Ex-SDSU Player Sues School, Coach : Football: Mike Spinello, from Mission Viejo High, claims San Diego State Coach Al Luginbill reneged on scholarship offer.

A former San Diego State football player is suing the school and Coach Al Luginbill over what he says was a broken promise to award him a partial athletic scholarship.

A hearing will be held Monday in San Diego Superior Court.

Mike Spinello, a linebacker from Mission Viejo High School, has charged that Luginbill reneged in February, 1989, on an oral agreement to award him a $2,000 scholarship. Spinello, who had five tackles as a freshman reserve in 1988, left the team and withdrew from SDSU shortly thereafter. He later enrolled at Orange Coast College.

According to the suit, Spinello is due unspecified damages for breach of contract, fraud and emotional distress. He also is seeking punitive damages.

Kathleen Lam, the lawyer representing SDSU and Luginbill, said she could not comment. Luginbill was out of town and could not be reached.

According to court documents, Spinello said the promise of a scholarship was made by Mike Nelson, a former assistant coach (mistakenly referred to as head coach in the suit), when he was recruiting Spinello in the spring of 1988. Spinello said he was told by Nelson that he would receive a $2,000 scholarship if he enrolled in the fall semester of 1988 at his own expense and completed a three-unit course, not in physical education, in the intersession period between the fall and spring semesters or in summer school.

The scholarship would be renewable based on successful participation in football, plus specific academic considerations.

The suit, filed in January, charges that the school and Luginbill went back on the agreement after Denny Stolz was fired as coach in November, 1988, and replaced by Luginbill, a former associate athletic director at the school. Luginbill did not retain Nelson, who is now a Stanford football assistant.

Spinello could not be reached for comment. His lawyer, Margaret Cahill, said she could not comment.