I am a college football fan (long time follower of the Virginia Tech Hokies) and try to keep up to date on the world of college football.
The Big News yesterday was Urban Meyer, the highly successful football coach at the University of Florida, announced his resignation. Myer cited the time demands of the profession and his desire to spend more time with his family…a believable reason for quitting.
What does Coach Meyer’s resignation have to do with non-compete contracts? A lot.
One of the possible successors to Meyer is University of Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino…who seems to always be looking for the next best head coaching job. But surely Petrino’s contract with Arkansas contains a non-compete clause which would prevent him from leaving the Razorbacks and coaching another team in the South Eastern Conference (SEC). Surely Arkansas had smart people drafting Petrino’s employment agreement which protected Arkansas from the embarrassment of losing their coach to a rival in their own conference.
Surely these precautions were taken…but unconfirmed reports from ESPN make it look like Arkansas “dropped the ball” on this one. Yes, it appears Coach Petrino has a non-compete clause in his contract BUT the clause only prohibits him from taking a job with a SEC West Division team but leaves him free to take a job with a SEC East Division team (like Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, etc.). What a mistake!
In football parlance, if Petrino leaves for Florida, most commentators will call this a huge FUMBLE by those in charge at the University of Arkansas!