Ray Allen is not happy with how his alma mater has treated his friend and former teammate.
UConn and former head coach Kevin Ollie are still in a dispute over the $10 million remaining on his contract after he was terminated for just cause in March, allowing the school to withhold the rest of his salary.
Allen and Ollie played together for the Huskies. Allen went on to an 18-season NBA career and will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in September. Ollie was head coach at UConn for six seasons and led the Huskies to the 2014 NCAA championship.
"Kevin's situation is a stain on the (UConn) family, on the state," Allen told David Borges of the New Haven Register on Thursday. "For the most part, everybody I know who went to UConn, we have great pride in the university. It's an isolated incident that needs to be resolved. Both parties need to come to terms to make the situation go away. We know who Kevin is and what he's done for the state, and they need to make it right by him.”
One of the NCAA violations UConn cited to support its firing of Ollie for cause was the coach facilitating a call between Allen and a Huskies recruit. The 10-time All-Star is technically considered a booster and thus isn't allowed to speak with recruits.
“I don't believe Kevin did anything wrong that was detrimental to the university," Allen said. "Everybody knows who he is, what his intentions are. Based on that, let's figure it out and move forward.”
