Robert Morris, and nearly all NCAA University Trustee’s and Boards have such arrogance that it would make most people sick just to sit in a room with them.
That arrogance lead to Robert Morris killing off their ice hockey programs without any notice to the student athletes they would effect. That arrogance has lead to nearly zero dialogue with multiple groups offering solutions to re-instate the programs.
And that arrogance is about to get them their asses kicked legally.
Enter brilliant legal mind Jeffery Kessler. The king slayer I personally like to call him. Don’t know who Jeffery Kessler is? then you are not a lawyer or are not up on NCAA or sports litigation.
Jeffery Kessler is the attorney who took the NFL through 15 bouts of body blows in Tom Brady’s Deflategate mess.
Jeffery Kessler is the attorney who just kicked the NCAA’s ass in a nine to zero ruling.
Jeffery Kessler just took Stanford University to task, and got them to reinstate 11 programs it originally tried to cut in a similarly shady manner that RMU did with its hockey teams.
Jeffery Kessler is the terminator. The king slayer, and everything every University in the NCAA should go to sleep fearing every night they are thinking about screwing student athletes while taking themselves employed with excessive salaries and benefits.
You can bet Kessler has a copy of Robert Morris athletic director Chris King recorded on a Zoom call telling student-athletes that the university bosses intentionally withheld plans to dissolve the programs from players and coaches in the name of a “PR strategy.”
King also admitted that roughly three weeks went by between when he was informed the programs were likely to be eliminated and when players were allowed to find out.
I wonder what a brilliant legal mind will do with that evidence?
I wonder what Dr. Christopher Howard, Robert Morris University President, was thinking when he opened the email from Jeffery Kessler on Monday informing him that he was now representing those hockey players who were destroyed by RMU’s actions? I think maybe someone realized they may have just pooped the bed.
Kessler’s possible legal argument is that he believes the school fraudulently withheld its intent to eliminate the teams while the school continued to actively recruit new players and retain current players in what has a become a free transfer year for NCAA athletes thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. And that ladies and gentlemen is at a minimum a civil fraud worthy of damages and potentially a criminal fraud.
Oh damn, another email came in on Monday from another very well known Attorney who has done a lot of work in professional sports including the NFL. Attorney Kevin Spellacy, whose son was planning to return to RMU as a senior before all this happened.
Spellacy has defended many prominent NFL players in many actions, and few know the in’s and out’s of sports litigation like he does. Well except maybe Jeffery Kessler.
What happens now? Anyone can guess. My best guess though is that RMU’s President and Trustee’s will crumble like cowards should crumble. Look for big news from RMU probably reaching agreements with people who want to save the programs last minute in order to avoid paying out astronomical damages and loosing their jobs.
Joseph Kolodziej – Adviser
