Cal Lutheran President Disputes Shoup Claims

After weeks of public silence on the issue, Cal Lutheran President Jerry Miller spoke out Wednesday on Bob Shoup’s dismissal as football coach, disputing Shoup’s claim that he was guaranteed lifetime job security by a former president.

“There is nothing in the records that indicates tenure was ever given for the position of coach,” said Miller, who previously had restricted his comments because a grievance by Shoup was in progress. Denial of the grievance was upheld Monday by the executive committee of the university’s Board of Regents.

Shoup has produced notarized documents by former President Maurice Knutson and Jack Woudenberg, a former regent, stating that after Cal Lutheran won the NAIA football championship in 1971 Knutson offered Shoup lifetime security as football coach.

“There also is an indication in the record of the Board of Regents in . . . October, 1971, that no additional tenure arrangements would be rendered for any employees for a year,” Miller said. However, Knutson claims that soon thereafter he offered Shoup tenure as football coach, “which would seem to be a contradiction,” Miller said.

In his statement, Knutson said that, because of the university’s dire financial situation at the time, he was granted powers by Lutheran church officials that superseded those of the Board of Regents. Miller said Shoup told him in August that former university presidents had promised him tenure as football coach. “I talked to two former presidents (Mark Mathews and Raymond Olson), and they knew of no such commitment,” said Miller, who did not ask Knutson.

Shoup said he disagrees with Miller’s interpretation of that conversation. “What I told him was that each president at Cal Lutheran had added to what is now my current contract,” Shoup said.

Miller also said there had been “no deal struck” with members of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regarding Shoup’s job as coach.

On May 3, Miller announced at a meeting of the conference that the 1989 football season would be Shoup’s last as coach, a declaration that preceded the university’s Aug. 8 public announcement of Shoup’s dismissal. Miller said the SCIAC simply was informed about an agreement Shoup had reached with the university earlier in the spring.

“The discussions that initially indicated that Shoup would not be returning as football coach after the 1989 season occurred in February and March,” Miller said.

Shoup said he did not know his coaching future when he signed his ‘89-90 contract “under duress.”

Shoup also had been disgruntled over losing supplemental income for the summer of 1989. Miller said that because CLU decided in October, 1988, to stop recruiting off campus and offering scholarships in implementing the move to the SCIAC, Shoup’s duties no longer necessitated a supplemental contract .