Nearly two years removed from his time in Happy Valley, and Bob Shoop still can’t put Penn State in the rearview mirror.
In early June, PennLive.com has reported, PSU filed a breach of contract lawsuit against Shoop in Centre County (PA) court in early June. Monday, the same site noted, the the suit was moved to U.S. Middle District Court.
In the suit, the university is seeking nearly $900,000 it says Shoop owes it after he left as the defensive coordinator at Penn State for the same job at Tennessee in January of 2016.
From the website’s report:A clause in his contract stated if Shoop resigned before his contract expired on Feb. 15, 2018, he had to pay Penn State liquidated damages of 50 percent “of his base pay” for the remainder of his contract, according to the court documents. The contract stated Shoop wouldn’t have to pay PSU back, if he became the head coach at another university within one year of the date of his resignation.
The university claims that, with over two years remaining on his contract when Shoop resigned, he owes $891,856, the court records state.
According to the documents, Penn State requested, in writing, that Shoop make the payment required under the contract. The university, in the lawsuit, claims Shoop has not made any payment, and, through counsel, has indicated a refusal to make such a payment.
Normally, universities, especially as it pertains to head coaches or coordinators, will take care of any buyout when they hire an individual away from another program. In this case, however, there was no buyout language related to his previous employer written into his contract with UT.
In Shoop’s first season in Knoxville, the Vols’ defense finished tied for 68th nationally in scoring (28.8 points per game) and 95th in yards allowed (449.2 per game). In the last season under John Jancek, before the two sides “parted ways” in January of last year, they finished 25th (21.2 ppg) and 46th (370 ypg) in those same two categories.