LAFAYETTE La.
The first black head football coach at any major Louisiana university has won a $2 million judgment in a lawsuit claiming that the University of Louisiana at Lafayette fired him because of his race, not because his teams lost 80 percent of their games.
Jurors found that Jerry Baldwin’s race wasn’t the only reason he lost the job, but was among the reasons. University officials broke his contract and inflicted emotional distress through negligence, according to the jury of six whites and six blacks.
Jurors took nearly 10 hours to work their way through a complicated verdict form.
“There is no substitute for victory,” said Baldwin’s attorney, G. Karl Bernard. He said Baldwin appreciates the chance to air his grievances.
ULL attorney Steve Oats said the evidence doesn’t support the verdict for Baldwin, who was coach from 1999-2001, but he and university officials haven’t decided their next step.
“It is clear Jerry Baldwin was not terminated because of his race,” Oats said. “Jerry Baldwin was terminated over his tenure. The team had a record of 6-27 and attendance was terrible. The program was not going in the right direction.”
In closing arguments for the eight-day trial, Bernard said white coaches before and after Baldwin got new equipment and had a greater ability to market the football program via a coach’s television show and through the university’s marketing department.
