Former Tide football coach loses appeal to high court over pay

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) Former Alabama defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson, who claims he has not been paid money the university owed him when he was fired in December 2000, lost his appeal Friday to the state Supreme Court.<br> <br> Johnson, now the defensive coordinator at Mississippi State, still had a year and a a half remaining on his contract when he was dismissed along with head coach Mike DuBose and the rest of the staff at the end of the 2000 season.<br> <br> But the court ruled that university officials did not commit fraud by not telling Johnson that the university would be immune from lawsuit if they failed to pay him. An attorney for Johnson said the ruling means any contract with any state institution in Alabama is unenforceable.<br> <br> Johnson sued the university, along with then-President Andrew Sorensen and then-Athletic Director Bob Bockrath, accusing them of failing to abide by the contract.<br> <br> The contract said Johnson would continue to get his paycheck until he found ``comparable employment.&#39;&#39; Johnson stopped receiving checks from the university later in December 2000, when he accepted the head coaching job at his alma mater, The Citadel, a Division I-AA school. Johnson argued in his lawsuit that The Citadel is not comparable employment to Alabama, one of the most recognized names in college football.<br> <br> Johnson&#39;s salary at Alabama was reportedly about $122,000 a year in 2000.<br> <br> A Tuscaloosa judge dismissed the lawsuit, saying the University of Alabama was immune from liability and that the athletic director and president could also not be found liable because they were acting as agents of the university. Johnson appealed the lower court rulings concerning Sorensen and Bockrath, claiming that they committed fraud by leading him to believe he could go to court if the university failed to honor the contract.<br> <br> The Supreme Court, however, ruled Friday that Sorensen and Bockrath were not legal scholars and would have had no way of knowing what they told Johnson was false.<br> <br> One of Johnson&#39;s attorneys, Thomas Powell of Birmingham, said the university&#39;s immunity means that employment contracts with Alabama are unenforceable.<br> <br> ``It&#39;s important to know that any contract with any state institution is unenforceable. You need to get your money up front. That applies to every football coach, every professor,&#39;&#39; Powell said.<br> <br> Powell said Johnson still has a claim against the university pending before the state Board of Adjustment.<br> <br> Johnson did not return a phone message left at his office at Mississippi State. An attorney for Bockrath and Sorensen, George Gordon, also did not return a message left at his office.<br> <br> (Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)