This summer I’ve been working on collecting all the available contracts of head coaches for the schools and conferences Big Apple Buckets covers. Many of those coaches lead state-funded basketball programs, and as such they’re public employees and subject to open records requests — commonly referred to as Freedom of Information or FOI requests.
I’ve filed more than 20 of these requests and they’ll start to bear fruit in the near future. I’ve received contracts from 17 schools from 12 different states thus far with a few more pending but moving towards completion. There is one school that refused.
Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) is the only public school in the Northeast Conference. When Big Apple Buckets made a request to CCSU for the contract of Howie Dickenman it was denied. The full response is below (click to enlarge, I know your eyes aren’t that good).
The reason I’ve decided to post the response here is unfortunately Big Apple Buckets doesn’t have the resources to fight what amounts to unnecessary obfuscation from CCSU’s legal department. Instead I’ve posted the response here, because I want everyone to know how CCSU dealt with a reasonable records request.
I want to make two things clear:
1) This is only about CCSU because CCSU denied a completely reasonable request that has been efficiently fulfilled by numerous other institutions. I would’ve noted any school that said no.
2) This is no way related directly to Dickenman or the job he’s done coaching the Blue Devils during his 19 years at CCSU. The only reason I requested his contract and not any other coach in the NEC is because the citizens of the state of Connecticut pay some portion of his salary and they deserve to know the conditions of that employment.
As you’ll see in future posts, contracts can provide coaches at every level different incentives to succeed. Also, buyouts and contract lengths are imperative for understanding how the athletic department has structured and protected its future. As the longest-tenured coach in the NEC, Dickenman’s incentive package would have been particularly instructive.
When I received the denial to my request from CCSU, I wondered if the cases cited would be used by other Connecticut schools. I then requested the contract of UConn head coach Kevin Ollie. Somewhat to my surprise I received the full contract in less than an hour. The other five Division I schools in Connecticut are private, and thus I’m unable to file FOI requests. Having two conflicting data points leaves me more confused that anything else.
With all that said, I’d like to thank all of the institutions that have quickly and kindly, provided public documents when requested. Those schools — including every America East school sans the private University of Hartford, NJIT, Rutgers, UCONN, UNCW, Towson, and William & Mary — should be commended. I wish I could compare the contracts with CCSU’s.
But I can’t.
NYC Buckets Archive 
Nice work – I appreciate that you called CCSU out for being lazy and secretive!!!
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As the response from CCSU indicates, they have a legal obligation to withhold the release of the document because Howie is a union employee and his personnel records (which include the contract) are protected by the CBA. This is not “unnecessary obfuscation” as you have suggested, but is their responsibility to uphold the terms of the CBA which apply in this case. As the email mentioned, this applies to all covered employees (union members) of the Connecticut State University System.
In all the other cases where a public university has respond to your FOI request with the contract, they did so because they were legally required comply under their applicable state laws.
Finally, although you acknowledge that private schools are exempt from the FOI requirements, why haven’t any of them voluntarily provided their coach’s contracts?
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There’s no point to try and twist the title and article to make CCSU out to be the bad guy here. They’re only following their legal obligation which, per union agreements, protect the release of the such personal information.
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