Johnny Dawkins suing Stanford for breach of contract
Johnny Dawkins has filed a $7-million lawsuit against Stanford for breach of contract more than a year after he was fired as the program's head coach.
The lawsuit was filed Monday in Santa Clara Superior Court, according to Jon Wilner of The Mercury News.
Dawkins, who was terminated after eight seasons, claims Stanford didn't honor terms of their buyout agreement after he was dismissed without cause. Dawkins latched on at UCF shortly after his firing, and led the Knights to the NIT semifinals this season.
Court documents state Dawkins is seeking "approximately $2.3 million in direct damages" as well as "punitive and exemplary damages of not less than $5 million for the tortious ingredients of its wrongdoing."
He contends the university owed him the $2.3 million remaining on his contract when he was axed, regardless of any future earnings that would normally offset the buyout. It was part of an agreement Dawkins made with Stanford when he was fired, and in exchange Dawkins released all of his financial claims against the school.
However, the university allegedly decided to withhold Dawkins' future earnings anyway. The institution also believes its former coach structured a backloaded contract at UCF for the purpose of forcing Stanford to pay him more of the buyout, even though he would've made up the difference on the back end of the Knights' deal.
Dawkins posted a 156-115 record with the Cardinal, and took the program to one NCAA tournament.