Former USC assistant football coach Todd McNair is entitled to up to $27 million in damages from the NCAA for being defamed and not having his contract renewed by USC in the wake of the Reggie Bush scandal, his lawyer told a jury Friday, but a defense attorney said McNair deserves nothing.
The lawyers gave their views of Todd McNair’s lawsuit during final arguments before a Los Angeles Superior Court jury, which will begin deliberating Monday on the 52-year-old McNair’s single remaining cause of action for defamation. His attorneys Friday dropped their client’s breach-of-contract and negligence allegations.
“What you do with this case will have consequences for Todd McNair and far beyond,” plaintiff’s attorney Bruce Broillet said. “You will always be known as Todd McNair’s jury.”
Broillet maintains the NCAA relied on a “recklessly constructed record” to build its case against the coach by “misrepresenting facts” that led to conclusions contradicted by the evidence.
NCAA attorney Kosta Stojilkovic acknowledged that errors were made by people within the organization, including an employee who wrote in a private email that McNair was a “lying, morally corrupt criminal.” He said the email writer was not involved in the decision-making in McNair’s case, but that the comments nonetheless were “completely unacceptable” and that even NCAA President Mark Emmert found them inappropriate.
Stojilkovic said McNair never tried very hard to regain employment after losing his job at USC.
“He wants the jobs to come to him,” Stojilkovic said. “None of us will ever know what would happen if he broadly applied.”
McNair contacted three teams and three contacted him, but there were hundreds of college programs where he could have thrown his hat into the coaching ring, Stojilkovic said.
But Broillet said McNair, who will begin a high school coaching job this fall, is not a typical job candidate.
“The Todd McNairs of this world do not send out resumes,” Broillet said.
Broillet said one of the most powerful moments he has seen in his decades as a lawyer was McNair’s emotional testimony about how not coaching has affected him. He said McNair’s demeanor was more telling that his testimony.
“You felt it,” Broillet said.
McNair’s lawsuit, filed in June 2011, seeks damages on allegations of defamation, breach of contract and negligence.
McNair received a show-cause penalty from the NCAA, meaning that he had to receive permission from the NCAA for any recruiting he did for one year.
McNair spent six seasons at USC coaching Trojans running backs under former head coach Pete Carroll, but his contract was not renewed after the NCAA allegations. According to the lawsuit, the NCAA report stated that McNair knew about Bush’s relationship with two sports agents, San Diego sports marketers Lloyd Lake and Michael Michaels, who were providing Bush with benefits.
McNair said he was unaware of the relationship, and that the NCAA committed misconduct in its investigation.
The NCAA’s court papers say McNair’s statements were contradicted by Lake.
“Lake informed the NCAA that he first met McNair at a party in March 2005 attended by McNair, Bush and Lake,” the NCAA court papers state. “According to Lake, he and McNair socialized again in October 2005. Three telephone calls from McNair to Lake and a photograph corroborated his claim.”
Lake also maintains he spoke with McNair in January 2006 to get his help in persuading Bush to return the marketer’s money, the NCAA court papers state. But when interviewed a second time, McNair continued to deny he knew Lake, according to the NCAA.
McNair’s phone records show he spoke with Lake for about two minutes and that the coach had a lengthy conversation with Bush the same day, the NCAA court papers state.
McNair played professional football with the Kansas City Chiefs and Cleveland Browns. He was hired as USC’s running backs coach in February 2004.