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Reporting on the state of education in your community and across the country.

Kent State Coaches Win Some, Lose Some

urycki

In college sports, you win some, and you lose some.Kent State just lost one – in court.In 2011, the university reassigned their football team’s defensive coordinator James Fleming to a desk job.Fleming called it a breach of contract and wanted his salary for the remaining two and a half years.The Ohio Court of Claims denied the payout because Fleming found a new job at the University of Central Florida in December 2011 as its defensive coordinator, and then as the head coach at the University of Rhode Island where he made more money.But the 10th District Court of Appeals overturned that, and the university now has to pay Fleming $112,000.The twist is that the Appeals court cited an earlier case, when Kent State won.Court of Claims Judge Patrick M. McGrath wrote, “interestingly, (KSU) took the opposite position in a case involving a breach of contract by (KSU’s) former head basketball coach.”In January, the 11th District Court of Appeals ruled that basketball coach Geno Ford had to pay back $1.2 million to Kent State when he left early for a coaching job at another university.