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Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Ind. Gov't. - "Like Kelvin Sampson before him, Rick Greenspan agreed not to sue Indiana University in announcing his resignation"

Mike Alesia, who has had a number of good stories covering the legal woes of Indiana University sports (see ILB list here), reports today on "IU's lame-duck athletic director" Rick Greenspan and his separation agreement. Some quotes:

Like Kelvin Sampson before him, Rick Greenspan agreed not to sue Indiana University in announcing his resignation.

Yet it's another clause in Greenspan's agreement, released Monday, that stood out as unique from previous athletic department resignations. The IU athletic director "retains rights to any book he may wish to write and publish."

Greenspan's resignation, effective at the end of the calendar year, was announced Thursday. At the time, IU also disclosed his $441,000 in severance payments.

The resignation announcement came almost immediately after IU released news of the NCAA infractions committee adding a "failure to monitor" charge to allegations of misconduct in the men's basketball program. * * *

In Greenspan's employment contract, there is a paragraph about not disclosing confidential information "during or following employment by the university." It's unclear if that has any relation to the clause about Greenspan's "rights to any book he may wish to write."

Greenspan's employment contract listed several responsibilities, among them "assuring compliance by the Department's coaches, staff and student athletes with NCAA . . . rules, regulations and bylaws."

The contract said he could have been fired "for cause" for not performing his responsibilities. In a "for cause" firing, the university would have owed him nothing.

But specific examples of grounds for a "for cause" firing said only that Greenspan had to use his "best efforts to maintain an environment" in which coaches and employees comply with NCAA rules.

If Greenspan had been fired "without cause," IU would have owed him two years' salary, or $600,000. * * *

The $441,000 IU agreed to pay Greenspan comes on top of the $750,000 buyout for Sampson and the $66,000 buyout for Senderoff. That kind of spending has drawn the ire of many IU fans.

The Star has posted a copy of Greenspan's 5-page resignation agreement. This joins Coach Sampson's 11-page separation agreement, posted Feb. 25th.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 1, 2008 08:44 AM
Posted to Indiana Government