Grambling State University and Doug Williams have always been on the same team. From the quarterback’s playing days at GSU, to Williams’ current position as the Tigers’ head football coach.
But the former Grambling State great now finds himself on the other sideline, suing his alma mater over a contract dispute Friday.
NBC 10 Sports reported in early March, that when Grambling State hired the Super Bowl XXII MVP in February 2011 as football head coach, the contract he signed with the GSU administration was never sent to the Board of Supervisors of the University of Louisiana Systems for final approval.
“I did not have one last year ‘they’ say,” Williams told NBC 10 Sports in regard to his contract. “I thought I did, but evidently I did not.”
The lawsuit filed in Baton Rouge Friday names Grambling President Frank Pogue, the school, its board and both the state of Louisiana and state Department of Education as defendants.
The suit claims Pogue never submitted a finalized contract to the Board, and that GSU’s president pulled it from the agenda of the Board’s meeting on April 29, 2011. The suit further states that “Williams was, in fact, led to believe his contract had been finalized.”
The document further says that Williams received a letter in the mail in January 2012 stating he was an “at will” employee of Grambling State University.
Williams and his staff have not received any incentive bonuses earned during the 2011 football season. Last year, the Tigers won the 2011 SWAC Championship and the Bayou Classic under Williams.
University of Louisiana System President Randy Moffett released a statement Friday evening on behalf of GSU and the Board.
“Grambling State University and the University of Louisiana System have been bargaining in good faith with Doug Williams for almost a year,” Moffett said. “We have offered him one of the highest salary and incentive compensation packages in Grambling’s conference. We believe that we did everything possible to come to a mutually beneficial arrangement without compromizing the University’s academic core.”
Stay with NBC 10 Sports as this story continues to develop.
