Former UConn men’s basketball coach Kevin Ollie wins arbitration case, awarded over $11.1 million

Former UConn men’s basketball coach Kevin Ollie has won his four-year legal battle with the university over the years and compensation remaining on his contract when he was fired in March 2018.

Arbitrator Mark Irvings, in his ruling, found that UConn “violated the collective bargaining agreement when it terminated Kevin Ollie without just cause.” At UConn, coaches are members of the American Association of University Professors, which filed a grievance on Ollie’s behalf. Ollie must receive $11,157,032.95 within the next 10 business days.

“I am please with arbitrator Mark Irvings ruling which found that UConn did not have just cause to terminate my contract,” Ollie said in a statement released by his attorneys. “I wish to thank God and my family, whose grace sustained me over the last four years.”

UConn, in its statement, called Irvings’ decision “nonsensical.”

Ollie coached six seasons, winning the NCAA title in 2014, but posting sub .500 records in his last two seasons. UConn came under NCAA scrutiny for several infractions, the most serious of which was the players’ use of an outside trainer in Georgia. The NCAA eventually issued a three-year show cause order, citing Ollie for what it considers a “level one” violation, providing false or misleading information to NCAA investigators, and other relatively minor level two and three infractions.

The investigation hadn’t been completed when UConn initiated proceedings to fire Ollie for “just cause” on March 10, 2018, the day after the season ended. On that day, Ollie vowed to clear his name.

“UConn vigorously disagrees with the decision of the arbitrator and maintains without reservation that the decision to terminate Kevin Ollie when it did was the correct and appropriate decision,” the university said. “Indeed, in his decision, the arbitrator agrees that the NCAA’s ruling that Ollie engaged in serious NCAA violations gave UConn sufficient basis to terminate Ollie for just cause. However, the arbitrator concluded that UConn should have waited the 16 months it took for the NCAA proceedings to conclude before terminating Ollie.

“As an NCAA member institution, UConn did not have the luxury of waiting more than a year before terminating Ollie for the misconduct the university was aware he had engaged in. UConn could not continue to employ a head coach with the knowledge that he had violated NCAA rules that put student athletes, as well as the entire UConn athletics program, in jeopardy.”

Though Ollie’s personal contract with UConn considered the incurring of NCAA sanctions as just cause for termination, the CBA’s language set a higher bar. Ultimately, the arbitrator used the CBA standard.

“UConn is disappointed that the arbitrator concluded that the standard of just cause set forth in Ollie’s individual employment agreement was superseded by the definition in the collective bargaining agreement,” UConn said. “Yet this same employment agreement forms the basis of the salary awarded.

“The arbitrator’s decision is nonsensical and seriously impedes the University’s ability to manage its athletics program. It also sends a signal to other coaches in Connecticut that they may ignore NCAA rules with impunity and continue to be employed and paid.

“It is also inconsistent that the coaches are entitled to the benefits of the employment contracts negotiated between the University and its coaches, but cannot be held to the ethical and behavioral standards contained in those same agreements.”

The sides fought a long battle in court and in the media, including inferences of a double standard, because other coaches, such as Ollie’s predecessor, Jim Calhoun, were not fired after the school drew NCAA infractions.

“The decision completely completely vindicates Kevin Ollie and his tenure as head coach at UConn,” read a statement from Ollie’s attorneys, Jacques J. Parenteau and Williams D. Madson. “More importantly, it restores his good reputation as an individual with the highest ethical standards. Contrary to the NCAA’s erroneous and unfounded decision released on July 2, 2019, Kevin Ollie did not violate the NCAA rules that were used to justify the draconian sanctions against him.”

Numerous coaches and former players were deposed in the various federal court cases and the arbitration case, and the process was delayed when the original arbitrator, Marcia Greenbaum, died in January 2021. Irvings, who has been an arbitrator for Major League Baseball, took over the case.

The two sides, unable to come to a compromise settlement, went to arbitration, in which a winner-take-all decision is rendered.

Ollie, who played for UConn from 1991-95 and later played 13 seasons in the NBA, is currently coach and director of player development for Overtime Elite, an organization for high school age players who are paid, rather than choose college.

“I wish to assure the UConn community, my alma mater and an institution that has meant so much to me over the years, that the university will always have a special place in my heart and will always be a part of my family,” Ollie said.

Dom Amore can be reached at damore@courant.com