State Ethics Office Rules Corey Edsall Can Coach Only This Year At UConn; Ethics Laws Broken

[kibblesnbits]

In reality, Edsall had no authority to act on behalf of UConn until he was formally hired. The fact that he volunteered his personal time in advance of and in anticipation of hire does not make him the Head Coach. To perform a duty as a head coach means by definition exercising the power to direct subordinates under a cognizable grant of authority which has the power to bind. No such thing can occur in that situation. Moreover, under sovereign immunity the State was not bound to any commitment until it signed a contract in accordance with statutory authority. The state is a distinctly different type of entity than a private person. So, no, he was not a head coach nor could exercise any authority as one.

Can you point to any authority that says "performing a duty" of a position is limited to "exercising the power to direct subordinates?" I know my job description includes many other duties and I'm sure Edsall's does too. Some are explicit (e.g. manage a budget) and some are implicit (e.g. hire a staff includes following organization processes such as going through HR to post jobs and execute offers). Edsall was performing a duty as head coach in working with HR and recruiting staff.

The best solution is to have an exception carved out by the legislature. Unfortunately, they are grid-locked with the budget mess and I don't know if getting anything else done is possible.

 

[BlueDogs]

Can you point to any authority that says "performing a duty" of a position is limited to "exercising the power to direct subordinates?" I know my job description includes many other duties and I'm sure Edsall's does too. Some are explicit (e.g. manage a budget) and some are implicit (e.g. hire a staff includes following organization processes such as going through HR to post jobs and execute offers). Edsall was performing a duty as head coach in working with HR and recruiting staff.

The best solution is to have an exception carved out by the legislature. Unfortunately, they are grid-locked with the budget mess and I don't know if getting anything else done is possible.

I think your point reinforces what I am saying. To be responsible for overseeing a budget means exercising a power (that is a power to direct to spend or not to spend)... unless you are not really responsible and just reporting information to others who make that decision. In so far as recruiting goes, he had no power to act because he was not employed. He could not make any commitment to any recruit. He was at best an adviser (unpaid) that could recommend to the AD an offer go out, but he could not do so himself on behalf of the school. Remember the flimsy argument of the Board has to be he was already an employee of the state with supervisory powers. This simply is not the case no matter how much they think the arrangement was in substance an avoidance strategy. The law's a bitch and they are refusing to acknowledge its reality. Was he acting as a head coach? No, because lawfully he couldn't. Did they navigate around the provisions of the law? Undoubtedly. Are they permitted to do so? Yes. Otherwise, we live in a banana republic where authorities can interpret laws to mean whatever they want irrespective of their express meaning. We don't do.. "well even if it didn't say it, that's what we meant and therefore you violated it." The Board decision is classicly an overreach by authorities that have an axe to grind because somebody circumvented them instead of genuflecting at their feet.

 

[CL82]

Can you point to any authority that says "performing a duty" of a position is limited to "exercising the power to direct subordinates?" I know my job description includes many other duties and I'm sure Edsall's does too. Some are explicit (e.g. manage a budget) and some are implicit (e.g. hire a staff includes following organization processes such as going through HR to post jobs and execute offers). Edsall was performing a duty as head coach in working with HR and recruiting staff.

The best solution is to have an exception carved out by the legislature. Unfortunately, they are grid-locked with the budget mess and I don't know if getting anything else done is possible.

Tortured analysis.

The contract expressly states his start date. He had no ability to bind the university prior to that.

 

[kibblesnbits]

He has no ability to unilaterally bind the university now to an employment contract. I'm sure only HR can issue job offers. However, if they were acting under his instructions and issuing offers prior to 1/3, then I still believe a court can reasonably find that he was acting based on the powers conveyed in his binding contract to be UConn's head football coach (in fact, he could have only been acting based on those powers as he had no other relationship with the university), even though he hadn't officially started. We'll see who is right, and frankly I hope you and Bluedogs are, but I suspect that won't be the case.