CLU: Status of Shoup Made Clear in Pact

Although negotiations were carried on between Coach Bob Shoup and the Cal Lutheran administration throughout the 1989 football season, President Jerry Miller contends it was decided in the spring that this season would be Shoup’s last.

The announcement Friday of Shoup’s dismissal, Miller said, merely reiterated a clear-cut decision regarding Shoup’s contractual status. James Halseth, dean of the university, notified Shoup on Thursday of the impending announcement, Miller said.

“It seemed necessary to make clear what the contract said and bring this matter to closure and begin the process of searching for a new coach,” Miller said. “It’s been hard to bring closure in any other way than to say simply that that was the contract signed last spring, and we’ll go on from that.

“If I hadn’t said anything, (Shoup’s dismissal) would have taken place under the contract.”

Shoup, 57, who is visiting an ailing friend in San Jose, was unavailable for comment. The trip caused him to miss a scheduled meeting with Miller, but Miller said that the discussion would have been a notification of the decision rather than more negotiations.

Cal Lutheran faculty work under one-year contracts, and Miller said Shoup understood when he signed his most recent contract that he would retire as coach after the 1989 season. Under the contract, Shoup can remain at Cal Lutheran as an associate professor of physical education.

After the matter became public in early August, however, Shoup balked. “They suggested it as a possibility, and I said no,” Shoup said in August when asked about the retirement plan.

Miller’s interpretation differs. “We had a contract that said otherwise,” he said.

At that time, Shoup added that he planned to return as coach after finishing a sabbatical scheduled to begin in January, 1990. “Over the last eight months, he has changed his mind about four times over what he’s wanted to do,” Miller said.

According to Miller, the university worked to bring about a solution satisfactory to Shoup. “We were close to a couple of points of settlement and then it didn’t materialize,” Miller said.

Miller and Shoup have differed on Cal Lutheran’s impending move from the NCAA Division II Western Football Conference to the Division III Southern California Intercollegiate Conference.

“He was opposed to the change . . . and he has continued to be opposed to that,” Miller said.

Shoup has acknowledged being opposed to the move but he indicated in August that he would support the football program’s new direction.