Glen Miller is the target of a slander lawsuit brought by former UConn men's basketball coach Kevin Ollie, who claims Miller falsely accused him of making a cash payment to a player's parent.

Attorney Jacques Parenteau filed a lawsuit in Hartford Superior Court on Monday on behalf of Ollie and Stephanie Garrett, the mother of Shonn Miller, who played at UConn during the 2015-16 season as a graduate transfer.

The complaint charges that Miller, a Groton native and former associate head coach on Ollie's staff, and wife Yvonne, also a defendant in the slander suit, made false and defamatory statements in a separate interviews with NCAA representatives.

Their comments came to light last June when UConn released a 1,355 page report detailing its case against Ollie, who is accused of committing NCAA violations that focus on improper contact with recruits, including Ray Allen speaking to a prospect over the phone, and players receiving outside training sessions. UConn's battle with Ollie over the $10 million left on his contract is set for arbitration. Ollie was fired in March 2018 for just cause.

Miller's accusation was not included in the NCAA's notice of allegations delivered to UConn. According to sources, UConn has a hearing with the NCAA on Thursday in Indianapolis.

The lawsuit cites revenge as motivation for Miller, who was fired by Ollie in March 2017 after five seasons on his staff.

According to the complaint, Miller told at least one person that Ollie would "pay and would get what's coming to him."

It also claimed Miller said: "I was three years away from retiring. He has ruined my life. I don't know what I'm going to do. I can't even get a job on campus. I'm going to get him."

Miller is currently the associate head coach under Jim Calhoun at Division III University of Saint Joseph in West Hartford.

Dado Coric, Miller's attorney, reacted to the lawsuit on Tuesday.

"It's a transparent effort by Kevin to intimidate Glen," Coric said. "In terms of revenge, I've known Glen for 30-something years and Glen is not a petty person. Was Glen angry that he got dismissed and the way he got dismissed? Of course he was. Who wouldn't have been?

"And I'm sure Glen expressed anger to friends and colleagues about the whole situation. Again, who wouldn't? Ultimately, Glen would never lie or make something up to get back at somebody. ... Frankly, I spoke to him at the time about bringing legal action against the school and Kevin for firing him and he chose not to do it. That's how little he was interested in pursuing that kind of avenue.

"Now given what's going on with Kevin here, I can say with certainty that at some point we will be filing a counter-claim against Kevin down the line, bringing some allegations that haven't been brought to light."

During an interview with NCAA officials at Coric's law office in New London in 2017, Miller relayed information from his wife about Garrett, who told Yvonne she received in the neighborhood of $30,000 from Ollie during an exchange at the Nathan Hale Inn on the Storrs campus. Yvonne repeated the accusation during her interview.

Through his attorney, Ollie has strongly denied making a payment to Garrett. According to the suit, Ollie is seeking more than $15,000 for economic and non-economic damages, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, and harm to reputation.

Coric stands behind the statements made by the Millers to the NCAA. He has no plans to settle the case.

"I can't see a case like this ever settling because my client would never agree to settle because they didn't do anything wrong," Coric said.

Coric is going to dig deeper into the case and take steps that the NCAA lacks the power to do.

"When an allegation like that is made, all the (NCAA) can do is talk to the parties and get the parties' response," Coric said. "They have no ability to verify anything by subpoenaing the bank records, financial information, leases and other expenses.

"Fortunately when you make an allegation like this in a court of law, I do have the ability to do all that and I will very thoroughly examine the financial records from both of the plaintiffs in this case and we will get to the bottom of whether that occurred or not."

g.keefe@theday.com