Marquette University will pay a $300,000 debt that new coach Buzz Williams had built up with his former employer, the University of New Orleans, according to a MU spokesperson.
Williams left UNO last summer after just one season with the Privateers. When he left, according to UNO athletic director Jim Miller, he departed to be an assistant at Marquette without paying a $300,000 buyout.
Miller said this week that it was $100,000 a year, for the final three years of Williams' contract. Marquette spokesperson Michael Broeker said Friday that the Golden Eagles could have paid Williams' buyout as an assistant and aren't just doing it now because he has replaced Tom Crean as head coach.
Williams wasn't made available to comment.
Miller did make himself available to discuss the matter. He said that when Williams contacted Miller about leaving last year, the coach told him that he had this shot to go to a top 10 program. Miller said he told Williams that the school would not rescind the buyout if Williams left.
Miller said Williams left in July and the first payment was due in this past August. He said that Williams then filed a lawsuit against the school, stating that he had signed on to UNO under false pretenses during the post-Hurricane Katrina time period.
Multiple messages for Williams' attorney, Henry King, were not returned.
"They said that since we had lied about the conditions, he had signed a contract under false pretenses and shouldn't owe the money," Miller said.
"… We wanted to see who showed interest, and I read a Katrina disclaimer. We made sure everyone knew it wasn't an ideal situation, that we wouldn't get into our arena, that it was going to get worse before it got better. It's the first thing I said to every candidate."
Miller hired Williams, then a Texas A&M assistant, over Cal assistant Joe Pasternack to replace Monte Towe. Towe left New Orleans in 2006 to join fellow NC State alumnus Sidney Lowe with the Wolfpack the season after Katrina displaced the Privateers for most of the season to College Station, Texas, and an alternate gym near the New Orleans airport.
Williams took over for Towe two seasons ago, leading the Privateers to a 14-17 record, 9-9 in the Sun Belt.
Pasternack then took over for Williams and promptly led UNO to upsets over Tulane, Colorado and NC State, finishing 19-13 overall, 8-10 in the Sun Belt in his first season.
Williams was at Marquette this past season.
Miller said that once Williams got the job, the New Orleans AD hoped "that [Williams] could afford to pay us and he will." He said the two sides have gone back and forth over allegations, and that UNO was pushing for a trial.
"We were going to initiate discovery and depositions and all of that if he's got the time," Miller said. "But he owes us 300,000 bucks."
Talk of a trial may be moot if Broeker is correct and the Golden Eagles now plan on paying his debt.
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