Bob Krause (athletic Director) - Prince Buyout

Prince Buyout

On May 20, 2009, Kansas State University and its athletic corporation filed suit to have a secret agreement between Prince and former Athletic Director Bob Krause declared invalid. Krause had earlier entered into the agreement with Prince's attorney, Ohio sports agent Neil Cornrich, to pay a total of $3.2 million in three deferred payments to a corporation set up for Prince, In Pursuit of Perfection, LLC. The payments are scheduled to be made in 2015, 2016 and 2020.

Prince had signed a five-year contract extension in August 2008, and the "secret" agreement called for the additional payout if he was terminated before Dec. 31, 2008.

K-State President Jon Wefald denied any knowledge of this secret transaction and immediately called for Krause to resign as director of economic development for the K-State Olathe Innovation Campus, which he did, effective on May 20, 2009.

The secret deal was "discovered" on May 11, 2009 as the university responded to "routine informational requests" for a lawsuit involving a former defensive coordinator Tim Tibesar.

K-State's interim Athletic Director Jim Epps stated:

"On May 11, 2009, I learned of a secret deferred compensation agreement that Bob Krause apparently negotiated with Ron Prince's attorney. This alleged deal was made without the knowledge of anyone else in the athletics department, including its attorney. This deal was apparently constructed as a further supplement to the buyout provision contained in Prince's employment contract. I do not know why any additional supplement was justified, or why Bob Krause concealed this agreement from everyone until it was inadvertently discovered last week." He added, "I do not believe that this agreement is valid, and the athletics department will vigorously fight any attempt to enforce it."

On August 10, 2009 attorneys for Prince filed a counterclaim against Kansas State Athletics seeking $3 million in punitive damages. The filings claim that Wefald and other high-ranking members of the athletic department were aware of the buyout. The claim also contended that Krause directed the department's attorney to reword the public contract to allow for the confidential buyout.

Kansas State University announced on May 6, 2011 that an agreement for settlement between Prince and K-State Athletics, Inc. and the University had been reached. K-State Athletics, Inc. will pay one lump sum of $1.65 million to Prince. K-State President Kirk Schulz stated: "We are pleased to have this matter resolved. We appreciate the work that our University counsel has provided during this process and can now maintain focus on moving forward as a University community." K-State Athletics, Inc. reported paying $395,000 in external legal fees during the dispute. The University made the agreement public as a news release and was bound to provide this statement: "Neither the University nor K-State Athletics contends or believes that in negotiating his employment agreement or the MOU, Coach Prince engaged in any wrongful or unethical conduct. Discovery has demonstrated that this situation was not of Coach Prince’s making."