IU settles Izard suit for $76,775

Former head women's basketball coach Jim Izard accepted a settlement offer from IU over a lawsuit that Izard filed shortly after his dismissal in March of 2000. Izard, 53, stated in the lawsuit that then-athletic director, Clarence Doninger, illegally terminated him because he wanted a younger, female head coach.\nIU hired current coach Kathi Bennett, 39, and gave her a five year contract worth $110,000 in her first year. Izard also cited the over $30,000 disparity between that salary and the amount he made in his final year as a violation of the equal pay law.\nThe settlement will pay Izard $76,775, with $26,065 for emotional distress, $20,000 for back wages and $30,710 for legal fees.\n"As with any litigation, you have to make the determination as to whether or not it is worth moving forward and fully litigating the matter and taking into account the costs associated with that or whether there is an opportunity to bring the matter to closure earlier," Vice President for Public Affairs and Government Relations Bill Stephan said. "At the end of the day in the final analysis, the decision was: Is it in the best interest of the University to settle this as opposed to litigate it? The answer was yes."\nAs part of the settlement, IU maintains its claim that there was no illegal activity behind Izard's firing. \n"I think in as much as the settlement does acknowledge that IU is not admitting fault here, it was a reasonably good result for the University to bring this matter to closure early," Stephan said. "I think we are encouraged that we were able to bring it to closure in an expeditious fashion. In the final analysis, it was in the University's best interest."\nDoninger said the motivation for the firing was solely in the interest of evolving the team, and IU should have defended that stance.\n"We felt it was time to go in a different direction, that was all there was to it," Doninger said. "Everybody's got a right to file a lawsuit, but it was totally without merit. I wouldn't have settled it. He had no case." \nDoninger said claims in the lawsuit suggesting he told Izard he wanted a female head coach were false. \n"That was absolutely incorrect," Doninger said. "That was simply an allegation in his complaint and is absolutely incorrect."\nIzard, the fifth coach in the school history of the women's basketball team, is the program's all-time winningest coach. He coached from 1988 to 2000 and led IU to nine winning seasons, two NCAA tournament bids and a second place finish in the NIT. He is now at the helm of the women's basketball program at Berry College in Rome, Georgia. \nIzard's attorneys could not be reached for comment. \nIU counsel Dorothy Frapwell told The Herald-Times that the University decided that reaching an early settlement was the best way to resolve the lawsuit.