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I think it's reasonable to claw back money under these circumstances. But it's also a tool for everyone they're recruiting against to leverage against them. I'm happy that those asshats are the ones jumping on the grenade first.Ole Miss files lawsuits against Princewill Umanmielen and Devin Harper
This week former Ole Miss players Princewill Umanmielen and Devin Harper were sued for nearly $1 million total.www.on3.com
Honestly I don’t think it will be settled for less. Any appeals would be in Mississippi courts anyway. And I think it’s probably a slam dunk case for UMiss anyway. You sign a contract, take the money & then walk away to go work for the competition 2 weeks later. It is kind of funny that now UMiss has an issue with it. It’s ok if a players leave Clemson under very similar circumstances.
It'll be interesting to see if Clemson does the same thing. LSU will likely just pay it and take it out of the pot. No big deal for them. At least UM has an idea of how to handle it once it does go the other way for them (Clemson)
I think recovering any money paid will be easy. But they are asking for essentially liquidated damages. I'm not sure what the amounts are compared to the contract value, but that's no different in concept than coaches having buyout clauses in their contract. You can't demand specific performance (and probably wouldn't want it from a coach that wants to leave), and you can't really quantify how much you are damaged by them leaving. Just going to be a question of whether the amount is unreasonably large. I personally would think you could justify the entire value of the contract. There is such a limited amount of time to pursue transfers. If you sign somebody and you stop trying to fill that role, and they skip out, that leaves you in a hell of a bind when you're talking about a win or two being the difference of millions of dollars for the program potentially. But not sure other people would agree.
If LSU pays it, it counts against LSU's revenue sharing cap. Not a huge deal since the collective doesnt have a cap, but it changes their math on NIL.
Seems like they would have a liquidated damages/buyout clause, and just negotiate from there, but I have no idea.
Would seem Clemson has a path to sue both the player and Ole Miss since Golding supposedly directly contacted the player in question to entice him away to OM after Clemson had an agreement signed and in place and the player had already started attending class at Clemson.
Wait! What? Are you saying professional college athletes attend classes? Pish Posh!
LSU has said they're not a party to any contract between the players and Mississippi and they're not paying. Of course, that's not to say they might not pay it tomorrow.
Good point. But I don't think it matters. The school says they're suing for the amount the contract calls for the players to pay if they don't fulfill the contract. So yeah, could be no different than a coach's buyout which are all routinely paid and 100% enforceable in the courts if they weren't.
Maybe better framed "the classes he was registered for were in session". Yea, not sure any athletes actually have to go to a class anymore.
Why would LSU pay it? Ole Miss has to claw it back from the players.
It matters. A liquidated damages or buyout clause generally has to be a reasonable estimate of the actual damages to be enforceable. (Im not licensed in MS, and dont know the details of MS contract law).
LSU convinced the players to leave UMiss, and at least has an interest in the financial impact to them in making the jump. They want their players to be happy with their decision.
With the reported amounts of NIL contracts, I think $1MM for two key players a team was counting on breaking a contract and leaving right at the end of the transfer portal period is probably more than reasonable. Especially in a Lafayette County court or up to the Mississippi Supreme Court.
You'd think they'd use a bonding company or something so all this could be handled by a 3rd party, keeping their image a bit cleaner.
If LSU had a lick of sense... they would put these players on every news outlet they can with frowning faces and someone on a microphone going on about "these kids are being sued for trying to pick themselves up out of poverty and helping their poor disadvantaged families out of poverty... and .... and.... and... and.....".Ole Miss sues LSU's Umanmielen, Harper for breach of contract
Ole Miss is seeking close to $1 million in penalties from former players Princewill Umanmielen and Devin Harper, who signed revenue sharing contracts to return to the Rebels this season before joining former coach Lane Kiffin at LSU.
