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5 hours ago
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Down in Coral Gables, head coach Mario Cristobal and the University of Miami football program find themselves in the eye of a hurricane.
On Friday afternoon, the University of Wisconsin filed a lawsuit against the ACC co-favorite, claiming that the Miami football program broke the law by tampering with defensive back Xavier Lucas, who left Wisconsin and enrolled at Miami in January after claiming that the Wisconsin coaching staff wouldn’t enter his name into the transfer portal.
ESPN’s Dan Murphy called this lawsuit, “a first-of-its-kind legal attempt to enforce the terms of a financial contract between a football player and his school.”
Per Murphy, the complaint states that, “a Miami staff member and a prominent alumnus met with Lucas and his family at a relative’s home and offered him money to transfer.” This came only a month after Lucas had signed a two-year contract to play for the Badgers, meaning that Miami allegedly attempted to interfere and encourage Luca to break the terms of his newly signed deal.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Big Ten Conference came out in support of the University of Wisconsin, releasing the following statement to Pete Nakos of On3 Sports:
"The Big Ten Conference is aware of the litigation recently filed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison against the University of Miami and is supportive of UW-Madison's position. As alleged, the University of Miami knowingly ignored contractual obligations and disregarded the principle of competitive equity that is fundamental to collegiate athletics. The Big Ten Conference believes that the University of Miami's actions are irreconcilable with a sustainable college sports framework and is supportive of UW-Madison's efforts to preserve."
Representatives from the University of Miami have yet to comment on the lawsuit.
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