New York Giants outside linebackers coach and senior defensive assistant Bret Bielema filed a $7 million federal lawsuit against the Razorback Foundation on Friday, alleging breach of contract by the University of Arkansas fundraising arm, reports USA TODAY.
Bielema is seeking $7.025 million in compensatory damages plus punitive damages, pre- and post-judgment interest, attorney fees and court costs as a result of Arkansas’ decision not to pay the full amount of $11.935 million that had been negotiated and agreed upon Jan. 30, 2018.
At issue is whether Bielema satisfied his obligations under the terms of the agreement to seek other coaching jobs that would have reduced at least part of what he was owed. Such offset language, where the salary of any job taken within the term of the contract is subtracted from the remaining cost of the buyout, is common in college coaching contracts.
After being fired by Arkansas in 2017, Bielema went on to become the defensive consultant for the New England Patriots in 2018. In 2019, he was promoted to defensive line coach and then followed head coach Joe Judge to New York earlier this year.
The Razorback Foundation stopped monthly payments to Bielema in December of 2018 when it was reported that his salary in New England was far below market value for an NFL assistant. At the time, Bielema was reportedly earning $100,000 annually, but that was bumped to $250,000 in 2019 and then $400,000 with the Giants.
The lawsuit claims the Razorback Foundation’s stop in payments represents “calculated, bad faith effort to renege on its contractual obligations.”
Marshall Ney, an attorney representing the Arkansas fundraising arm, claims Bielema was going to be sued for the portion of the payout he previously received and that the federal lawsuit was an attempt to stop that form happening.
“We just received a copy of the complaint at 2:50 CDT from Bret Bielema’s counsel. It appears that the complaint was provided to the media several hours ago – even before the complaint was accessible on the court’s website. What I can share at this point before digesting the entire document is that the Foundation previously demanded that Bret Bielema return the $4,555,833.29 that had been paid to him prior to the Foundation’s discovery of his multiple material breaches of the agreement. It appears that Bielema filed suit in order to avoid being sued,” Ney said.
Bielema, who was a candidate for head coaching vacancies at Michigan State and Colorado this offseason, has not commented publicly.
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