UA System to get contract aid
Outside lawyers to help with hiring coaches, administrators
PETIT JEAN STATE PARK — Citing the growing complexity of contracts for both coaches and academic administrators, the University of Arkansas System plans to seek help from outside attorneys who would be on call to help negotiate hiring deals, the system’s top attorney said Tuesday.
JoAnn Maxey, the system’s general counsel, said requests for qualifications will be solicited.
“Hopefully, we’ll get some attorneys who can assist us when the next occasion arises,” Maxey said at a workshop held for the University of Arkansas System’s board of trustees.
Donald Bobbitt, president of the UA System, called some deals being negotiated at other colleges and universities “amazingly complex.”
He said campuses need specialists to help find out “what is really the norm nowadays,” noting the deferred compensation and performance bonuses arranged by some schools as an example of contract complexity.
Bobbitt said that some compensation details remain out of view, even at public institutions, despite public-disclosure laws.
“We release the entire contract in this state, and I think that’s a good thing,” Bobbitt said. But elsewhere, public institutions “hide it in private foundations,” making if difficult to research the totality of compensation deals, Bobbitt said.
Matt McCoy, an associate general counsel for the UA System based in Fayetteville, said such research is standard already when it comes to examining coaching contracts.
“We build a book,” McCoy said, adding that UA’s athletic contract deals have been copied by others, referring to the school’s use of noncompete language in some contracts.
The UA System’s central office has five staff attorneys, including one part-timer, Maxey said. The system has 13 colleges and universities, and Maxey estimated that there are about 19 attorneys total within the system, including five positions based at the Fayetteville campus and seven at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.