Judge dismisses Golden’s lawsuit. And Why few will see Miami Hurricanes opener on TV.
A federal judge late Monday night ruled that former Hurricanes football coach Al Golden’s assertion that UM owes him $6 million is without merit.
Instead, the court ruled that UM satisfied Golden’s contract by previously paying him $2 million in the wake of his October 2015 dismissal, the day after UM’s 58-0 loss to Clemson, the worst margin of defeat in Hurricanes history.
Golden’s breach of contract lawsuit is now closed.
Golden had sought a jury trial, but that won’t happen. However, UM is prepared for the possibility of an appeal.
Golden, who is now linebackers coach for the Cincinnati Bengals, went 32-25 in four-plus seasons with the Hurricanes, including a 17-18 record against ACC opponents.
Golden filed the breach-of-contract lawsuit against UM in 2018, seeking more than $3 million for what he argued was the unpaid portion of his settlement money.
U.S. District Court Judge Darrin P. Gayles affirmed a magistrate court judge’s recommendations and said “after considering Golden’s objections, the Court finds that they are without merit. The Court agrees that the Third Amendment is unambiguous and not susceptible to multiple interpretations.
The Court further agrees with [the magistrate court judge’s] finding that the Third Amendment unambiguously requires the University to pay Golden $2 million for terminating his contract in Year 5 of the nine-year contract.”
In angry emails to his attorney that became public record, Golden previously accused UM of making him work on unsafe practice fields. Golden and athletic director Blake James previously taped depositions.
In a statement to The Miami Herald following the ruling, UM attorney Eric Isicoff said: “Last evening, the federal court in Miami entered final summary judgment in favor of the University of Miami and against former head football coach Al Golden in a breach of contract case he filed against the University following his termination in 2015. This ruling follows and adopts a prior recommendation of a United States Magistrate Judge that summary judgment be granted in favor of the University because the contract between the parties was clear and unambiguous and the University had fulfilled all of its obligations under the agreement. The University is pleased with the court’s ruling.”
LIMITED TV COVERAGE
UM’s Sept. 10 against UAB has been relegated to ACC Network, which isn’t available in most South Florida homes.
Here’s why: ESPN is scheduled to televise an NBA playoff double-header that night, including Game 6 of the Miami Heat-Milwaukee Bucks series if needed. ESPN2 is carrying the women’s semifinals of the U.S. Open tennis tournament. And ESPNU is televising high school football.
Comcast and Atlantic Broadband are among the cable systems in South Florida that do not carry ACC Network and have been at a stalemate for more than a year in negotiations with ESPN, which owns ACC Network.
ABC will televise UM’s second game, Sept. 19 at Louisville, at 3:30 p.m. or 7:30 p.m., with a decision pending. One other UM game was mentioned in the ABC/ESPN partial schedule: Miami’s Friday, Nov. 6 game at North Carolina State will air on ESPN.
Most or all of the eight other UM games are expected to air on one of the UM networks.
JAMES’ WARNING
In a call arranged by the UM Alumni Association, James conceded that Miami might not be able to complete an 11-game schedule amid a worldwide pandemic.
“If we can get over eight games in football, I think that’s going to be a success,” he said. “Our team, the visiting team - we don’t know what’s going to happen. … Not knowing what this is going to look like. Sport by sport, if we can get the majority of our competitions in it’s successful.”
James said 525 tests on UM student athletes were conducted this week. He confirmed The Miami Herald’s report in July that three football player previously tested positive for COVID-19.
“Every day and every week I pray our tests go well,” he said. “You look at the testing results, we’ve done a great job. We’ve had almost 1,500 tests [of all fall sport student-athletes and staff members] from that time in June to last Monday. As of last Monday we had below a 2 percent positive rate.
“When you look at across the board, it says a lot. … July 15 or 16 we had three positive tests, had to shut down for a day. You hear programs being shut down for different amounts of time. From our medical people to an expert in pandemics in [UM president Julio Frenk] to non-medical personnel looking at everything we felt good starting back up.”
James said UM will honor the scholarships of players that want to take advantage of their extra year of eligibility, though those costs could surpass $1 million.
“Roster management, that’s the one that gets hard,” James said. “Baseball, in future years for Gino DiMare to be at 35 is a real challenge. Football if everyone wants to come back, Manny Diaz has his 85 scholarships, the seniors don’t count. The high school seniors come in, there’s roster management that can create some real challenges. … It creates tough conversations for coaches because you have expanded rosters, don’t have expanded scholarship numbers. The biggest challenge ends up being roster management.”
Regarding the college football bowl season, James said: “As it sits today the college football playoff has decided to go forward. The bowls will get a little interesting because in conversation with a lot of our bowl partners they recognize this isn’t a great time to be throwing people on planes. The bowls might be a little more regional.”
This story was originally published September 1, 2020 at 12:21 PM.
