Caldwell, former athletics director, hires attorney to get rest of pay from WSSU contract

Chico Caldwell, fired as Winston-Salem State's athletics director on Feb. 9, has hired an attorney and is hoping to get paid for the last two years of his contract.

Chancellor Donald Reaves fired Caldwell, saying he wanted "fresh ideas" for the athletics department.

Caldwell, who hired Robert Elliot as his attorney, had contract worth about $125,000 a year. Elliot said that Caldwell is due the rest of the money on his contract.

"We feel there was no cause for termination," Elliot said. "…Chico really wants to feel whole again and get this behind him."

Elliot said that he and Caldwell have sent a letter to WSSU officials hoping to resolve the situation.

Elliot also released a statement detailing Caldwell's accomplishments during his eight years of service to WSSU. The statement outlines Caldwell's arguments that his firing was unjustified.

"Chancellor Reaves has announced that he wished to replace Dr. Caldwell with a new athletics director of his choosing," the statement reads. "Given Dr. Caldwell's performance, there is no justifiable cause for Chancellor Reaves' action which constitutes a break of Dr. Caldwell's employment contract."

A spokesman in Reaves' office said that Reaves would not comment about the firing or the contract status.

Caldwell's statement said that he remains committed to Winston-Salem State.

"While Dr. Caldwell will exercise all legal remedies available to him to correct this wrongful action, he remains committed and loyal to Winston-Salem State which he has served so well for the last eight years," the statement said.

Elliot went on to say that if Reaves wants another athletics director, he will have to take care of Caldwell first.

"We are looking to resolve this problem," Elliot said. "The objective here is to not hurt anybody; we just want to bring progress to the university."

Elliot said that if nothing can be settled through a meeting, then the next step would be a hearing within the UNC system.

"We are just waiting to see what happens next," Elliot said.

Among the accomplishments that Caldwell cites is an increase in the athletics budget from $1.2 million in 2001 to the current budget of $5.3 million. Caldwell also says he was instrumental in the program's transition from NCAA Division II to Division I.

The graduation rate also rose significantly under his watch, according to Caldwell, as well as tremendous improvement in facilities, including a new $5.6 million dollar fieldhouse next to Bowman Gray Stadium that was partly funded by the city.

Elliot said that in 2007, Reaves gave Caldwell a contract extension and a raise from $104,000 to $125,000 a year.

Harold Martin, the previous chancellor, hired Caldwell in August 2001. It was then determined by Martin and the board of trustees at WSSU to move out of the CIAA and NCAA Division II to the MEAC and Division I.

That process hasn't gone as smoothly as planned. What didn't help Caldwell was when Martin left for a job in Chapel Hill in the spring of 2007 as UNC's senior vice president of academic affairs.

The move to Division I has led to increased costs from hiring additional coaches, adding scholarships and upgrading facilities. WSSU has lost about $2.6 million since leaving Division II.

Reaves has said in the past that he wants to close the gap on spending in athletics. For this academic year (2008-09), it was expected that the athletics department would run a deficit of about $1.5 million.

Another problem that came up during the move to Division I was an NCAA sanction that forced the school to undergo another year of transition. This was caused when it was determined that WSSU had under-funded scholarship money in women's tennis.

Because of that, the school had to push back its arrival to Division I from 2010 to 2011.
Reaves has said that he would like the next athletics director to be able to raise more money from donors.

According to the school's athletics budget in 2007-08, athletics raised just $39,640. In 2006-07, it raised $50,000. The projected amount of money raised for this academic year was $100,000, but it's not known if the athletics department will meet that goal.