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Pflu and UM agree to buy-out terms

Sourced from the Missoulian, no links included:

Former University of Montana Football Coach Robin Pflugrad will receive $44,500 for lost income in addition to his salary and benefits through the end of his contract according to a recent settlement reached between the coach and the Montana University System.

President Royce Engstrom relieved Pflugrad of his duties in March as well as former Athletic Director Jim O'Day.

Pflugrad will receive his base salary of $157,000 and health insurance benefits through the remainder of his contract, which ends Dec. 31, 2012, the end of the calendar year.

What remained in question up until this point was to what extent Pflugrad was entitled to the lengthy list of other revenue-generating opportunities as outlined in his contract, such as football camps, media contracts and performance incentives.

To resolve those income-earning opportunities, the university system and Pflugrad came to an agreement to pay the coach a lump sum of $44,500.

The announcement came in a joint statement released on behalf of both Engstrom and Pflugrad.

Engstrom called Pflugrad "a dedicated coach who was successful on the field for the University of Montana."

He thanked Pflugrad for his service to the program and wished him well with his future endeavors.

Pflugrad in the statement said he was glad to have had the opportunity to coach at UM and is hoping to continue his career in college football.

UM has remained hush on reasons for firing O'Day and Pflugrad, which has upset many Griz supporters.

Former Athletic Director Jim O'Day was fired at the same time as Pflugrad.

O'Day will be paid through the remainder of his contract, which ends June 30, 2012. That means O'Day will receive $155,281 since he was relieved of his duties at the end of March. The additional year of pay was because O'Day was entitled to five-months notice that UM did not plan to renew his contract. He did not receive that notice and therefore was entitled to an additional year of pay
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Pflu - $157,000 PLUS health insurance benefits & 44,500 = $201,000 (plus benefits cost)

Oday - $155,281 (Plus Benefits)

Total cost of Royce Engstrom not doing his job and giving yearly reviews in January is $356,781 plus additional benifits costs.

If Royce had simply done his january employee reviews (which is part of his job and he never gave one to oday in 2 years) he could have simply said he wasnt renewing contracts. In the case of Oday at least and saved UM a $157,000 plus benefits and with Pflu we would have saved at least the $44,000.

Now UM will pay double salaries for these positions this year. How many professors would we have paid with this $356,000?

This should come out of Royce Engstroms paycheck. Or an even better solution would be to non-renew his contract effective IMMEDIATELY! (We would have to pay a double salary to him and his replacement but eh thats ok right Roycie?)

Total cost to UM and UM athletics is going to be much larger than this initial pricetag as well. Engstrom needs to be held accountable for this as well.

Contact the Board of Regents to express your anger with Royce and his handling of this. They hold Engstroms contract and have his leash in hand. The BOR are the ones who need to be flooded with calls demanding Engstroms removal.
 
Tokyogriz said:
Pflu - $157,000 PLUS health insurance benefits & 44,500 = $201,000 (plus benefits cost)

Oday - $155,281 (Plus Benefits)

Total cost of Royce Engstrom not doing his job and giving yearly reviews in January is $356,781 plus additional benifits costs.

If Royce had simply done his january employee reviews (which is part of his job and he never gave one to oday in 2 years) he could have simply said he wasnt renewing contracts. In the case of Oday at least and saved UM a HUGE chunk of money. With Pflu we would have saved at least the $44,000.

Now UM will pay double salaries for these positions this year. How many professors would we have paid with this $356,000?

This should come out of Royce Engstroms paycheck. Or an even better solution would be to non-renew his contract effective IMMEDIATELY!

Total cost to UM and UM athletics is going to be much larger than this initial pricetag as well. Engstrom needs to be held accountable for this.
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Or he could have fired them with cause sent them packing and treated them with no respect and hurt their future careers. AND there is always cause to be found........
 
So much for all the lawsuits and million dollar settlements talked about for weeks on egriz after the announcement. Seems in the end they simply got paid what they were owed under their contracts. Imagine, someone willing to follow a written agreement.
 
Imagine that... Royce Engstrom is the only one who DID NOT follow the written contract or perform his job properly. If he had only done his job and given oday his january review he could have decided to non-renew at the actual proper time. This would have saved UM at least $157,000 plus benefits. He would have saved at least $44,000 on pflus contract as well.

The only person who it is PROVEN has not performed their duties at UM in this case is ROYCE ENGSTROM.

How many vets could have gone to summer school on this $350,000? How many professors or adjuncts could we have paid with this?

If you think UM can afford to flush $350,000 down the toilet then I guess I can undestand why you would support Engstrom.
 
That of course assumes that whatever facts Engstrom relied on in his decision not to renew the contracts were known in January. My guess (and notice I say guess because I have no idea) is that those facts weren't known otherwise the move would have been made then. Which makes a lot more sense than waiting until the middle of spring practice to let go your AD and head football coach. Or it is possible that the facts were known but he was waiting on something else (possibly a legal opinion from University counsel) to make the decision. Regardless, I doubt he simply woke up one morning in April and decided to not renew the contracts of the AD and head football coach. If he did, then he does have some responsibility for understanding the terms of the contracts and, with respect to the AD, made that decision in January to save the University $120k, it wouldn't have made a difference with Plugrad because his contract wasn't up until December. But on the otherhand, Plugrad was negotiating a new contract so by doing it when he did he actually may have saved the University significant money by not letting a new contract go into effect.
 
Tokyogriz said:
Imagine that... Royce Engstrom is the only one who DID NOT follow the written contract or perform his job properly. If he had only done his job and given oday his january review he could have decided to non-renew at the actual proper time. This would have saved UM at least $157,000 plus benefits. He would have saved at least $44,000 on pflus contract as well.

The only person who it is PROVEN has not performed their duties at UM in this case is ROYCE ENGSTROM.

How many vets could have gone to summer school on this $350,000? How many professors or adjuncts could we have paid with this?

If you think UM can afford to flush $350,000 down the toilet then I guess I can undestand why you would support Engstrom.
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Did you ever stop and think that it was the culmination of events BETWEEN January and March that ultimately led to their firings?

Sorry...don't want to let logic get in the way of a good rant... :roll:

edit: should have read dobrmn's post first. :lol:
 
Tokyogriz said:
Imagine that... Royce Engstrom is the only one who DID NOT follow the written contract or perform his job properly. If he had only done his job and given oday his january review he could have decided to non-renew at the actual proper time. This would have saved UM at least $157,000 plus benefits. He would have saved at least $44,000 on pflus contract as well.

The only person who it is PROVEN has not performed their duties at UM in this case is ROYCE ENGSTROM.

How many vets could have gone to summer school on this $350,000? How many professors or adjuncts could we have paid with this?

If you think UM can afford to flush $350,000 down the toilet then I guess I can undestand why you would support Engstrom.
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Not sure your logic. Pflugrad had a three-year contract that expires on Dec. 31, 2012. So, unless Engstrom fired Pflugrad with cause, Pflugrad was going to get the rest of his contract. Yearly reviews by Engstrom would not have changed that.

The report is saying that Pflugrad will get the remainder of his $157,000 of base pay. So, if you want to spread that over 12 months, Pflugrad will get the $117,750 that he would have been paid from April 1 through Dec. 31. (9 months) He was fired on March 29.

If Engstrom would have fired Pflugrad with cause, would be willing to bet that Pflu would have sued, and the price tag would have been much more following legal fees and such.
 
And one other thing --O'Day needed to have a 5-month notice of non-renewal. So, by that timeline, since he was fired/non-renewed on March 29, Engstrom would have had to tell O'Day by Oct. 29. Which I believe is, and I am not looking at a calendar, before the January reviews you are talking about.

On a side note, that is a heck of a provision that O'Day had in his contract. 5 months notice...zow!
 
I believe O'Day's contract required notice be given 5 months prior to it's expiration date of June 30, 2012.
 
Job reviews (not performed every six months)are the most important part of this fiasco in my humble opinion. If these two fired men are nice guys and walk away......without a lawsuit I will be amazed. I can not be certain I would not try to sue the UM myself.

I give a ton of credit to both for being stand up guys and taking this "like a man" and if so, it shows a lot of class!
 
Umista said:
Job reviews (not performed every six months)are the most important part of this fiasco in my humble opinion. If these two fired men are nice guys and walk away......without a lawsuit I will be amazed. I can not be certain I would not try to sue the UM myself.

I give a ton of credit to both for being stand up guys and taking this "like a man" and if so, it shows a lot of class!
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Amen. Regardless of every other fact pertaining to this case - RE did not do his job. Performance appraisals not being given every six months? Really. Doesn't the U system have standards in place for their employees. My God a lawyer should have a field day with this one. Incompetence.
 
it would have been o'day's job to evaluate pflugrad. did he not do his job, or was it just o'day who hadn't been evaluated?
 
GrizBacker04 said:
And one other thing --O'Day needed to have a 5-month notice of non-renewal. So, by that timeline, since he was fired/non-renewed on March 29, Engstrom would have had to tell O'Day by Oct. 29. Which I believe is, and I am not looking at a calendar, before the January reviews you are talking about.

On a side note, that is a heck of a provision that O'Day had in his contract. 5 months notice...zow!
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See my O'Day Q & A post for actual info regarding when the non-renewal must be communicated.

From the Q&A with Oday replying to my question.

Was your contract and/or Robin Pflugrads contract with the University of Montana directly or was your contract with the Montana Board of Regents?

Both Robin and I were on Regents contracts.... Robin's three-year contract expires on Dec. 31, 2012, while mine is a one-year agreement. In the case of a "non-renewal" for a one-year contract, they must let you know by Jan. 31 of that year that they do not plan to renew upon the recommendation of the person's supervisor (they need not give any reason for a non-renewal if delivered by that time). If anytime after that such a decision is reached, the state is obligated to pay all salary/benefits/etc., through June 30 of the following year. Interestingly enough, the last time I received a performance evaluation was August 2010 --- by President Dennison. I never received one in 18 months from President Engstrom.
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I take Jim Odays word over the Missoulian Tabloid any day of the week thanks.
 
So don't renew Royce's contract and have him walk, Paying for him and his replacement will make it all better? Or maybe everyone should sue everyone, that will fix the mess. Why not make the best out of a bad situation and live to watch football.
 
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