Like their sometimes bitter rivalry on the football field, there is little give between the University of Texas (UT) and Oklahoma State University (OSU) when it comes to the Joe Wickline litigation.
To refresh, Wickline was a highly prized offensive line coach at OSU. The university knew what it had in Wickline and therefore placed a clause in his contract that would be forbid him from making a lateral move to another college football program, unless he was willing to pay a $600,000 penalty.
But if you believe OSU that is exactly what Wickline did when he took a job on Charlie Strong’s staff a little over a year ago. Wickline has claimed, however, that it wasn’t a lateral move and that he has play-calling duties, along with offensive coordinator Shawn Watson, in Austin, which would nullify the penalty.
Both sides have dug in and discovery has begun.
The Austin American Statesman has reported that Oklahoma State Athletic Director Mike Holder suggested in a deposition that calling the plays is a one-man job and that the claims of Wickline and other Texas coaches I so much subterfuge.
“I don’t know if it’s normal for an offensive coordinator to call every play, but I just — in my mind — I believe that Shawn Watson fills that role at Texas, not Joe Wickline,” Holder purportedly said.
Head Coach Charlie Strong has claimed that Wickline oversee the running plays, while Watson calls the pass plays.
Wickline’s attorney Guy Clark, of Northcutt Law Firm of Ponca City, Oklahoma, is reportedly focusing on the lack of specificity in the contract, questioning the OSU AD about whether the contract states that Wickline must call all the plays.
Strong, who announced in a press conference 15 months ago after Watson was hired that he would be calling the plays, noted in his deposition that he did not know about the clause until Wickline should it to him in March of 2014.
