A state court judge in North Carolina has dismissed a lawsuit brought by former North Carolina Central University head football coach Henry Frazier III, who sued the school for wrongful termination and breach of contract.
Frazier’s attorney, Adam J. Hopler, plans to appeal the ruling.
Frazier was fired by the school a year ago after he was arrested on a charge of violating a domestic violence protective order. It was his second arrest in 16 months.
The first arrest was made in the summer of 2012 after Frazier allegedly assaulted his then wife. Frazier pled guilty and was reinstated two weeks before the season. The court, however, did issue a protective order.
The second arrest was made on Aug. 12, 2013 when Frazier sent his now ex-wife a note about unpaid parking tickets on an automobile registered to him, but in her possession. The complaint states Frazier was ultimately found not guilty, but he was fired anyway. He subsequently sued.
“A mere 39 days after his termination, Coach Frazier was found not guilty in a matter in which he claimed his innocence, yet NCCU refused to wait, with the chancellor confirming his termination five days before Coach Frazier exercised his due process rights,” according to the complaint. Frazier was given no severance package for a job that was paying him approximately $225,000 annually. He was in the third year of a five-year contract.
In the latest ruling, the court sided with the university on its argument that a morals clause in Frazier contract gave the school authority to fire its coach. “Frazier’s personal life had become too much of a distraction for the school, so that’s why he was fired last summer,” NCCU athletics director Ingrid Wicker-McCree told the Herald-Sun, a Durham, N.C. newspaper.
NCCU also issued the following statement: “North Carolina Central University stands by the Court’s decision to dismiss Henry Frazier’s case against the university.”
