7,718 'volunteer' NCAA coaches get $303M back pay in settlement

A $303 million settlement was reached between a class of Division I assistant coaches and the NCAA Tuesday. If approved, the agreement will resolve two-year-old wage-fixing claims for about 7,718 assistant coaches who worked in these programs from 2019 to 2023 and said they were not paid.

The agreement does not include baseball, as those coaches were in a different case.

In a letter to Division I members obtained by the Daily Journal, NCAA President Charlie Baker said that, if approved, the agreement would pay class members over a three-year period and warned that NCAA revenue distributions could be affected next year.

"The DI Board and the Board of Governors and the respective finance committees will discuss financing the multi-year payments, likely through a combination of revenue distribution reductions, net assets and National office contributions. NCAA revenue distributions could be negatively impacted as soon as May 2026," Baker wrote in the letter.

Attorneys for the plaintiff class said in a statement, "We are incredibly proud of this settlement which, if approved, will provide significant and meaningful compensation to thousands of hard-working coaches." Dennis J. Stewart of Gustafson Gluek PLLC, Michael Lieberman of Fairmark Partners LLP and Robert J. Gralewski of Kirby McInerney LLP added, "We look forward to the approval process and are committed to ensuring that these funds are distributed to coaches in a fair and efficient manner."

The NCAA is represented by Munger Tolles & Olson LLP and led by firm partner Carolyn H. Luedtke. The defense counsel forwarded an email inquiry to an NCAA communications director, who said the association has no comment beyond its president's memo at this time.

The proposed agreement said both sides "aggressively" litigated the case, and while the NCAA denied wrongdoing, it agreed to settle to avoid the cost and uncertainty of continued litigation.

In September, Senior U.S. District Judge William B. Shubb in Sacramento approved a $49.25 million settlement for a class of Division I baseball assistant coaches who worked full time under the NCAA's former "volunteer" coach rule - which barred the category of coaches from receiving salary and benefits. The NCAA repealed the rule in 2023. Smart v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, 2:22-cv-02125 (E.D. Cal., filed Nov. 29, 2022).

According to the new Eastern District of California filing, Shubb could rule on the proposed agreement at a hearing as early as Dec. 22. Ray v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, 1:23-cv-00425 (E.D. Cal., filed March 21, 2023).

In 1992, the NCAA enacted a bylaw that labeled certain Division I coaches as "volunteers" and barred them from pay, benefits and basic perks such as team meals. The rule was enacted on the recommendation of a Cost Reduction Committee as an effort to control spending. In the complaint, the plaintiffs referred to this now-repealed policy as a prime example of wage-fixing.

After decades of scrutiny and legal challenges, the NCAA acknowledged the rule's inequities and repealed it in 2023. These coaches are now recognized as paid members of the staff under the NCAA's "countable coach" policy.

According to the complaint, Division I "volunteer" coaches accepted the unpaid jobs because they had little choice if they wanted to advance in college athletics. With all NCAA schools bound by a bylaw prohibiting pay for these positions, coaches could not find paid equivalents elsewhere and took the roles to gain experience, credentials and visibility within the Division I system.

The complaint notes these positions served as essential career pipelines rather than acts of charity, describing a labor market where aspiring coaches felt compelled to work for free to remain competitive.

"The term 'volunteer coach' is used throughout this complaint because that is how the wage-fixed position at issue in this case is referred to in the NCAA's bylaws. It is a misnomer of course; no coach 'voluntarily' agrees to forgo an available salary for the position; they are required to forgo pay for work as a condition of employment," a footnote in the complaint explained."