NCAA attempts to reach settlement

AP PHOTO Although Joe Paterno's financial worries are few, yesterday the Supreme Court ruled against the NCAA's imposed limit on the salaries of entry-level coaches.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - The NCAA, which can no longer argue it did not break the law, is trying to reach a settlement with its coaches and reduce an $80 million obligation.

On Monday, the Supreme Court refused to hear the NCAA's appeal, letting stand a ruling that the NCAA acted unlawfully in capping salaries of entry-level coaches at $16,000 annually.

But even before Monday, the NCAA and lawyers for the coaches had begun settlement talks, with the NCAA offering $44 million and the coaches' lawyers coming back with a demand for $58.5 million.

Before the three-week jury trial in May, which set damages at $67 million, the NCAA suggested it might settle for as much as $18 million.

"The NCAA has moved a lot," said Wally Renfro, spokesperson for the collegiate sports organization. "We feel that is a very fair figure. Plaintiffs could do with that what they wish. If they want to attach a time value to that money (in an annuity), they can do so. If they want to take it all in cash, they could."

Coaches' lawyer Dennis Cross said his offer to settle for $58.5 million will now go "into the 60's."

"We're not moving toward them anymore," he said. "I'm going to make an offer that's going to be a little more and see if (the Supreme Court decision) has changed their mind."

In seeking to get the Supreme Court to overturn the finding of liability, the NCAA said the lower court ruling "places in grave doubt the future of competitive intercollegiate athletics."

The coaches' lawyers argued the salary cap was "only garden-variety price fixing," and that college sports thrived for years without such pay restrictions.

Last May, the U.S. District Court jury in Kansas City, Kan., awarded damages that when trebled under antitrust law amount to around $67 million for about 1,900 entry-level "restricted-earnings coaches."

The total figure of around $80 million, when lawyers' fees are included, has alarmed NCAA schools and angered athletic officials whose annual budgets could be hit hard.

How the award will be spread among NCAA schools is also a touchy political issue within college athletics. Small schools want big schools to pay the biggest share while most big schools believe the cost should be shared equally, since the restricted-earnings rule was agreed upon by nearly all 300 Division I schools.

The NCAA still has several post-trial motions pending. Once those motions are ruled on, the NCAA could appeal them to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Barring a settlement, the case could drag on another year or two.

"Way back when the case began, they could have settled cheaply," Cross said.

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