SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — About 1,000 Division I baseball volunteer coaches from 2018-23 could receive an average of more than $32,000 apiece as part of a class action lawsuit settlement given preliminary approval last week.
Former volunteer assistants Taylor Smart of Arkansas and Michael Hacker California-Davis in 2022 filed a lawsuit in the Eastern District of California, Sacramento Division, alleging the NCAA and its member schools unlawfully restricted competition in the college baseball labor market by limiting the number of paid coaches on Division I staffs. Each team could have four coaches, but only three could be paid.