Webb Settles Dispute Over CSUN Firing for $40,000

A 10-month disagreement between Cal State Northridge and its former track Coach Bill Webb ended Thursday with an out-of-court settlement in excess of $40,000.

Reading from a prepared statement in a telephone interview, Lee Howard Greene, Webb’s attorney, said Webb, fired by the school after seven successful seasons, had withdrawn his grievance against the university and that legal proceedings had been dismissed.

Greene and Webb would not reveal the amount of the settlement, but an informed source said that the university had agreed to pay Webb more than one year’s coaching salary. Webb would have made slightly more than $40,000 this season.

Mayer Chapman, legal counsel for the state university system, refused to comment on the settlement.

Webb, 35, led CSUN to top-10 finishes in Division II in each of his seven years as coach. On April 29 of last year he was told by school officials that he would not be rehired. Contracts of all CSUN coaches are renewed annually.

Northridge administrators have refused to comment on the reason for Webb’s dismissal.

Bob Hiegert, CSUN athletic director, and Sam Winningham, chairman of the physical education department, are attending NCAA meetings in New Orleans this week and were unavailable for comment.

In a telephone interview, Webb expressed elation at the settlement.

“Finally, it’s over. I feel that all the time and energy we spent fighting this thing was worth it,” he said. “I now have an opportunity to expand professionally. I have the time to devote and I am also financially able to do what I want to do.”

Webb, the national javelin development coordinator for The Athletic Congress, is the personal coach of Tom Petranoff, the American record-holder in the javelin and the former world-record holder.