Does Sean Miller’s contract with Arizona encourage cheating?

If he is fired by Arizona, Sean Miller is surely hoping he is let go for cause.

After Yahoo! Sports unveiled schools involved in payments to players or their families, ESPN offered a damning report on Arizona head coach Sean Miller. He was caught on a wire tap talking about a $100,000 payment to star recruit Deandre Ayton in order to secure his commitment to the school.

Miller will not coach the Wildcats Saturday night against Oregon, and his status beyond that is up in the air. Firing him seems almost certain, but the benefit of any doubt in the short-term may allow Miller to keep his job with the NCAA Tournament on the horizon.

But if Miller is fired, he has to be hoping the evidence against him brings  about the move as “for cause.” According to ESPN’s Darren Rovell and Darren Heitner of Forbes, Miller’s contract at Arizona calls for his buyout to double to $10.3 million if he’s fired for cause.

Heitner more specifically cited a mistake in the contract language drafted by the school. Here are the key passages, first in a section titled “Termination Without Case; Liquidated Damages.”

"In such event, the University shall pay to Coach as liquidated damages, in lieu of any and all other legal remedies or equitable relief, an amount calculated as follows for each year or pro rata portion remaining under this Sixth Amendment: fifty percent (50%) of that portion of Coach’s Base Salary (Program Salary plus Peripheral Duties Compensation) what would have been owed to him"

So Miller gets 50 percent of what he would be due if he is fired without cause. But if he’s fired with cause, there’s this in that section: “the University’s sole obligation to Coach shall be the payment of his Base Salary…”

There is no language clearly accounting for already paid or past due amounts owed to Miller, and no wording about a percentage of future salaries that would come in a buyout if he were fired for cause. As Heitner wrote, “It plainly says that Miller gets his Base Salary.”

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Somehow, completely opposite of what should happen and a clear mistake by everyone associated with Arizona’s end, Miller will be quite a bit richer if he is fired for cause vs. without cause. So why exactly should he have had any discretion when dealing with an agent’s middleman?