Big Ten releases statement on Wisconsin filing tampering lawsuit against Miami

In a landmark turn of events for college sports, the University of Wisconsin and its NIL collective have filed a tampering lawsuit against the University of Miami, Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports reported. The Big Ten has released a statement in support of the Badgers.

“The Big Ten Conference is aware of the litigation recently filed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison against the University of Miami and is supportive of UW-Madison’s position,” the conference’s statement read, via On3’s Pete Nakos. “As alleged, the University of Miami knowingly ignored contractual obligations and disregarded the principle of competitive equity that is fundamental to collegiate athletics.

“The Big Ten Conference believes that the University of Miami’s actions are irreconcilable with a sustainable college sports framework and is supportive of UW-Madison’s efforts to preserve.”

Wisconsin and the Big Ten are peeved at the Hurricanes for allegedly poaching defensive back Xavier Lucas from the Badgers. Dellenger called their lawsuit over tortious interference a “first-of-its-kind and, perhaps, a precedent-setting move.”

“Wisconsin is seeking unspecified damages, transparency and accountability from Miami for interfering with a binding revenue-share contract between Wisconsin and Xavier Lucas, a former defensive back who left the program in January to compete at Miami,” Dellenger added.

“It was a groundbreaking decision in which Lucas transferred without entering the portal (it had already closed) and after signing the contract with the Badgers.”

More on Xavier Lucas, Wisconsin-Miami Lawsuit

Back in January, Wisconsin released a statement on the matter, where they accused Miami of tampering, citing “credible information” and threatened to pursue legal action as a result of the situation. As you can see, they’ve taken that step.

“The lawsuit details what transpired in the winter among the three parties: Wisconsin, Miami and Lucas,” Dellenger added. “UW claims that Miami communicated with Lucas despite knowing he had entered a contract with the school, something it terms as ‘intentional’ interference that ‘was not justified or privileged’ and caused Lucas to ‘breach’ his contract.”

Additionally, the suit alleged that “Miami interfered with UW-Madison’s relationship with Student-Athlete A (Lucas) by making impermissible contact with him and engaging in tampering,” per Dellenger. 

It’s been reported that Wisconsin and Lucas agreed to a two-year revenue-share agreement that was set to begin July 1, Dellenger noted. That’s why Wisconsin refused to enter Lucas’ name into the portal when he requested a transfer, but he found a way around it, withdrawing from classes and enrolling academically at Miami in January

Whatever comes next is bound to set a precedent for college sports moving forward. Tampering has become a hot-button word since the advent of the transfer portal and NIL, but this is certainly a first-of-its-kind lawsuit.

Xavier Lucas totaled 18 tackles as a freshman at Wisconsin this past season. The defensive back also added two tackles for loss, a sack and an interception. We’ll see what he has in store for the future, but he’s certainly become an interesting case at the moment in the sport of college football as a whole.