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Longhorns coach Strong, QB Swoopes on $600K suit's witness list
AUSTIN, Texas
Oklahoma State attorneys have made it official: They want Texas coach Charlie Strong and quarterback Tyrone Swoopes for courtroom testimony in a lawsuit to determine who called plays for the Longhorns in 2014.
Oklahoma State has filed formal notice that it wants Strong, Swoopes, former Texas athletic director Steve Patterson and a host of other assistant coaches and officials on the witness stand in a $600,000 breach-of-contract lawsuit against Longhorns offensive line coach Joe Wickline.
Oklahoma State says Wickline made a lateral move to Texas in 2014 and didn't take a promotion with "play-calling duties" as stated in his previous contract
The trial is scheduled for May 2016. Oklahoma State officials last week submitted their formal witness list to the court.
Strong, Wickline and assistant head coach Shawn Watson all previously testified that Watson and Wickline shared play-calling duties last season.
According to court documents, Strong, Watson and new play caller Jay Norvell would be subject to new questions about Strong's September decision to strip play-calling from Watson and Wickline and give it Norvell.
Swoopes, who Oklahoma State attorneys also want to depose before trial, will be asked about his interaction with the coaching staff the last two seasons and "who actually calls the plays for the (Texas) offense."
Patterson, who was forced out in September, and Associate Athletic Director Arthur Johnson, are on the witness list for questions about employment contracts and buyouts for Texas coaches, and Wickline's Texas contract. Oklahoma State has said it was also wants pre-trial depositions from Patterson and Johnson.
Texas officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Oklahoma State athletic director Mike Holder and head coach Mike Gundy also have been deposed. Their statements were noted on Oklahoma State's evidence list, but they were not listed as trial witnesses.
Wickline's attorney has asked the court to bar or restrict witness testimony about the meaning of the term "play-calling duties" in Wickline's Oklahoma State contract.
Texas has not been named in the lawsuit and Patterson had insisted the school would not get involved. Many Texas fans wanted the school to help Wickline settle the case and prevent Strong from having to testify under oath, which could not lead him to an Oklahoma courtroom.
