HARTFORD, Conn. _ Kevin Ollie liked to have familiar faces around.
He played for UConn from 1991-95, and was an assistant coach from 2010-12, but he had grown up in Los Angeles and had a 13-year career in the NBA, playing for 12 different teams, making a lot of contacts outside the "UConn family" as well as inside it.
Ollie, who led the Huskies for six years, won a national championship in his second season and a conference title in his fourth. But his last two seasons were the program's first consecutive losing seasons in 30 years. They came as multiple players transferred, and Ollie felt the pressure to recruit top talent while the demand for winning remained high. The coach also made some turnover in staff, turning to past contacts, and this seems to have contributed to trouble with the NCAA, which has been investigating the men's basketball program for nearly a year.
"I think you get the point," Ollie told NCAA investigators on March 1. "I try to have people around me that I trust."
When Ollie succeeded Jim Calhoun, he inherited a staff that included three former head coaches _ George Blaney, Glen Miller and Karl Hobbs. He elevated Miller to associate head coach, and hired Ricky Moore, who had played for UConn. With Ollie, Miller, Hobbs and director of administration Kevin Freeman all former Huskies, the perception of a program that stayed within the family was a selling point in recruiting, especially with the 2014 championship. But then came staff turnover and for better or worse, the program became distanced from the Calhoun era and diverted a bit from the concept of staying within the UConn circle both in terms of staff members and those who played other roles.
In the 1,355 pages of documents, including 900 pages of interviews, released by UConn on June 20, pursuant to a Freedom of Information request, investigators delved into the roles and influence of Danny Griffin, who joined UConn in a non-coaching role in 2014; Derrek Hamilton, an outside trainer who is alleged to have worked with players on campus and in Atlanta in 2016; Boo Willingham, a UConn teammate of Ollie who was frequently at games; and others.
In culling the transcripts and documents, a perception emerges of a somewhat loosely managed program, with people engaging in activity _ though not necessarily sordid _ that constituted NCAA infractions. A recurring theme was Ollie's gathering of people with coaching ability or aspirations for non-coaching positions, with the temptation to cross lines and engage in activities reserved by rules to certified coaches, perhaps without his knowledge.
UConn is trying to use its own evidence of non-compliance to terminate Ollie's employment for "just cause," and avoid paying the more than $10 million remaining on his contract. Barring a settlement, the 5-month-old dispute is heading for arbitration.
However, the NCAA could release findings at any time, and if those findings come before arbitration proceedings and include major violations, it could be a game-changer in UConn's contract dispute with Ollie.
Though firing Ollie could be considered a significant sanction imposed by the school itself, the NCAA could impose further sanctions down the road, if its findings rise to that level.
The NCAA's investigation into UConn began last fall, and was acknowledged publicly by the school in January. Before the 2017-18 season began, news broke that an FBI investigation into bribery and fraud in college basketball had snared several schools, affecting Auburn, Arizona, Oklahoma, Southern Cal and Louisville, which fired Rick Pitino.
UConn self-reported that one of its coaches, believed to be Raphael Chillious, had met in Las Vegas with Merl Code and Christian Dawkins, two key figures in the FBI investigation, but concluded no violations had occurred. As urged by the NCAA, UConn conducted an internal review, retaining the law firm of Lightfoot, Franklin and White to do so.
The NCAA investigation into UConn's recruiting practices, and other issues, was concurrent, but does not appear related to the FBI probe. By the end of the season, the NCAA had conducted hundreds of hours of interviews with Ollie, coaches, staffers and players _ those transcripts were released by the school _ as well as outside sources not included in the released documents.
