away with, and (b) fighting will cost him the negotiated buyout and more reputational damage. If he has sense, he'll come to the table and let everything be smoothed over with kind words.

it's clear ollie didn't want to play ball with a reduced buyout so he got fired instead. If he wants to keep his reputation in tact then he'll go away quietly

 

[Kathy]

get over yourself. it's a business. if we had it your way we'd still be in the yankee conference. you have to take risks

Your assumptions about what you think you know about me are laughable. I will admit I thought 1 more year and then ig failure you let him go. You might have the NCAA backing your cause at that point, but the buyout certainly would have been less.
And maybe it was the way I was raised but you don't drag someone who has been as loyal to this program as he has and who represented UConn in the NBA so well for so long through the mud to save a few bucks.
Just fire him and be done with it.

And for your information I wouldn't have sold out our Nationally recognized basketball program for football. I would have stayed in the Big East and parked football somewhere else.

 

[Excalibur]

I wonder what JC's role was in the firing, if any. Ollie was his guy, and then there was the fallout.

Likely none, though as someone else said I hope they did the right thing and let him know ahead of time as a courtesy.

 

[JMick]

And for your information I wouldn't have sold out our Nationally recognized basketball program for football. I would have stayed in the Big East and parked football somewhere else.

yeah that's so easy to do. Why haven't we thought of that before?

 

[huskymedic]

I read some of Ollie's contract online and under just cause it refers to the UCONN employee Collective bargaining agreement Article 13.6. Go to page 21-23 for just cause wording. Leaves much for interpretation, facts and reading between the lines. I will post the contract link after this. Can't put two links in one post.

Link to Collective Bargaining agreement (not sure if this is most recent one) refer to Article 13.6:

Current Agreement | Public Information on Collective Bargaining with the UConn Chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP)

Curious what anyone might see in these documents.

Its not - this is the current one UCONN-AAUP-CBA-07-01-17-06-30-17.pdf and the pages you are looking for are 12 & 13. It's a process that started today w/ the formal notification to Ollie

 

[Confident Carl]

Its not - this is the current one UCONN-AAUP-CBA-07-01-17-06-30-17.pdf and the pages you are looking for are 12 & 13. It's a process that started today w/ the formal notification to Ollie

Thanks

 

[Banta55]

no way he fires him if he doesn't plan to be here for a little while. why bother?

He just got a big raise after he withdrew himself from the Auburn search..

 

[wvhuskyfan]

Jay Bilas said on ESPN, "Yeah, just 'cause they're losing"

 

[Kathy]

it's clear ollie didn't want to play ball with a reduced buyout so he got fired instead. If he wants to keep his reputation in tact then he'll go away quietly

Why do you hate hin so much? Kinda sad for someone your age to be so vindictive.

 

[History Geek]

The coverage of Ollie's firing in the media and social media shows UConn is far from irrelevant, as some of our detractors like to claim.

My thoughts too. Renews my hope. The clock is ticking but its not too late yet.

 

[JMick]

Why do you hate hin so much? Kinda sad for someone your age to be so vindictive.

i'm not the one who made bad decisions.

 

[gtcam]

I'm so glad that all of the posters who were clearly just fans of or had personal relationships with Ollie will be gone.

LMAO at such childish gibberish..

Your shortsightedness is bewildering

I've been a season ticket holder most likely before you were conceived.
Yes I know and respect KO. I know JC , I know Geno and family and I know Ray Reid and I know the Penders, the Pancieras, Coach Perno, the late great Coach Morrone. and like and respect every one of them. They all are not perfect, they all are not the ideal coach for every situation in every program.
But I do know one thing I will not get on a public forum like this and spew ridicule at these people when things are going bad. I coached for over 25 years and it is not an easy job at all.
Coach Ollie did not have the numbers that were expected the past few years. People like you think he didn't care and just there to pull in a salary- you couldn't be further from wrong.
He is gone now. You can get off your soapbox and get on to your next target/cause. No need to ridicule him or the folks who have a different perspective than you and/or may know a little more about the situation/profession than you.

I hope UConn makes the correct choice going forward and that this action will not come to bite them in the arse because the ramifications could be far worse than a few losing seasons.

I am not following you as you had indicated before, in fact I do read your comments as a source of humorous relief, however that now is getting old - like me! So I shall look past and ignore but I will not leave the BY

I am glad you achieved your personal goal with KO

I am hopeful that the UConn mens basketball team and KO will find many future successes

 

[Scrutineer]

Wow if I'm another coach how happy would I be if they are trying to find a way for "just cause" on a guy who player here and won a national championship? Red flag

Agreed.
I don't wish Kevin ill will but, if in fact there is some violation that would negatively impact the program in a significant way, it needed to be addressed.
If, on the other hand, it's not significant and some minor violation is being used simply to get a cheaper buyout, any worthwhile candidate would likely have some serious misgivings about accepting the job. Plus, can you imagine the "legalese" that the new coach's attorney will demand in the contract?

 

[JellyBean]

Best wishes, Coach KO. I have always been a fan and huge supporter. Thank you for keeping the standards high on the academic side of the "student-athlete" coin. You are a great man, great coach, and friend. Again, best wishes.