Last March, Phoenix Suns legend Dan Majerle was relieved of his post as the head coach of the Grand Canyon University men's basketball team. As it turns out, the split was far from amicable and Majerle and is now suing the university for unlawful firing.
The Arizona Sports news outfit was able to get a hold of the court documents filed by Majerle and his camp. According to the claim, GCU put in a concerted effort to ensure that they would be able to avoid doling out Majerle's severance pay.
GCU has already begun a campaign to disparage Majerle as part of its effort to avoid its severance obligation to Majerle by creating false and pretextual reasons for Majerle’s termination that are not “Cause” for termination under the Agreement and that were never asserted during his employment as potential grounds for termination.
Majerle coached the squad for seven years prior to his termination in March. He had a pretty impressive tenure with the university, and it was only in the past season that his team posted a losing record. Perhaps it was one of the reasons why the school decided to fire him despite the fact that he's still in contract up to 2023.
The court document also detailed how the actual termination went down, and Majerle's camp is arguing that the school did not adhere to the proper process.
Without any advanced warning, GCU notified Majerle of his termination via a telephone call from Jamie Boggs, the Interim Vice President of Athletics. During the call, Boggs did not give any reason for the termination and did not tell Majerle he was being terminated for Cause. When she told Majerle GCU was terminating him, Boggs said the university decided that it was moving on in another direction and that she was sorry.
The document goes on to indicate that despite the school promising to be “fair” to Majerle in terms of his severance package, nothing has materialized at this point. GCU has allegedly refused to pay the former Suns star under the terms of his original contract.
This is not a good look for GCU, and unfortunately, it puts an awful wrinkle on Dan Majerle's rather memorable stint with the university.
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