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Pick a side. Divisive Fresno State-Jim Bartko legal brawl promises to get messy

The timing couldn't be more awkward. Just as Fresno State starts to line up a new athletic director, the previous one kicks over a wasp nest.

Get your popcorn ready, Bulldogs fans. You've got front-row seats to what promises to be a juicy legal fight.

In one version of what occurred last November, Jim Bartko walked into the office of Fresno State President Joseph Castro and abruptly resigned for personal reasons.

In another, Castro was a manipulative, unsupportive boss who praised his subordinate in public while he and other administrators engaged in a "whisper campaign" meant to label Bartko as an "incompetent alcoholic" in the days leading up to his forced resignation.