Bill Dooley, football coach and athletic director...

Bill Dooley, football coach and athletic director at Virginia Tech, ended his dispute with the school by dropping his $3.5-million lawsuit and agreeing to leave at season’s end for a reported $600,000 buy-out, half the value of his seven-year contract.

Tech officials had no problem with Dooley’s coaching--his current team is 4-1--but they wanted to split his dual role of football coach and athletic director. Dooley, the brother of Georgia Coach Vince Dooley, balked and sued because the dual role is what brought him from North Carolina in 1978.