Caldwell, WSSU to part ways; he will get $56,000

AD of 8 years says he bears no hard feelings

By: By John Dell | JOURNAL REPORTER
Published: July 02, 2009

Chico Caldwell and Winston-Salem State have resolved their dispute over the remaining portion of his contract, and Caldwell will receive a monetary settlement of more than $56,000 from the university.

Caldwell was fired Feb. 9 as WSSU's director of athletics, a position he held for eight years.

"I'm happy with it," Caldwell said of the settlement. "It's time that the university moves on, and it's time for me to move on as well."

Caldwell, in a long conversation yesterday, said he has no ill will toward WSSU or Chancellor Donald Reaves, who said he decided "to go in another direction" when he fired Caldwell with a little more than a year left on his contract.

Caldwell made about $125,000 a year as the AD. The settlement will pay him $56,248, said Nancy Young, WSSU's interim director for public and media relations.

Reaves was unavailable for comment. The school released a statement dated yesterday that read: "Due to differences in their respective visions of the future course of athletics at Winston-Salem State University, Dr. Percy "Chico" Caldwell and the administration have agreed that Dr. Caldwell will resign from his position as athletic director at the university effective June 30, 2009. Both parties have also agreed that there will be no further administrative proceedings between them."

Caldwell, 62, maintains he did nothing wrong as he tried to steer WSSU's athletics program toward Division I.

"The real issue was visionary," said Caldwell, who was replaced by interim AD Tonia Walker. "I was hired under a different administration, and over the past couple of years, we realized a major difference in the vision and the direction of the program."

Caldwell was hired in August 2001 by former Chancellor Harold Martin, who left WSSU in 2006 to become the vice president for academic affairs for the UNC system in Chapel Hill. Caldwell stayed and tried to steer his program through the transition.

"I remember sitting with Dr. Martin when he told me he was leaving, and he said he didn't blame me if I wanted to leave as well," Caldwell said. "I said to him ‘I find it tough to think about both of us leaving with this vision.' So I stayed, and I didn't know what to expect when we had the leadership change."

Reaves was hired to replace Martin in February 2007.

With one more academic year of transition to go before WSSU gains full playing privileges in Division I and the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, Reaves hasn't announced a decision on the direction of the athletics program. In a public forum in early May, he pointed out the deficit athletics has had during the transition as it has increased scholarships, staff and facilities.

"The main thing is I feel very comfortable leaving Winston-Salem State, and I can sleep at night knowing I did the best that I could," Caldwell said. "We got some things done, and quite frankly, got some things done that I never thought we could do."

Even though WSSU rents the field house at Bowman Gray Stadium for football, Caldwell was behind the scenes pushing for the $5 million project to be completed. It was the first new building for athletics since the Gaines Center was built on campus in the late 1970s.

One setback in the transition has been repeating a year as mandated by the NCAA, for underfunding of scholarships in some minor sports.

"When I signed the three-year contract extension that was good until June 2010, the goal was to get through this transition period," Caldwell said. "I know how tough it is to be an athletics director during the transition to Division I. It's a lot tougher than most people even realize."

■ John Dell can be reached at 727-4081 or jdell@wsjournal.com.