The University of Missouri settled the defamation lawsuit brought against athletics director Jim Sterk by South Carolina women's basketball coach Dawn Staley for $50,000, half of which will go to Staley's charity foundation, MU announced Thursday. The other half will go to Staley's attorneys.
In February, Staley filed a $75,000 lawsuit against Sterk in South Carolina over comments he made in a radio interview about the Tigers’ game at South Carolina on Jan. 28.
“Following a very spirited and intense game I attended in late January between the nationally ranked Missouri and South Carolina women’s basketball teams, I made comments in a local radio interview that were construed to suggest that Coach Staley promoted the negative experiences of racial epithets and spitting,” Sterk said in a statement MU released Thursday.