A Georgia state court has dismissed the claim of two former Georgia Southern University (GSU) assistant football coaches, who alleged breach of contract, fraud and interference after GSU failed to fulfill the 18-month contracts the coaches had initially signed.
In so ruling, the court dismissed the claims of plaintiffs David Dean and Rance Gillespie against the GSU Board of Regents, Athletic Director Tom Kleinlein, Associate Athletic Director for Business Operations Jeff Blythe, Director of Football Operations Cymone George and former head coach Tyson Summers on sovereign immunity grounds.
Dean and Gillespie signed 18-month contracts with GSU on Jan. 27, 2016 with an end date of June 30, 2017. Both coaches alleged that a little over nine months later, they learned the school’s Board of Regents and the GSU Athletic Foundation never signed the contracts.
Summers then notified the men on Nov. 3, 2016 that new contracts were being prepared, according to the lawsuit. These contracts had changed the end of the agreement to Feb. 28, 2017.
The plaintiffs alleged that the defendants made this change to save money, because they knew that coaching changes were going to be made at the end of the season. Specifically, Blythe and George “conspired to change the terms of the January Contract and specifically the employment end date.”
Then court’s decision was likely impacted by a ruling earlier in the summer by the Georgia Supreme Court – www.ajc.com/news/special-reports/sweeping-ruling-says-state-cannot-sued-without-its-consent/MzWbabK9ynereDP1ASItjJ/ – which found that the state cannot be sued without its consent.
