It’s unlikely you’ve noticed, but there’s a pretty contentious coach-vs.-former school conflict going on. To me, it’s mostly interesting because it involves not WVU and Michigan or two schools you might see on a Saturday night in October or a Thursday night in March.

It’s Marist and James Madison and the Red Foxes are not happy they lost their men’s basketball coach to the Dukes. Law san rely heavily on legal precedence, so perhaps it’s no surprise Marist is relying heavily on WVU v. P-Rod.

“To me, that was sort of the first shift in the power struggle from the power being concentrated in the hands of the coaches,” Fitzgerald said. “That was a significant case.”

Well, I feel vindicated.

As far as Marist is concerned, this case is significant, too. Sure, it’s a so-what? kind of school and Brady isn’t commonly seen as Wooden Jr., but there’s principle here. It deals with the mid-majors whose jobs are often treated as stepping-stones and whose coaches frequently take a big season and cash in with a job at a bigger school.

“It seems like they want to put an end to these ‘year-to-year contracts’ with coaches,” he said. “It’s a power struggle that’s going to continue between the coaches and the schools.”

While the West Virginia and BC situations involved big-time programs and, at least in Rodriguez’s case, a substantial amount of money, Fitzgerald said the Marist lawsuit could have ramifications for mid-major schools.

“I think it has some precedential value,” the attorney said. “The more interesting part is if it will change things at the mid-major level. Is there enough money to make it worthwhile?”