Brooklyn Nets reportedly promoting former UConn coach Kevin Ollie to interim head coach

The Brooklyn Nets are promoting Kevin Ollie to interim head coach after dismissing head coach Jacque Vaughn earlier Monday, according to ESPN.

It’s Ollie’s first high-profile head-coaching job since being fired from Connecticut in 2018 after an NCAA investigation accused the Huskies of numerous violations under Ollie’s watch. After taking over the UConn head-coaching job in 2012 from Hall of Famer Jim Calhoun, whom Ollie had once played for, Ollie led the Huskies to their fourth national championship in program history in 2014.

But due to the nature of his dismissal from UConn, which also included three-year show cause from the NCAA, Ollie did not coach again until 2021, when he was hired to lead the Overtime Elite developmental program. He then left to join the Nets’ coaching staff under Vaughn last offseason.

Ollie had previously interviewed for NBA head-coaching jobs with the Los Angeles Lakers and Detroit Pistons but had never coached in the professional ranks until this season.

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