Former Basketball Coach Gottfried Suing State

Former NC State basketball coach Mark Gottfried has filed a lawsuit against his former employer, claiming that it breached his buyout agreement by witholding payments over allegations of NCAA violations involving Dennis Smith Jr.

NC State continues to be haunted by former basketball coach Mark Gottfried.

Not only is the school still defending itself against allegations of NCAA rules violations committed during his tenure, a case that will eventually be decided by a new independent resolution process, but now it must also deal with a lawsuit filed by Gottfried over his buyout agreement.

According to a report by the Triangle Business Journal, Gottfied is suing the Wolfpack to recover $520,000 he claims the university owes him as a result of his firing in 2017. In a nine-page suit filed on Monday, the former coach claims that State has breached its contract with him by withholding its remaining monthly payments over the allegations involving the recruitment of Dennis Smith Jr.

Gottfried was originally dismissed by "mutual written agreement,” according to the lawsuit. But in 2018, after the NCAA issued a Notice of Allegations based on testimony in a federal corruption and fraud trial involving Adidas operatives accused of funneling money to Smith and other top college recruits, the TBJ reports that State sent the former coach a “Notice of Intent to Discharge for Cause” and stopped making payments.

The university’s last payment to Gottfried was made on Aug. 31, 2018, according to the complaint filed in federal court in Raleigh.

Both State and lawyers for Gottfried have declined comment on the case.

Gottfried, who now coaches at Cal State-Northridge, compiled a 209-123 record during his six seasons with the Wolfpack, making the NCAA tournament in each of the first four before dropping off dramatically.

He was dismissed with four games remaining in a 2016-17 season that finished with a 15-17 record despite the addition of Smith, the ACC Rookie of the Year and an eventual first round NBA draft pick.

Smith’s recruitment came into question in 2018, when he was one of six college players named by federal prosecutors in the case against several Adidas officials convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for funneling illegal payments to the players in return for them attending Adidas sponsored schools.

Former Wolfpack assistant Orlando Early was accused by the NCAA of being the middleman in the $40,000 payment to Smith. Gottfried is charged with a “failure to monitor” Early’s actions in Smith’s recruitment.

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