The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Kevin Ollie resurfaces through involvement with holistic healing
Kevin Ollie is in good spirits these days, boasting the same positive outlook he always tried to convey while coaching UConn.
He still lives in Connecticut, but he’s an emptynester now. His daughter, Cheyanne, is a freshman at Wesleyan, where she plays soccer. His son, Jaylen, who played football and earned a business degree at Fordham,
works for a software company and lives in Manhattan’s financial district. Ollie figures he’ll stay in Connecticut for another year before moving down to Florida, where he still visits frequently to spend time with former UConn teammates Ray Allen and Boo Willingham.
Basketball? He’s had job offers from Oklahoma City and Detroit, but it wasn’t the right time. He still follows the sport, mostly the NBA but some college — including UConn. He was sad to see the season-ending ACL injury to Tyler Polley, a player he recruited to Storrs.
“I’ve been praying for him,” Ollie said. “I know he has a great spirit ... and he’s gonna be better once he gets on the other side of it.”
But Ollie has a different reason to feel positive these days. He has recently partnered with Modern Acupuncture, which provides stress and anxiety relief to people through holistic treatment, and will open a franchise next month in Burlington, Mass. with Dr. Charles L. Anderson.
“It’s been wonderful for me,” Ollie said of his relationship with Modern Acupuncture. “I’ve always liked to venture off into alternative medicine. I’m always
looking for different ways to make my body perform at its ultimate peak. This was something I thought would be holistic and goes towards what I think my body should have the ability to do — to heal itself.”
Modern Acupuncture currently has 51 clinics throughout the United States, including Westwood, Mass. and Cranston, R.I. There are plans to expand into Connecticut, as well.
Ollie describes the atmosphere inside a Modern Acupuncture clinic as “kind of a Zen lounge,” where people can sit back in zero-gravity chairs and relax during a 35-minute acupuncture treatment. It’s not the experience most people identify with the ancient practice, either: Patients don’t have to remove their clothes, and the needles used to generate healing through blood-flow are “hair-thin,” according to Ollie.
Ollie said his transition into holistic treatment is a natural one. During his 13-year NBA playing career, he always tried to remain healthy by exercising and eating the right way, as opposed to taking prescription pills.
“There’s a place for health care and hospitals,” Ollie noted, “but I want everyone to understand there are options out there through herbs, through acupuncture, through eating the right way and exercise. And, to top it all off, to have a healthy, happy state of mind.”
He added that his investment in Modern Acupuncture is “purposebased,” and hopes to attract more minorities so they can avoid “self-sabotaging” their bodies through poor health choices.
“It’s really authentic to who I am. I don’t want to open up a fast-food restaurant, because I don’t eat that stuff. This is in line with my mental thinking, where my heart lies, where my spirit lies.”
Ollie was fired for cause by UConn in March, 2018, after two straight losing seasons and several NCAA infractions, and is in the process of trying to recoup the nearly $11 million that was left on his contract. The case is still in discovery phase and likely won’t go to arbitration until February or March.
Ollie isn’t sure if he’ll get back into basketball at the coaching or management level, but he doesn’t appear to be in any rush.
“It’s been good for me to kind of get myself away from everything and kind of reconnect to myself,” he said. “I kind of like working for myself, too.”
Any decisions on getting back into basketball in any capacity will all wait until his legal situation with UConn is resolved.
“I’ll have a very clear thought process if going back to coaching is something I want to do,” he noted. “But I really enjoy being on the business side. I have my team at Modern Acupuncture that works closely together. I find myself doing the same things: coaching, trying to bring the best out of my team, so that we can be the best to our clients that walk through that door at Modern Acupuncture.”
“This is what I’ve been doing my whole life, as a point guard, as a coach,” Ollie added. “This is just coaching in another field — health.”
THIS WEEK’S AP TOP 25 BALLOT
The top five teams in last week’s AP Top 25 lost a combined six games this past week. We will proudly point out, however, that the top five on our ballot only had two losses (thanks, Duke).
Either way, it’s getting tougher and tougher to fill out a ballot each week with so many upsets around the country. Here’s our best try:
1. Gonzaga: Zags finally bring a little stability to No. 1.
2. Baylor: You could make a very good argument Bears deserve top spot.
3. Kansas: Road sweep through Oklahoma, Texas moves Jayhawks up.
4. San Diego State: Last of the unbeatens.
5. Florida State: Why are voters so slow to show Seminoles respect?
6. Louisville: Frosh David Johnson leads win over Duke at Cameron Indoor.
7. Oregon: Payton Pritchard is an assassin.
8. Seton Hall: Impressive week for Pirates, winning at Butler and St. John’s.
9. Dayton: Incredible comeback win at Saint Louis on Friday night.
10. Villanova: Wildcats have a few shooters, as UConn learned on Saturday in Philly.
11. Duke: A rare twoloss week for the Blue Devils.
12. Kentucky: Cal gets ejected at Arkansas, but Wildcats still win.
13. Michigan State: Cassius Winston is all-time Big Ten assists leader.
14. Maryland: Get the feeling Terps fans don’t care for Mark Turgeon’s coaching prowess.
15. West Virginia: Emmitt Matthews, Jr., who decommitted from UConn after Ollie’s firing, starting at WVU.
16. Butler: Tough Bulldogs fall after losses to Seton Hall, at DePaul.
17. Memphis: Talent is still there, but there just seems to be something missing with Tigers.
18. Auburn: Tigers finally get on road vs. tough competition and lose both games.
19. Northern Iowa: Could A.J. Green supplant Kurt Warner as UNI’s greatest athletic alum?
20. Texas Tech: Win over then-No. 1 Louisville at MSG still resonates.
21. Illinois: Kofi Cockburn, a coveted UConn recruit, is one of dominant big men in nation as a frosh.
22. Duquesne: Dukes are 15-2 without having played a true home game. That merits a vote.
23. Iowa: Luka Garza is as dominant a big as there is in the country.
24. Houston: Coogs seem to be rounding into shape just in time for Thursday’s bout with UConn.
25. East Tennessee State: Bucs have a win at LSU on their resume.