His record will go in the books as 0-0, but Mike Price was technically Alabama's football coach for 4½ months.

During that time, Price did firm up his first Crimson Tide recruiting class by mid-winter and, in March, watched as a Brodie Croyle-led Crimson team pulled out a 47-0 victory over the White team in the Spring Game.

And to think Price might have done all this for free. He agreed in principle to a seven-year, $10 million contract, but never signed it. Price lost his job months before his first regular season in Tuscaloosa because of his conduct on a trip to Florida last month for a pro-am golf tournament.

"It's not unheard of to come to work for a reasonable period of time and perform duties while the language of the contract is being worked out," said Russ Campbell, an agent who represents, among others, Florida State coach Bobby Bowden. "But, after a couple of weeks, you have to make sure that both the coach and the school have signed on the dotted line."

Alabama is an at-will employment state -- either side can terminate a deal-- but contracts are there to make sure that termination by any side comes at a price. Without a signed contract, Price's termination was made much easier, according to Campbell.

"Without a signed contract, he had no right to his job," Campbell said. "Without a signed contract, Alabama technically didn't even have to give him notice or let him defend himself."

Agent Craig Fenech, who represents University of Memphis basketball coach John Calipari, said Price might be entitled to recoup a portion of the $10 million.

"It's better to have a contract that is signed, sealed and delivered, but depending on the factors it's not necessarily a slam dunk," Fenech said. "If the material terms were agreed upon and it just came down to changing a couple words, it may be enforceable.

"If the debate was over the morals clause, he might have a tougher case. But it's possible to argue that both parties were at least performing as if they had a binding contract."

Just because he hadn't signed the contract doesn't mean a structure wasn't set up to pay Price by the week or month in the meantime, said Rob Ades, who represents Syracuse men's basketball coach Jim Boeheim.

"I'd be astonished if they weren't paying him something," Ades said.

Price's unsigned contract reportedly had a "for cause" clause which stated that he could be fired for behavior "that brings employee into public disrepute, contempt, scandal, or ridicule or that reflects unfavorably upon the reputation or the high moral or ethical standards of the university."

Price, 57, was fired after reports surfaced last week that he spent hundreds of dollars at a Florida topless bar, and a woman charged $1,000 in room service items to his hotel bill.

Fenech said that Alabama law will probably favor the employer instead of the employee, but Price might be better served to file in federal court if he can make a case to do so.

Federal judges are appointed by the President of the United States, while state judges -- who could be more biased towards the university -- are elected, Fenech said.

The fact that Price became an Alabama resident by moving into former Tide head coach Dennis Franchione's house might make it harder for him to make a federal case against his dismissal, Fenech said.

"Any coach who sues a university better win and better win big," Ades said, "because he'll have to earn enough money to retire since no one else is ever going to hire him."

Darren Rovell, who covers sports business for ESPN.com, can be reached at darren.rovell@espn3.com.