(AP) — The former Louisiana basketball coach who was fired for listing a degree on his resume which he did not have has sued the Louisiana college, a newspaper reported on Sunday.
Glynn Cyprien contends the school lacked justification to fire him on July 19. Cyprien is suing for breach of contract, defamation of character and loss of future wages, The Oklahoman newspaper reported in its Sunday editions.
Cyprien was an assistant basketball coach at Oklahoma State for four seasons before signing in May a five-year deal with ULL worth $170,000 a season.
Cyprien was fired after UL officials found out that Cyprien did not have a bachelor's degree from an accredited university.
According to Cyprien, he was on the road for OSU and instructed someone at OSU to get a resume from his desk and fax it to ULL. He admits that resume faxed to ULL officials was inaccurate, listing a bachelor's degree from Texas-San Antonio.
But Cyprien said that the following week, when he interviewed by ULL athletic director Nelson Schexnayder, he presented Schexnayder with a resume that listed his bachelor's and master's degrees from Lacrosse, an online school in Bay St. Louis, Miss., which is not recognized by the major accreditation agencies.
"I'm taking the blame. But at no time did I try to deceive them because when I sat down with him I gave him the proper resume with my updated information," Cyprien told the newspaper.
"The only resume I saw had Lacrosse and Texas-San Antonio on it. I never saw a resume that had only Lacrosse," Schexnayder said.
The lawsuit also contends Cyprien was hired as an unclassified employee, which he said did not require him to have a degree from an accredited university.
But Schexnayder said all athletic personnel, whether equipment managers or coaches, must have a degree from a school recognized by the Southern Association of Colleges.
During the recent fall semester, Cyprien completed his degree at UT-San Antonio.
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