A Minnesota state court judge has left partially intact a lawsuit brought against a basketball coach, who alleged that University of Minnesota Head Basketball Coach Tubby Smith promised him an assistant coach job in 2007 and then withdrew the offer after the plaintiff had already given notice that he was leaving for UM.
Jimmy Williams, then an assistant at Oklahoma State University, had initially sued Smith for more than $50,000 in damages, claiming he quit his job at OSU based on the promise of joining Smith and the Gophers at an annual salary of $200,000. That plan went awry when Minnesota Athletic Director Joel Maturi overruled Smith’s decision to hire Williams, who had some issues with NCAA rules while at OSU.
Hennepin County District Court Judge Regina M. Chu dismissed Williams’ claims that Smith withdrew a promise and intentionally interfered with Williams’ contract at OSU. She did, however, let stand the claim that Smith committed fraud and negligent misrepresentation. She also ruled that there is no legal justification for punitive damages, and that any damages awarded must be only for compensation.
“There is no basis to find that Smith acted with deliberate and wanton disregard for [the plaintiff’s] rights,” Chu wrote.
Williams had initially sued the university and Maturi. But that suit was dismissed by the district court for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The state Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal, except for the claim of negligent representation, which will be consolidated with the surviving claims against Smith.
Jason B. Wolf of Wolf Sports Management recently decried the inconsistency in college athletics between the rights of head coaches and assistant coaches.
“We have assistant coaches, who have to make life-altering decisions based on the word of head coaches,” Wolf wrote. “In the Smith lawsuit, … Williams left his job at Oklahoma State and sold his Oklahoma home in what he says was reliance on Smith’s verbal statements. Williams did not get the job at Minnesota because Smith’s boss nixed the decision. The reasons for the veto remain unclear. Williams, a former Gophers player, was apparently thought to be contaminated by his association with scandal-plagued Gophers teams of the 1970s and 80s.
“So college head coaches can come and go as they please. College assistant coaches have to rely on promises made by head coaches and by no means can they come and go as they please. In fact, the judge held that Williams intentionally breached his own contract when he left Oklahoma State in reliance on Smith’s alleged promise.”
