The Razorback Foundation and former University of Arkansas football coach Bret Bielema have settled their dispute over Bielema’s 2017 buyout.
According to a joint statement issued Friday, Bielema has agreed to a final $3.5 million payment from the foundation — foregoing an additional $3.85 million he sought under a federal lawsuit he filed in June.
“We believe the resolution of this matter is in the best interest of the Razorback Foundation and our membership,” said Scott Varady, executive director of the Razorback Foundation. “We wish Coach Bielema and his family the best moving forward.”
“I am pleased to announce the resolution of our differences with the Razorback Foundation,” Bielema said. “We wish everyone in Razorback Athletics nothing but the best in the years to come.”
According to the statement, the foundation and Bielema agreed for Bielema to receive two years and six weeks’ worth of payments under their 2017 Release and Waiver Agreement and the Razorback Foundation will be released from one year’s worth of payments. Both parties are required to dismiss their lawsuits and be responsible for their own attorneys’ fees.
Upon completion of the settlement process, the Razorback Foundation will have paid Bielema about $8.1 million of the $11.9 million set forth in their original agreement and will have been released from $3.85 million in payments.
In a statement, the parties said they would have not further comments.
In June, Bielema sued the Razorback Foundation in U.S. District Court in Fayetteville seeking at least $7 million for not being paid the remaining portion of a 2018 buyout deal that he signed after being fired at the end of the 2017 season.
Arkansas Business was first to report in May 2019 that the foundation had not made a monthly buyout payment to Bret Bielema that year on the theory that Bielema breached his duty to seek a new job. Varady confirmed that the foundation was enforcing the terms of its 2019 buyout agreement with Bielema, who had been named defensive line coach for the New England Patriots after working with the NFL team on an unpaid basis for more than a year.
In its response to Bielema’s lawsuit, the foundation denied it owed the money and countersued to recover $4.5 million it had paid Bielema under the buyout. The foundation also accused Bielema of violating the terms of the buyout agreement that required him to look for a job that maximized his earning potential, “not just to take a job that built his resume while the Foundation footed the bill.”
Bielema’s attorneys are Thomas Mars of the Mars Law Firm of Rogers; R. Craig Wood and Benjamin P. Abel of the McGuire Woods law firm in Charlottesville, Virginia; John C. Everett of Farmington; John E. Tull III of the Quattlebaum Grooms & Tull law firm in Little Rock; and Ryan K. Culpepper of Hot Springs.
Representing the foundation are attorneys Marshall S. Ney, Robert W. George, Katherine Church Campbell and Blake Brizzolara, all of the Rogers office of Friday Eldredge & Clark.
Sign up for Daily E-news
