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Duryea’s contract states an expected tenure of five (5) years, but something doesn’t add up.
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Utah State rumored to be “weaseling out of” Duryea’s final paycheck
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Utah State’s former head basketball coach is in a pickle.
Tim Duryea, recently relieved of his coaching duties a year before his contract allegedly ended, appears to be having trouble claiming his final year’s salary. Evidently, a discrepancy in his contract cuts what should’ve been a five-year deal short, concluding the university’s legal obligation to pay the man in June 2019 instead of 2020.
“Discrepancy” is the university’s word for it. To Duryea’s camp, “typo” seems more fitting.
“We have supporting documents that says it is five years,” Angie Duryea, the former coach’s wife, said according to CacheValleyDaily.com. “The intent was five years and they are trying to weasel out of it. Seventeen years and this is what we get.”
Mrs. Duryea has a point – her husband’s been on staff with USU hoops since 2001, acting as a model assistant for 14 seasons before earning the head coaching gig in 2015. While Utah State is well within its rights to move on from coach Duryea, the contract dispute mars what should’ve been a clean break into a new era of Aggie basketball.
While the hiring of Craig Smith might have gifted the program a brief burst of enthusiasm following Duryea’s 47-49 tenure, the departure of star guard Koby McEwen and now a messy legal dilemma threatens to overshadow USU’s attempt to move forward.
Utah State has yet to decide whether to pay Duryea the $379,000 he’s due, or further explore the legal loophole and risk the bad press.
“We are working to resolve a discrepancy in the dates,” USU spokesman Tim Vitale confirmed in an email to the Salt Lake Tribune. “Our counsel is in conversations with his attorney to try to resolve the differences.”