As expected, the man got paid.
The University of Louisville Board of Trustees and the school’s athletic association board have approved a multi-million dollar settlement with former athletic director Tom Jurich in the dispute revolving around his termination last fall.
In all, Jurich will receive a whopping $7.17 million in cash plus many benefits.
“Everyone is pleased that this matter has been successfully resolved,” said U of L Board of Trustees Chairman David Grissom. “All parties can move forward to begin the next chapter.”
“I have spent the better part of my career working with a dedicated team of athletes, coaches and staff to elevate the University of Louisville’s Athletic Department and I am proud of what we accomplished, which is well documented,” said Jurich.
Here are the key items Jurich will receive from the settlement:
—A core settlement payment of $4.5 million.
—No less than $911,000 from Jurich’s Deferred Compensation Plan and another $1.76 million to be paid out over the next eight years.
—Medical coverage from U of L for both Jurich and his wife.
—Seat licenses for eight club tickets and two parking passes for Louisville football and basketball games for 20 years.
—The scathing letter that former interim president Greg Postel wrote in which Jurich was referred to as a “bully” has been stricken from the record.
—Jurich is no longer listed as being fired “for cause.” Instead, he is simply “retired.”
Whether U of L did the right thing in “cleaning house” and firing Jurich is inconsequential here. The fact of the matter is they completely botched the process at every step of the way, and have probably known for a while that at some point they were going to have to pay for it. Today was that some point. It should have been a lot sooner.
If this had been done seven months ago it could have shielded all of us from a considerable amount of nastiness and embarrassment.
I’m glad this is over, I’m glad we can finally start moving, and I’m glad that the foundation has been set for U of L (at some point) to properly embrace Jurich and all that was accomplished over the past two decades.
