OXFORD — The legal saga between Houston Nutt and Ole Miss will live to see another day, and maybe many more after that.

Nutt's legal reps, Thomas Mars and Ridgeland-based Walter Morrison, sent a settlement proposal, which reportedly asked for Ole Miss to publicly apologize to Nutt and pay $500,000 to fund an integrity for college sports commission in Mississippi, to the university last week.

Oxford-based attorney Cal Mayo, who's a member of the outside counsel representing Ole Miss, confirmed no settlement was reached between the two sides.

"And here I thought we'd done them a huge favor," Mars said. "As they say, no good deed goes unpunished."

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The university didn't see it as a favor and stuck with the sentiments it shared a week ago.

"We're in the same position we were in last week," said Ross Bjork, Ole Miss' athletic director. "We don't think it (the case) has any merit and they ought to drop it.

"The nature of the proposal does not allow us to even negotiate with them."

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Ole Miss' outside counsel sent its response to Morrison Tuesday morning. Mars had yet to see it as of Tuesday evening.

"I have no idea where they got that idea," Mars said. "We never said anything to suggest we weren't willing to negotiate. Bubba Morrison sent them a detailed written proposal last Friday. End of story."

Mars declined to comment on specific details of the proposal.

RELATED: Houston Nutt now wants more than an apology, but Ole Miss will not give him one

Bjork isn't a defendant in the lawsuit, which was filed on July 12 by Nutt against Ole Miss, its athletic foundation and the IHL's Board of Trustees for a breach of contract and good faith and fair dealing.

But he's one of three people, along with Hugh Freeze and Kyle Campbell, the school's associate athletic director for communications, who were alleged to have led a misinformation campaign against Nutt in regard to Ole Miss' 2016 Notice of Allegations.

Mars insists he sought just an apology from the university at first. The university feels it doesn't owe him one.

The central problem is that Nutt's side believes the university violated a non-disparagement provision in its severance agreement in Nutt's contract, while outside counsel representing the university claims there was never an agreement, but merely a directive and that it gave that to the right people.

So the difference is essentially why things stand as they do today.

So that begs the question of what's next?

Ole Miss and the IHL filed a motion to dismiss in the case nearly two weeks ago. An order to stay was put in place last week.

Mars plans to respond to the university and IHL's motion this week. He also plans to pursue further legal action but did not explain what route he would take.

"I'd rather it be a surprise," he said. "It's more interesting that way."

Other than a few statements in the past week, Ole Miss hasn't said much about this case, which has already cost Freeze his job.

But it's committed to its position that it doesn't owe an apology or money to Nutt.

ContactAntonio Morales at 601-961-7117 oramorales2@gannett.com. Follow him onTwitter.