I do not follow golf; it is not a sport that has ever captured my attention. Nonetheless, when I see a headline with the name “Jack Nicklaus” in it, I pause to read it and the sub-head because Jack Nicklaus is a name I have recognized for about 60 years. Yesterday I saw such a headline and when I read it and the sub-head, I was confused because I did not know the backstory. It appears that Jack Nicklaus won a defamation of character lawsuit against Nicklaus Companies. Say what …?
Let me do a quick reset here:
- When Jack Nicklaus retired as a pro golfer, he formed Nicklaus Companies as part of his efforts to design golf courses and to be part of various promotional efforts. In 2007, he sold that company to “a billionaire banker” named Howard Milstein.
- Jack Nicklaus resigned from the company in 2017; sat through a 5-year “non-compete tenure” and resigned from the company’s Board of Directors in 2022.
- Nicklaus Companies sued Jack Nicklaus alleging “tortuous interference” by Jack Nicklaus by diverting business away from Nicklaus Companies to Nicklaus himself. The case went to arbitration and Jack Nicklaus won the case.
- In this defamation claim by Jack Nicklaus, he alleged that Nicklaus Companies said falsely that he had considered becoming the face of LIV-Golf for a fee of $750M and then spread that falsehood around to media folks.
Jack Nicklaus won the case, and a jury awarded him $50M in the matter because it found that Nicklaus Companies and people associated with Nicklaus Companies “actively participated in the false publishing of facts” and that damaged the reputation and public image of Jack Nicklaus to the tune of $50M.
Moving on … The college football coaching carousel began its spin early this season and two more seats on the ride have opened up recently. The bigger news is that Florida fired coach Billy Napier and the unusual wrinkle here is that they fired him after he won the game prior to getting his pink slip; Florida beat Mississippi St. in Gainesville last weekend.
According to reports, Napier will get a buyout of $21M after posting a record of 22-23 at Florida (12-16 in SEC games). So, is the Florida job a plum or a persimmon?
Well, Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer both proved that one can win big at Florida; the Gators are the only SEC school in the State of Florida and there is abundant football talent in Florida who should want to show their stuff at the SEC level. That – – along with the fact that Florida was paying Napier $7.5M per year and must recognize that a new coach will cost a bit more than that – – means the Florida job could easily translate into generational wealth. Those are very attractive aspects of the job.
The downside here is that the fanbase became accustomed to championships under Spurrier and Meyer even though the last championship was in 2008. Since Urban Meyer left the school in 2010, Florida has run through four head coaches, and none have survived for more than four years. The Gators have not been part of the CFP since it came into being; and in fact, they have only been to a New Years Day Bowl Game 4 times since 2010. [Aside: Since 2010, Florida has had more losing seasons (5) than New Years Day Bowl games (4).] And that is just not good enough for the fans and the alums. So, maybe the job is one where you move to Gainesville, but you rent a place instead of buying one …
Another coach who was asked to turn in his whistle was at a school with no aspirations for the CFP or even to a New Year’s Day Bowl Game. UAB fired Trent Dilfer as their head football coach. Dilfer was the QB for the Ravens in 2001 when the Ravens won the Super Bowl and then had a long career as a TV talking head with stops at NFL Network, FOX and ESPN.
UAB competes in the American Athletic Conference (AAC); Dilfer’s teams posted a combined record of 9-21 at that level of competition. Last weekend, UAB took the field with an interim head coach on the sideline and proceeded to beat the previously undefeated Memphis Tigers 31-24. Dilfer brought playing experience to the job; not many college coaches can flash a Super Bowl ring unless they purchased one at an estate auction, but Dilfer’s coaching résumé was thin at best; he had been the coach of a small private high school in Tennessee for four seasons. That’s it.
Compounding the problem, UAB football had been relatively successful at its level of competition in the years leading up to Dilfer’s hiring. From 1999 through 2022, UAB was in C-USA, and it had been to minor bowl games in the 6 years prior to hiring Trent Dilfer. Clearly that recent memory did not resonate with a composite record of 9-21.
Is UAB a good job? Well reports say that the school paid Trent Dilfer $1.45M as the head coach; so, this is not a position that might create “generational wealth”. Nonetheless, the fans there might be thrilled to get back to the level of minor bowl games just about every year; there are no CFP aspirations in Birmingham; such aspirations in the State of Alabama are reserved for the institution in Tuscaloosa.
Finally, having mentioned New Year’s Day Bowl Games, let me finish today with this from Lou Holtz whose team got pelted with oranges at the Orange Bowl Game:
“I’m glad we’re not playing in the Gator Bowl.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………