Ollie Suing Glen Miller for Slander

[casual-yardin]

The part I don't get about all this is why certain posters seem to think it's somehow morally reprehensible that UCONN chose to terminate Ollie's employment based on cause instead of failing to uphold the terms of employment. The school is being painted as the bad guy, even though there is ample evidence that Ollie violated NCAA rules.

Under contract law, you use any and every legal argument to advance your cause. The school chose to rely on contract terms which Ollie breached. Just because he was also guilty of not living up to other terms related to performance doesn't make the school morally bankrupt for taking the best possible legal position the school can take.

Ollie seems to have been lying to everybody all along. He lied to Benedict's face when all the NCAA violations stuff hit, and then he tripled down by lying to the NCAA and his attorneys. His lawyers appear to have been flying blind since day one. He's put them in a completely untenable situation. With Ollie stonewalling, denying everything, and topping it all off with ridiculous and seemingly endless frivolous litigation, how any rational person can conclude he's the victim here is beyond my comprehension. The school is doing what they have to do and should be doing, period. Ollie should have bailed with the 2.5 million. He has since cost himself his entire personal and professional reputations, something he may never get back.

Good post. So why is everyone here so shocked that Ollie is using "...any and every legal argument to advance your cause".

 

[casual-yardin]

That’s really the issue. He had no business getting the job in the first place. As much as we all love JC he pulled a Ryan Gomes here. Ollie was gifted the job of a lifetime based on his reputation as a tireless worker. 4 years later he tells one of his best players to “get in the gym” when asked for specific off-season goals.

Are you sure he was asked for "off season goals"? If so how do you know that?

 

[casual-yardin]

Spot on! Only edit is $2.5 million not $2.0 million.

If UConn offered $2.5 they made a huge mistake. If, after offering $2.5, they didn't further negotiate they made an even bigger mistake.

 

[upstater]

They had Bazz and no one else did.

Bazz is my all-time favorite. People are smoking something if they think that wasn't one of the great coaching jobs of all time. Credit Glen Miller or Karl Hobbs if you like. UConn gameplanned every team perfectly, Bazz executed it, Boatright was tough as nails. If you could bottle up the coaching in 2013 and 2014, those 2 years, you wouldn't ask for more. The idea that any other coach could have come in and won a championship is preposterous.

 

[uconnfan68]

Great to hear from you KO, hope all is well. Your post is completely ridiculous.

There are tons of good basketball players and UConn can absolutely thrive as an elite program recruiting the New England prep schools, CT, MA, NYC, NJ and Baltimore/DC. 5* stars are nice but a steady diet of 4* guys will get the job done if the coach has the chops to be elite.

Don’t kid yourself. The league matters.

 

[upstater]

The part I don't get about all this is why certain posters seem to think it's somehow morally reprehensible that UCONN chose to terminate Ollie's employment based on cause instead of failing to uphold the terms of employment. The school is being painted as the bad guy, even though there is ample evidence that Ollie violated NCAA rules.

Under contract law, you use any and every legal argument to advance your cause. The school chose to rely on contract terms which Ollie breached. Just because he was also guilty of not living up to other terms related to performance doesn't make the school morally bankrupt for taking the best possible legal position the school can take.

Ollie seems to have been lying to everybody all along. He lied to Benedict's face when all the NCAA violations stuff hit, and then he tripled down by lying to the NCAA and his attorneys. His lawyers appear to have been flying blind since day one. He's put them in a completely untenable situation. With Ollie stonewalling, denying everything, and topping it all off with ridiculous and seemingly endless frivolous litigation, how any rational person can conclude he's the victim here is beyond my comprehension. The school is doing what they have to do and should be doing, period. Ollie should have bailed with the 2.5 million. He has since cost himself his entire personal and professional reputations, something he may never get back.

Did someone say UConn is morally reprehensible? I didn't read that from anyone. I think most are saying that, if indeed this backfires on Ollie and it's proven that he lied here, then it will backfire badly on UConn. In which case, UConn will have to take some of the blame for letting it get to this.

I haven't read anything about UConn taking a reprehensible moral stance.

 

[Dove]

Sing with me...to the tune of All in the Family :

What did ol' Glenn Miller say?
KO now wants him to pay!!
All of this just sounds so gay.
These are the days!!

Remember when our toes were in!!!
Then KO started relaxin'!! [sluuurp]
Payed a lot to get Shonn Miller and his mom to come in...

We didn't want KO no more.
DB seemed to know the score.
Winning ways, time to restore.
Those...were...the....days!!!!!

 

[CL82]

What is the contradiction there?

I don't see how there's a contradiction at all.

And yes he was his agent.

Was a contract for the representation ever signed between them?

(Hint: the answer is no.)

 

[UConnNick]

Did someone say UConn is morally reprehensible? I didn't read that from anyone. I think most are saying that, if indeed this backfires on Ollie and it's proven that he lied here, then it will backfire badly on UConn. In which case, UConn will have to take some of the blame for letting it get to this.

I haven't read anything about UConn taking a reprehensible moral stance.

I didn't indicate that anybody said it. It just seems to me that the thrust of the argument from some of the Ollie apologistas amounts to moral indignation, if they think he deserves to be paid 10.7 million dollars just because he's a good UCONN guy, but with zero legal grounds to support such an action. They're acting like it's simply the right thing to do. Then they portray the school as the bad guy for not doing it. That seems to me like a moral rather than a legal reason to pay him anything.

 

[upstater]

I didn't indicate that anybody said it. It just seems to me that the thrust of the argument from some of the Ollie apologistas amounts to moral indignation, if they think he deserves to be paid 10.7 million dollars just because he's a good UCONN guy, but with zero legal grounds to support such an action. They're acting like it's simply the right thing to do. Then they portray the school as the bad guy for not doing it. That seems to me like a moral rather than a legal reason to pay him anything.

Well, I haven't read that from anyone but it could be someone said that. I've repeatedly said I don't care what happens to Ollie in this. I've highlighted that if it's proved Ollie paid $30k, UConn will get dinged badly, and it's the sort of thing best avoided by paying a buyout. That's not moral reasoning. It's practical.

 

[upstater]

Was a contract for the representation ever signed between them?

(Hint: the answer is no.)

What?

You can't be serious.

 

[CL82]

Ollie realizes career over, desperately grasps at straws. Only took me 8.

And it was almost in haiku:

Ollie career done;
desperately grasps at straws.
Only took me 8.

 

[CL82]

What?

You can't be serious.

Like a heart attack. Am I wrong?

(Because one of us is.)

 

[tentoes4rings]

Now make it a Haiku.

Ollie realizes
Career is over, orders
Oysters, grasps at straws

 

[CL82]

Sing with me...to the tune of All in the Family :

What did ol' Glenn Miller say?
KO now wants him to pay!!
All of this just sounds so gay.
These are the days!!

Remember when our toes were in!!!
Then KO started relaxin'!! [sluuurp]
Payed a lot to get Shonn Miller and his mom to come in...

We didn't want KO no more.
DB seemed to know the score.
Winning ways, time to restore.
Those...were...the....days!!!!!

Epic! Lol.

 

[UConnNick]

Good post. So why is everyone here so shocked that Ollie is using "...any and every legal argument to advance your cause".

I'm not sure anybody is shocked. Nothing Ollie does comes as much of a surprise anymore.

The difference is UCONN is basing its case on the contract terms. Ollie isn't using credible legal arguments based on the terms, he's slinging as much mud as he can dredge up, in the desperate hope that some of it sticks. There's a difference.

That's the way litigation works. If you have no legal case, you resort to some fancy lawyering, trying to obfuscate the real issues with a smoke and mirrors dog and pony show. He's certainly entitled to use whatever strategy he chooses to in making his case, but the bottom line is he's on the wrong side of the law here.

 

[Jbirdp5]

We all love UConn but if I’m a player that can live in Texas, Arizona, Florida, California or any other state we have to recruit against, I’m going there elsewhere. We all love ice cream and the dairy barn but have you been to Some of the other campuses? Uconn was the 2nd choice for a lot of 5 star recruits that ended up at Kentucky, Arizona, Duke etc. which is a testament to how many players on the circuit loved Ollie and what he stood for. We have to be real about this, the lure of UConn isn’t the same. There has to be a niche for recruiting great mid major talent moving forward. I’m sure Ollie cared about his job and did everything he could to work at his craft and put the time in daily. The breakup of Big East killed the run for recruits. He out coached a lot of great coaches with minimal talent. Let’s be sensible about this.

He out coached a lot of great coaches with minimal talent? After the ncaa tournament in 2014 I would love even one example.

 

[UConnNick]

Well, I haven't read that from anyone but it could be someone said that. I've repeatedly said I don't care what happens to Ollie in this. I've highlighted that if it's proved Ollie paid $30k, UConn will get dinged badly, and it's the sort of thing best avoided by paying a buyout. That's not moral reasoning. It's practical.

I agree it would be practical for the school to settle this for PR reasons, and I've advocated that. Apparently, they attempted to early on and the settlement offer was rejected.

What I'm talking about are the folks who just want him paid the entire buyout. There's no practical or legal justification for that, so the only ones I can see are moral or ethical.

 

[Husky68]

Ain't the US civil legal system grand!

Not picking "sides" here; it's been a both parties effort to get to this point. Always look at the BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement); both parties picked this alternative so I say let them get at it.

If you fire for cause (and don't settle) don't bitch about other party's response, you decided to live with it by not reaching a negotiated settlement.

If your employer doesn't want you around any more, if you don't reach a settlement you better be ready to walk away or fight, Ollie decided to fight.

I say bring it on, use the legal system as it was designed, to put a hurt on your adversary until they are willing to settle on acceptable terms or you run out of legal options/money.

Not an attorney but Miller's mother sure isn't a public figure so saying stuff about her, you better have some proof if she is coming after you.

 

[BlueDogs]

Good post. So why is everyone here so shocked that Ollie is using "...any and every legal argument to advance your cause".

Because sophisticated representation uses every legal argument in a manner that is likely to achieve a client’s best outcome all things being considered. From day 1 they started down the wrong path and have dug the hole progressively deeper. Where UConn feels pressure is politically and with their alumni base. Had he played out the favorite son card in public, and argued he failed but was being treated poorly and wanted a reasonable resolution, any intransigence on the part of UConn would have been negatively received. His legal team had to know that UConn’s strategy would attrition and delay. The harder he comes at them with wild theories, the easier it is to justify continued fighting. UConn wins every day it doesn’t have to pay $10 Million.

KO lost the high ground out of the box. Had KO managed the public story better, every step would have been seen as a man forced to fight against an unthankful and unreasonable university instead of the current perception. It should have been played into an embarrassment on the part of the school so those in charge were forced to save face and stop damage to the school's reputation and public perception. Instead, he has a team of attorneys following a scorched earth strategy and they have sunk him.

Actually, the lawyers that negotiated his contract did a terrible job, in my opinion, by failing to have any materiality standard on violations. They left KO wide open and cost him big time. At that time he had all the leverage, and there is no way any attorney worth their salt would have allowed that language or without his client knowing full well that the university could terminate him under virtually any pretext of a violation, no matter how trivial.

 

[UconnU]

Aside from everything else. This is just not a winnable case for Kevin. His lawyers have to know this. They are likely just trying to make this all as painful as possible for Uconn from a PR perspective in hopes of a settlement on the contract case.

 

[Essexdave]

I was waiting for this to happen. If Miller lied it’ll come out if he didn’t lie it’ll also come out not sure which one is worse.

My guess is miller didn’t lie and don’t see how it can be proved one way or another. Miller said that his wife said that she was told that Ollie gave this mother 30000. Always thought if true that Ollie gave 30 k to the mother of a player already on the team . Then that was a really nice thing he did to help her relocate. What a guy! And a bargain too based on allegations of how much Arizona was paying relatives to move.

 

[UCDaveD]

Not an attorney but Miller's mother sure isn't a public figure so saying stuff about her, you better have some proof if she is coming after you.

No, she isn't. But as I asked before, what exactly is she seeking relief for? Ollie is claiming that Miller's statements cost him his job. What damages did she allegedly suffer?

 

[CL82]

I say bring it on, use the legal system as it was designed, to put a hurt on your adversary until they are willing to settle on acceptable terms or you run out of legal options/money.

No, it wasn't.

 

[UConnNick]

And ever since Ollie's attorneys have attempted to try several other tactics to revive the threat of a PR armageddon, none of which have worked.