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Ex-coach resolves suit over article by lobbyist

EL PASO, Texas - Texas-El Paso football coach Mike Price felt vindicated after a settlement was reached with Time Inc. over a Sports Illustrated article recounting a night of drinking at a topless bar in Florida.

"I'm one happy man right now," Price said Monday.

Price sued the magazine for $20-million, claiming he was defamed by a story written by Don Yaeger, a Sports Illustrated reporter who doubles as a Tallahassee lobbyist, about the night Price visited a topless bar in Pensacola in April 2003, four months after being hired as head coach at Alabama.

Price acknowledged being heavily intoxicated, but denied allegations of sex at his hotel that the magazine reported. Alabama fired Price a few days before the article was published.

Asked about that night at the strip club, he paused Monday and said, "I definitely would have made a different decision that one night, no question. That was a bad night."

Price said he couldn't discuss any details of the settlement reached late Friday. In a statement, the publisher did not disclose terms but said suit was "amicably resolved."

"Mr. Price asserts that certain events were falsely reported in the story. Sports Illustrated continues to stand behind its story," the Time Inc. statement said.

Rick McCabe, a spokesman for Time Inc., said the settlement also resolved Price's claims against Yaeger, who wrote the article and still works for the magazine.

Yaeger, who also lobbies the Florida Legislature, is facing fines totaling $18,250 for his failure to file reports for some of the 37 clients he represented in 2004. The Florida Commission on Ethics will consider his appeal of the fines at a meeting Friday.

Price's lawsuit was closely watched in part because it developed into a fight over the magazine's right to protect confidential sources it said were used.

[Last modified October 11, 2005, 01:57:17]