Newly hired New York Giants outside linebackers coach Bret Bielema is suing his former place of employment over a payout dispute.
Ahead of his first season with the New York Giants, Bret Bielema is filing a $7 million lawsuit in regards to an alleged breach of contract involving the University of Arkansas. Bielema served as the Razorbacks head coach from 2013-17.
After the program fired Bielema in 2017, The Razorback Foundation owed him $12 million in buyout money upon an agreement that he would actively search for employment, with his new salary being subtracted from the amount owed to him. The Foundation halted the monthly payments after December 2018 when Bielema’s salary was revealed to be much lower than the market value for his role. In 2018, he was a consultant on the New England Patriots coaching staff.
Per Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post, the Foundation’s counter-argument will point towards how Bielema didn’t update them on his employment search every six months — a responsibility that was part of the agreement.
When the payments stopped, less than $5 million had been collected.
Attorney Marshall Ney, who’s representing the Foundation, recently spoke to Dunleavy in regards to the matter.
“What I can share at this point before digesting the entire [lawsuit] document is that the Foundation previously demanded that Bret Bielema return the $4,555,833.29 that had been paid to him prior to the Foundation’s discovery of his multiple material breaches of the agreement,” Ney said. “It appears that Bielema filed suit in order to avoid being sued.”
Bielema will be undergoing his inaugural campaign on Joe Judge’s staff later this year. He most recently served as the defensive line coach for the Patriots in 2019.
