AUSTIN, Texas -- Former Texas coach Tom Penders wanted to hire the assistant coach who later sued him for defamation, according to testimony in the lawsuit related to a 1998 grade scandal that forced Penders to leave the Longhorns.

Former Texas baseball coach Cliff Gustafson testified Thursday that he played golf with Penders and former Texas basketball assistant Eddie Oran in 1998 shortly after Penders took a job at George Washington University.

Gustafson said that while waiting to tee off, Penders said he wished Oran would consider going to George Washington with him.

According to Gustafson, Oran replied, "I just can't leave Austin.''

Oran's inability to get another coaching job is at the center of his defamation lawsuit against Penders.

He claims Penders slandered him in the aftermath of the release of former Longhorn Luke Axtell's grades to a local radio station. Oran now works for an Austin-area automobile dealership.

Oran is seeking damages for loss of income, loss of his employment at UT, personal humiliation, and mental anguish and suffering.

Although Oran originally took the blame for releasing Axtell's grades to KVET-AM, a violation of federal student privacy laws, he now says Penders orchestrated their release. Axtell later transferred to Kansas.

Penders denies playing any role in the grade release. He also denied calling Oran a liar during 1999 interviews that are the subject of Oran's lawsuit.

"I like Eddie Oran,'' Penders said in one of the taped interviews played in court. "Eddie could've gotten back into coaching this year (1999). Now, I'm not so sure. There are a lot of questions about what he's saying.''

In a videotaped deposition, University of Southern Mississippi coach James Green said that what happened at Texas hurt Oran's chances of coaching again.

"I think it reduces the chances drastically for someone in that situation to be hired, simply because you can find coaches without that type of baggage,'' Green said.