NCAA Wins Case Over Ole Miss Violations During Freeze Era
The NCAA lands a major legal win at the Supreme Court of Mississippi as court holds NCAA's enforcement process regarding Ole Miss was constitutional.
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Cliffs:
The Mississippi Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the NCAA regarding a lawsuit brought by former Ole Miss Asst. AD for High School and Junior College Relations Barney Farrar regarding violations found to have occurred during former Football HC Hugh Freeze’s tenure. After the COI concluded Farrar engaged in multiple acts of wrongdoing, including arranging for boosters to make cash payments of between $13,000 to $15,600 to a football recruit, Farrar sued the NCAA in 2020, raising such claims as negligence, malicious interference with employment, denial of due process under the Mississippi Constitution and usurpation of judicial function. A trial court dismissed much of the case but denied the NCAA’s motion to grant summary judgment as to the remaining two claims: due process and malicious interference. The Supreme Court of Mississippi accepted the NCAA’s appeal, which was led by attorneys J. Cal Mayo Jr., Paul Bowie Watkins and Sarah Katherine Embry. Sportico’s Michael McCann: “NCAA v. Farrar strengthens the NCAA’s longstanding legal position that, as a private membership organization where member schools and conferences voluntarily join, it has the contractual right to adopt and enforce compliance rules that govern the conduct of member institutions and their staff.”
