No Buyout Clause for Texas’ Mackovic

Texas Coach John Mackovic’s contract reportedly doesn’t allow for a buyout, but it does provide for him to be reassigned within the athletic department should school officials remove him as coach, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

There has been mounting speculation that university alumni might raise the money--$1.8 million--to buy out the remaining three years of the contract of the embattled coach, whose Longhorns are 3-5 and tied for last in the South Division of Big 12 Conference.

Patricia Ohlendorf, school vice provost and general counsel to the president, said a buyout won’t happen.

“We do not give a lump-sum payment to an employee of the University of Texas and say, ‘Now, here, go on your way.’ We do not do that as a matter of policy.

“I do want to emphasize that no one is talking to Coach Mackovic about [a reassignment],” Ohlendorf said. “We’re talking to him about beating Texas Tech [on Saturday].”

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Tennessee running back Jamal Lewis pleaded guilty to shoplifting and was put on three years’ probation and fined $1,000.

Lewis, a freshman from Atlanta, entered the negotiated plea in Cobb County (Ga.) Superior Court. He was arrested in March and charged with stealing a shirt worth about $110 from a department store in Smyrna, just outside Atlanta.

The 6-foot-1, 220-pound back is the No. 8 Volunteers’ leading rusher and ranks third in the Southeastern Conference with 721 yards.