Former USD football coach Kevin McGarry has reached an undisclosed settlement in his wrongful termination suit against the school.
McGarry filed suit against USD in 2004 after being fired abruptly in the middle of one of USD's best seasons in 2003. He was replaced by Jim Harbaugh two months later.
“I can only tell you it was settled satisfactorily,” said McGarry, whose record as head coach was 39-37 in seven-plus seasons, including 5-1 in 2003.
USD officials declined comment, citing school policy on personnel matters.
Before the settlement, the court ruled USD officials were entitled to more than $115,000 in attorneys' fees from McGarry after they succeeded in having his defamation claims against them struck from the suit. McGarry said he could not discuss how that financial issue was resolved.
According to the suit, a USD official told McGarry three reasons for his firing. He was accused of kicking a football in the direction of trainers after they gave him bad news about injuries. McGarry said this was a lie. He also was accused of engaging in a profanity-laced tirade at a cheerleading camp when he wanted to use the field for football practice. A campus security officer's report of the incident contradicts this account, saying “McGarry did not use profanity.”
The third incident was a phone conversation with assistant coach Tim Drevno about how much time Drevno would be permitted to spend with his family after his wife had given birth. USD officials had described it as a heated argument. McGarry said USD's account of the incident was “grossly mischaracterized.” McGarry was fired later that week.
McGarry recently has worked as a teacher and assistant coach at Hilltop High.
Brent Schrotenboer: (619) 293-1368; brent.schrotenboer@uniontrib.com
