KNOXVILLE – An ongoing contract dispute between Tennessee defensive coordinator Bob Shoop and his former employer, Penn State, “is not a distraction at all,” Shoop said Friday.
“The only time it’s any distraction is when you guys bring it up,” Shoop said during a preseason news conference. “Seriously, I’m not trying to be funny by saying that.”
The Volunteers’ second-year defensive coordinator is being sued by Penn State for $900,000, with the suit claiming Shoop was required to pay the university half his base salary for whatever time was left on his contract at the time of his departure, unless he became a head coach within a year.
Two years remained on Shoop’s contract in January 2016 when he accepted the position at Tennessee, which pays him an annual salary of $1,155,000.
Shoop filed a countersuit against Penn State earlier this month seeking $75,000, alleging that he was forced out at Penn State and that working conditions at the school were “intolerable.”