Scandal a hot topic at UConn, too

Benedict, Ollie discuss FBI investigation that has rocked basketball

Storrs — Shock waves from an evolving college basketball scandal reached the UConn campus.

News broke on Tuesday that federal investigators uncovered the dirty underside of the sport, detailing charges of corruption, recruiting improprieties, bribery and fraud.

Assistant coaches from some major men's basketball programs are in the cross-hairs, including Auburn, Arizona, Oklahoma State and Southern California, as well as a senior official at adidas.

Louisville also announced Wednesday that athletic director Tom Jurich and coach Rick Pitino have been placed on administrative leave. Neither is expected to return. The FBI investigation revealed that a recruit's family was allegedly paid for him to commit to Louisville.

"This will probably be unprecedented in the history of the NCAA," UConn athletic director David Benedict said on Wednesday. UConn has not been linked to the investigation in any of the recent reports.

And those allegations could be just the tip of the iceberg, as federal authorities plan on expanding their investigation.

"It's just a dark day in our great game," coach Kevin Ollie said. "It's an ongoing investigation, so I can't speak on that. But it's just a tough day . ... I'm sorry college basketball has to go through this. We'll weather the storm and hopefully everybody comes through it and gets back to playing basketball. That's what I really want."

Ollie and his UConn basketball team gathered for the annual Husky Run, a 5K around campus. The

first practice is set for Saturday.

The college basketball scandal has been a topic of conversation within the UConn basketball family. Social media makes the subject impossible for the Huskies to ignore.

"We talk about social issues, we talk about everything," Ollie said. "It's just not basketball. They're human beings. Social media, this world is information heavy. You have to discuss those things with your student-athletes. You're not doing a good job if you're not discussing those things."

Ollie says he has frequent conversations with his coaching staff to make sure they understand the rules and regulations and abide by them.

"It's a responsibility of mine," Ollie said.

Benedict said a wide range of topics are discussed with members of the athletic department during allstaff meetings, including one held at the beginning of the school year. He is confident that the proper steps are being taken to create a culture of compliance.

"Number one, you've got to do the best job you can to create a culture and an expectation that people do the right thing," Benedict said. "And then you constantly educate people, which our compliance staff does a great job of.

"And it's our job to make sure that when we're bringing people into our organization that we're doing everything that we possibly can to make sure that we're bringing people in that match up with the culture we have here.

"And you keep your eyes open and you keep your ears open. That's as much as you can do, because you can't be with people 24 hours a day."

Benedict was surprised to learn that Auburn, where he served as chief operating officer for the athletics department prior to coming to UConn, is one of the programs affected by the investigation. Assistant coach Chuck Person, who faces federal charges, was suspended without pay for his involvement.

When asked about the possibility of losing a recruit due to illegal practices, Ollie answered this way:

"I'll take the 2014 championship over any recruit I lost and the 2011 championship (team) that I was able to be on," Ollie said. "It's part of the game. I want guys that want to be here at UConn and not guys that maybe got bought, or whatever.

"I want to get guys that want to be here for the tradition that we bring, for the relationship that I have with our players. From our governor to our president to our athletic director, we're all in line with UConn basketball and I want guys to be a part of that."

"It doesn't make me angry at all. I just about do what I do and try to make our guys the best people they can possibly be."

Calhoun headed to St. Joseph

• Hall of Fame coach Jim Calhoun confirmed Wednesday that he will serve as a consultant for the St. Joseph men's basketball program, the New Haven Register and Hartford Courant reported. The Division III school in Hartford will become a coed institution for the first time during the 2018-19 academic year, and Calhoun is expected to lay the groundwork for the program's first season.

Calhoun currently serves as a special advisor to the UConn men's program, a contract that doesn't expire until March, 2018. He will reportedly be named the head coach at St. Joseph after that contract runs out. g.keefe@theday.com