Sources: Georgia Looking Into Firing Crean For Cause After He Failed to Report Physical Altercation Between Assistants (UPDATED)

Multiple sources have told DawgSports that University of Georgia officials are looking into firing head men’s basketball coach Tom Crean for cause this evening after he failed to report a physical altercation between two of his assistants to university officials.

News of the incident was reported to HR by someone other than Crean, which could be a violation of his contract and may allow Georgia to fire Crean without having to pay his buyout of $3.6 million. Sources told DawgSports that the university was building Crean’s firing packet as of 9:00 EST on Friday night.

The physical altercation occurred between assistant coach Wade Mason and director of player personnel Brian Fish at halftime of UGA’s game against LSU in Baton Rouge on Wednesday.

Crean’s fourth UGA team is 6-20 on the season and 1-12 in conference play after he was hired on March 15, 2018. His current annual salary is $3.2 million a season.

The University of Georgia released the following statement on Saturday morning after this report was published.

We spoke to the Athletic Association seeking a clarification on what specific portions of the original report were not factual but received no formal response.

Following Saturday’s 85-68 loss to Ole Miss in Stegeman Coliseum, Tom Crean was overheard talking to an athletic department staffer about recent media reports when he didn’t know his microphone was still live. Dawgs247 published those remarks.

Crean said the following in reference to one of his graduate assistants. “He’d have to have it organized, man. Somebody’s organized the whole thing. Somebody has. There ain’t no way that guy got some of the player’s numbers. Well, we’ve just got to keep figuring out what we’re going to do next.”

Crean was also overheard asking the staffer the following question. “Any idea who would have said that about my contract situation?”

In addition to seeking clarification on this report DawgSports also sought additional clarification on Coach Crean’s overheard remarks. We likewise received no response.