Ime Udoka faces significant suspension by the Celtics???

What does "improper consensual" relationship mean? Is it improper because they didn't notify HR? Did the woman somehow benefit professionally from her personal relationship with Udoka? Is it Wyc's daughter? What the hell is going on here???

https://twitter.com/McBlur2/status/1572828272974757888/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1572828272974757888%7Ctwgr%5E823072046707069a40efd72037760d96f388aa5e%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnewsone.com%2F4414187%2Fallison-feaster-ime-udoka-affair-reported%2F

Allison Feaster may very well be the other person involved here.

It appears that she is married to Danny Strong.  

A year suspension is a tough punishment but it makes you wonder why they did not fire him.  I do not believe the team (players) will have issues with Ime.  

I am disappointed that Ime let himself get caught up in a Soap Opera like situation.

dboss wrote:Allison Feaster may very well be the other person involved here.

It appears that she is married to Danny Strong.  

A year suspension is a tough punishment but it makes you wonder why they did not fire him.  I do not believe the team (players) will have issues with Ime.  

I am disappointed that Ime let himself get caught up in a Soap Opera like situation.

I believe I've seen that name as well.

I believe Ime is considering resigning his coaching position. The question is how much they pay him to do that.

That eventuality wouldn't surprise me.

bobc33 wrote:

Celtics17 wrote:Just watching ESPN, looks like a year suspension, and Joe Mazulla will be interim coach. Details are sketchy as to what really happened. I guess more details will emerge. Terrible start to what could be a great season.

I’d be surprised if Mazzulla gets the interim job.  A quick google of him shows skeletons in his closet.

Boc33

Skeletons or not I think Joe Mazulla will be a good fit. However we will need to see how the team responds to this huge coaching change

gyso wrote:

dboss wrote:Allison Feaster may very well be the other person involved here.

It appears that she is married to Danny Strong.  

A year suspension is a tough punishment but it makes you wonder why they did not fire him.  I do not believe the team (players) will have issues with Ime.  

I am disappointed that Ime let himself get caught up in a Soap Opera like situation.

I believe I've seen that name as well.

I believe Ime is considering resigning his coaching position.  The question is how much they pay him to do that.  

That eventuality wouldn't surprise me.  

gyso

Is he being suspended without pay? If the answer is yes, I could see a resignation. Maybe he negotiates a buyout.

I think that he will land on his feet. He is a transformative NBA coach. A team out there will give him another shot. I do not think there is a law that makes marital affairs a crime. The NBA is a lot of things but being a moral compass is not one of them (Imo)

Celtics17 wrote:Thanks NY Celt

Wish I joined under better circumstances.

Any time is a good time. You are a welcome addition to our group.

I am a bit baffled by some of the reactions and the lack of understanding here as this is has been the nba news all day pretty much.

But if you will permit me (sorry dboss but I do not like twitter as a credible source of info ) to link the latest news from a mainstream sports site:
https://sports.yahoo.com/reports-celtics-ime-udoka-suspended-155437345.html

At this point some things are still not 100% confirmed, but I believe the following summary is more or less 90%+ accurate:

Facts:
-    Ime Udoka is considered a married man. I say considered because after I heard "wife" I went and checked and he is actually not married afaik. He has been with Nia Long since 2010, has a kid with her and has been engaged to her since 2015.
-    Ime Udoka and as of yet unnamed (officially, unofficially it is her: (removed as it was fake news)) had/have an affair while both have been/are employed by the Boston Celtics organization.

I hope those two together are enough for people to understand why this is a big issue for the Celtics as an organization and for Ime Udoka as a person and a professional that preaches accountability, loyalty and hard work as the pillars of his coaching strategy.

Additionally some thoughts on my own:
-    I have not heard why (removed as fake news. Still stands on its own though) is not also being taken into account. I know she is the underling in this situation, but if it was a "consensual" relationship, she has just as much cheater guilt as Ime does. According to the internet she has been married for real and for much longer than Udoka.
-    1 year suspension is basically saying: "We cannot get past this screw up and do not want you here anymore, but for legal reasons will not fire you directly." (at least in my opinion)
-    I cannot presume to know Ime Udoka's personal circumstances, but I can say (for myself at least) he has done ALL the wrong things here
-    I am very sad how events have transpired both in terms of who, what and when happened. I do not believe there could have been a worse development for the Celtics before the season start even including trading away Jaylen ...

Lastly I would like to ask Ktron a question.

I agree completely with you - these things happen left and right and not only "in basketball" or "among the rich".
Does that make them right? Or even ok? Should the involved parties not face consequences?
I would have loved for this to never have happened (just like all of us I guess), but you know the answer I would give - what is yours?


EDIT: Apparently by the time I had dinner while composing this there were several posts already detailing some this so apologies for "late info", but I will keep it regardless.

EDIT2: Fell victum as most of us did to the fake news machine - it is NOT Allison Feaster apparently.

The Celtics have only suspended him.

Nia Long, however, is going to levy a penalty of her own.

Feaster-Strong is married to Danny Strong, her high school sweetheart, who also played college basketball, at North Carolina State University, and has a daughter, Sarah, born in February, 2006.[7][8] The couple both played in Europe during the WNBA's off-season, and after several years playing in France they were naturalized as French citizens.[3] Feaster-Strong has competed under the name Allison Feaster in the WNBA and as Allison Feaster-Strong overseas.

As of January 2020, she is the director of player development for the Boston Celtics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allison_Feaster

NYCelt wrote:The Celtics have only suspended him.

Nia Long, however, is going to levy a penalty of her own.

That relationship may not last too Long but they are not married and Nia probably knows how he is. The embarrassment meter is probably high enough to break the camel's back. Can't see her showing up at the Gardens while the chorus sings 'stand by you man"

Something crossed my mind. In the entertainment business, something like this is quite common.

I am disappointed mainly because he will not be coaching the team. Personal relationships of a consensual nature are none of my business in terms of making a moral judgment.

gyso wrote:It has nothing to do with being an altar boy and everything to do with corporate ethics.

He'd better find something to do with his time
The fact is he just been caught

Was it a subordinate? Do you know? If so thats one thing.
If not- Big fFn deal! Against team policy? Fine him but this whole holier thank thou crap needs to stop.
Most people spend at least 1/3 of their day on the job. The chances of meeting someone and developing a relationship is very probable.
This is only a big deal if it’s a subordinate. Everything else is plain knee jerk.
Go after Brett Favre for stealing but penalizing for what could be a consensual relationship is BS.

PS. Anyone here who ever worked on a job and didn't see someone that they are attractive to raise your hand. Gyso!

dboss wrote:

gyso wrote:

dboss wrote:Allison Feaster may very well be the other person involved here.

It appears that she is married to Danny Strong.  

A year suspension is a tough punishment but it makes you wonder why they did not fire him.  I do not believe the team (players) will have issues with Ime.  

I am disappointed that Ime let himself get caught up in a Soap Opera like situation.

I believe I've seen that name as well.

I believe Ime is considering resigning his coaching position.  The question is how much they pay him to do that.  

That eventuality wouldn't surprise me.  

gyso

Is he being suspended without pay?  If the answer is yes, I could see a resignation.   Maybe he negotiates a buyout.

I think that he will land on his feet.  He is a transformative NBA coach.  A team out there will give him another shot.  I do not think there is a law that makes marital affairs a crime.  The NBA is a lot of things but being a moral compass is not one of them (Imo)

All we really "know" is that he is being suspended.  One article mentioned he may resign his position.  My guess is that they are discussing a buyout to close this chapter.

Leaks are ongoing, but a lot of it is on Twitter and blogs, so we have to consider the source on this relatively new saga.

True, he may land on his feet.  True, there is no law against having an affair (unless there is an old 100-year old law on the books in the South that everyone has forgotten about. They used to try to legislate morality back in the day - LOL)

The issue is not one of morality, it is one of corporate ethics and the evolution, over time, of company policy regarding ethics.

We keep talking about the coach, but there is another person who may be involved in this.  That would/could be the director of player development for the Boston Celtics.  No one seems to be talking about her great advancement in men's professional basketball.  I'm sure it is a sad day for her as well.

Vankisa wrote:I am a bit baffled by some of the reactions and the lack of understanding here as this is has been the nba news all day pretty much.

But if you will permit me (sorry dboss but I do not like twitter as a credible source of info ) to link the latest news from a mainstream sports site:
https://sports.yahoo.com/reports-celtics-ime-udoka-suspended-155437345.html

At this point some things are still not 100% confirmed, but I believe the following summary is more or less 90%+ accurate:

Facts:
-    Ime Udoka is considered a married man. I say considered because after I heard "wife" I went and checked and he is actually not married afaik. He has been with Nia Long since 2010, has a kid with her and has been engaged to her since 2015.
-    Ime Udoka and as of yet unnamed (officially, unofficially it is her: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allison_Feaster]AllisonFeaster) had/have an affair while both have been/are employed by the Boston Celtics organization.

I hope those two together are enough for people to understand why this is a big issue for the Celtics as an organization and for Ime Udoka as a person and a professional that preaches accountability, loyalty and hard work as the pillars of his coaching strategy.

Additionally some thoughts on my own:
-    I have not heard why Faester (if confirmed, but at this point...90%) is not also being taken into account. I know she is the underling in this situation, but if it was a "consensual" relationship, she has just as much cheater guilt as Ime does. According to the internet she has been married for real and for much longer than Udoka.
-    1 year suspension is basically saying: "We cannot get past this screw up and do not want you here anymore, but for legal reasons will not fire you directly." (at least in my opinion)
-    I cannot presume to know Ime Udoka's personal circumstances, but I can say (for myself at least) he has done ALL the wrong things here
-    I am very sad how events have transpired both in terms of who, what and when happened. I do not believe there could have been a worse development for the Celtics before the season start even including trading away Jaylen ...

Lastly I would like to ask Ktron a question.

I agree completely with you - these things happen left and right and not only "in basketball" or "among the rich".
Does that make them right? Or even ok? Should the involved parties not face consequences?
I would have loved for this to never have happened (just like all of us I guess), but you know the answer I would give - what is yours?


EDIT: Apparently by the time I had dinner while composing this there were several posts already detailing some this so apologies for "late info", but I will keep it regardless.

If it is against team policy then both need to be held accountable. Fired? Suspended for a year? No. Only if she was a subordinate.
Team policy is team policy so what I think about that policy comes second to how i feel about 2 grownups consensually doing the do. I dont have a problem with the latter.
Again, team policy is their policy. I dont agree with it but they have a right to enforce it. If he’s gone a year thats just about being fired and I personally think that that is wrong. Hope I answered your question.

gyso wrote:It has nothing to do with being an altar boy and everything to do with corporate ethics.

He'd better find something to do with his time
The fact is he just been caught

Every corporation has ethics and they are not all the same so put the paint brush down and Define your corporate ethics.

Ktron wrote:

gyso wrote:It has nothing to do with being an altar boy and everything to do with corporate ethics.

He'd better find something to do with his time
The fact is he just been caught

Was it a subordinate? Do you know? If so thats one thing.
If not- Big fFn deal! Against team policy? Fine him but this whole holier thank thou crap needs to stop.
Most people spend at least 1/3 of their day on the job. The chances of meeting someone and developing a relationship is very probable.
This is only a big deal if it’s a subordinate. Everything else is plain knee jerk.
Go after Brett Favre for stealing but penalizing for what could be a consensual relationship is BS.

PS. Anyone here who ever worked on a job and didn't see someone that they are attractive to raise your hand. Gyso!

I believe there have been enough leaks to guess who it is.  Director of player development for the Boston Celtics.  They already did say it was a staffer, so yes, it was a subordinate.

Brett Favre?  I hope they nail his hide to the frigging wall.  What a piece of crap he is.

Morality and/or "holier than thou" is not the issue.  You may want to reposition yourself there.

It is a corporate ethics issue and there are consequences for this kind of behavior.  They are not good.  Consensual does not enter into it, not any more.

Anyway, not a good day for Celtics fans.

I don't think the players would have a problem listening to Ime over this. He is their basketball coach, not their spiritual advisor. IMO , they are more likely to wonder whether the punishment would have been this severe if he were a white man. I'm not taking his side in this, just expressing my opinion re consequences. I don't believe for a second that AF  reported this to management. As a fledgling female NBA exec she isn't on the solidest ground herself. Anyway, it's a sad situation all around , and I think it may very well lead to a divorce between Ime and the Celts.  

Are corporate ethics, to some degree based on moral codes?

I think they are. When corporation come up with the do's and the don'ts it has to be based on something.

How long will it take the Celtics to officially announce what they are doing?

They may be measuring responses that I am sure they are monitoring.

I think that a year suspension is a very harsh punishment. They could have simply levied a fine and let the smoke clear.

gyso wrote:

Ktron wrote:

gyso wrote:It has nothing to do with being an altar boy and everything to do with corporate ethics.

He'd better find something to do with his time
The fact is he just been caught

Was it a subordinate? Do you know? If so thats one thing.
If not- Big fFn deal! Against team policy? Fine him but this whole holier thank thou crap needs to stop.
Most people spend at least 1/3 of their day on the job. The chances of meeting someone and developing a relationship is very probable.
This is only a big deal if it’s a subordinate. Everything else is plain knee jerk.
Go after Brett Favre for stealing but penalizing for what could be a consensual relationship is BS.

PS. Anyone here who ever worked on a job and didn't see someone that they are attractive to raise your hand. Gyso!

I believe there have been enough leaks to guess who it is.  Director of player development for the Boston Celtics.  They already did say it was a staffer, so yes, it was a subordinate.

Brett Favre?  I hope they nail his hide to the frigging wall.  What a piece of crap he is.

Morality and/or "holier than thou" is not the issue.  You may want to reposition yourself there.

It is a corporate ethics issue and there are consequences for this kind of behavior.  They are not good.  Consensual does not enter into it, not any more.

Anyway, not a good day for Celtics fans.

Not so sure she was a subordinate. I thought she reported to Brad. The way I see it, two consenting adults got together. It happens all the time everywhere I have ever worked.

dboss said:
I think that a year suspension is a very harsh punishment. They could have simply levied a fine and let the smoke clear.

Totally agree. I believe this would have/should have been the best course of action to take. Let it blow over and have the each of the subjects deal with the interpersonal ramifications as they see fit out of the public’s eye. I really don’t believe the players will give a good goddamn when it comes to the coach player relationship dynamic. We as a public are use to “scandal” and will move on quickly from it. Nationally it will soon be pushed aside by something else and locally how the Patriots fare against the Ravens, the Bruins preseason outlook, and what should be done about the Red Sox this off season will dominate the headlines.

Ugh.  

As someone who has been an executive in several big companies and currently CEO of a small company, current corporate thinking is that there is no such thing as a 'consensual' relationship between an executive and a staff member in an organization.  The rationale is that the staffer really can't say no if asked to do something they're uncomfortable with, can't break off the relationship if they want to (even if it was their idea in the first place), etc.  While 'consent' may be verbally given, it is seen as coerced, since saying no could result in losing one's job.  Note that it doesn't have to be a direct report when dealing at an executive level.  Even if the person in question is selling beers at the Garden (e.g. not a direct report to the head coach), I'm sure a few words from the coach to the person running concessions could have any staff member there fired.  

As a secondary reason, even if voluntary, that type of relationship sets up a weird workplace dynamic, where the staffer ends up in a much more powerful position than they were before because they have the executive's ear.  This is the case with one of my clients, where the CEO has made his wife, who is unqualified, a Vice President.  Because they're married, she has a lot more of a say than any of the other Vice Presidents, can and does override their decisions without consequences, and has the boss's ear, so her opinion often comes out of his mouth.  And if the people end up having a messy breakup, the rest of the organization is put in the blast radius.

What doesn't matter at all in most corporate policies is the social dynamics involved.  It doesn't matter whether the people are married, single, have 12 partners, etc.  What matters is that an executive has put themselves in a coercive position over a subordinate, which is barred by corporate policy.  

Given the year suspension and this coming out publicly, I have to believe that there is more to the story than 'coach hooks up with team staffer', which might have warranted a fine and a 'don't do it again' from the owners behind closed doors.  Either she wanted out and went to management, or he tried to pull strings to have her promoted, get her a raise, etc.  Or, per the speculation above, he tried to blackmail her by threatening to tell her husband if she stopped.  Since they said it was consensual, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he didn't assault her or otherwise commit an actual crime.

112288 wrote:If I was voting as part of the management group, I would vote to fire IME.  There are hundreds of millions of dollars at stake and to have your head coach screw up with something like this is putting the franchise at risk for many reasons.

First if the team flounders and does not do well during the season which costs them to not reach the finals you have a big loss of revenue not only during the regular season games but the playoff as well.  

Second loss of respect by players if he comes back next year.

YOUR FIRED!

112288

He’s putting the franchise at risk? Tell me how please. If it’s a consensual relationship and they fire the coach behind petty s*** like that then the owners are putting the franchise at risk. Also, players don’t care if the coach is getting booty. The players if anything can relate to it. They get it all the time

gyso wrote:

Ktron wrote:

gyso wrote:It has nothing to do with being an altar boy and everything to do with corporate ethics.

He'd better find something to do with his time
The fact is he just been caught

Was it a subordinate? Do you know? If so thats one thing.
If not- Big fFn deal! Against team policy? Fine him but this whole holier thank thou crap needs to stop.
Most people spend at least 1/3 of their day on the job. The chances of meeting someone and developing a relationship is very probable.
This is only a big deal if it’s a subordinate. Everything else is plain knee jerk.
Go after Brett Favre for stealing but penalizing for what could be a consensual relationship is BS.

PS. Anyone here who ever worked on a job and didn't see someone that they are attractive to raise your hand. Gyso!

I believe there have been enough leaks to guess who it is.  Director of player development for the Boston Celtics.  They already did say it was a staffer, so yes, it was a subordinate.

Brett Favre?  I hope they nail his hide to the frigging wall.  What a piece of crap he is.

Morality and/or "holier than thou" is not the issue.  You may want to reposition yourself there.

It is a corporate ethics issue and there are consequences for this kind of behavior.  They are not good.  Consensual does not enter into it, not any more.

Anyway, not a good day for Celtics fans.

As I said there is not one set of corporate ethics. Each corporation differs in some sort of way. They are not all the same. I don’t think it’s a case of repositioning here. It’s more of a case of blanket statements about blanket policies that don’t exists. We don’t know what the Celtics corporate policy is but I’m willing to bet it ain’t the same as the Heat or whomever.

Also-

She was not a subordinate of Ime’s. Director of player development hardly falls under the head coach. ( pardon both puns)

So far we have yet to get an official statement from the Boston Celtics. Opinions including mine are in fact speculative as it relates to what actually happened.

I would expect for Boston to release a statement soon but I have a feeling it will leave us with unanswered questions.

BaronV wrote:Ugh.  

As someone who has been an executive in several big companies and currently CEO of a small company, current corporate thinking is that there is no such thing as a 'consensual' relationship between an executive and a staff member in an organization.  The rationale is that the staffer really can't say no if asked to do something they're uncomfortable with, can't break off the relationship if they want to (even if it was their idea in the first place), etc.  While 'consent' may be verbally given, it is seen as coerced, since saying no could result in losing one's job.  Note that it doesn't have to be a direct report when dealing at an executive level.  Even if the person in question is selling beers at the Garden (e.g. not a direct report to the head coach), I'm sure a few words from the coach to the person running concessions could have any staff member there fired.  

As a secondary reason, even if voluntary, that type of relationship sets up a weird workplace dynamic, where the staffer ends up in a much more powerful position than they were before because they have the executive's ear.  This is the case with one of my clients, where the CEO has made his wife, who is unqualified, a Vice President.  Because they're married, she has a lot more of a say than any of the other Vice Presidents, can and does override their decisions without consequences, and has the boss's ear, so her opinion often comes out of his mouth.  And if the people end up having a messy breakup, the rest of the organization is put in the blast radius.  

What doesn't matter at all in most corporate policies is the social dynamics involved.  It doesn't matter whether the people are married, single, have 12 partners, etc.  What matters is that an executive has put themselves in a coercive position over a subordinate, which is barred by corporate policy.  

Given the year suspension and this coming out publicly, I have to believe that there is more to the story than 'coach hooks up with team staffer', which might have warranted a fine and a 'don't do it again' from the owners behind closed doors.  Either she wanted out and went to management, or he tried to pull strings to have her promoted, get her a raise, etc.  Or, per the speculation above, he tried to blackmail her by threatening to tell her husband if she stopped.  Since they said it was consensual, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he didn't assault her or otherwise commit an actual crime.

Baron,

Great post.  I believe it captures the topic of corporate ethics very nicely.

It doesn't matter if it it consensual.
It doesn't matter if it is a direct report or subordinate. (I wasn't sure about this)
It doesn't matter if they are married or not.

What matters is that an executive and a staff member in the same company  absolutely should not ever be in an intimate relationship.

I agree, it may not have been a one off, so don't do it again thing.  There has to be more to it.