Ex-Alabama assistants losing ground in trial

Tuscaloosa Circuit Judge Steven Wilson ruled that former coach Ivy Williams is a public figure, making it more difficult for him to prove his claim. The judge also dismissed his claims of defamation and invasion of privacy against the NCAA, much as he did earlier in Ronnie Cottrell's part of the suit.

The judge, in a ruling issued after the former Tide coaches rested their case, also limited any damages for mental anguish to a nominal amount and said they could not include future earnings.

"In all my 35 years of this, I've never heard of not being able to testify as to lost wages," Cottrell attorney Tommy Gallion said. "This is where the butchery comes in."

NCAA attorney Robert Rutherford said he felt the verdicts constituted "a win."

Under the public-figure ruling, Williams would have had to prove actual malice by the NCAA and freelance recruiting analyst Tom Culpepper of Birmingham, who allegedly made comments that hurt the coaches' careers. The NCAA also had mistakenly posted on the Internet that schools wanting to hire the Crimson Tide assistants would have to show cause, following NCAA sanctions against the Alabama program.

Gallion said the evidence shows that Culpepper was out to "get" now-disassociated Alabama booster Logan Young of Memphis and Cottrell. Young was convicted in Memphis federal court of bribing a public official by paying high school coach Lynn Lang to make sure top prospect Albert Means went to Alabama.

"It's been clear that the defendant, Tom Culpepper, wanted to make sure Ronnie Cottrell never coached again," Mountain said. "In mentioning those two, Ivy Williams became a third wheel because he was recruiting Memphis. He said money was being funneled from Logan Young to Ivy Williams to Lynn Lang and then to Albert Means."

Threadcraft argued there was no evidence that anyone be lieved Culpepper's statements.

Cottrell and Williams had claimed in the nearly 2-year-old case that they had been unable to find comparable employment following the NCAA's investigation and sanctions.

Cottrell is head coach at Carroll High School in Ozark, Ala. Williams is an assistant at Division II Savannah State.

Earlier in the day, Cottrell was questioned under cross-examination about reprimand memos written to him by Alabama's former faculty athletics representative, Gene Marsh, about specific incidents, such as helping a player out of a speeding ticket.

Culpepper attorney John Scott also questioned Cottrell extensively about letters of reprimand he received from Alabama athletics department administrators.

Scott repeatedly asked if Cottrell was aware of large amounts of publicity over his reprimands and two suspensions -- one that caused him to miss the Ole Miss game in 1999 -- and his connection to the NCAA's investigation into recruiting violations by Alabama.

He also questioned him about a university probe of Connecticut prep school Milford Academy.

The wives of both coaches also testified about the effects the firings had on each family.

Gallion said such testimony held great importance in the case and he remained optimistic, despite the rulings against his client.

"As long as they got to tell their story, it is OK with me," Gallion said. "It is the first time they have ever publicly been able to tell what happened to them."