Houston Nutt has formally filed a federal lawsuit against his former employer, alleging that head coach Hugh Freeze, AD Ross Bjork and sports information director Kyle Campbell have engaged in a public misinformation campaign against him in an effort to pin NCAA violations against him and away from Freeze.
Ole Miss is currently being investigated by the NCAA for a wide-ranging array of alleged violations spanning both tenures.
Here's the money passage:
And here's Nutt taking a direct, personal shot at Freeze.
Nutt's suit states that Freeze held off-the-record conversations with journalists attempting to pin the violations on Nutt. The suit does not name the journalists but quotes some tweets directly, which we have collected below.
Here's "Journalist No. 1"
"Journalist No. 2"
"Journalist No. 3"
"Journalist No. 4"
"Journalist No. 7"
The lawsuit lays out a case that Freeze and company conducted the same campaign with recruits. Said one to ESPN on Jan. 31, 2016, "(Freeze) said it was about things that had happened in the past before he got to Ole Miss."
The suit also states Nutt left Ole Miss "in good standing" upon his 2011 departure. The Rebels went 2-10, and 0-8 in the SEC.
Nutt's suit is the third active suit by a coach against his former employer, joining Bob Shoop's countersuit against Penn State and Georgia Southern's former co-offensive coordinators claiming fraud, breach of contract and tortious interference.
Nutt seeks damages due to lost wages, emotional distress, embarrassment, attorney's fees and punitive damages.
By the way, Freeze and Ole Miss speak at SEC Media Days tomorrow.
See the full filing here.
Houston Nutt's lawsuit against Ole Miss by yahoosports on Scribd