Former Mississippi State football coach Jackie Sherrill and the NCAA reached agreement in a longstanding lawsuit filed in 2004.
The settlement, reached on the third day of a trial in Madison County, Miss., was confidential. Sherrill’s attorney, Wayne Ferrell, revealed only that there was a financial settlement and that the agreement also cleared him to work at any NCAA school.
Sherrill filed the suit after he resigned from Mississippi State in 2003 amid an NCAA investigation into alleged promises of unallowed benefits to one recruit and to the family of another.
The NCAA’s Committee on Infractions found insufficient evidence to punish Sherrill but did place Mississippi State on probation. Sherrill, 75, contended in his lawsuit that the NCAA investigation harmed his reputation and kept him from getting another job.
The settlement was reached Wednesday afternoon.
Sherrill began his head coaching career in 1976 with Washington State, leading the Cougars to a 3-8 record in his only season there. From 1977-81, he coached at Pitt, followed by a stint at Texas A&M from 1982-88.
Mississippi State hired him as its coach in 1991, and in his 13 seasons there, he compiled a 75-75-2 record. In 26 years of coaching, his record was 180-120-4.
