In the wake of Jacque Vaughn's dismissal, the Brooklyn Nets have tapped Kevin Ollie as the team's interim head coach for the rest of the season, sources told Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Ollie served as an assistant for Vaughn and joined the team's coaching huddle before this 2023-24 campaign. Before he was even promoted by the Nets this Monday, he was identified as a frontrunner for the interim head coaching role for the franchise, as initially revealed by Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Per Woj, Ollie will start handling the team on Tuesday's practice and will officially call the shots in Brooklyn’s upcoming Thursday road game vs. Toronto Raptors.
Ollie's coaching background
Ollie, 51, now has a shot to bring his solid coaching experience to the pros. A former league journeyman who played for 11 different teams in 13 years, he coached the Connecticut Huskies from 2012 to 2018 and was able to lead its collegiate program to the 2014 NCAA Division I championship.
After a three-year hiatus coming off his controversial exit from the NCAA due to recruitment violations, he joined Overtime Elite in 2021 as its newest head coach. Upon two seasons mentoring teenage standouts, he obtained plenty of interest last offseason in the NBA as a coach. He was a finalist in the Detroit Pistons' head coaching candidacy, but the position was ultimately given to Monty Williams.
Pressure can burst a pipe, or it can make diamonds
What awaits Kevin as the Nets' temporary lead play-caller is a daunting challenge. He'll be in charge of guiding a spiraling Brooklyn team that dropped 18 of their last 24 games heading into the All-Star break and is coming off a demoralizing 50-point beatdown from the Boston Celtics. So far, the Nets are in a shaky spot to contend as they currently sit in 11th place of the Eastern Conference with a 21-33 record, 2.5 games away from the last Play-In spot.
Other than pressure, the promotion still serves as an opportunity for Ollie. With 27 games left to the season, the ball is now in his hands to deliver a positive impression in front of the Nets authority, which can ultimately land him the full-time head coaching job.
More must-reads: