FOULED OUT

Having suffered the double embarrassment of a basketball coach acting unprofessionally in the early morning hours last fall and now paying that coach up to $100,000 to leave campus, university officials should rewrite future contracts to avoid another indignity.

Women’s basketball coach Ann McInerney announced last week that she had resigned her post. In December, she was forced to publicly apologize by University President Robert Kennedy after she allegedly lied to a police officer during a post-midnight traffic stop. Her assistant, Kathy Karlsson, was charged with drunken driving and suspended for three games after the November incident. Ms. McInerney, who reportedly told the state trooper her name was “Martin” and walked home, was not penalized at the time by the school.

Dissatisfied with Ms. McInerney’s performance, university officials apparently looked for a way out of her five-year contract. They could have fired her for cause, but likely feared risking a lawsuit. They could have terminated the contract, which would have required paying Ms. McInerney for two years. Instead, an agreement was negotiated that required the coach to leave immediately with the university paying her for 30 days. After that, she is to look for a comparable job in athletics, education, recreation or similar fields. Until she finds a job, the university will pay her monthly salary. If she finds a job but it pays less, the university will pay the difference. This arrangement lasts for a year.

If all goes well for Ms. McInerney and she quickly finds a better-paying job, the university won’t be out much money. If she doesn’t, the university could pay up to $100,000 over the next year.

Her contract said she was to avoid “business or professional activities or pursuits that would … embarrass the University.” It also said she must comply with university and National Collegiate Athletic Association rules and bylaws. Further, the contract said the university could terminate the coach for just cause for “any conduct of Coach that constitutes moral turpitude, or which would tend to bring public disrespect, contempt, or ridicule upon the University, or failure to follow the high moral and ethical standards commonly expected of Coach as a leading representative of the University’s Athletic Department.”

If this language isn’t strong enough to allow the university to fire a coach who not only violated good sense but also university and NCAA standards, it should be strengthened in future contracts so that coaches, who get cars and country club memberships in addition to their salaries, won’t collect scarce university funds long after they’ve left campus.