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Post by hchoops on Sept 12, 2019 10:12:19 GMT -5
in today's T&G pay wall
Breaking: Bill Gibbons, Holy Cross women’s hoop coach for 34 years, files suit against school
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Post by gks on Sept 12, 2019 10:16:29 GMT -5
Not surprising. This will settle well before any trials.
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Post by purplehaze on Sept 12, 2019 10:34:15 GMT -5
This guys has 'onions' to try this - the school gave me a job and a significant salary (guessing at the top of the PL) for 34 years and he 'objectively' did a mediocre job in the last 10 or so. The school's big mistake was to go along with his 'we're a family doing community service' bit for too long and didn't have the guts to simply let him go when the results were deteriorating.
Is anyone surprised he's not working now ? he's not qualified ! I hope the school fights this
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Post by lou on Sept 12, 2019 10:34:53 GMT -5
Not surprising. This will settle well before any trials. I hope not
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Post by HC13 on Sept 12, 2019 11:00:13 GMT -5
WORCESTER - Terminated in March after 34 years as women’s basketball coach at the College of the Holy Cross, William P. Gibbons filed a civil lawsuit Thursday accusing school officials of breach of contract, defamation, age discrimination, infliction of emotional distress and other wrongdoing.
The Worceser Superior Court suit, which also includes a loss of consortium claim on behalf of Mr. Gibbons’ wife, Lisa A. Gibbons, seeks monetary damages. In a cover sheet accompanying the 30-page civil action, the Gibbons’ lawyer, Stephen G. Abraham, estimated damages suffered by the couple at $750,000.
Named as defendants in the lawsuit are the college, president Philip L. Boroughs and the the school’s trustees.
Mr. Gibbons, now 60, coached the Crusaders for 34 years and won 613 games, the second-most of any coach in Holy Cross history. He was suspended Jan. 31, following an internal investigation into what the school labeled a personnel matter.
On March 28, the school announced that Mr. Gibbons would not be returning as coach of the Holy Cross women’s basketball program and that Ann McInerney, who was named interim coach at the time of Mr. Gibbons’ suspension, would remain as interim coach and lead the program through the 2019-20 season.
“The record, the performance of the team in the past few seasons has not been where we think it needs to be in terms of being competitive throughout the Patriot League and providing the opportunity for our team, which we think is really talented,” Brendan Sullivan, interim director of athletics at the school, said at the time.
Asked if the suspension or reason for it factored into the decision, Mr. Sullivan said, “To that I would say, it was the totality of where we were as a program and looking and trying to be better within the Patriot League and beyond, the expectation of returning to the NCAA Tournament at some point here in the near future.”
Holy Cross had four straight sub-.500 seasons, from 2014-18, and in 2018-19, posted their most wins since going 20-14 in 2013-14.
In September 2014, Mr. Gibbons signed a four-year contract extension through June 2019.
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Post by gks on Sept 12, 2019 11:06:52 GMT -5
This guys has 'onions' to try this - the school gave me a job and a significant salary (guessing at the top of the PL) for 34 years and he 'objectively' did a mediocre job in the last 10 or so. The school's big mistake was to go along with his 'we're a family doing community service' bit for too long and didn't have the guts to simply let him go when the results were deteriorating. Is anyone surprised he's not working now ? he's not qualified ! I hope the school fights this He was not suspended/fired for performance. Whatever he was suspended originally before he disagrees with.
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Post by purplehaze on Sept 12, 2019 11:23:26 GMT -5
So you are disputing the official statement from Brendan Sullivan in the article above ? 'The record, the performance' etc...
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Post by HC13 on Sept 12, 2019 11:46:04 GMT -5
that 's the non-renewal, not the suspension
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Post by Tom on Sept 12, 2019 11:58:19 GMT -5
My two cents. . .
In January, HC said that Coach Gibbons was suspended for the rest of the season as a result of an internal investigation in a personnel matter
In March, HC said that Coach Gibbons would not be returning to the program. Acting AD Sullivan went on to say
I am not a lawyer, but assuming Coach Gibbons was paid through the end of his contract on June 30 (and I think that's a good assumption), I don't see a breach of contract any more than former men's Coach Kearney
Age Discrimination - easy to say, but doesn't strike me as valid - Yes, he was replaced by someone about ten years younger. On the other hand, the men's coach at the time of his dismissal was older than Coach Gibbons. Does anyone really think this situation had anything to do with his age?
Defamation - The only thing HC said bad about him was he was suspended for a personnel matter. Is that defamation? There were a lot of nasty rumors and speculation that I think were basically garbage. If HC had done or said something to spark the wild speculation, ya that could be defamtion. If HC had come out and said exactly what happened, the false rumors might have been quelled, but that's not how the world works. That would open up another type of law suit.
It is my personal opinion based on nothing more than compilation of rumors and what I know of Coach Gibbons, that the suspension was all about over-the-top sensitivity and the proper response would have been to tell the grieved party to toughen up. Unfortunately you can't do that in 2019
Coach Gibbons reputation has been tarnished by two frivolous accusations in the last six years. I don't think the school should be civilly liable for doing due diligence and society's need to be offended by the almost anything
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Post by crusader12 on Sept 12, 2019 13:57:42 GMT -5
Good for Bill, hope he takes HC for every penny. This place has no idea how to handle "issues".
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Post by matunuck on Sept 12, 2019 14:31:58 GMT -5
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Post by alum on Sept 12, 2019 14:33:13 GMT -5
1. Assuming that he was paid for the remainder of his contract after being suspended, he has no breach of contract claim for the 2014-2019 contract. If he wasn't paid during the suspension, he and the College can litigate whether his conduct was a breach that allowed the College to stop paying him.
2. We don't have a copy of his 2014-2019 contract but I suppose we need to know whether it included some sort of renewal provision and/or a clause that the College had to tell him by a certain date whether they were going to keep him employed. Perhaps he has a claim related to this.
3. Age discrimination--This is pretty tough to prove unless someone or did something stupid.
4. Defamation--Hopefully nobody from the College talked out of school.
I know that it feels good to say "Screw him. We shouldn't settle," but sometimes you are better off putting this and the necessary discovery hassles behind you. I trust the College administrators to make the right call.
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Post by hchoops on Sept 12, 2019 14:58:57 GMT -5
This article presents the details of the incident that precipitated this mess form the wording of the suit. This information to me favors Gibbons’ claim of unfair treatment, but there is another side, I presume.
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Post by gks on Sept 12, 2019 15:00:43 GMT -5
This article presents the details of the incident that precipitated this mess form the wording of the suit. This information to me favors Gibbons’ claim of unfair treatment, but there is another side, I presume. What was mentioned in the suit has been going around CMass since his suspension. First time seeing it in writing.
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Post by longsuffering on Sept 12, 2019 15:46:22 GMT -5
These things can be never ending. Ironically, what was mentioned about the BC game could cause damage to the career of the Assistant Coach. Does she have a claim against anyone?
Maybe it won't cause any damage. The world is changing.
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Post by alum on Sept 12, 2019 16:01:46 GMT -5
Nobody will come out of this looking good.
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Sept 12, 2019 16:55:29 GMT -5
I have always thought he was on a short leash because of Cooper and the other unnamed player who lodged a complaint to the college regarding his behavior.
IIRC, a still-unidentified player (or her parents) filed a complaint against Gibbons, alleging abusive conduct on Gibbons' part. Cooper claimed to have been interviewed by the college as part of the investigation. The investigation produced no apparent result, and during the course of the season, Cooper (and/or her parents) also alleged abusive conduct by Gibbons against Cooper, including grabbing Cooper around the neck. Cooper's lawyers sought videotape of two away games where they believe such abusive conduct was recorded. Cooper's lawyers alleged that at least one instance of abusive conduct was witnessed by a senior member of the AD staff. Cooper withdrew from HC and enrolled at NYU. The college settled after Cooper was allowed to enjoin the BoT as defendants. (I think she was primarily looking for an amount corresponding to the cost of two years of matriculation at NYU.)
I agree with alum on his points 1-3.
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Post by td128 on Sept 12, 2019 17:12:14 GMT -5
A few interesting online comments to the article referenced above.
Perhaps the college does or does not care but based on messages and chatter running through the grapevine the Gibbons family is very well liked and widely popular around the city of Worcester.
Was BG ever implicated in any of these other situations? If there was reason to question BG's comportment during those times, why didn't the college dismiss him then or inform ADNP that they would prefer that his contract not be renewed. Seems logical that there were not sufficient reasons to do so. As such, innuendo strikes me as akin to asking a neighbor who may have had a marital dispute, "Hey, you still beating your wife?"
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Post by longsuffering on Sept 12, 2019 17:19:45 GMT -5
When FIADBS was appointed, I had a fleeting thought that Rosemary Shea, Senior Associate AD would have been a better choice because of her long association with and understanding of Holy Cross. It appears that BG's 38 years meant litttle to FIADBS and the other people I never heard of who determined his fate. A no-tresspass order is a bit much.
I also feel that three assistant coaches and a DOBO is too many coach equivalents for 14-15 student-athletes.
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Post by bringbackcaro on Sept 12, 2019 17:33:17 GMT -5
..... I trust the College administrators to make the right call. I've got a bridge to sell you!
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Post by longsuffering on Sept 12, 2019 17:36:32 GMT -5
A few interesting online comments to the article referenced above. Perhaps the college does or does not care but based on messages and chatter running through the grapevine the Gibbons family is very well liked and widely popular around the city of Worcester. Was BG ever implicated in any of these other situations? If there was reason to question BG's comportment during those times, why didn't the college dismiss him then or inform ADNP that they would prefer that his contract not be renewed. Seems logical that there were not sufficient reasons to do so. As such, innuendo strikes me as akin to asking a neighbor who may have had a marital dispute, "Hey, you still beating your wife?" Agree. There are many highly educated and refined people working in Administration at HC. Hasn't an environment been created that would allow one of them to sit down with the WBB coaching staff or the Head Coach and complaining Assistant and try to bring them all together? From today's article it appears the investigation went straight to win/lose with no effort at team building or compromise.
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Post by timholycross on Sept 12, 2019 17:54:54 GMT -5
Can someone provide some background on Ms. Parks? Never heard of her.
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Sept 12, 2019 18:06:37 GMT -5
This link links to a New York Daily News article on Cooper. The link also includes a photograph of Gibbons, which IIRC, was first posted on a UConn (or UConn-related) website. If so, it would be the Nov 2011 game against UConn. www.bishop-accountability.org/news2013/09_10/2013_10_16_Gregorian_Collegeof.htm__________ These incidents occurred during FADDR's tenure. IMO, there were several lapses of good judgment on FADDR's part with respect to BG. One was to allow Bill Jr, as a freshman at HC, to be a volunteer assistant coach for women's basketball.
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Post by lou on Sept 12, 2019 18:15:08 GMT -5
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Post by timholycross on Sept 12, 2019 19:00:29 GMT -5
I think even the Nate Pine haters would agree he made the right call and what Gibbons said during this one incident was not worthy of any further action. Coaches should answer to the AD and then to Father B, that's it. Now of course other things could have happened between the assistant and Gibbons but I haven't seen anything else except a very general mention of the race card.
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