Perhaps no one worked harder to make it in the NBA than Kevin Ollie. That work ethic is probably one of the recent the former UConn point guard was hired to be his alma mater’s newest assistant coach.
Ollie didn’t wait long in justifying that belief, putting in a 10-hour work day on his first official day on the job.
“Once I signed the contact, the next day I was out on the road. I didn’t have time to think about it,” Ollie said Wednesday morning by phone from Indianapolis. “You get thrown into the fire. It reminds me of a 10-day contract.”
The summer basketball circuit and the coinciding NCAA evaluation period is in full swing, meaning college coaches around the country are focusing on the best high school players in the nation. The timing of Ollie’s hiring means he had to hit the ground running.
So what’s the biggest difference between today’s high school players and the ones he saw during his days at Crenshaw High in Los Angeles in the late 1980′s and early 90′s?
“Most of the kids that used to be five’s want to be three’s,” Ollie said with a laugh. “You have to be careful what you say to the kids.”
– Ollie officially retired from the NBA to take the UConn job. The 37-year-old said his chances of signing another contract were probably 50-50.
“Being 37 and being in my 13th season going to my 14th, I wasn’t going to be wined and dined like LeBron,” Ollie said. “I would have to get the crumbs off the king’s table.”
That would have meant waiting until perhaps August or September to learn his fate, too.
– This is Ollie’s first coaching job of any kind. He said he had a chance to land a job (coaching or scouting) with the Oklahoma City Thunder but felt UConn was a better fit and that they “needed” him more.
Now he’s working with his Jim Calhoun, George Blaney, Andre LaFleur and Glen Miller, and is anxious to learn.
“I can learn from these guys. I don’t know it all,” Ollie said. “I’m an empty cup now.”
– As for Calhoun’s annual charity all-star game in August at Mohegan Sun, Ollie seemingly had a choice: be a former player or be a current assistant coach.
The former person won the argument.
“I’m going to be playing. I still I have a couple layups in me,” Ollie said. “I don’t know how long I’ll play but…”
– Ollie said he considered the NCAA investigation at UConn and the potential sanctions as he made the decision to return.
“I had to sit back and get all the information and have that part of my decision making. First and foremost, I have to protect myself and I have to protect my family, to know I have job security,” Ollie said. “I had to talk to coach and meditate on my decision. After talking to coach for several weeks and talking to the athletic director, Jeff Hathaway, and talking to the people I’m lucky enough to have around me, I made the decision to go back.”
- Neill
