John Chavis suing LSU AND Texas A&M, LSU sues back

Surely, this must be the weirdest story out there today.

Texas A&M DC John Chavis is suing former employer LSU as well as his current employer Texas A&M over this new contract.

Chavis, who left LSU at the end of the season for College Station, where he replaced much harangued/awful defensive co-ordinator Mark Snyder, is suing LSU because the Baton Rouge school has asked Chavis for $400,000 which he claims he does not owe.

According to College Station TV station KBIX’s website, John Chavis was given the right to terminate his employment agreement with the Tigers “without cause with 30 days notice.” It added: “If there were between zero and 11 months left on the deal, Chavis claimed he would owe nothing to LSU, but if between 11 and 23 months were left, he would owe $400,000 to the university.”

Here’s where it gets crazy. According to The Advocate, LSU AD Joe Alleva asked Chavis to give LSU $400,000, since his departure broke his contract before end-January 2015. “In the letter, Alleva writes that LSU is owed the buyout because Chavis broke his contract before Jan. 31, 2015,” The Advocate notes. ” Chavis’ deal did not have a buyout if he left during the last 11 months of the deal.”

Chavis had an original agreement which extended his contract in Baton Rouge to the end of the 2015 season.

Now here’s where it gets strange. Chavis insists that he wasn’t within his contract when he walked to College Station, and therefore doesn’t owe the Tigers the money.

So where does this involve the Aggies? Oh, because “Texas A&M is currently obligated to satisfy or cause to be satisfied the liquidated damages, if any, associated with Chavis’ previous Employment Agreement with LSU…adding that the school is unwilling to tender the liquidated damages demanded by LSU because it does it does (sic) not believe that liquidated damages are called for under the Employment Agreement as mentioned above.”

And the fun part is is that LSU has decided to sue Chavis for breach of contract, according to several tweets by Ross Dellenger of The Advocate. As well as the monies owed, LSU wants: “Damages caused from the reputational harm caused by Chavis’ conduct”, as well as compensation for the departure of other assistant coaches, loss of recruits and potential loss on ticket sales. And if they don’t get the buyout money, they want Chavis to support new DC Kevin Steele’s relocation, as well as lawyers’ fees for his deal.”

Texas A&M has said: “There is not a dispute between Coach Chavis and Texas A&M. The University stands behind its commitment to Coach Chavis to pay any buyout to LSU. The issue is that Texas A&M disagrees with LSU that any buyout payment is due.“