A Lancaster County district judge has ordered the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to release fired football coach Scott Frost’s restructured contract to the public. The school won’t appeal the ruling.
Athletic Director Trev Alberts reworked the contracts of both Frost and men’s basketball coach Fred Hoiberg earlier this year following disappointing seasons with both coaches agreeing to salary cuts.
In April, USA Today filed a public record request with UNL for the details of Frost’s contract and in May filed a similar request on Hoiberg’s. The school declined, saying the contracts were covered under the open record law’s personal information exemption.
USA Today sued and UNL repeated the exemption claim, later adding the argument that when Frost was fired, the information request became moot.
The judge rejected both arguments, saying the contract details didn’t meet the “personal information” exemption and that under current law, the firing had no bearing on whether the public records were available for disclosure.
Alberts released the general details of Frost’s revised contract yesterday while appearing on the Huskers Radio Network, explaining that “it really isn’t a huge secret” and that he just wanted a verbal agreement with Frost but the coach wanted it in writing.
Alberts said he and Frost talked a lot about the Huskers making “incremental progress,” agreeing that winning at least 6 games and getting to a bowl game meant they “could sort of revert back to his original contract” and $5-million dollar salary.