RazorSharks must pay former coach $76,000, court rules.

Byline: Kevin Oklobzija

The Rochester RazorSharks basketball team must pay former coach Chris Iversen $76,181 in back pay and damages, New York State Supreme Court Justice Ann Marie Taddeo ruled last week.

The court granted a request for summary judgment in the lawsuit filed on Aug. 7, which claimed the RazorSharks failed to compensate Iversen for his services from April 24, 2017, through Feb.6, 2018, the day on which he was dismissed by the team.

Iversen sued the independent minor-league club for his unpaid salary of $32,475. The summary judgment includes statutory liquidated damages in an amount equal to his unpaid wages, as well as accrued interest, the maximum statutory damages of $5,000 and attorney's fees $4,327.

The RazorSharks, founded and owned by Severko Hrywnak, are in mothballs for the upcoming basketball season. The team began play in the 2005-06 season and has been a member of various independent leagues, winning eight championships. Iversen guided the RazorSharks to Premier Basketball League titles in 2016 and 2017, his first two seasons as coach.

A graduate of Marcus Whitman High School and St. John Fisher College, Iversen spent12 1/2 years in the organization. He worked his way up the organizational ladder from an intern in the team's inaugural season of 2005-06, to director of game day operations, to assistant coach and vice president of basketball operations, then to general manager and assistant coach, and finally to head coach in January of 2016.

The RazorSharks went dormant in December when the schedule for newly branded The Basketball League was released.

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