Mick Haley and USC announce “mutually agreeable” settlement

TAMPA — Mick Haley, the 2000 USA Olympic coach who won 10 national titles as a college  volleyball coach, has settled his lawsuit with USC, the school that fired him in 2017.

Haley’s attorney, Christopher L. Ludmer, released the following statement Thursday:

“The University of Southern California and former USC Women’s Volleyball Head Coach Mick Haley announce that they have amicably settled their arbitration on mutually agreeable terms. USC and Mick Haley both wish each other well and continued success. Mick Haley’s contributions to USC Athletics and to the sport of women’s volleyball are described here: https://usctrojans.com/sports/womensvolleyball/roster/coaches/mickhaley/95.”

Haley, in Tampa for the NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship and AVCA Convention, told VolleyballMag.com, “I’m really glad this is over with. It’s just one thing that allows me to move forward. I’m glad we were able to do this and now I can concentrate on all the things that I started on after I left USC. It takes a weight off and I can move forward.”

Haley, 80, won six national NJCAA titles at Kellogg Community College, two coaching the women’s team and four with the men.

He then won two titles at Texas, including the last AIAW championship in 1981 and then the 1988 NCAA title. At USC, where he coached from 2001-20017, his teams won it all in 2002 and 2003, when his team finished 35-0.

Haley remains the winningest coach in USC history with a record of 435-119, including 239-83 in the Pac-12.

As USC noted, “In his final season (2017) as head coach of the Women of Troy, Haley guided a team that started the season unranked and chosen to finish sixth in the Pac-12 to an NCAA regional final appearance—within a point of the national semifinals—and a tie for second place in the final conference standings. The regional final match was USC’s sixth in the last eight years. The team finished 25-10 for his 13th time over the 20-win plateau in 17 years.”

Haley was fired a week after losing in the regional final to Florida 25-23, 20-25, 18-25, 26-24, 15-11.

Neither party released terms of the settlement.