National Basketball Association

Report: UConn's Ollie removes self from consideration for Thunder job

Published Apr. 23, 2015 1:32 p.m. ET

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Connecticut head coach Kevin Ollie has removed himself from consideration for the Oklahoma City Thunder's coaching vacancy, CBS Sports reports.

Ollie, who played with the Thunder before taking over at UConn, was widely considered one of the top two candidates for the position with Florida coach Billy Donovan. Yahoo Sports/FOX Sports 1 NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski reported Wednesday that if the Thunder talked to either Ollie or Donovan first, the other was likely to pull out of consideration quickly. It is not clear whether the Thunder already have spoken with Donovan.

The Thunder fired previous head coach Scott Brooks on Wednesday after seven seasons with the team. Brooks led the Thunder to three Western Conference Finals in that time, but they failed to make the playoffs this year after a season that saw Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka all suffer significant injuries.

The Thunder's playoff fate came down to the final day of the season, when they needed a win and a Pelicans loss to earn the West's No. 8 seed. Oklahoma City won its game, but the Pelicans beat the Spurs to clinch that final spot for themselves.