Bill Belichick reportedly subpoenaed in Bret Bielema-Arkansas lawsuit

The Razorback Foundation seeks documents from Belichick that would support its fraud claims against Bielema and shared agent Neil Cornrich.

Bill Beichick. Elise Amendola/AP Photo

November 5, 2020

2 minutes to read

Bill Belichick has reportedly been subpoenaed in a lawsuit involving former Patriots consultant Bret Bielema and The Razorback Foundation.

The Athletic’s Daniel Kaplan wrote that the Foundation alleges Belichick devised a plan with Bielema and their shared agent, Neil Cornrich, to hire Bielema for a small sum but for long enough that the offset period expired after the University of Arkansas fired Bielema in November 2017.

“Under the terms of his nearly $12 million buyout,” Kaplan said, “Bielema was obligated to make reasonable efforts to find employment that would mitigate or offset the amount.”

The Patriots reportedly paid Bielema $125,000 annually as a consultant, “meaning none of the buyout was reduced because his pay was less than the minimum the contract set as shielded from the offset,” Kaplan wrote. Bielema in 2019 became the Patriots’ defensive line coach, and he’s currently an outside linebackers coach/senior assistant for the Joe Judge-led New York Giants.

The Foundation claimed that initially, Bielema made no effort to find a high-paying job. It declared a breach in January 2019 and stopped paying him with $7 million remaining on the contract. Bielema sued in June 2020, and the Foundation countersued, according to Kaplan.

Kaplan reported that the Foundation seeks documents from Belichick that would support its fraud claims against Bielema and Cornrich.

“The Foundation has conceded in filings that Belichick may not have known about the plan,” Kaplan wrote, “describing the coach’s awareness of the alleged scheme to underpay Bielema as ‘whether known to him or not.'”

The Foundation said that the agreement benefited Bielema, Cornrich, and even Belichick simultaneously, as the Patriots hired a seasoned and accomplished coach for “next to no pay.” They claim that the Patriots paid him far less than what they pay other staff members in comparable positions and what they would have paid him under different circumstances.

In its motion Tuesday, Kaplan said, the Foundation accused counsel for Bielema of using “dirty tactics” and even “threatening bodily harm.”

“He represented that he will dig until he finds personal improprieties to exploit and then will ‘come after,’ ’embarrass,’ and ‘ruin’ people affiliated with the lawsuit,” the Foundation wrote of Bielema’s counsel, according to Kaplan. “He stated that if the dispute becomes a lawsuit, ‘It’s gonna be a knife fight.'”