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Bama files suit against former WR coach Groh for breach of contract
Posted on 2/20/14 at 11:25 am
Posted on 2/20/14 at 11:25 am
The University of Alabama filed suit this morning against former assistant football coach Mike Groh for breach of contract.
According to the complaint filed Thursday morning with the Circuit Court of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama is seeking $57,000 or 20 percent (the buyout) of the $285,000 contract both parties entered into on June 21, 2012.
PDF of Groh lawsuit
Groh, who served as the Crimson Tide's wide receivers coach from 2011-12, left Alabama in February 2013 to be the wide receivers coach with the Chicago Bears.
The complaint states that Alabama "made written demands on Defendant for the payment of the liquidated damages" but the "Defendant has refused, and continues to refuse, to pay the liquidated damages."
Alabama is seeking 20 percent, or the buyout as it commonly referred to in coaching contracts, of the $285,000 contract, which comes to $57,000.
LINK
According to the complaint filed Thursday morning with the Circuit Court of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama is seeking $57,000 or 20 percent (the buyout) of the $285,000 contract both parties entered into on June 21, 2012.
PDF of Groh lawsuit
Groh, who served as the Crimson Tide's wide receivers coach from 2011-12, left Alabama in February 2013 to be the wide receivers coach with the Chicago Bears.
The complaint states that Alabama "made written demands on Defendant for the payment of the liquidated damages" but the "Defendant has refused, and continues to refuse, to pay the liquidated damages."
Alabama is seeking 20 percent, or the buyout as it commonly referred to in coaching contracts, of the $285,000 contract, which comes to $57,000.
LINK
2
Posted on 2/20/14 at 11:31 am to Alahunter
Sounds like he isn't eligible for rehire.
Posted on 2/20/14 at 11:38 am to MagicCityBlazer
I wonder if head coaches traditionally waive the buyouts of their assistants? If so, he must have really pissed off Saban, for Saban to elect not to waive the buyout.
Posted on 2/20/14 at 11:51 am to mre
Why even do this? Guess he will not be getting a Christmas card.
Posted on 2/20/14 at 11:52 am to BIGJLAW
That's my question as well. We don't need the $57k, and all this is going to do is generate negative publicity. Which is what makes me think that Groh must have really pissed off Saban.
Posted on 2/20/14 at 12:00 pm to mre
quote:
That's my question as well. We don't need the $57k, and all this is going to do is generate negative publicity. Which is what makes me think that Groh must have really pissed off Saban.
What's even crazier is that he waited almost a year to file the lawsuit.
Posted on 2/20/14 at 12:03 pm to mre
I would blindly guess the lawsuit is routine so others in the future will not be able to say "I don't owe you a buyout because you didn't enforce Groh's when he left."
I wonder why the Bears didn't just pay it, since that seems to be the industry standard when you hire new coaches.
I wonder why the Bears didn't just pay it, since that seems to be the industry standard when you hire new coaches.
Posted on 2/20/14 at 12:21 pm to MagicCityBlazer
quote:
What's even crazier is that he waited almost a year to file the lawsuit.
Im sure they tried over the last year to settle this without a lawsuit
Posted on 2/20/14 at 12:36 pm to BamaDude06
quote:
I would blindly guess the lawsuit is routine so others in the future will not be able to say "I don't owe you a buyout because you didn't enforce Groh's when he left."
The contract has a built in provision specifically allowing the Head Coach to waive the buyout. I'm sure that either Saban or the University can articulate reasons for their decision to waive or enforce the various buyouts over the years, so a deterrence lawsuit wouldn't really be necessary.
Posted on 2/20/14 at 7:49 pm to mre
I don't understand why Chicago didn't buy it out. We have coaches come and go with regularity, but this is a first.
Posted on 2/20/14 at 8:46 pm to CapstoneGrad06
In the case of assistants is it usually paid or is it usually waived? I suppose that's the important question to understanding what's going on.
Posted on 2/20/14 at 11:40 pm to Alahunter
Bama has a couple dozen "coaches" under contract. For those with multiyear contracts (8-12 of them) a 2-way buyout is typical. Let one off the hook when the circumstances aren't ideal and no one else will respect it. It's less about $57k than the millions in buyouts due school would hope to get if everyone with a buyout in the athletic department bolted. They really do need to set standards from the top.
Posted on 2/21/14 at 7:32 am to Blawdawg
But again, before we can really guess at the University's motivations, we have to know what the standard is when assistant coaches move on in the middle of their contract. Is the buyout typically enforced? Is it typically waived? Is it selectively enforced against coaches who don't part on good terms for some reason?
You have to imagine it's at least used as a carrot when you have a coach you want to leave by informing them that if they want to look around for another job then the University will waive the buyout.
What you're saying makes sense if the buyout is typically enforced when as assistant coach leaves, but not so much in the other situations.
You have to imagine it's at least used as a carrot when you have a coach you want to leave by informing them that if they want to look around for another job then the University will waive the buyout.
What you're saying makes sense if the buyout is typically enforced when as assistant coach leaves, but not so much in the other situations.
Posted on 2/21/14 at 5:21 pm to mre
According to this article that Alahunter posted in the OP, and Groh's wiki page, he was only a couple of weeks from the end of the contract anyway.
It seems kind of weird for them to enforce a buyout of such a relatively small amount of money when he was only a couple of weeks from the end of the contract, and he had Saban's blessing, and it's been a year...
Realize from the outside looking in, this looks weird. Bama admins had to know this would look weird too.
Nothing about it makes sense. Although, I'm open minded, I'm willing to listen to any explanation that satisfies what a weird situation it appears to be.
It seems kind of weird for them to enforce a buyout of such a relatively small amount of money when he was only a couple of weeks from the end of the contract, and he had Saban's blessing, and it's been a year...
Realize from the outside looking in, this looks weird. Bama admins had to know this would look weird too.
Nothing about it makes sense. Although, I'm open minded, I'm willing to listen to any explanation that satisfies what a weird situation it appears to be.
Posted on 2/21/14 at 8:47 pm to deeprig9
His original contract would have expired a couple of weeks after he left, but he signed an extension in the summer of 2012 that went through 2/28/14.
Posted on 2/22/14 at 7:22 am to BamaDude06
quote:
His original contract would have expired a couple of weeks after he left, but he signed an extension in the summer of 2012 that went through 2/28/14.
Ok, that makes more sense now. It would be great if there were one article that summed up all the facts, but journalism is dead.
Posted on 2/23/14 at 9:05 am to BIGJLAW
This is not about the 57K. This is about a group of lawyers fricking the university and taxpayers out of a lot more than 57k dollars. Lawyers are scumbags.
Posted on 2/23/14 at 10:11 am to BamaScoop
Saban and the admin isn't going to milk AD funds to give chump change to some lawyer. This is likely from the extension and "not leaving the right way".
For all we know Groh got the job and stopped showing up at UA without telling anyone.
For all we know Groh got the job and stopped showing up at UA without telling anyone.
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