Nathan Deen reports…

The attorney representing former Georgia Southern assistant coaches David Dean and Rance Gillespie, who have filed separate lawsuits against the university and various members of the GS athletic department, told the Savannah Morning News on Monday that both suits appear headed for trial. Georgia Southern and the other defendants named in the lawsuits have shown no desire to settle the case outside of court, said Rick Davis, an attorney with the Wallace, Jordan, Ratliff & Brandt law firm, based in Birmingham, Alabama. Davis has represented many clients within the sports industry over his 30-year career, including former Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden.

Breaking news this morning from the Savannah Morning News. Nathan Deen reports that David Dean and Rance Gillespie’s lawsuits against Georgia Southern University are preparing to go to trial. Continuing to add to the odious residue from last year’s disaster.

Need context? This quote should do.

After being offered the job by Summers and receiving formal offer sheets, both David Dean and Rance Gillespie signed 18-month contracts on Jan. 27, 2016, that established June 30, 2017 as the end of their term. Both coaches claim that more than nine months later, they learned the school’s Board of Regents and the Georgia Southern University Athletic Foundation never signed the contracts. According to the lawsuits, Summers notified the coaching staff on Nov. 3, 2016, that new contracts were being prepared.

I don’t have a lot of analysis for you. Only a pile of questions. Starting with how can President Jaimie Herbert let this go to trial? Why not settle out of court? Sweep it under the rug? Put that $1.2 million surplus to good use.

Why drag Georgia Southern’s name through the mud even longer than it already has? The Georgia Southern University Athletic Foundation never signed Dean or Gillespie’s 18 month contracts. Was that on purpose or did they forget? I highly doubt it is the latter.

To allow this to fester in the media, on top of having a football coach on the hot seat, shows a tremendous lack of foresight and savvy by university leadership. This does not look good at all. I know I’m not the only one that yearns for the days of Dr. Brooks Keel.