Employment contracts are all essentially similar and must comply with state and federal labor laws.
NYS is an "at will" state meaning employment can be terminated at the will of the employer for no reason at all, so long as if there is a reason it doesn't conflict with existing law. You therefore cannot terminate for reasons of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual identity, etc.
While you can terminate for failure to perform this generally falls into the category of misfeasance. For example, not properly managing subordinates, poor communication, etc. Still these things fall under termination without cause.
Malfeasance is another story. Deliberately ignoring ncaa rules, breaking state or federal law, or deliberately failing to comply with university published standards can all be reasons for termination with cause.
The standards for termination with cause are generally well defined and fall under malfeasance.
I have no reason to believe that Anderson acted with malfeasance but i guess if this comes to trial evidence of such will have to be proven.
This could be a ploy to get Anderson to setlle for less than his contract specifies he is guaranteed, especially considering this can be dragged out for several years by the university