Just shy of two months after being canned as University Of Southern California head football coach, Steve Sarkisian has filed a wrongful termination suit against the school, claiming he was denied an opportunity to address his alcoholism. From the LA Times’ Nathan Fenno :
“Instead of accommodating Steve Sarkisian’s disability, USC kicked him to the curb,” the lawsuit said.
The 31-page complaint filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court alleges breach of contract, discrimination on the basis of disability and invasion of privacy. It also provides Sarkisian’s first public account of the events that led to his ouster after less than two years as USC’s head coach.
Sarkisian has completed “intensive” treatment, the complaint said, is sober and ready to return to coaching.
“Steve at this point lost his team, lost his income, lost the job that he loved,” said Alan Loewinsohn, Sarkisian’s Dallas-based attorney. “USC left him no choice but to bring that to light and seek the justice the law affords.”