There's as much news being made off the field as on the field as the 2003 college football season prepares to get under way.
Last week, ex-University of Washington head coach Rick Neuheisel filed suit against his former employer for wrongful termination of his employment contract and against the NCAA for defamation and conspiring with the university in a quid pro quo: you fire Neuheisel and we won't instigate an investigation of NCAA violations.
The one-time Top Dawg, who last week began work as a volunteer assistant at Rainier Beach High School in Seattle, is seeking unspecified monetary damages.
UW athletic director Barbara Hedges formally canned Neuheisel "for cause" late last month following an investigation that revealed the coach had participated in college basketball "March Madness" betting pools with a group of friends the last two years and then lied initially about doing so to NCAA investigators.
By participating in these tournament pools, Neuheisel supposedly violated NCAA strictures against gambling -- of any kind.
I've never been a Neuheisel fan -- he's an OK but not great coach, though I thought he was a decent quarterback during his college playing days at UCLA -- but I'm also not a fan of employers and oversight bodies that abuse their powers to hire and fire, and sanction.
In this case, I think Neuheisel got the shaft. Forget about how much money was involved (I'd heard he put in $5,000 and won $20,000 in the last pool he got into); it's irrelevant.
The point is, he didn't break any laws by ponying up to join a friendly neighborhood pool, and he didn't violate the spirit of the NCAA's rules against gambling, which are rightly concerned with organized or illegal activities such as placing bets with bookies or shaving points.
But to be ousted from a high-profile public position for taking part in an innocuous neighborhood pool? Give me a break.
How many of us haven't joined an office pool of some sort at some point in time, in hopes of winning bragging rights and a little pocket money, but mostly just for the fun of it? Singling out Neuheisel for basically kicking back and having some fun with friends goes way beyond anal retentiveness.
If UW officials wanted to get rid of Neuheisel -- which obviously they did, since they glommed on to the flimsiest of excuses -- they and he should have sat down and negotiated, as the professionals they are, some kind of severance package, the "golden parachute" as it's known in the private sector. As things stand now, Neuheisel is out the monetary compensation from the remaining years of his contract. Plus, he has to repay a $1.5 million loan he got from the university last August. (Hmmmm. A public institution loaning its credit to benefit an individual. Isn't that a violation of the constitutional prohibition [Article VIII, Section 5] against such lending? Where's the outcry over that?)
In any event, there's not a chance that Neuheisel will be reinstated as head coach. Too many wounds have been opened and too much bad blood has been spilled, making a kiss-and-makeup happy reunion an impossibility.
Unless the UW decides to do the right thing -- settling up with Neuheisel for the remaining years on his contract before things get really nasty -- I hope the golden boy and his lawyer press their lawsuit full-court and win big damages.
That will show college presidents and athletic directors, and the NCAA poobahs that just because these coaches are way overpaid for their services, they have rights, too, that entitle them to a just and fair compensation when the parties involved have a falling out and parting of the way.
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Earlier this year, ex-Washington State coach Mike Price sued the University of Alabama for being wrongly fired from a job he'd barely begun.
Price, wooed away from WSU last December by a lucrative 7-year, $10 million contract offer, got the boot after an embarrassing "road trip" scandal in April that brought his judgment and conduct into question by university officials.
I won't rehash the sordid details of the weekend outing that got Price into trouble. Price subsequently admitted to making mistakes and apologized publicly. He also asked for forgiveness and a second chance.
Alabama officials weren't having any of that. In May, university president Robert Witt said the coach failed to live up to his "personal and professional life in a manner consistent with university policies."
A clause in Price's contract, which he reportedly never signed, gave the university an out should the coach's behavior fall short of Alabama's lofty expectations. Price knew where the line was drawn and he chose to cross over it anyway.
It's clear Price screwed up, and it's clear Alabama, which is still under NCAA sanctions, had the right to fire Price if he screwed up.
Price said in April that the punishment meted out by the university didn't fit the crime. In this case, he's wrong.
Initially, I thought he'd gotten a raw deal. Part of my reaction was colored by the memory of consecutive 10-win seasons and WSU's second Rose Bowl appearance under Price's leadership.
I'm not saying Alabama should have sent Price packing; I think that, too, was a mistake. But I agree that Alabama had reserved to itself the right to do what it felt was in the school's best interest.
Price ought to file this episode of an otherwise stellar coaching career under "lessons learned the hard way," withdraw his legal challenge and move on to another pursuit.
Finding another head coaching job shouldn't be difficult for him. He's an imaginative coach and a charismatic leader that some school should be willing to take a chance on.
I'm guessing that by this time next year, he'll be getting his new team ready for its season-opener. It just won't be Alabama.
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