Houston Nutt is ready to move on from his lawsuit against Ole Miss.
The former Rebels coach filed suit against the school in July alleging that coach Hugh Freeze, athletic director Ross Bjork and other members of the school's athletic department had violated a separation agreement between Nutt and the school. Nutt alleged that these violations of the agreement took place when the school spoke off the record with reporters about the NCAA's investigation into the program, as they tried to pin the blame for the school's NCAA violations on Nutt's regime in Oxford.
The NCAA's Notice of Allegations showed that the majority of violations against Ole Miss took place under Freeze, and Nutt's lawsuit also led to Freeze's firing after a check of his phone records revealed a "troubling pattern."
Now Nutt has proposed a settlement to his lawsuit against the school, and according to a report from ESPN.com, the settlement doesn't include any money for Nutt. He just wants an apology from the school -- which he requested prior to filing the lawsuit -- and for Ole Miss to donate $500,000 to form a state commission on sports ethics in Mississippi.
"The settlement proposal we presented to Ole Miss [on Friday] is focused on the apology Houston Nutt has consistently asked for and fully deserves," Nutt's attorney, Thomas Mars, told ESPN.com. "After all, there's no longer any doubt about what happened here.
"More than a few unbiased sports reporters have talked openly on the radio and in podcast in recent weeks about how Hugh Freeze 'lied' to the press in order to falsely portray Houston Nutt as the primary target of the NCAA's investigation. What's more, other journalists have come out of the woodwork since the lawsuit was filed to share with us their personal recollections of how they too were duped by Coach Freeze. If for no other reason, Ole Miss owes Houston an apology."
It certainly seems like a reasonable settlement, but even if Nutt doesn't get any money out of it personally, I'm not sure his lawsuit could have done any more damage to Ole Miss' football program. Freeze lost his job and possible NCAA sanctions still hover over the program like a dark cloud.
