Let's face it, a big-time college basketball coach lives on Fantasy Island: huge money and fame, sycophantic friends. Reality flies out the window, which explains the ridiculous lawsuits filed by former coaches Nolan Richardson, Jan van Breda Kolff and Jim Harrick.
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| Jan van Breda Kolff is suing St. Bonaventure for $21.55 million for wrongful termination.(Getty Images) |
Too bad Jim Harrick can't play the race card. That would be the only card in his hand in his laughable defamation of character lawsuit against various Georgia officials. Let's hope it never gets to court, because God might smite Harrick the second his hand hits that Bible.
Forget for the moment that you actually must have character to have it be defamed. Harrick and his son, Jim Jr., were last summer's comic relief to seriously awful Dave Bliss of Baylor. Even the Harricks' bosses, who had the most to lose considering they were the ones who wooed the Harricks to Georgia, concluded the Harricks had damaged the school's reputation. The NCAA found Harrick's program guilty of four major violations.
Doesn't matter. The Harricks are pushing their federal lawsuit, even as it comes on the heels of Richardson's legal defeat last month. Seeking $9 million in lost wages and damages, Richardson's suit was dismissed July 8. He had accused Arkansas of racial discrimination, and hired renowned civil rights attorney John Walker to argue his case.
In recent years Walker has pursued desegregation in the Little Rock School District. That's noble. Representing Richardson, who dared his bosses to buy out his contract at roughly $500,000 a year through 2008, and then sued them for doing just that? That's not.
Walker didn't return a message to SportsLine.com, but he has said Richardson is considering appealing the judge's ruling to dismiss. Meanwhile, Richardson's legal fees are believed to have reached $500,000. There goes one year of buyout money.
Even with a high-dollar attorney, Richardson was a legal loser, a fate sure to befall not only Harrick but also van Breda Kolff. Van Breda Kolff sued St. Bonaventure in April for wrongful termination, his point being that, as head coach, he couldn't possibly have known about the eligibility scandal that ultimately cost the school its president and athletic director.
In college basketball circles, van Breda Kolff is known as a micro-manager of the first order, a guy who dictates details as minuscule as postgame interviews for his players. His starting power forward transferred from a junior college with nothing more academic than a degree in welding, and van Breda Kolff didn't know?
That's a hoot. (Please don't sue me.)
Last month St. Bonaventure asked a federal judge to dismiss van Breda Kolff's lawsuit seeking $21.55 million in damages. Van Breda Kolff's lawyer, Lew Conner, said he has until Sept. 7 to file a response, but declined to discuss specifics of the case with SportsLine.com.
The guess here is that van Breda Kolff will fall roughly $21.55 million short of his goal, perhaps more. In addition to its motion to dismiss, St. Bonaventure also has asked the court to fine van Breda Kolff's legal team for wasting everyone's time and money.
These are all a waste of time and money. Richardson suing Arkansas? The Harricks going after Georgia? Now van Breda Kolff stalking St. Bonaventure? Someone should write a book about these characters.
Come to think of it ...
SportsLine.com didn't get callbacks from either of Jim Harrick's attorneys, including Beverly Hills' Robert Tanenbaum -- the same Robert Tanenbaum who has written a bevy of pretty darned good novels. Tanenbaum specializes in legal fiction, which means he ought to have plenty of material once this episode is finished.
And so we wait for the next moves in the lawsuits against Georgia and St. Bonaventure. In the meantime, let the clogged-up legal system be grateful that Bliss hasn't sued Baylor for wrongful dismissal, defamation of character and generally acting like a big, fat meanie.
Then again, the statute of limitations hasn't expired in Waco. Get yourself an attorney, Dave Bliss. Everybody else did.
