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The NCAA, completing its one-year investigation into men's basketball, hit former coach Kevin Ollie with a charge of unethical conduct and alleged several other rule violations in a statement of allegations sent to Ollie and at the university on Friday.
The most serious is a "level one" charge that Ollie provided false or misleading information about Ray Allen's and Rudy Gay's phone calls to a recruit. The core of the charges contained in the document, released late Friday night after ESPN released the details, is that Ollie had provided false and misleading information about possible violations during the investigation, by example by denying that he was aware of the existence of players who worked with an outside coach, Derrek. Hamilton, Storrs and Atlanta.
The notice reads as follows:
"Enforcement staff believe that an NCAA Division I Hearing Panel on Offenses could conclude [providing misleading information] is a serious driving offense [Level I] because the violation involved unethical or dishonest conduct that seriously undermined or threatened the integrity of the NCAA college model. "
If the allegations get up, Ollie could be punished by a "warrant" order, which could result in the imposition of penalties if he is in another school. But what is even more serious is the impact it could have on UConn's attempt to fire Ollie for "just cause" and to avoid paying him the more than $ 10 million he owes to title of his contract. Ollie, his lawyers and the American Association of University Professors oppose the decision and the dispute is submitted to arbitration. The conclusions generally support UConn claims.
Coach Ollie strongly disagrees with the details of the allegations made in the NCAA's opinion and is disappointed that the NCAA has chosen to align with the University of Connecticut in the US. ongoing arbitration, "said Ollie's attorney, Parent Parent, in a statement released Friday. "The Ollie coach has been denied conduct that would constitute a breach of the rules and regulations of the NCAA and looks forward to defending himself and restoring his reputation."
UConn has not been designated as guilty in the notice of allegation. Sanctions against the program could ensue, but UConn, having already sacked Ollie, could impose his own sanctions and possibly avoid heavier sanctions from the NCAA.
"The NCAA's allegation opinion is part of a process we expected," said the university in a statement. "We believe that his allegations are consistent with our initial internal findings and our joint investigation work with law enforcement personnel. We maintain that the measures we have taken to date remain appropriate and consistent with the type, nature and severity of the allegations. "
"While the allegations are a disappointment for the university, our student athletes and our coaches, and certainly for the entire UConn nation, we firmly believe that we have made difficult but appropriate decisions to protect the accountability, the integrity and the integrity of the community. The integrity and success of our sport program. now and in the future. "
The process is far from over. Ollie has 90 days to answer; the NCAA Offenses Committee will gather more information from UConn, Ollie and its enforcement staff and make an official statement. Ollie has the opportunity to appeal this statement.
"Coach Kevin Ollie is believed to have restored the integrity of UConn's men's basketball program and fostered an atmosphere of compliance," said Parenteau, "the NCAA rules following a period including the Tournament team suspension Under Ollie's leadership, the men's basketball program achieved one of the highest scores in the country in terms of academic performance – a complete turnaround. "
Among the specific charges:
- Ollie is accused of having organized the phone calls of a rookie with Allen and Gay.
- Have an inadmissible contact with a recruit.
- Provide unauthorized meals to a pair of recruits during unofficial visits.
- Provide ineligible sportswear to a rookie.
- Shot baskets with a rookie during an unofficial visit.
- Provide unfair recruitment benefits.
- Exceed the limits of practice time.
- Do not promote an atmosphere of compliance.
- Boo Willingham, former UConn player and Ollie's teammate, had unacceptable contacts with a rookie on at least three occasions.
- Danny Griffin, Director of Player Development at UConn, was unacceptably involved in the recruitment.
- And the inability to monitor players outside of the workouts, namely Hamilton's activities, and provide tickets for a UConn-South Florida soccer match to Hamilton and his son, which is illegal because Hamilton's son was considered a "recruitable" player, according to the NCAA. Hamilton told ESPN that he did not talk to Ollie about the training, organized by a player with whom Hamilton had previously had a relationship, and that his son was not recruited by Ollie.
Here is an overview of some of the NCAA interviewees in the UConn survey »
How we got here
On March 11th, two days after the end of the season, UConn announced disciplinary action to end Ollie's employment as the lead coach for "just cause", which means that he would not have to pay him the remaining $ 10 million of his contract. Ollie immediately announced his intention to challenge the dismissal through the faculty union, whose coaches are members in public schools, and the long and bitter legal battle that has resulted often takes place in the form of public statements by lawyers from UConn and Ollie. Ollie was technically suspended with treatment while the process continued.
Meanwhile, Dan Hurley was hired to replace Ollie on March 22nd.
UConn disclosed the reasons for his dismissal in a letter in March, which was part of more than 1,350 documents released in response to a request from the Freedom of Information Act submitted by lawyers and Ollie's media in June. UConn's justification included three NCAA rule violations: Ollie's shooting baskets with a recruit during an official visit; facilitate a call from Allen, potentially considered a reminder, to a rookie on official visit; and be aware of unauthorized training sessions with an outside coach, Hamilton, on campus and in Atlanta.
Sports Director David Benedict's decision to fire Ollie for just cause because of these violations has been confirmed in appeals against Benedict and UConn President Susan Herbst, and is now heading for arbitration. An arbitrator must decide whether these violations reach the level of justification set out in Ollie's contract and in UConn's collective agreement with the American Association of University Professors' school chapter.
Herbst stated in his letter to Ollie, confirming the decision, that UConn had enough evidence of non-compliance to act without waiting for the NCAA to publish its findings. However, now that the findings and the possibility of sanctions have been made public, this could reinforce UConn's argument to dismiss the coach for just cause.
The NCAA started investigating UConn men's basketball about a year ago, about the same time the FBI released some of the findings of its investigation into university basketball corruption and fraud, but two investigations are apparently unrelated.
UConn conducted its own review of the program, as urged by the NCAA to retain all major programs, retaining the law firm Lightfoot, Franklin and White.
UConn's NCAA men's basketball survey was released in January and the Courant reported that it involved general recruiting practices and several recruits, some of whom had not come to UConn by caprice. In the spring, the NCAA conducted hundreds of interviews with coaches, players, and other non-program personalities. In June, UConn published more than 900 pages of transcripts of these interviews, involving its own players, coaches and staff members. The questions asked about recruitment practices and the activities of several staff members to determine whether they had participated in coaching or recruitment activities limited by rules to certified members of the coaching staff.
Among the respondents, there was Glen Miller, sacked by Ollie as an associate head coach in March 2017. The most damaging allegation comes from Miller, who he allegedly learned from his wife that Ollie had provided $ 30,000 to the mother of a UConn player, allowing him to relocate. in Connecticut. It was unfounded at the time of the publication of the documents, and Ollie's lawyers threatened to sue UConn for publishing them without removing the unsubstantiated charges.
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