Former Cleveland Cavaliers assistant coach Jim Boylan did not have his option with the team picked up at the end of last season, and he says he was told the decision had everything to do with his age and nothing to do with his job performance.
Boylan, 63, filed a lawsuit against the Cavs organization on Thursday alleging age discrimination. He says he learned of the team’s decision to not pick up his contract option when then-head coach Tyronn Lue left him a voicemail telling him general manager Koby Altman and owner Dan Gilbert want to “go younger” with their bench coaches.
Former Cavs assistant Jim Boylan is suing the Cavs for age discrimination.
Boylan and Phil Handy were not renewed after last season
Case filed yesterday in Cuyahoga, Boylan (63) alleges Lue left vm that Gilbert wanted to go "young" and that option was "way too much money" pic.twitter.com/vQqVSU5cqk
— Anthony Lima (@SportsBoyTony) November 2, 2018
“He wants to go younger in that position and, you know, find somebody who’s a grinder and younger in that position,” Lue said in the voicemail.
Bowlan says he had a conversation with Altman after receiving the voicemail, and the GM told him the same thing Lue did — the organization would prefer to have “younger” coaches as assistants. The lawsuit also alleges that Gilbert has displayed a pattern of age discrimination with the Cavs and his other corporate organizations.
The Cavs are off to a 1-7 start this season and recently fired Lue. They’ve quickly turned into a complete mess in their second post-LeBron James era, and they are even in a public dispute with their interim head coach. An age discrimination lawsuit can just be added to the growing list of problems in Cleveland.
