Hey NCAA Coaches, Leaving Your Job Might Get You Sued
by Glenn Logan on Oct 7, 2011 1:03 PM EDT
in General News
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PrintThis is going to be brief, because I have better things to do than talk about absurdities like this, but it's getting a lot of attention and deserves to be discussed.
According to Kyle Veazy at the Memphis Commercial-Appeal, John Calipari and Derrick Rose agreed to pay a settlement after some "ticketholders" threatened to sue them:
Calipari and Rose, according to the settlement agreement obtained Thursday by The Commercial Appeal, agreed on May 28, 2010, to pay a total of $100,000 to the three attorneys -- Martin Zummach, Frank L. Watson III and William Burns -- who were representing, in the agreement's words, "certain ticket holders." The amount was to be disbursed "as they agree among themselves."
Calipari, who left Memphis after the 2008-09 season for the University of Kentucky, also agreed to donate his bonus to the U of M scholarship fund. The agreement approximated the value of the bonus at $232,000.
Rose, who has starred the last three seasons for the NBA's Chicago Bulls, was also to "consider ... making a suitable donation" to the scholarship fund sometime before 2015.
Why? Who the heck knows? If I'd been Coach Cal, I would have asked them to attempt an anatomically improbable act and look forward to seeing them in court. But for whatever reason, he decided it was worth 100 g's plus his bonus (which is a much more legitimate thing to return since you could say he didn't earn it as far as the NCAA was concerned). If you ask me, this was little more than legalized extortion.
To be fair, it's pretty easy to burn through $100,000 in a court case that actually goes to court. I frankly doubt this would have survived the most trivial motion to dismiss, but having not seen any pleadings, I couldn't say for sure. I suspect Calipari just wanted to be quits with his whiny old city and move on, and it was worth the money just to get rid of the aggravation. $100k is a lot to you and me, probably, but in the context of a 30+ million dollar deal, it's pretty much a rounding error.
Eamonn Brennan at ESPN has more, as does Gary Parrish at CBS. Parrish's apologia for Rose strikes me as beyond absurd.
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My only problem with this is the title.
Because I feel like it was hatred and ignorance that got him sued.
Then again, I don’t know what they would have done if he stayed.
I am now and shall forever be the Cat in The Hat, The Artist Formerly Known As ABC!!!
by Greg Alan Edwards on Oct 7, 2011 1:08 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
I can't imagine, for the life of me, why Cal and DR agreed to pay anybody, anything
Perhaps Cal wants some Karma on his side or something, because I know what I would have done, and it can’t be printed here:)
My honest opinion is that he wants NOTHING to distract from this team this year......
NOTHING. I honestly think it is his best shot yet at a NC.
I am now and shall forever be the Cat in The Hat, The Artist Formerly Known As ABC!!!
by Greg Alan Edwards on Oct 7, 2011 2:21 PM EDT up reply actions
I have to agree
He just wants to focus on this upcoming season. I wouldn’t of paid it, but that is me.
If So He'll Have To Beat Roy's Best Ever
Could this year’s Heels be better than 2005 and 2009? CBS thinks so.
"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary act." - George Orwell
didn't think of this...
i’m sure that the $100,000 is worth it to him to get it on this year for his 1st NC…but i’m really tired of crybabies finding a voice in our courts…
"Every sweet has it's sour, every evil it's good."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Another theory,
Cal said he liked it there in Memphis and he struggled with leaving. He said he liked the people associated with the university as well as the fans. He gave back to the community a lot through his foundation too. Maybe he felt better giving back with this as well. Just a thought.
Blue... there is no other color to Bleed !!!
i think more than probably...
read the article – Cal had already given or promised to give to memphis according to the school
only one rule in my house - uk has to be your favorite college bball team
by memphis wildcat on Oct 9, 2011 3:03 AM EDT up reply actions
Obviously you have not read calkins' article....
in the memphis commercial appeal, he makes it clear that the only reason cal paid is he does not want the publicity because he “almost certainly knew that Rose didn’t take his own SAT……c’mon, use your common sense”
i guess i should post the link but he does not deserve the hits.
after the Tipton interview fiasco, i wondered if Jerry made Cal miss Calkins….probably not
only one rule in my house - uk has to be your favorite college bball team
by memphis wildcat on Oct 7, 2011 5:05 PM EDT up reply actions
I read Calkins......I am surprised he could get his head out of his backside long enough to type it
I am now and shall forever be the Cat in The Hat, The Artist Formerly Known As ABC!!!
by Greg Alan Edwards on Oct 7, 2011 5:09 PM EDT up reply actions
My guess is
Cal figured they had just enough to survive a summary judgment motion and didn’t want to be tied up in discovery during basketball season. Plus, the conspiracy theorists would posit, he might get asked under oath some questions about recruiting he might not want to answer (but that the NCAA would love to hear.)
Twitter for even more of my crap.
by Big Blue Barrister on Oct 7, 2011 3:00 PM EDT reply actions
Not sure how ticketholders suing has anything to do with recruiting,
but who knows.
Also, not sure how the litigants could have “enough to survive a summary judgment motion” when this is patently ridiculous and any judge worth his/her salt would laugh this out of court. Suing a coach and player because they leave a school … it’s just ridiculous to an absurd degree.
Big Blue Barrister – I’m not meaning to belittle your comment, I just think this affair is beyond comprehension.
I do buy the Cal-wants-no-distractions argument. That’s at least plausible.
It's possible (but unlikely)
that Cal made certain promises/representations to certain individuals regarding his future at the school, and that they (allegedly) relied upon these promises/representations to their detriment (by, among other things, purchasing and/or renewing their season tickets). Sadly, I have seen lawsuits filed over much less and, as noted above, it can cost more than $100,000 to fully litigate even the most specious of claims.
Of course, I really have no idea what the lawsuit entailed (and why he paid what he paid). Nevertheless, I see no harm in offering up yet another theory for the sake of discussion.
But what gets me,
is that Memphis is doing quite well, with a very bright future. They just can’t seem to get over him leaving. Plus, Cal has been so successful at UK, which probably sends the Memphis folks into a tizzy, wishing it were them.
and memphis just alienated its number one alum...
rose’s connection to UM was tenuous at best, but he now has zero reason to ever set foot in memphis again. talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face
only one rule in my house - uk has to be your favorite college bball team
by memphis wildcat on Oct 7, 2011 8:48 PM EDT up reply actions
Anybody can sue anybody.
The question is, “Can you win?” Unfortunately, in our modern litigious society, the question frequently comes down to the cost of protecting yourself from even such a frivolous suit as this one. I’m not an attorney but it’s hard to defer to Big Blue Barrister’s opinion on this. After reading about this yesterday, I had a total case of widdershins over why anybody paid these guys anything.
The detractors are saying that paying the settlement “proves” Calipari was dirty at Memphis and is trying to keep anything new from coming out through ‘discovery.’ From what has been reported, I think the suit would have been summarily dismissed, but I guess it’s a tricky call and completely dependent on the judge. However, I’m not sure what the amount of malicious mischief the “discovery” process could have caused even if the suit had gone forward.
Anything ‘discovered’ is supposed to be protected information unless deemed admissible in court by the judge and that admissibility is based on its relevance to the underlying claim, namely that Calipari, Johnson, University of Memphis and/or J. Rose individually can be held responsible for maintaining value-after-presale of entertainment/sporting event tickets – for "… making their 2009-10 season tickets and future season tickets “potentially” worth less than they had anticipated."
That issue has been litigated repeatedly and, for the most part, courts have held – if the ticketed-event was held in accordance with the normal protections provided by applicable ticket covenants/disclaimers – then the explicit/implicit responsibility of the sponsoring promoter and it’s agents was discharged. I guess the argument ticketholders were relying on any statements Calipari might have made about staying at Memphis could be relevant (that seems an extreme reach to me), but how do any Cal promises compromise Johnson, University of Memphis and J. Rose.
My big question for any litigator who I might get to opine: Because only a few people were involved in this settlement (including an unspecified list of ticketholders) – what’s to keep every other season ticketholder bringing similar suit against Calipari, Johnson, University of Memphis and J. Rose using the settlement as a precident. I’m sure Cal had the benefit of good counsel, but, If this settlement didn’t preclude further litigation, I don’t think it ‘settled’ very much.
Seems like those sort of questions would be barred due to relevancy.
But we’ll never know.
A Sea of Blue -- Kentucky Sports for the Discerning Fan
True, plus
I can’t imagine Derrick Rose made any promises to anyone that he was going to stay beyond his freshman year. Wasn’t he a lock to go pro after one year, something the whole world knew.
Coach Cal was doing humanitarian work
when he paid the $$….he figured the POOR bastards needed it to move on with their lives so he could as well.
Also, I read where the lawyers got paid as well….lawyers who are boosters…nothing like greasing the palm a lil more eh? Nothing like a lil school spirit to bring out the roaches. ha!
I have kleptomania,
but when it gets bad,
I take something for it.
memphis fans cannot let it go....
had one just the other night say they hope memphis and uk play in the ncaa. he said it because they are really high on their team this year. then i told him this was Cal’s best recruiting class ever. he asked if it was better than the first. i said yes.
not sure it is, but the memphis fans don’t understand how cal can recruit better at UK than memphis. they absolutely live in a dream world……
only one rule in my house - uk has to be your favorite college bball team
by memphis wildcat on Oct 7, 2011 5:08 PM EDT up reply actions
but worse....
At least ul has won something…
only one rule in my house - uk has to be your favorite college bball team
by memphis wildcat on Oct 7, 2011 8:45 PM EDT up reply actions
Moving Along
Calipari gets in a final word with Shabazz.
"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary act." - George Orwell
K and Wojo talking the good stuff
No doubt I’m an idiot, but maybe the hard sell from Duke about “branding and exposure” really does mean something to a seventeen or eighteen year old. Too bizarre!
Great link, WW, thanks
I hate to overstate it, but I think UK needs to get Shabazz. With the losses Cal has endured over the last couple of weeks, I see this guy as the key to making the 2012 class up to Cal’s standards. Plus, from a simply numbers standpoint (and if the NBA doesn’t institute a 2-and-done rule), Cal needs to fill the open schollies of potentially six or seven players who will be leaving after this year.
Shabazz shades his preference?
If you were a coach would you prefer your top prospect to characterize your recruiting pitch using the following quote:
"I liked what Coach Cal had to say," said Muhammad, …
or
“It was a really good talk [with Krzyzewski].”
Calipari Wins!!!!!!
K talking branding in competition to UK?????
Who on earth could have better branding than UK? Whose players have love for life from a humongous fan base? That kind of pitch from Wojo and K sounds bizarre to me.
maybe not so bizarre, jdog
because of what you wrote: “Who on earth could have better branding than UK?” The answer is nobody, and perhaps that’s why K attempted to bolster Dukes standing with Shabazz by attacking UK’s strength.
Just a theory.
I would also think that Shabazz would know that the academic requirements at Duke may be a little tougher to handle than at UK
I believe being a one and done type player Shabazz would use that factor a lot in making his decision. Of course it didn’t bother Irving last year so who knows. Just my gut instinct he’ll pick the Cats.
A man is nothing more than a summation of his scars!
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