Nets name assistant coach Kevin Ollie as interim HC

The Nets plan to name Kevin Ollie as their interim head coach in the wake of Jacque Vaughn‘s dismissal, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

According to Woj, Ollie will run Tuesday’s practice and be the lead coach for Thursday’s contest against Toronto.

Separate reports from Shams Charania of The Athletic and Wojnarowski earlier on Monday afternoon indicated that Ollie had emerged as the frontrunner to become Brooklyn’s interim head coach.

Ollie was a finalist for the Pistons’ head coaching job last offseason. The position ultimately went to Monty Williams, with Ollie instead joining Brooklyn as an assistant coach.

A former NBA journeyman guard who played for 11 different teams in his 13 seasons, Ollie began his coaching career after retiring as a player in 2010. He was the head coach at UConn from 2012 to 2018. He won a national title with the Huskies in 2014 but lost his job after the NCAA investigated UConn and its coaches for recruiting violations.

Ollie was also the head coach of the Overtime Elite program from 2021-23. He left that position last March.

It’s unclear if the 51-year-old will be a candidate for the full-time job, but he’ll have an opportunity to make an impression down the stretch of the 2023-24 season for the Nets, who have been struggling mightily of late, losing 18 of their past 24 games.