Marist Sues former Coach

[Masterofreality]

I apologize if this has been posted somewhere before, but I did not see a thread.

Marist College has sued their former coach Matt Brady over activities that were conducted after Brady left Marist to take a job at James Madison U. The charges are, most primarily, that if Brady left Marist, that he would "have no contact with or solicitation of current Marist men's basketball players and all Marist men's basketball recruits." Marist is seeking unspecified monetary damages against Brady. Marist claims that they tried to avoid litigation in this case but received no response from either Brady or James Madison, leaving them no choice but to file the suit.

Brady's activities are suspiciously similar to those perpertrated by Racoon Face who now resides in the Sonoran Desert. To wit:

"According to Marist, Brady wasted no time contacting recruits (after his departure to James Madison).

After Marist agreed to let Brady out of his contract, the lawsuit claims, Brady "immediately and without the knowledge of Marist, contacted Marist's basketball recruits in an attempt to then direct those recruits to the James Madison men's basketball program."

Brady signed forward Julius Wells, who had previously signed a letter of intent with Marist but was granted his release. He also signed forward Andrey Semenov and center Trevon Flores, who had committed orally to Marist." Hmmmm. Sound familiar?

Maybe Xavier is just more forgiving, maybe Bobo doesn't think that the publicity of going after a former coach is worth it in the grand arena of college basketball, or maybe XU doesn't think that they had enough legal ground to pursue, but, in any event, it is interesting to see that one school is not taking the attempted decimating of their program lying down. It will also be interesting to see the ultimate outcome and fallout.

[Emp]

This is a dumb move for several reasons.

Recruiting future coaches: The next coaches recruited to coach at Marist (not the current one) will think twice before signing with a suit happy school. The coaches are a tight bunch, no one will forget. West Virginia is made the same mistake with Rodriguez. Yeah, everyone is pissed, a contract is a contract, but what is gained in the end? Win the battle, lose the war.

Monetary losses? What is Marist going to do, project that it would have been in the Dance but for the recruits uncommitting? More home gate revenue, more advertising in the arena? Entirely speculative, they really dont have a good chance of getting any actual money worth the effort. Bad legal counsel, imho.

[Muskie]

This is a dumb move for several reasons.

Recruiting future coaches: The next coaches recruited to coach at Marist (not the current one) will think twice before signing with a suit happy school. The coaches are a tight bunch, no one will forget. West Virginia is made the same mistake with Rodriguez. Yeah, everyone is pissed, a contract is a contract, but what is gained in the end? Win the battle, lose the war.

Monetary losses? What is Marist going to do, project that it would have been in the Dance but for the recruits uncommitting? More home gate revenue, more advertising in the arena? Entirely speculative, they really dont have a good chance of getting any actual money worth the effort. Bad legal counsel, imho.

My guess is the monetary losts will relate to the money expended on the recruiting budget. They'll make the allegation that Brady while initially recruiting these kids to Marist ultimately used Marist recruiting budget to recruit players to James Madison. Tenuous? Yes. Plausible? Perhaps.

[Xpectations]

Aren't we going after multiple recruits through Pat Kelsey that he was recruiting while at Wake Forest? Aren't we also recruiting kids that Bino recruited Marist? Wonder if he had similar language?

Funny, maybe I missed it but I don't recall anyone condemning our current guys for that.

Coaches and the relationships established with them matter more than schools to high school seniors. We may not like it when it doesn't suit us and we may like it a lot when it does, but that's how it is. Makes perfect sense to me too.

Plus, the quotes referenced seem to imply that there may have been contractual language forbidding any such contact. If that were the case (and I don't believe clauses such as that are the norm), then that's a different story than Miller, whom I am pretty certain had no such restrictions.

[Emp]

Props to Expectations for holding up the mirror for a reality check.

I'm not quite following the damages argument, Muskie. You mean they will have to spend the same money twice to recruit new players? How can that be a claim if the LOI has not been signed by a player? How can that be a claim if Marist granted the LOI player a release?

Assuming there is some liquidated damages claim in the termination agreement with Bino, it cant be more than a few 10s of thousands, top. Not enough to motivate paying hourly litigation fees.

My real beef is that its shtooopid. Hate the guy for leaving? OK, privately. Publicly, concentrate on greeting and promoting the new coach. I know few will agree, but blasting and booing former coaches who leave us for other schools may feel good, but it influences the way (at least some) prospective coaches look at Xavier: Look at Matta or Miller, what they did for that program, and THEY get booed. That means that if I dont stay at Xavier forever, I get to look forward to the venomous slings and arrows of the Muskie Nation forever.

[nuts4xu]

Recruits are not sure things, so I find it difficult to get too upset over a 18 year old kid deciding to change his mind--ever. We have no crystal ball and no real idea how good these kids will be in their careers. I don't understand why people are suprised these kids are following the coaches they had relationships with. That only makes sense.

I am hopeful Bino, Steele, and Kelsey all utilize their connections and recruit kids to Xavier they have been talking to for months or years at their previous schools. They are now telling the kid a different story about a different school, but the message is similar.

Same goes for Miller. Here, he told kids to come to Xavier so they can graduate, win league championships, play in the NCAA's, challenge for a final 4/NC, in a place that will embrace them as people and students as well as athletes. I find it tough to believe Miller is telling kids anything different at Arizona.

[Muskie]

Props to Expectations for holding up the mirror for a reality check.

I'm not quite following the damages argument, Muskie. You mean they will have to spend the same money twice to recruit new players? How can that be a claim if the LOI has not been signed by a player? How can that be a claim if Marist granted the LOI player a release?

Assuming there is some liquidated damages claim in the termination agreement with Bino, it cant be more than a few 10s of thousands, top. Not enough to motivate paying hourly litigation fees.

My real beef is that its shtooopid. Hate the guy for leaving? OK, privately. Publicly, concentrate on greeting and promoting the new coach. I know few will agree, but blasting and booing former coaches who leave us for other schools may feel good, but it influences the way (at least some) prospective coaches look at Xavier: Look at Matta or Miller, what they did for that program, and THEY get booed. That means that if I dont stay at Xavier forever, I get to look forward to the venomous slings and arrows of the Muskie Nation forever.

I didn't say it was a good case or anything. Just exploring what they could possibly claim really. The idea I floated was mentioned on some sites after Miller left X, but I'm against suing former coaches. As has already been mentioned, who will want to coach at that place now? Will WVU be able to find a coach the next time the position becomes open.

Has X benefited in the past from players becoming interested after a coaching change... sure they have. I agree Emperor, it seems like the University's money would be spent better elsewhere.