DURHAM, N.C. _ While Greg Frey prepares for his first season as Duke's offensive line coach, a contract dispute with his former employer _ and alma mater _ has landed in court.
According to documents filed in a Florida federal court, Frey is suing Florida State for money he says he's owed following his February 2019 firing. He seeks nearly $700,000.
The lawsuit's documents, obtained by the News & Observer, detail Frey's 2018 move from coaching offensive line at Michigan to returning to Florida State, where as a player he helped the Seminoles win the 1993 national championship.
After one season coaching on Willie Taggart's staff at FSU, Frey was dismissed after Houston's Kendal Briles took over as the team's offensive coordinator. FSU replaced Frey with Randy Clements, who had coached with Briles at Houston.
Frey said he left Michigan, where he was run game coordinator and offensive line coach, to return to his alma mater with the promise his two-year contract would not include a buyout provision. His Michigan contract included no buyout provision and he wanted the same at Florida State, the lawsuit states.
In the lawsuit, he said then-Florida State athletics director Stan Wilcox agreed to that provision during a phone conversation. When he came to Florida State in January 2018, Frey worked under a signed letter of agreement that stipulated, among other things, that he receive a $650,000 salary, a $650 monthly car allowance and a $25,000 signing bonus.
Two months later, when the university presented him with his full contract, it included buyout language meaning he would owe Florida State the remaining amount of his salary if he left for any coaching position other than head coach or a professional football coaching job.
His attorney, David Allen Roberts, called that stipulation "draconian" in the lawsuit, adding the contract terms "were not accurately reflective of the negotiations between the parties."
Frey refused to sign the agreement while his agent attempted to get the language adjusted. Florida State administration refused that request, saying that all its football assistant coaches' contracts included that buyout provision, according to the lawsuit.
Because Frey never signed his full contract, Florida State general counsel Carolyn Egan wrote in an email to Frey's attorney on March 26, 2019, the school only owed him 12 weeks salary _ not a full year of salary and compensation _ when he was fired.
Frey began to fear his job was in jeopardy when offensive coordinator Walt Bell resigned in November 2018 after the Seminoles finished a 5-7 season. Taggart hired Briles as the new offensive coordinator and Frey believed Briles would bring Clements along with him from Houston.
The lawsuit claims Frey received assurances from Taggart in December 2018 that his job was safe since Taggart told him they were "not planning on making any further changes." Frey said Taggart gave him more assurances in January 2019 when he forbid Frey or any of FSU's assistant coaches from attending a national coaching convention.
Frey had sought to attend the convention in part to network and develop a back-up plan in case he lost his Florida State job.
On Feb. 15, 2019, nine days after college football's second signing day, Taggart fired Frey. Clements was announced as the team's new offensive line coach Feb. 21.
The lawsuit states that FSU waited to fire Frey and hire Clements until Clements' Houston buyout clause had been reduced.
"Coach Frey was essentially used in this soap opera of events despite his continued and unwavering loyalty to his alma mater," Roberts wrote in the lawsuit.
Frey claims he was unable to find a similar coaching job in college football because most coaching staffs were set by that time. He accepted a job as a quality control analyst, at a far lower salary, at Florida and suffered "financial hardship," according to the lawsuit.
Duke hired Frey as its new offensive line coach on David Cutcliffe's staff this past January.
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