Originally Posted by CT Flyer
I heard from a source close to UConn athletics that Calhoun's interference in Ollie's practices was what soured their relationship. Could be wrong but I trust the source who has inside knowledge.
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Ollie was an asst on Calhoun's staff for two years prior to becoming HC of one of the nation's most prominent programs. Ollie had never been HC of even a CYO team. But, 100% of Calhoun's staff was retained....including two assts and one assoc head coach,
each of whom had considerable
head coaching experience. Ollie started with a staff having about 50 years of combined head coaching experience.
But, one by one over the next four years each of the three former head coaches left...one retired, one became assoc HC elsewhere, and Ollie fired one just last year. And Ollie became divorced about two years ago.
And last year three top recruits transferred out. That doesn't happen unless guys are really unhappy about the way things are going.
Bottom line: Just about everything in Kevin Ollies' life, professional and personal, has changed significantly since he won a national championship four years ago. He's had a lot to handle.
Meanwhile, UConn is getting skewered by the media over its obvious attempt to avoid paying Ollie $10 million owed under his contract by claiming "just cause".....the school looks very bad and at least one writer has called for the president's job.
Adding to the turmoil and UConn's grief....unlike 99% (my guess) of other colleges, UConn's coaches are members of a union....one of the public employee unions that is bankrupting the State. The union is standing up for Ollie, for starters, pointing out that UConn can't fire him without going through the usual union "process". The most UConn can do is suspend its coach with pay until the process is worked through. Can you believe that?
UConn may just have bitten off more than it can chew. So far, there is no suggestion that Ollie did anything wrong other than violate a minor NCAA rule re summer practice. (And have back-to-back losing seasons!) Stay tuned.
