Former Ohio University football coach Brian Smith filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the school on Friday. Ohio fired Smith for cause in December 2025, citing allegations that he had a romantic relationship with an undergraduate student and was intoxicated during a public appearance.
“This case arises from Ohio University’s…decision to destroy the career and reputation of its head football coach first and justify it later,” Smith’s lawsuit reads. “Those allegations were never adjudicated, never proven, and never subjected to the fair and contractual process OU promised.”
Smith’s complaint, filed in the Ohio Court of Claims, seeks compensatory damages, including the value of his remaining contract, consequential damages, interest, attorneys’ fees, and additional relief. Smith signed a five-year contract with the Bobcats in December 2024 that included an annual base salary of $615,000, supplemental compensation of $135,000 and retention bonuses of up to $100,000. Had Smith been fired without cause before Dec. 16, 2026, he would have been owed 100 percent of the daily rate of pay remaining under his contract.
The lawsuit alleges that Ohio University breached its employment contract “by terminating (Smith) ‘for cause’ without a good-faith investigation or substantiating any grounds for cause.”
The Bobcats went 8-4 under Smith in 2025, his first and only season as head coach.
“The University rushed to judgment, ignored its contractual obligations, and prioritized its financial interest over a fair process,” Rex Elliott, Smith’s lawyer, said in a statement provided to The Athletic. “This case is about accountability. OU’s actions have irreparably harmed Coach Smith’s coaching career, and he is owed the full balance of his contractually agreed-upon compensation.”
Ohio University, in a statement to The Athletic, called the lawsuit “unfounded.”
“As the University stated in December 2025, Brian Smith’s termination for cause was based on violations of the established terms within his employment agreement. This lawsuit is unfounded, and the University will strongly defend itself in court. Consistent with its longstanding practice, the University declines to comment further on pending litigation.”
The Athletic recently documented a rise in for-cause firings of college head coaches, which allow universities to terminate employment without paying contractual buyouts, often following off-field incidents. These firings often spark legal battles. Seven FBS head football coaches were fired for cause from 2021 to 2025, including Smith.
On Dec. 1, 2025, three days after Ohio football concluded its regular season, the athletic department released a brief statement that Smith “will be on leave for an undetermined period of time.” On Dec. 17, the university announced that it had fired Smith for cause.
“The termination follows an administrative review of allegations that Smith violated the terms of his employment agreement by engaging in serious professional misconduct and participating in activities that reflect unfavorably on the University,” Ohio said in a statement at the time.
According to documents later obtained by The Athletic, the university had previously sent Smith a notice of termination letter, citing five grounds for firing him for cause and voiding any buyout. The first citation was “extramarital affairs, including one with an undergraduate student.” The school claimed such a relationship violated Smith’s contract by bringing “disrepute, scandal and ridicule” to the university and the athletic department.
In a response to the university, Elliott wrote that Smith and his wife had already separated, and divorce proceedings were ongoing.
“First, Coach Smith didn’t participate in an extramarital affair, and you know it,” Elliott wrote to Ohio University’s president in December 2025. “Coach Smith did not hide the relationship, and even his now ex-wife didn’t accuse him of engaging in an extramarital affair.”
Smith’s lawsuit further states, “there is no University policy prohibiting consensual relationships between employees and students whom the employee does not have a direct supervisory or evaluative control over.”
Ohio University’s termination notice also cited a report that stated Smith “smelled of alcohol” and acted intoxicated in his demeanor during a public appearance. Smith was previously reprimanded in November 2025 for drinking and storing alcohol in his on-campus football office. During that investigation, Smith acknowledged he periodically had a single drink of bourbon with assistant coaches after normal business hours, but Elliott claimed Smith was never inebriated at an Ohio event and that the bourbon in Smith’s office was provided by the husband of the university’s president.
Smith’s lawsuit argues “the University rushed to judgment and retrofitted a corrective reprimand and a permissible consensual relationship into grounds for termination.”
On Dec. 26, 2025, the Bobcats promoted defensive coordinator John Hauser to head coach. As interim coach, Hauser led Ohio to a 17-10 win over UNLV in the Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl on Dec. 23.
.webp?ssl=1 "What’s happening so far in 2026 – and who holds the key?")
