One thing St. John's has experience with is with hiring highly compensated men's basketball coaches. You are correct that every contract typically has specific language that was agreed to in writing, and it's possible that Coach Anderson violated one or more of them. I would presume that that since Anderson had signed major contracts with Missouri and Arkansas prior to the initial contract and subsequent extension at St. John's that he was well represented, and would not sign a contract that exposed him to subjective judgment of his handling of players or assistant coaches. It's my understanding that the attorney he has engaged for this dispute handled Kevin Ollie's claim against UCONN.
In my career, I have negotiated employment contracts for highly compensated individuals, some with explicit severance terms for termination without cause, and had to terminate several of them. I would not purport to have a specific expertise greater than an attorney who specifically negotiates employment agreements, and have been guided through terminations by skilled HR leaders. I had two firms representing my companies - one led by an attorney who was at or near the top of his SJU law class and was a member of Law Review, and a second firm whose attorney assigned to me was a Harvard grad. I learned something from them with each interaction. Needless to say, I always felt well represented, even when negotiating large state contracts against teams of attorneys. Even with two top attorneys representing my company, when we became embroiled in a baseless dispute over wrongful termination, the dispute was handed to an associate attorney within his firm who specific lengthy expertise in labot law and subsequent disputes.
If SJU has a strong legal case, it would be my hope that they outsource contracts of this magnitude to those skilled in negotiating contracts with highly paid athletic coaches. I do know that as this fell apart there were internal concerns about owing large sums of money to Anderson should they terminate him.
The short of it is I claim no significant expertise in the matter of employment disputes greater than employment attorneys, but know enough about the situation here to be concerned that SJU had better have a great case lest they be liable for damages, interest, and at minimum paying Anderson and his legal fees.
Finally, I would say that I have met Coach Anderson and his lovely wife Marcheita on dozens of occasions over the past four years. While I cannot attest to what he did or did not do behind the scenes, I always found him and Marcheita to be gracious, warm, wonderful ambassadors for the university in all ways. I would be greatly surprised if any of the allegations against him reach the standard for "Termination with Cause" but in one sense hope they are true, because I would be embarrassed for the University leaders who pursued a baseless smear should that be the case.
This is my last post on the subject. My somewhat informed assessment would be bad coach, really good man.
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