((HT: Lexington Herald-Leader/Alessi and Tipton))Former University of Kentucky men's basketball coach Billy Gillispie ((pictured, thanks kentucky.com file)) filed a multi-million-dollar federal lawsuit against the UK Athletics Association in Dallas late Wednesday.
The 24-page lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, accuses UKAA of breach of contract and fraud for firing Gillispie two years into a seven-year agreement.
Gillispie never signed a formal contract, but he was operating under a memorandum of understanding with the athletics association.
"Throughout the entirety of Coach Gillispie's tenure, he treated it, correctly, as the binding, written contract between him and the defendant," the suit says.
Gillispie is seeking $6 million that he says he is owed for "termination without cause," according to the agreement. The memorandum of understanding said that Gillispie, if fired, would be paid $1.5 million a year for up to four remaining years on the agreement.
In addition, the suit says UK lured Gillispie away from Texas A & M at a point when that university was negotiating to give him a contract extension through 2015. He also is seeking punitive damages and the cost of attorney fees.
Gillispie has asked for a jury trial in Dallas.
The university responded with a statement saying its attorneys had been trying to work out a settlement with Gillispie's lawyers.
"The University of Kentucky learned of the lawsuit filed in Texas by Mr. Gillispie late this afternoon, which is surprising as the university was continuing to negotiate a separation in good faith and his counsel had asked for more time," according to the statement from UK spokesman Jimmy Stanton. "Since this now involves pending litigation, the university will not be able to discuss any further details of the case."
UK will be represented in the matter by Steve Barker of Sturgill, Turner, Barker & Moloney in Lexington, Stanton confirmed.
Gillispie's attorney, Demetrios Anaipakos, declined to comment late Wednesday about any attempts at a settlement between the coach and UKAA.
"We can confirm we've sued the University of Kentucky Athletic Association," Anaipakos said. "Coach Gillispie, for the time being, prefers to let the lawsuit speak for itself, and we look forward to our day in court."
Stuart Campbell, Gillispie's agent, also declined to describe any settlement negotiations between the two sides.
When asked whether the two sides were close to an agreement, he laughed. "We'll see what happens," he said.
Campbell also declined to say whether he supported or opposed the idea of a lawsuit.
"We are still certainly hopeful that the matter will be resolved in the immediate future," he said.
Much of Gillispie's lawsuit hinges on the argument that UK considered the memorandum of understanding between the athletics association and Gillispie as a binding contract.
Gillispie and UK Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart negotiated the terms of the agreement over the phone while Gillispie was in Texas on April 5, 2007. Both signed the document after Gillispie's arrival in Lexington about 2:30 a.m. on April 6, according to the lawsuit.
However, the two sides never signed an actual contract because they couldn't agree on Gillispie's deferred compensation plan or how to define a termination "with cause," according to the lawsuit.
The suit lays out a series of instances when UK's attorneys referred to the memorandum of understanding as the equivalent of a legally binding contract.
For instance, a memo from UK general counsel Barbara Jones to Gillispie's agent cited the agreement as she sought to quash an endorsement deal the coach was considering with a Houston firm. The memo said that doing so "would place Billy in violation of the terms of the April 7, 2007 Memorandum of Understanding," the lawsuit says.
At another point, the university provided the Herald-Leader with a copy of the memorandum of understanding in response to an open records request for the contract with Gillispie in November 2007, which the lawsuit also noted.
"But when Defendant decided to terminate Coach Gillispie in March of 2009, it did a startling about-face that has continued ever since," the lawsuit said.
UK President Lee T. Todd Jr., said for the first time at the March 27 press conference announcing Gillispie's firing that he considered Gillispie to be working under a "year-to-year contract." He said UK had taken that stance because the beginning of the memorandum states that a full seven-year contract will be negotiated "at the earliest possible date," which never happened.
Also, a March 27 letter Barnhart gave Gillispie after the firing said "the inability to come to an agreement on critical terms of an employment contract after two years of negotiation is just one indication of this incompatibility" between the coach and UK.
Here's coverage from our friends at WKYT-TV and Rob Bromley...
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