Ole Miss officials and former Rebels coach Houston Nutt reached an undisclosed settlement Monday to dismiss Nutt's lawsuit against the school. This is somewhat shocking, as Houston Nutt almost literally just brought the suit (again) against the school.
In a nutshell, Nutt alleged that (now also former) Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze and others used off-the-record conversations with media to help create a “false narrative” that placed primary blame on Nutt for a five-year investigation of the school by the NCAA.
Here is a statement via some fancy attorneys:
“The lawyers who represent the University and Coach Nutt have communicated during the past few weeks to reach an agreement that would allow the parties to resolve Coach Nutt's claim while avoiding the costs and distractions associated with further litigation. The parties have reached such an agreement,” the lawyers said in a joint statement released by Ole Miss on Monday.
In a fun, almost random part of the agreement, school officials had to publicly apologize:
“Certain statements made by University employees in January 2016 appear to have contributed to misleading media reports about Coach Nutt,” Ole Miss officials said in another statement. “To the extent any such statements harmed Coach Nutt's reputation, the University apologizes, as this was not the intent. The NCAA's Notice of Allegations dated January 22, 2016, did not name or implicate Coach Nutt in any misconduct, and it would have been inappropriate for any University employee to suggest otherwise.”
This should all be officially over by now. I am sure there are some weird parts of the agreement in which both parties need to stop talking nonsense about each other.