New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Moore will sit out ’99 title celebration
Guard cites NCAA investigation
When UConn’s 1999 national championship team is honored at halftime of Sunday’s game against Cincinnati at the XL Center, Jim Calhoun, the Hall of Fame head coach who guided the program to its first of four national titles, will be there.
So will the leading scorer and superstar, Richard Hamilton; the portly, prime-time point guard, Khalid El-Amin; the hardnosed power forward, Kevin Freeman, and most of the other key contributors to that historic squad.
Notably absent, however, will be the guard who shut down Duke’s Trajan Langdon in the final seconds of play, all but clinching the victory. The player who held William Avery in check for most of the second half, and who had held Big 10 player of the year Scoonie Penn to 3-for-13 shooting in the national semifinals.
Ricky Moore won’t be in Hartford with his former teammates on Sunday afternoon. He may be at his Charlotte, N.C. home, where he and his family have lived since selling their Manchester home back in August. He may be visiting a college team’s practice, as he’s done numerous times over the past several months, watching, learning and trying to get better as a coach.
But Moore won’t be at the XL Center. And it’s because of the NCAA investigation into Kevin Ollie’s program that led to the dismissal in March of Ollie
and nearly all of his staff, including Moore, who was an assistant coach.
“As part of the ongoing investigation, I am unable to speak about the program, or the current state of affairs, and definitely do not want to detract from the recognition and celebration which the 1999 national championship deserves,” Moore said in an email to Hearst Connecticut Media.
“The opportunity given to us to be recognized by the University of Connecticut for this great accomplishment in ultimately defeating a highly-favored Duke team is truly special,” Moore wrote. “I’ve been part of two national championships, three Big East championships and one AAC championship at the University of Connecticut. I regret that I’m unable to attend this prestigious celebration.”
Ollie was fired in March for “just cause” after the Huskies’ second straight losing season. An NCAA investigation later revealed several infractions under Ollie’s watch, including illicit workouts between UConn players and a trainer close to Ollie, as well as FaceTime calls between former UConn stars Ray Allen and Rudy Gay and a
prospective recruit.
UConn has self-imposed penalties, including one fewer scholarship for next season, and is waiting to hear back from the NCAA Committee on Infractions. Ollie is in a legal fight for the nearly $11 million left on his contract when he was fired.
Ollie’s entire coaching staff was also let go. Raphael Chillious landed an assistant’s job at ECU and Dwayne Killlings is an assistant at Marquette. Ironically, Freeman, who was Ollie’s director of basketball administration, was not dismissed. However, he left the program last spring to take a job as an assistant coach at Penn State.
Moore is the only former assistant who hasn’t found work, and back in May he admitted he was perplexed by that and cited the NCAA investigation as the main reason. But that is no longer a factor.
“I have fully cooperated with the NCAA and the University of Connecticut during this investigation and I’m pleased to announce that I recently received a letter of clearance of any allegations of wrongdoing on my part,” Moore wrote. “Thus, I look forward to resuming my coaching career at the collegiate level very soon.”
Moore hasn’t had a whole lot of contact with his ’99 teammates. He texted Hamilton a while ago, and more recently, E.J. Harrison reached out to him to try to convince him to attend. It was a good 45-minute conversation, Moore noted, but it’s not going to happen.
Moore feels he’s gotten better as a coach after sitting in on practices of “about 15” different highmajor and mid-major programs over the past several months. He’s ready to get back into coaching, but not ready to return to any UConn celebrations.
So, if Trajan Langdon, William Avery or Scoonie Penn decide to show up at the XL Center on Sunday for some reason, they’ll be able to score at will. Ricky Moore won’t be there.