FAMU, Joe agree to settlement
December 8, 2006
The Associated Press has reported that Florida A&M University has agreed to pay fired football coach Billy Joe $135,000 to settle a lawsuit after the NCAA cleared him of recruiting and eligibility violations.
 The university's Board of Trustees accepted the settlement worth a year's salary at a closed-door meeting Thursday, December 7.
"All I was seeking was justice," Joe said. "I did not want to denigrate or wrong FAMU because I love the institution."
Joe said his lawyers had told him he could have gotten up to $500,000 if the case had gone to trial. He said he planned to donate some of the money to the university's athletic programs.
The university fired Joe in June 2005, but the NCAA later found no evidence he had committed any infractions. The NCAA, though, did put Florida A&M on probation for four years after the school admitted 196 rule violations in all 15 men's and women's sports from 1998 through 2005.
Joe, 66, coached the Rattlers for 11 years and led them to four Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference titles. He still lives in Tallahassee and is writing a book about football.
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