Ollie Officially Fired

[B1GEast]

Wow. Wonder how JC feels about this?

Time to move forward. Shocked it really happened, thought they wouldn't buy out the contract.

Wish KO well, but after winning a champion, he set the standard, he set the bar high and there was absolutely no excuse for downturn of the program under his watch.

It's going to be a rough few years

 

[Waquoit]

Not entirely wrong. The old Kevin did a great job.

There is no old Kevin. There is just Kevin. With Bazz or without.

 

[Coach J]

JC's paid by UCONN as a consultant. That's why there's a meeting. Given Calhoun's family situation related to his health...there's a zero percent chance of his return.

He's going to go coach at St. Joe's next year though right? And he said he'd be open to returning if it would help the program though right?

 

[mauconnfan]

It's more than just the play on the court, which was horrid. The transfers, the decommits, the rumors of losing out on players because of lazy and absentee recruiting....
Yea, this is all on him. He was awarded the contract as a result of the NC but proceeded to not earn a penny of it.

The transfers and decommits are all up for argument as to why. Do you know why because I don’t? What’s on him was the last 2 years of crappy basketball and not winning enough if you want to pile on be my guest. You can’t take the NC away from The man despite how many like you would prefer.


Whatever at his point he’s gone, pay him for a year and shake hands

 

[Coach J]

The transfers and decommits are all up for argument as to why. Do you know why because I don’t? What’s on him was the last 2 years of crappy basketball and not winning enough if you want to pile on be my guest. You can’t take the NC away from The man despite how many like you would prefer.


Whatever at his point he’s gone, pay him for a year and shake hands

Look - good luck to KO wherever he lands on his feet - the thing is sometimes these things go sideways due to things outside a coach's control (injuries, dumb luck, a game changing bad call, etc) and they spiral out of control to the point where a change is necessary to turn things around. Essentially that is mostly what's at play here and it was highlighted/exasperated by what coaching deficiencies KO may have had, and it became too much to pull out of. For everybody's sake, this was really the right move to make - a fresh start for everyone.

 

[intlzncster]

He's going to go coach at St. Joe's next year though right? And he said he'd be open to returning if it would help the program though right?

Leaving aside that the lowest of the low level of DIII schools is an entirely different monster than a DI major...

Currently, he's helping build St Joe's from the background. I'm not sure if he'll even end up being HC in the end, or just a teaching assistant. We'll see.

He never said he's open to returning to UCONN. He said he's open to giving his input.

 

[Milo65]

This tweet cracked me up today...always remember:

 

[UConnNick]

If it's a good enough job, which I think it is, potential coaches won't care a lick about this situation (outside of needing to be aware of potential sanctions). Big jobs don't become available every day. And the pool of hungry candidates is large.

This sort of thing happens all the time. Just look at CFB every year. There's always a negotiation after and the coach receives some of the money.

Yes, but the issue of "potential sanctions" is tied together with the potential buyout dispute. Sanctions bad enough to cripple an incoming coach's efforts to restore the program are an unknown factor at present.

For whatever reason(s), a couple of CFB coaches at high profile P5 programs (Florida and Oregon State) have walked away from buyout money within the past year. Presumably a protracted court battle would have made public some very nasty stuff about them. I hope Ollie is smart enough to take that route. What's happened so far doesn't inspire confidence that he's going to take that route.

 

[auror]

You contradict yourself. On the one hand, you indicate we are still a nationally relevant program. I agree. CBS is calling it the highest profile job opening nationally....

OTOH, you argue nobody will pay much attention if the contract dispute becomes a contested court case.

UConn getting publicity and these types of stories getting publicity are not the same. Our relevance does not imply that every action we undertake will or should be covered. I argued the opposite, that none of these cases garners attention (for multiple reasons, most notably that the more likely something like is to get attention, the less likely it is to actually get to court. Pitino may be the exception to that because of the nature of the case, which is distinct from our own).

Either way, again, the real point is that coverage or not, this will not deter a single coaching candidate.

Also, keep in mind that potential coaching hires are looking at our situation in real time, not with the benefit of hindsight to know whether our administration acted reasonably or not. It's all happening right now.

Pitt just essentially tried to steal 2 million dollars from Stallings. Will people not interview there? No. Nobody cares. It's a P5 job.

 

[UConnNick]

UConn getting publicity and these types of stories getting publicity are not the same. Our relevance does not imply that every action we undertake will or should be covered. I argued the opposite, that none of these cases garners attention (for multiple reasons, most notably that the more likely something like is to get attention, the less likely it is to actually get to court. Pitino may be the exception to that because of the nature of the case, which is distinct from our own).

Either way, again, the real point is that coverage or not, this will not deter a single coaching candidate.



Pitt just essentially tried to steal 2 million dollars from Stallings. Will people not interview there? No. Nobody cares. It's a P5 job.

Sorry, but I don't share your rose colored glasses optimism. And the Pitt situation is way different from ours. They don't have the threat of possible NCAA sanctions hanging over their head. Apples and oranges comparison.

 

[Tuna]

If Tuna, whtdmd and bazzketball all stop posting here once this is finalized it would be worth the $10mm

Fair enough. I'll clear the stage for more posts from you. The 30+ per day aren't enough.

 

[Travelman6]

This is what I woke up to this morning hung over in Big letters with the red background (Breaking News) on ESPN. Let me say, what a thing to wake up to. I am still coming to terms with this event and as of now, have no words to describe what I feel.

 

[3RingsCT]

This whole thing sucks.

We all wanted KO to work out. We all loved him as a player. We all embraced him as JC’s replacement. We all were dizzy over the 2014 NC. Yet, here we are 4 years later and have no idea what the future of UCONN basketball is.

Sad day in so many ways.

I wish KO the best and hope he lands on his feet somewhere. Hopefully he learns from his time as HC at UCONN. I think we can all agree he is a fantastic guy, but maybe he was over his head here.

 

[auror]

Sorry, but I don't share your rose colored glasses optimism. And the Pitt situation is way different from ours. They don't have the threat of possible NCAA sanctions hanging over their head. Apples and oranges comparison.

The situation is different, but your point was that the coaching candidates are making judgments in real-time without hindsight about the reasonableness of the administration based on how they treat their outgoing coaches and that attempting to fire for just cause would give some candidates pause. Pitt also tried to fire their coach with just cause. Their reason is hilariously more dumb than ours: They're accusing him of saying a mean thing to a crowd once. It's preposterous. It will get thrown out. Stallings will get paid his money. It shows that Pitt's administration is desperate to avoid their contractual obligation. And no coaching candidate will care.

 

[mauconnfan]

Look - good luck to KO wherever he lands on his feet - the thing is sometimes these things go sideways due to things outside a coach's control (injuries, dumb luck, a game changing bad call, etc) and they spiral out of control to the point where a change is necessary to turn things around. Essentially that is mostly what's at play here and it was highlighted/exasperated by what coaching deficiencies KO may have had, and it became too much to pull out of. For everybody's sake, this was really the right move to make - a fresh start for everyone.

I agree, did you think I didn’t?

 

[huskymedic]

>>Alicia Jessop a sports law professor at Pepperdine University, said the language of Ollie’s contract may give UConn an edge. What constitutes “just cause” to fire him is “very broadly” written which will favor the university, she said.

“There isn’t a burden of proof established in the contract on what the university must prove to show just cause so that gives them some leverage,” Jessop said. “The contract is not favorable to Ollie unless he is vindicated by the NCAA investigation.”

Jessop said the contract also doesn’t have a timeline saying when the university must act, of that it must wait for the NCAA to complete its investigation.

“They can arguably get out of the contract well before the NCAA ever concludes its investigation,” Jessop said.

Under the contract, if one of Ollie’s assistant coaches is cited for violating NCAA regulations Ollie can be held responsible for his actions and terminated on that basis, Jessop said. Ollie could fight a firing even taking it to the state courts delaying the process. That would increase legal bills for him and the school.<<

 

[Coach J]

I agree, did you think I didn’t?

No, Lol - I was agreeing with you.

 

[Chin Diesel]

In that case, why have a buyout provision at all? They all have advisors, and they all care about this stuff. Trust me.

Right. That's why they have agents. My point is successful people don't look for jobs based on end of the line firing scenarios. They look for opportunities to succeed.

 

[intlzncster]

For whatever reason(s), a couple of CFB coaches at high profile P5 programs (Florida and Oregon State) have walked away from buyout money within the past year. Presumably a protracted court battle would have made public some very nasty stuff about them. I hope Ollie is smart enough to take that route. What's happened so far doesn't inspire confidence that he's going to take that route.

I know the Florida coach walking away with half his money was a result of his Agent not wanting to fight. The agent represented the next coach to be hired by Florida and he didn't want to upset the apple cart. Talk about conflict of interest.

 

[UConnNick]

Best of luck to Kevin. He bleeds blue and brought us a national title. I'm really hoping that he'll be looked upon fondly as the years pass for his victories as a player and coach rather than his shortcomings.

Now, we move on to the critical business of getting his replacement right. While I'd love to hit a grand slam with someone like Donovan, I expect that will not be the case. Hoping for the best...

I don't get this fascination with Donovan. He was a POS slimeball cheat at Florida. He's a disciple of Tricky Ricky, for goodness sake.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

I don't get this fascination with Donovan. He was a POS slimeball cheat at Florida. He's a disciple of Tricky Ricky, for goodness sake.

Ok so now tell me the downside.

 

[UConnNick]

You think the BE is going to jump on that? They would think UCONN is holding out for a P5 bid in a few years. Why would they want to be a stop gap for UCONN?

Short of NBE commish Val Ackerman personally witnessing a wrecking ball demolishing our FB stadium, the NBE isn't inviting us.

 

[aburks41]

Just got an ESPN notification that "Kevin Ollie will fight to retain job"...uhhh wut?

 

[FDNY99]

Just got an ESPN notification that "Kevin Ollie will fight to retain job and contest firing citing just cause"...uhhh wut?

Ollie will contest UConn's firing for 'just cause'

 

[gioff23]

Sounds like a guy putting the U first. I guess he decided to take an escalator to the vault.