The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
A Family Matter
How changes within program affect bonds with ex-players remains to be seen
The UConn family. May sound a bit sappy or even pretentious, but it’s a real thing.
It’s the reason dozens of former players and coaches return every couple of years to play in the Jim Calhoun Celebrity Classic All-Star Game. When fans can see Ryan Boatright hitting Cliff Robinson for a layup at the biennial event at Mohegan Sun Arena, the bond between former UConn players that extends through generations is apparent.
But has that bond been fractured a bit? Has the firing of Kevin Ollie, the former standout player who coached the Huskies to their fourth national title, created some dysfunction in the family?
Or will former players still feel welcome returning to Storrs, or playing in Calhoun’s All-Star Game — which will be held again on Aug. 10?
“I hope so,” said Tom Moore, one of new coach Dan Hurley’s assistants. “That’s the hope. I think they will, if they’re willing to come back, hear us out, meet Dan.”
Moore, of course, is one link to UConn’s championship past that has been welcomed back with open arms. He was an assistant on Calhoun’s staff from 19942007 before taking over the head coaching reins at Quinnipiac for 10 seasons. He spent last year as Hurley’s assistant at Rhode Island before accompanying him to Storrs.
“The good thing about Dan — and I’m a little biased — is he’s not ego guy, he gets it,” Moore said. “The last thing he’s gonna do is try to turn anyone from the past away. You need to embrace those guys. He’s not phony. He’s pretty genuine, and he’ll pay homage to the older guys. He appreciates history. If you’ve bled for this uniform, he values that.”
Hurley is the first UConn coach to be hired with no direct ties to the school since Calhoun in 1986. When Calhoun abruptly retired in 2012, he handed over the reins to Ollie, who played for the Huskies from 1991-95 and was hired as a Calhoun assistant in 2010.
But while Hurley had never played or coached at UConn before, he does have ties to the program. George Blaney, Calhoun’s longtime top assistant, was a coach and mentor to Hurley at Seton Hall in the mid-1990s. Hurley’s father, Hall of Fame high school coach Dan, Sr., has a long relationship with Calhoun, and Hurley himself professed that the Huskies were always his favorite team as a kid.
It also doesn’t hurt that Moore and Kevin Freeman, the former standout player who was retained on Hurley’s staff as director of basFormer
ketball administration, are still with the program. (Ricky Moore, another beloved former UConn player, was not retained as an assistant coach).
In fact, the potential fraying of the UConn family may have nothing at all to do with Hurley.
“I think little by little, it’s been going away,” said Scott Burrell, the former Husky standout who now coaches Southern Connecticut State. “I think the bond is there for the superstars. It’s the little guys that are getting pushed out, not the NBA superstars. I’ve never met the AD (David Benedict), and I live an hour away.”
Burrell said several other former players — Oliver Macklin, Murray Williams, Lyman DePriest, Chris Smith, John Gwynn — have expressed similar concerns.
“I don’t know anyone up there to call anymore,” he said. “It’s just a different feel. We had a relationship when Kevin (Ollie) was there. We knew Kevin. I think Danny will do a great job there, but I don’t know Danny well enough to call and get tickets. I know Tom real well, but he’s gonna have a million calls from other people. I don’t want to bother Coach Moore, it’s their job to win games.”
And make no mistake, former players and others with ties to the program aren’t happy with Ollie’s firing — or at least how it went down.
“It’s scary, the way it was handled,” Burrell said. “I’m in coaching, and I look at it like, ‘Are they gonna do that to try to get out of anyone’s contract?’ They could have done it in a different way if they wanted to go in that direction.”
According to Peter Gold, whose marketing firm runs many of Calhoun’s special events, it makes a difference that Ollie’s firing was initiated by Benedict.
“If Coach Calhoun had fired and replaced the coaching staff, I think that’s one thing,” said Gold. “Since the decision was made by an AD that’s relatively new to the university — outside of the family, if you will — it lessens the impact on the health of relationships within the group.”
SOAP OPERA AT MOHEGAN SUN?
The real indication of how tight the UConn family remains, of course, will be at Calhoun’s all-star game on Aug. 10.
“That’s gonna be so interesting,” Burrell said. “Who comes, who doesn’t? I’ve talked to my friends, it’s an interesting dynamic. Does Kevin (Ollie) come, does he not come?”
According to Gold, Ollie will be invited to the game.
While the game is still four months away, Gold said he anticipates a strong turnout of former players. It’s a good bet that most of the program’s more recent stars will be there. Organizers are also reaching out to some new names from the distant past like Gerry Besselink, the captain of Calhoun’s first UConn team.
“It’s shaping up really well,” Gold reported. “It’ll be a great mix of players from all generations. Is there a tear in the fabric? I think folks were very sad to see Coach Ollie treated the way he was. Personally, I was very sad to see it go down in the fashion that it did. But there’s so much we don’t know. The process hasn’t been public, so it’s impossible to know what’s going on behind the scenes.”
Ollie, who is fighting to be paid the nearly $11 million left on his contract, had a hearing before Benedict last Thursday. He and his representatives now have a week to respond in writing to the evidence behind his March 10 firing.
Ollie is close with several big names from UConn’s past, including perhaps the biggest of all — soon-to-be Hall of Famer Ray Allen. Allen posted some positive messages about Ollie on social media shortly after he was fired. Of course, he and Donny Marshall are also on UConn’s board of trustees.
Moore said that both he and Hurley have recently spoken with Allen. Moore has also talked to Hamilton, Charlie Villanueva and Rudy Gay. New assistant coach Kimani Young has a relationship with Kemba Walker that dates back years.
Of course, as Burrell noted, those players will always have a seat at the table in Storrs.
“Their names are on the wall,” Burrell said, “so they don’t have worry about anything. And rightfully so.”
It’s the other guys, the one who weren’t superstars, who are worried about their continued place in the family.
“I think there’s some sadness in the Calhoun family,” Gold noted. “Will that cause irreparable harm? I don’t think so.”
RIM RATTLINGS
⏩ As for UConn’s future, all signs seem to indicate that Jalen Adams will stay for his senior year and not turn pro. Adams has been bothered by a minor wrist ailment the past couple of weeks and has had his workouts curtailed a bit. It doesn’t appear that he will test the NBA draft waters without an agent, as many players are allowed to do.
⏩ UConn has one more open scholarship for next season, at least for now, and will likely fill it with another grad transfer. UConn will look for the best available player, preferably a big man or a wing but also a shooter, if one is available.