NCAA Basketball: Will former UConn Head Coach Huskie Kevin Ollie ever coach again?

This week, the NCAA came down on Kevin Ollie, accusing him of violations that could lead to the infamous show-cause penalty.

The termination battle between the UConn Huskies and former coach Kevin Ollie was ugly enough when it began six months ago. The NCAA’s involvement promises to further muddy up the waters.

On Friday, the NCAA sent a notice to Ollie and his former school, making several allegations of ethical violations committed by the coach (h/t ESPN). As the disciplinary process takes its course, it’s possible Ollie will be handed a show-cause penalty.

The allegations are somewhat damning, including an allegation that Ollie misled the NCAA about phone calls between Huskies alumni Ray Allen and Rudy Gay and a player Ollie was recruiting to the school.

Meanwhile, Ollie continues to dispute the circumstances surrounding his firing, with $10 million on the line. All of this has created an ugly environment on the Storrs campus that used to house one of the sport’s elite programs.

While Dan Hurley works on that reclamation project, Ollie has to worry about whether or not he’ll ever work in the sport again.

At the moment, there’s no outward indication that he has a job. He coached the Huskies for six seasons, which included a national title in his second year. The school fired him after last season, citing “just cause.”

If he does get hit with a show-cause penalty, it’ll be virtually impossible for another school to hire Ollie for the duration of the discipline. He could land a job, but the penalty would render the ability for him to do his job impossible.

That being said, there are several prominent active head coaches who have survived the death penalty: Todd Bozeman, Kelvin Sampson, and Bruce Pearl come to mind.

Was he a great college coach in the first place, though? Sure, Ollie won a championship in just his second season, but that was largely with a roster assembled by Jim Calhoun. Perhaps the past two years showed Ollie’s true coaching ability: back-to-back losing seasons without the postseason.

For the 45-year old, a more logical path may be a return to the NBA. He could quickly earn a spot as an assistant and grind up the ranks, like fellow NBA veteran Tyronn Lue.

At the moment, Kevin Ollie’s college coaching career appears to be at a full stop.