HARTFORD, Conn. _ UConn's firing of men's basketball coach Kevin Ollie was the result of multiple players working with an outside trainer on campus and in Atlanta, an impermissible call between Ray Allen and a recruit and shooting baskets with a recruit during an official visit, according to investigations by the university and NCAA.
These NCAA violations, spelled out in 1,355 pages of documents obtained by The Courant under the Freedom of Information Act, form the core of UConn's case to terminate Ollie's employment as head coach, without paying him the remaining $10 million on his contract. About 900 of those pages include transcripts of interviews between NCAA enforcement officials and former assistant coaches, players, families of players and others involved.
Documents include a letter to Ollie in which athletic director David Benedict wrote, "... at the time of your hire, the importance of absolute compliance in running our men's basketball program was stressed to you by president (Susan) Herbst and then-athletic director Warde Manuel. That makes the violations I ... describe all the more troubling."
In the four-page letter sent to Ollie days before his administrative hearing Benedict laid out the university's case against him accusing the coach of intentionally participating in impermissible activities with student-athletes during an official visit, intentionally facilitating prohibited contact between potential recruits and UConn representatives and most importantly "not being completely truthful" when interviewed by university officials.
The letter then goes on to describe specific violations including:
_ Ollie himself shot baskets with a potential recruit while the unnamed recruit was on an official visit. A portion of that shootaround was videotaped by the player's aunt, which was then published by the Hartford Courant, which is how Benedict learned of the incident. Ollie didn't deny that he participated in the shootaround but claimed it was limited in scope. The university self-reported the incident to the NCAA. In September, guard James Akinjo from California was on an official visit, and he and Ollie stopped to shoot baskets together in the Werth Family Center. Akinjo's guardian took video of it and posted it on Twitter, which The Courant noted in a story after Akinjo committed to UConn. The video was later taken down from Twitter.
_ Ollie facilitated a call between a potential recruit and former UConn star Allen, who is now considered a booster by the NCAA. When confronted with the call, Benedict alleged that Ollie denied the call was prearranged. In addition the call was not made on Ollie's phone but on the cell phone of his executive assistant from Ollie's house. Benedict said using another employee's phone "further suggests that the call deliberately occurred in a covert manner."
_ Ollie got a close personal friend named Derrek Hamilton to train some of the players off campus in 2015-16. Several players participated in after hours, on-campus workouts with Hamilton as well as off-campus workouts. Three players traveled to Atlanta to train with Hamilton and the players were fed, transported and housed for free _ all considered NCAA violations. The letter said one of the parents of a player who went to Atlanta even called Ollie to ask if the trip was permissible. Hamilton, reached by the Courant Wednesday, said, "I have nothing to say about that. I have not talked to the NCAA and I don't really know what's going on."
_ The letter then indicates that Ollie downplayed Hamilton's role with the program and told investigators that no players trained with Hamilton and that Hamilton spent little time on campus. But UConn has records hotel records showing Hamilton's presence on campus as well as that Ollie gave complimentary tickets to three games.
_ Benedict also said that Ollie failed to report any possible NCAA violations as was his responsibility. "Every violation I am raising was discovered from sources other than you or your staff," Benedict wrote, adding that in one instance Benedict found out about the impermissible tryout through the media.
_ Benedict also questioned the role of Danny Griffin, a friend of Ollie's who was brought in as a non-coaching staff member by Ollie. The investigation showed that Griffin had impermissible phone contact with at least two recruits.
As the documents were released, Michael Bailey, director of the UConn chapter of the American Association of University Professors, issued a statement, accusing UConn of a "double standard," because it did not terminate other coaches, including Jim Calhoun, for NCAA violations in the past.
"To falsely claim 'just cause' exists for alleged NCAA infractions in order to avoid paying a debt that is due to coach Ollie exposes the hypocrisy of the University's treatment of coach Ollie," the AAUP letter stated.
Since Ollie received notice of UConn's intention to begin disciplinary procedure, he has had hearings with both Benedict and Herbst. On Tuesday, Herbst upheld the decision to terminate for just cause, so the case now goes to arbitration as Ollie, technically, is suspended without pay.
