While driving to the airport Wednesday morning, his thoughts centered around the end of the NHL lockout and what he might be able to do to bolster the team before the shortened season began.

Then his dream job of Maple Leafs general manager was taken away with one phone call and a quick meeting with boss Tom Anselmi.

“There’s sometimes when you get fired and you see the vultures circling and you understand it’s coming,” Burke said Saturday at a farewell news conference. “You’re not sure when you’re going to drop dead in the desert, but it’s coming and you can see the vultures.

“This one here was like a two-by-four upside the head to me.”

Burke was gracious in describing his exit as team president and general manager, showing few signs of bitterness while fielding some tough questions.

However, he acknowledged that reality had yet to truly set in. That won’t come until the colorful 57-year-old Burke has more time to think back on a roller-coaster, four-year tenure that included just as many playoff games at Air Canada Centre — none — as had been played during the four years before he was hired.

“We didn’t win,” Burke said. “Obviously, your job as the GM is to bring in players that win. We didn’t win.”

Beyond that, it still isn’t clear why the decision to replace Burke with Dave Nonis was made just 10 days before the new season is expected to begin. Burke said he hadn’t received a “satisfactory” answer to that question.

Rumors have swirled since the firing that Burke failed to impress the team’s new ownership group, in which Bell and Rogers control four of six seats with the organization’s board of governors. Burke came exactly as advertised when he was hired by the Leafs in November 2008 — brash, confident, passionate and occasionally confrontational.

One of the first lessons he learned on the job was not to wear his expensive cuff-links on game nights. More than a few pairs met an untimely ending when he responded to a boneheaded play on the ice by smashing his fists against a table in the press box.

That image might not have fit in well with a board that got more corporate and buttoned-down with the addition of Bell and Rogers executives in August.

“I can stand here and say it’s my personality, they didn’t like my personality, but those all become pretexts and excuses later,” Burke said. “If you’ve won enough games, you can be as obnoxious as you want to be.”

The Leafs went 128-135-42 during his reign and finished a disappointing 13th in the Eastern Conference last season. Despite it being a constant talking point around the team, his biggest failings were an inability to stabilize the goaltending situation or acquire a true No. 1 center.

Toronto last qualified for the playoffs in 2004 — the longest current drought in the NHL.

Burke will remain with the Leafs in the role of senior adviser to the board for the time being. But he made it clear he wasn’t comfortable simply riding out the final 22 months of his contract, and that he would relish the opportunity to run another NHL team.

“Tomorrow, if I can,” Burke said. “I don’t think I’m done from a hockey perspective. I am definitely in the job market, no question.”

If a general manager job doesn’t materialize, he could be a good candidate to end up with a role in the league office.

Despite the fact the Leafs failed to qualify for the playoffs with Burke at the helm, there have been some encouraging signs that better days might be ahead for the organization. The Toronto Marlies are fresh off an appearance in the Calder Cup final and currently have the best record in the American Hockey League’s Western Conference.

Burke also expressed pride in being able to use his position to help out with so many charitable initiatives — something that he was honored for Saturday evening for his support of Canadian troops.

But his dream of winning another Stanley Cup title never came close to materializing in Toronto.

“I did not accomplish what I set out to accomplish here,” Burke said. “That’s clear. Absolutely clear.”

On the day he said goodbye to the Maple Leafs — at least as the team’s public face — he had no interest in looking back on what might have been. The team has lived by the motto “no excuses, no complaints” and Burke made it clear he didn’t have any of either.

Truth be told, he probably wouldn’t change a thing.

“The people that hired me hired Brian Burke,” he said. “Maybe the new guys don’t like that brand, maybe they want someone who is a little more conventional. They’re entitled to that, that’s fine.

“I’m not changing. I’m not going to change how I do things. That’s not possible.”

Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press

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Ollie has demonstrated to UConn that he can coach, lead, coordinate, relate and organize a program.

He also has had to ensure his players performed well academically, especially after a poor Academic Progress Rate spanning a four-year period at the school was the reason the Huskies were the highest-profile program banned from the 2013 postseason.

According to UConn athletic director Warde Manuel, the first-semester grades posted were satisfactory and the results “weren’t an issue.”

Therefore, Ollie was approached this week with a chance to become the permanent successor to Hall-of-Fame coach Jim Calhoun, instead of a seven-month interim stint. Ollie, who turned 40 on Thursday, had been working under a one-year, $625,000 contract since September, when he was hired to replace the retired Calhoun.

“I’m not replacing coach Calhoun,” Ollie said. “He’s here, and I’ll lean on him for a lot of advice. I’m not following in his footsteps. He has his own shoes. I’ve got to create my own path and I can’t waiver from my convictions.

“I’m used to winning around here. That’s why I came here. That’s not going to stop. We will do it well and we will do it right.”

Ollie’s new deal was completed Saturday morning. The Huskies beat Washington 61-53 at Hartford’s XL Center on Saturday night.

Ollie will receive a total of $1.2 million in Year 1, with increases to $1.25 million in 2014-15; $1.3 million in 2015-16; $1.325 million in 2016-17 and $1.34 million in 2017-18.

“It’s a five-year contract, but I’m looking at it like I can be the coach here for 20-25 years,” said Ollie, who consistently has called coaching his alma mater his dream job.

The contract also contains strong language about the Huskies’ APR. Ollie will receive a payment of $10,000 if the APR score is 930 or above in a single year, while a four-year APR average of 930 or above would earn him a one-time payment of $50,000.

If UConn’s APR score falls below 930, Ollie will not only be coaching a team not going to the postseason again, but he also will lose two weeks of base salary. Two consecutive years of a sub-930 APR would result in possible termination or, at the very least, a suspension.

UConn also included strong buyout language, with Ollie owing the school $3 million if he leaves in 2013, $2 million in ’14, $1 million in 2015 and $800,000 in 2016. Conversely, UConn would owe Ollie the same amount each year if he were terminated for anything other than just cause.

Ollie said he had no problem agreeing to the tough APR details, claiming he’s committed to the full student-athlete experience. He also said he knows that he was being judged by how his players were responding in the classroom in the fall semester.

Ollie, who played point guard for Calhoun at UConn from 1991-95, was his former coach’s hand-picked successor. Ollie became an assistant at UConn in 2010 after 13 years as an NBA journeyman. He never previously had been a head coach on any level.

Ollie relished the opportunity to take over for his mentor, who plucked him from Los Angeles only to see him outwork higher-ranked recruits to get a starting job in his last three seasons for the Huskies.

Ollie was so well-respected in the NBA that he was lauded as much for his on-court play in places such as Philadelphia, Cleveland and Oklahoma City, as much as he was for his locker-room leadership and counsel to younger players. He was on a track to work in the Thunder’s front office for general manager Sam Presti had he not taken an assistant coaching job with the Huskies.

The Huskies, who finished a disappointing 20-14 last season a year after winning the program’s third national title, were picked to finish ninth in the Big East this season. The postseason ban pushed three players to transfer, including starting center Alex Oriakhi to Missouri. Two others left early for the NBA draft.

Motivating a team that couldn’t play in the Big East tournament, let alone the NIT or NCAA, wouldn’t have been easy for any coach, including Calhoun, Manuel said.

But UConn has started strong under Ollie, upsetting then-No. 14 Michigan State in the season opener en route to a 10-2 record.

The lack of stability in conference alignment also has been a tenuous subject, as the Huskies were passed over for a spot in the ACC by Big East rival Louisville.

“He has led this team,” said Manuel, adding that Ollie has done it in more ways than just wins and losses. “He came into a very tough situation in his first time as a head coach.”

Calhoun was on vacation and wasn’t at Saturday’s impromptu news conference. But Calhoun has been pushing behind the scenes for Ollie to get the full-time job for months. Ollie also has the support of former Huskies now in the NBA, which will prove critical in continued funding for a practice facility and recruiting.

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