(Sports Network) - The University of Kentucky announced Thursday it has filed a suit in Franklin Circuit Court, Kentucky, to establish the enforceability of its Memorandum of Understanding with former men's basketball head coach Billy Gillispie.

The suit seeks "a declaration of the respective rights and obligations" under the memorandum with Gillispie that was signed on April 6, 2007. The university is taking the stance that no "cause" was required for his termination and that the MOU was not an enforceable contract due to Gillispie's refusal to come to terms on a long-term agreement.

The suit comes in response to Gillispie filing a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the university's athletics association on Wednesday. The Lexington Herald-Leader reported that the 24-page suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, accuses the association of both breach of contract and fraud for firing Gillispie only two years into a seven- year agreement.

The paper stated that although the 49-year-old Texas native never signed a formal agreement to take the head spot at Kentucky, he considered such to be a binding contract between himself and the school.

Gillispie is looking for $6 million in back pay for "termination without cause" which he says the university owes, or roughly $1.5 million for up to four years as previously agreed upon. He is also asking for a jury trial in Dallas.

A statement released by UK athletics on Thursday addressed both its and Gillispie's suit.

"It is unfortunate that Mr. Gillispie has sued the UK Athletics Association, a nonprofit supporting foundation that was not his employer, in Federal Court in Texas. Mr. Gillispie was a university employee, and the volunteer Board of the UKAA serves the university in a valuable, but purely advisory capacity.

The decision to terminate Mr. Gillispie's employment was a university decision. UKAA will vigorously seek the dismissal of the Texas lawsuit. The university is the proper party to any suit, not UKAA, and the university will rely upon the allegations of its Franklin Circuit Court complaint as the true version of this contract dispute."

Kentucky named Gillispie its 21st head coach, signing the former Texas A&M coach to a seven-year deal worth $2.3 million per season in April 2007. At the heart of the lawsuit, is a question of whether or not the university, like Gillispie, considered the agreement a binding contract.

Gillispie and UK athletic director Mitch Barnhart negotiated the terms of the deal over the phone the day previous to the hiring, and both men signed the document in question on the morning of April 6.

Until the firing, neither side could agree to an actual contract due to disputes over deferred compensation and how to define "termination without cause." In addition, Gillispie's suit names several instances where university attorneys referred to the agreement as an equivalent to a legally-binding contract.

Following Gillispie's firing, the school hired ex-Memphis coach John Calipari to head its basketball program.











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