According to the Associated Press on Tuesday, the Brooklyn Nets have named Kevin Ollie of Dallas, Texas their new interim head coach. Ollie takes over from Jacque Vaughn of Los Angeles, California, who was fired from the Nets coaching position on Monday.
The Nets currently have a record of 21 wins and 33 losses. They are in 11th place in the Eastern Conference with a winning percentage of .389, and two and a half games back of the Atlanta Hawks for the final spot in the NBA Play-In tournament.
The firing of Vaughn comes after the Nets were completely spanked by the Boston Celtics. On Valentine’s Day, the Nets were not in a lovable mood, as they were clobbered 136-86. It was the second biggest Nets loss in franchise history. The only worse loss came on October 18, 1978. The New Jersey Nets lost by 52 points as they were beaten 139-87 to the Houston Rockets.
From a coaching perspective, Ollie spent this season in Brooklyn as an assistant coach prior to the temporary promotion. He began his coaching career as an assistant coach for the University of Connecticut Huskies from 2010 to 2012. Ollie worked under the legendary National Collegiate Athletic Association coach Jim Calhoun of Braintree, Massachusetts during this time. When Calhoun retired in 2012, Ollie spent six seasons as the head coach of the Huskies from 2012 to 2018.
As a player, Ollie spent 13 seasons in the NBA with the Dallas Mavericks (1997-98), the Orlando Magic (1998-99), the Sacramento Kings (1999), the Philadelphia 76ers (1999-2001, and 2004 -08), the New Jersey Nets (2000-01), the Chicago Bulls (2001-02), the Indiana Pacers (2001-02), Milwaukee Bucks (2002-03), the Seattle Supersonics (2002-03), the Cleveland Cavaliers (2003-04), the Minnesota Timberwolves (2008-09), and the Oklahoma City Thunder (2009-10). He averaged 3.8 points per game in 662 games.
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