An editorial in the University of Oregon newspaper describes Mike Bellotti’s classy exit from his athletics director position at UO (background here):
… Bellotti believes he was promised a five-year contract, which would have given him an even larger buyout, though it’s hard to know without evidence in writing. He said in a press conference he is not taking anything that isn’t owed to him, a statement that seems out of touch amid the ongoing argument that the University places a higher priority on athletics than academics. It’s irresponsible for Bellotti to insist upon so much money, when as former athletic director, he knows the athletic department already owes $16 million annually to cover debt service payments for Matthew Knight Arena…
April 9th, 2010 at 11:37AM
I thought the Statute of Frauds generally required contracts to be *in writing* in cases where the contract cannot be performed within one year.
In any event, it’s incomprehensible that an entity of a state government would pay out money in this kind of circumstance without a clear contractual duty to do so.