Ollie named new head coach

STORRS, Conn. (WTNH) -- Kevin Ollie, who has served as an assistant coach at the University of Connecticut for the past two seasons, has been named the head men’s basketball coach at UConn.

Ollie will have a contract that runs through April 4, 2013, and will be paid at an annualized rate of $625,000. He becomes the 17th head coach in the history of the UConn program and only the fourth since the 1969-70 season.

“I am very honored and humbled to become the UConn men’s basketball coach,” said Ollie. “I cannot put into words how grateful I am to Coach Jim Calhoun, who retires today as one of the most legendary coaches in the history of college basketball. Coach Calhoun brought me here to Connecticut as a person right out of high school and has mentored me into the person I have become today.

Ollie is a graduate of UConn who played 13 seasons in the NBA, completing his career in 2009-10 as a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder. He played for 11 different franchises in his NBA career, playing in 662 career contests.

Ollie was a two-time team captain at UConn and helped lead the Huskies to BIG EAST Regular Season Championships in 1993-94 and 1994-95, advancing to the NCAA Sweet 16 and Elite Eight, respectively, in those seasons.

Ollie was an All-BIG EAST Third Team selection as a senior in 1994-95 and was named to the UConn Basketball All-Century Team in 2001.

He still stands No. 3 all-time at UConn in assists and No. 1 at UConn in assists in BIG EAST contests.