On August 10, 2018, former Northwestern University guard, Johnnie Vassar, dropped his lawsuit against the NCAA and Northwestern. As we have previously reported, in 2016, Vassar sued the NCAA and Northwestern claiming that Northwestern “offered Vassar a “cash payment” to “make [Vassar] go away and free-up his scholarship.”
According to the November 2016 class-action lawsuit, Vassar alleged that Northwestern breached a contract it had with Vassar after the school removed Vassar’s four-year athletic scholarship in May 2016. Further, Vassar alleged that the school used intimidation tactics to force him out after his freshman season and also the school allegedly falsified Vassar’s time cards when, after being removed from the team, Vassar was placed in an “internship program” that consisted of eight hours per week of janitorial and maintenance service. Lastly, Vassar claimed that the former NCAA transfer rule violated antitrust law.
The one-paragraph notice of voluntary dismissal, filed in Illinois Federal District Court, offered no insight into the reasoning behind the voluntary dismissal. However, in July 2018, Vassar transferred, as an eligible grad-transfer, to Tennessee Tech. Vassar has two years of NCAA eligibility remaining to play at Tennessee Tech. Tennessee Tech finished 19-14 last season, fifth overall in the Ohio Valley Conference.