Man wins $1.25M in Tubby Smith lawsuit

A former Oklahoma State assistant basketball coach who sued Minnesota coach

Tubby Smith

over an aborted hiring was awarded nearly $1.25 million by a jury yesterday in Minneapolis.

The jury found that Smith falsely represented that he had the authority to hire Jimmy Williams when he called Williams in 2007 to talk about an assistant coach position in Minnesota. Williams claimed Smith offered him the job and that after that conversation, Williams resigned from his $200,000-a-year post at Oklahoma State.

But Minnesota officials backed away from Williams after athletic director Joel Maturi pointed out that Williams had NCAA recruiting violations during his previous tenure as a Minnesota assistant.

Williams' lawsuit, which also named the university as a defendant, was seeking $1.7 million in lost past and future income. Williams said the verdict vindicates him and he hopes to return to coaching.

In other college news:

* Five University of Kansas athletic staffers and a consultant were involved in a ticket-scalping scheme that involved the "inappropriate" sale of at least $1 million worth of basketball and football tickets to brokers over the past 5 years, according to a report done by a Wichita law firm and sent to federal investigators. None still work at the school.

* Jarvis Williams, a former defensive back for the Miami Dolphins and New York Giants, died Tuesday night in his hometown of Palatka, Fla. He was 45. The medical examiner confirmed the cause of death was an acute asthma attack.

* LPGA golfer Natalie Gulbis played a round of golf with ex-boyfriend Ben Roethlisberger on Tuesday in Ligonier and called the troubled Steelers quarterback "a great guy."

* A woman who accused former USA Swimming national team director Everett Uchiyama of sexual abuse revealed to the Associated Press details of an ordeal that began at age 14 and said that officials need to do more than publicize his lifetime ban. The alleged victim, now in her mid-30s, made her first public comments after the group released a list of 46 people who have been barred for life or permanently resigned their membership, mostly for sexual misconduct. Later in the day, Uchiyama resigned from the Colorado country club where he worked as aquatics director.

* The International Cycling Union asked national members in four countries to investigate riders and officials based on Floyd Landis' claims of doping.