Statement from KO

[gwhuskyfan]

 

[huskymedic]

Strange...

 

[Fishy]

Was it written on a cocktail napkin?

Okay, that might have been a cheap shot.

 

[CL82]

Strange...

Sort of feels like paragraphs taken out of a longer piece that touched on more material stuff before someone thought the better of it.

 

[tcf15]

Slightly disappointed that it's not a screenshot of a note written on an iPhone

 

[KembaStepback]

Is this an admission that he's cooked? Timing seems strange if he's going to an arbitration hearing.

 

[lange10]

While it hasn't been made public that there was a settlement offer, I'm inclined to believe there was. With that said, I've really lost all respect for Ollie over the last 12-15 hours. I'm thankful for his time spent at UConn and the national championships he brought us, but to drag us through the mud when he very clearly violated NCAA rules is shameful. I will not cheer for him if he is welcomed back to Gampel or XL.

 

[goskis2018]

Classy... It's time to start healing

 

[uconnphil2016]

Respect him for the message. It may have something to do with damage control, who knows. Whatever--I'll take it. Thanks, KO. Hope we can just move on without tarnishing his reputation and our school's

 

[ConnHuskBask]

While it hasn't been made public that there was a settlement offer, I'm inclined to believe there was. With that said, I've really lost all respect for Ollie over the last 12-15 hours. I'm thankful for his time spent at UConn and the national championships he brought us, but to drag us through the mud when he very clearly violated NCAA rules is shameful. I will not cheer for him if he is welcomed back to Gampel or XL.

You going to boo Herbst, AD Dave, and Calhoun when they are at Gampel or XL?

 

[lange10]

Respect him for the message. It may have something to do with damage control, who knows. Whatever--I'll take it. Thanks, KO. Hope we can just move on without tarnishing his reputation and our school's

He could've done that by accepting a settlement offer and not dragging this process out publicly like he has. I don't get how people are now going to forgive him for this letter written by a PR firm.

 

[Huskybass]

I hope this gets put to bed soon. Its pretty clear that the burden as to "cause" has ben met given the info that came out this week. I hope that provides enough clarity for KO to realize that a compromise settlement is best for all involved.

 

[lange10]

You going to boo Herbst, AD Dave, and Calhoun when they are at Gampel or XL?

Nope. Didn't say I'd boo, either. Just said I wouldn't cheer.

 

[UCDaveD]

Ive been very hard on Ollie, but I think that was a classy note.

 

[kansashusky]

I didn't see the word rat or snake anywhere. Disappointed.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Was it written on a cocktail napkin?

Slightly disappointed that it's not a screenshot of a note written on an iPhone

C'mon, the departed's attorneys, PR rep, etc may have opted for something other than a cocktail napkin or iPhone screen.

 

[uconnphil2016]

He could've done that by accepting a settlement offer and not dragging this process out publicly like he has. I don't get how people are now going to forgive him for this letter written by a PR firm.

Forgive him for what? He didn't do anything that doesn't happen at any other major program. We're using these infractions to make a case because our AD doesn't have any money and would have had to keep him around otherwise. Ollie's biggest sin at UConn is just losing. Does Calhoun need to ask for forgiveness for his infractions over the years? I get what UConn is trying to do here to save a buck, but let's not pretend Ollie is some awful guy or was running some kind of scheme that's at all irregular in college hoops.

And the worst part is that this kind of stuff is NECESSARY to win in college sports. We've attracted attention to ourselves for doing what's necessary to win, and now the NCAA will be around and have its nose in our business to a greater extent, which makes it harder to win. No good program plays by the rules, and we've made it near impossible for us to circumvent the rules now over $10mm that we could have saved by not offering the extension in the first place. This all comes down to athletic dept mismanagement of contracts, conference realignment, and a program sinking like a lead weight with an AD desperate to do whatever he can to turn it around. It's worth wondering whether his choice was shortsighted because of the reasons I've just mentioned.

 

[jollari]

Classy. Let's stop the state-sponsored slander, pay him his money, and move on.

 

[Deepster]

What a weird aura currently surrounding a young guy who has a National Championship on his resume.

 

[lange10]

Forgive him for what? He didn't do anything that doesn't happen at any other major program. We're using these infractions to make a case because our AD doesn't have any money and would have had to keep him around otherwise. Ollie's biggest sin at UConn is just losing. Does Calhoun need to ask for forgiveness for his infractions over the years? I get what UConn is trying to do here to save a buck, but let's not pretend Ollie is some awful guy or was running some kind of scheme that's at all irregular in college hoops.

And the worst part is that this kind of stuff is NECESSARY to win in college sports. We've attracted attention to ourselves for doing what's necessary to win, and now the NCAA will be around and have its nose in our business to a greater extent, which makes it harder to win. No good program plays by the rules, and we've made it near impossible for us to circumvent the rules now over $10mm that we could have saved by not offering the extension in the first place. This all comes down to athletic dept mismanagement of contracts, conference realignment, and a program sinking like a lead weight with an AD desperate to do whatever he can to turn it around. It's worth wondering whether his choice was shortsighted because of the reasons I've just mentioned.

I don't think Ollie is an awful guy. I just believe that if he was offered a settlement when originally fired in March that it was in poor taste to go through this entire process and make UConn out to be the bad guy.

 

[Fishy]

C'mon, the departed's attorneys, PR rep, etc may have opted for something other than a cocktail napkin or iPhone screen.

Exactly.

It’s a fine note, but it’s just a PR cover.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Forgive him for what? He didn't do anything that doesn't happen at any other major program. We're using these infractions to make a case because our AD doesn't have any money and would have had to keep him around otherwise. Ollie's biggest sin at UConn is just losing. Does Calhoun need to ask for forgiveness for his infractions over the years? I get what UConn is trying to do here to save a buck, but let's not pretend Ollie is some awful guy or was running some kind of scheme that's at all irregular in college hoops.

And the worst part is that this kind of stuff is NECESSARY to win in college sports. We've attracted attention to ourselves for doing what's necessary to win, and now the NCAA will be around and have its nose in our business to a greater extent, which makes it harder to win. No good program plays by the rules, and we've made it near impossible for us to circumvent the rules now over $10mm that we could have saved by not offering the extension in the first place. This all comes down to athletic dept mismanagement of contracts, conference realignment, and a program sinking like a lead weight with an AD desperate to do whatever he can to turn it around. It's worth wondering whether his choice was shortsighted because of the reasons I've just mentioned.

I agree with almost all of this. It's not about Kevin being a bad guy. And yes, the contract looks bad, but why does it look bad? It's a bad contract because Kevin stopped doing his job. Everybody that Dave or Warde screwed up, but they extended a guy who was being pursued by the NBA, and who had recently won a title. The contract became a problem because of the performance of the coach. I have a hard time not blaming the coach for that, at least ahead of the AD. It's revisionist history to suggest that we all thought the extension was a bad idea at the time.

 

[CL82]

Forgive him for what? He didn't do anything that doesn't happen at any other major program. We're using these infractions to make a case because our AD doesn't have any money and would have had to keep him around otherwise.

We're "using these infractions" because they are just cause under the contract and it would be mismanagement not to.

And the worst part is that this kind of stuff is NECESSARY to win in college sports.

Disagree. In any event they sure didn't cause winning here.

Classy. Let's stop the state-sponsored slander, pay him his money, and move on.

His money? How do you figure? We are long past arguing that Ollie is owed the $10M. Long past.

 

[JMick]

Forgive him for what? He didn't do anything that doesn't happen at any other major program. We're using these infractions to make a case because our AD doesn't have any money and would have had to keep him around otherwise. Ollie's biggest sin at UConn is just losing. Does Calhoun need to ask for forgiveness for his infractions over the years? I get what UConn is trying to do here to save a buck, but let's not pretend Ollie is some awful guy or was running some kind of scheme that's at all irregular in college hoops.

And the worst part is that this kind of stuff is NECESSARY to win in college sports. We've attracted attention to ourselves for doing what's necessary to win, and now the NCAA will be around and have its nose in our business to a greater extent, which makes it harder to win. No good program plays by the rules, and we've made it near impossible for us to circumvent the rules now over $10mm that we could have saved by not offering the extension in the first place. This all comes down to athletic dept mismanagement of contracts, conference realignment, and a program sinking like a lead weight with an AD desperate to do whatever he can to turn it around. It's worth wondering whether his choice was shortsighted because of the reasons I've just mentioned.

His biggest sin isn't "just losing." If he had been working really hard and got fired I'd feel bad for him but by all accounts he had just been completely checked out and off the rails for a while

 

[MadDogRevival]

Appealing to emotions after the factual basis for an "at-fault" discharge were published.
If I was on the UConn attorney team I'd consider this a very positive sign.