Hog Database has obtained a copy of the lawsuit which Randy Shannon filed against the University of Miami on April 27, 2012, alleging that the University of Miami breached his May 2010 employment contract with Shannon. Although not all of the details of the contract are set forth, there is enough here to believe that the rumor that Shannon continues to benefit financially from his University of Miami contract through January 31, 2014 is true.
The complete images of the lawsuit are below. The University of Miami is a private institution so its employment contracts are not disclosed publicly and, according to Shannon’s complaint, they are private by contract as well.
For the purposes of the allegations in this lawsuit (meaning that there may have been terms of the contract which were not in dispute, irrelevant and not included in this lawsuit), Shannon alleged that his compensation from Miami was threefold: (1) an Employment Agreement, (2) a Guaranteed Payment Agreement, and (3) Bowl Eligibility Bonus. It alleges that Shannon was fired without cause from Miami and that by the terms of the agreement that Shannon would be paid his entire salary for the remainder of the contract term. Likewise, the lawsuit alleges that it was only pertinent that Miami have a bowl appearance in 2010 for Shannon to be entitled to a bowl appearance bonus, regardless of whether Shannon remained employed with the University of Miami or not. Lastly, Shannon was to receive guaranteed payments during each year of employment payable quarterly beginning on February 1 of the first year. The key point here is that the payments were made at the beginning of each quarter instead of after Shannon completed the quarter.
Here’s the first point which confirms that payments would extend through January 31, 2014. The complaint states, “11. The Employment Agreement and Guarantee Agreement both define “Year 1″ as the period from February 1, 2010 through January 31, 2011.” The year under the contract ends January 31 of each year.
Shannon alleged that the University of Miami was making monthly payments under the terms of the Employment Agreement but that Miami unilaterally decided that Shannon was overpaid in the first year of his Guarantee. Shannon was alleged to have received his final payment under the Guarantee on November 1, 2010 but was fired on November 27, 2010, as opposed to remaining on board for the full year of the guarantee, i.e. through January 31, 2011. Miami offset the claimed Guarantee overpayment against Shannon’s Employment Agreement pay which Shannon appears to receive monthly.
Paragraph 16 of the Complaint finishes the story on why Miami’s contractual obligations to Shannon end on January 31, 2014. The complaint states:
“16. Because SHANNON was already paid the full amount of the guarantee, UM has reduced its monthly payments under the Employment Agreement by what it has improperly labelled the “amount overpaid” under the Guarantee Agreement. This improper reduction has already been applied to the 17 monthly installment payments made between December 2010 and April 2012, and it is UM’s stated intention to apply this deduction to the remaining 21 payments.”
December 2010 is the month after Shannon was fired from Miami, and April 2012 was the month Shannon sued Miami. The point here is that there were 38 months of payments, i.e. 3 years and two month of payments, due under the contract beginning in December 2010. The three years would end on November 30, 2013 and the two months takes the contract to January 31, 2014.
Shannon’s lawsuit with the University of Miami was settled around June 11, 2012 and formally dismissed on June 27, 2012.
Nothing in the lawsuit addresses whether there is a prohibition on Shannon taking a coordinator position and thereby forfeiting his payments under this contract. It was widely reported in February 2011 that Randy Shannon turned down an offer from the University of Maryland and that he would lose $1.5 million in buyout payments from Miami if he did, but plainly it did not prevent him from taking linebacker coaching positions at TCU and Arkansas. [ I apologize for the crude links to Washington Post and USA Today articles on Shannon refusing the Maryland DC job but for some reason the html code isn’t loading at the moment. Copy and paste the links in your browser. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/terrapins-insider/2011/02/report_randy_shannon_turns_dow.html http://content.usatoday.com/communities/campusrivalry/post/2011/02/randy-shannon-turns-down-maryland/1#.Ut7Ja9LnZko ]
With what seems like foot-dragging at a critical time for the University of Arkansas may in fact be the indication that Randy Shannon will be hired in the capacity of Defensive Coordinator on February 1, 2014 as rumored.
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