By Bill Robers, of Sparks Willson Borges Brandt & Johnson, P.C.
Sunny Golloway, former head baseball coach at Auburn University (Auburn), has sued the university’s Board of Trustees and a number of athletics department personnel for breach of contract and other claims related to his firing from Auburn after just two seasons.
Golloway, who is being represented by Birmingham attorney John D. Saxon, claims that he was fired “without cause” by Auburn, entitling him to a buyout of $1,000,000. Auburn did not make such a payment, however, after claiming his firing was “for cause” pursuant to his contract.
Golloway alleges that he and the university executed a written contract on June 14, 2013, which was to expire on June 30, 2019. He also claims to have had a “permanent employment” contract when the Auburn Athletic Director, Jay Jacobs, allegedly verbally agreed to hire Golloway for “as many [years] as you want.”
Auburn alleged that it terminated Golloway for cause, specifically for eleven various breaches of the contract and NCAA rules, including encouraging participation by student-athletes who had not been medically cleared, deleting video of such offense, permitting an all-star game at a baseball camp that was not open to all campers, endangering the health and safety of campers by failing to remove them from the playing field after confirmed lightning strikes in the area, exceeding the number of permissible coaches by allowing a non-coaching staff volunteer to participate in coaching activities, and misleading the administration about NCAA violations and failing to report such violations.
Golloway claims that he was fired in retaliation for his desire to fire Auburn’s Director of Baseball Operations, Scott Duval, for various reasons. The complaint claims that Duval purposefully “setup Golloway for [] possible NCAA infraction[s].”
Golloway claims that the unlawful “for cause” firing has made him unemployable, and is demanding that Auburn pay the $1,000,000 buyout, plus interest, compensatory damages (including mental anguish), attorneys’ fees, costs, and other amounts, as well as requesting that the court grant injunctive relief.
Athletic Director Jacobs stated he will “absolutely” go to court to fight the lawsuit, referring to the suit as a “shake down” attempt. “Coach Golloway knowingly and repeatedly broke Auburn and NCAA rules, including an attempt to destroy evidence of his violations. We appreciated his coaching skills, but his actions left us no choice but to dismiss him from his position. He now seems to be using legal action in an attempt to divert attention away from his own misconduct.”
The case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama on May 24, 2016. The complaint goes into great detail about Coach Golloway’s success at Oklahoma and at Auburn. It is unclear why Auburn would fire Coach Golloway after such success unless he had violated NCAA or Auburn rules and regulations. The complaint also attempts to extensively explain that Jacobs was under fire, and that Auburn had committed “nine major NCAA infractions, one less than SMU, which got the death penalty.” Golloway suggests that Jacobs got “a new lease on life” by hiring Golloway. None of those allegations explain a possible motive for the firing of Golloway. It is unclear why Golloway would have been fired unless for cause, as “success heals most wounds.”
The complaint underlines the importance of contracts and termination clauses. The contract provided that Auburn may terminate Golloway “if [Auburn], the SEC, or the NCAA concludes or has reasonable basis to believe . . . [he] is involved in significant Level I or Level II or repetitive Level III violations of University, SEC or NCAA regulations.” According to the alleged bases for termination cited in the complaint, it will likely be very difficult for Golloway to show that Auburn did not have a reasonable basis to believe that Golloway had been involved in violations.
Golloway also alleges that he was promised a number of inducements, including a new hitting facility and new practice field, none of which materialized. Unfortunately for Golloway, no such promises were included in his contract, putting doubt in the veracity of those allegations. The complaint further underlines the importance of written contracts instead of “trusting” a hiring university to keep their verbal promises.
Finally, in a scorched-earth attempt, the complaint thoroughly disparages Golloway’s replacement, Butch Thompson. The complaint alleges that Coach Thompson (1) repeatedly swore unnecessarily at his players, (2) used gay slurs to refer to the University of Missouri baseball players, and (3) witnessed physical assault by a coach against a student-athlete without stopping or reporting it.
The case is worth watching for all coaches and coaching agents. It will likely show the importance of negotiating termination clauses and ensuring that all “promises” are put in writing. Auburn filed a motion to dismiss on June 17th.
