FAMU trustees voted unanimously to settle a lawsuit against the University by former FAMU Coach William "Billy" Joe. Coach Joe filed a breach of contract lawsuit and stood to gain as much as $500,000 had the case gone to court. He agreed to settle the suit out of court with FAMU for $135,000 (+ attorney fees).Joe coached the FAMU football team for 11 years before he was abruptly fired in June 2005 for alleged NCAA recruiting and eligibility violations. But the NCAA's Infractions Committee determined later that year that the charges of violations were unfounded.
"All I was seeking was justice," Joe told the Tallahassee Democrat. "I did not want to denigrate or wrong FAMU, because I love the institution."
"I'm happy FAMU decided to make it right. My contract was breached. I had one and a half years left," Joe said.
Joe plans to donate some of the $135,000 to FAMU's football and athletic programs.
One lawsuit down, 122 more to go!!!
ReplyDeletethey're going fast
ReplyDeleteCoach Billy Joe a class act to the very end.
ReplyDeleteBilly Joe exhibited a level of class and demeanor that Cast-hell never could.
ReplyDeleteHubba Billy Joe
ReplyDelete"GREAT!"
ReplyDeleteJust one LESS issue for the soon to be NEW President to have to inherit & deal with!
Two Comments: 1. Coach Billy Joe is one doggone classy guy. He's done nothing but handled his termination from the University with class and grace. The person who initiated his firing could learn something here. 2. RattlerNation, what do you mean by the comment that Dr. Ammons handled "that rape thing..."? Very poor choice of words, RN. Shame on you for being so insensitive (whether or not a rape occurred or did not occur).
ReplyDeleteAnother self-inflicted wound from the Bryant administration has been healed with Florida taxpayer dollars.
ReplyDeleteWhat an extravagant and completely unnecessary waste of public money. Bryant should have just bought out the contract instead of forcing FAMU to face the expenses of lawyer's fees and court costs for an unwinnable legal battle.
CVB said on the news the other day that she's "retired, so there's nothing that anyone can say to hurt me." Esentially, what the woman was saying is that she doesn't care what folks say about her, because there's nothing anyone can do to her. She has hers, so nothing else matters. What a shame for a person who's heading a university, interim or not, to say such a thing about a community of people who give theri all to the education of the students. She's pitiful and has some serious problems. She needs counseling. Knowing her, however, she probably doesn't see anything wrong with her character.
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