Add The New York Post on Google Buddy Stephens is out of chances at East Mississippi Community College.
The five-time national junior college champion coach, who was a star of Netflix’s “Last Chance U” during its first two seasons, is out at EMCC after he blasted leaders of the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference as “idiots” for changes to its season structure and playoff format during an interview with The Commercial Dispatch.
EMCC named offensive coordinator Preston Rice as its interim head coach “effective immediately” Monday night.
Coach Buddy Stephens speaks on a panel for “Last Chance U” at Netflix 2016 Summer TCA at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Wednesday, July 27, 2016, in Los Angeles. Eric Charbonneau/Invision/AP The school’s announcement made no mention of Stephens, who had been at the helm for 18 seasons.
The MACCC decided to increase the number of regular-season games from nine to 10, giving each team five home and five away games, and decrease the number of playoff teams from four to two, according to The Commercial Dispatch.
Previously, the top two teams from the North and South divisions would make the league’s playoffs, but now the top seeds from each division will square off for the state title.
Stephens told the Dispatch he believes the format change was a money-based decision from school presidents who didn’t want to travel for national playoff games.
“We wouldn’t have won two national championships because we were the second-place team in the North. It’s not a very well thought-out process,” Stephens told the paper. “It was really ‘junkified,’ the way they decided they were going to do it and there wasn’t a lot of real thought. I was very surprised at how it came out because there were actual people who have doctorates that came up with this.”
EMCC president Scott Alsobrooks said in a statement on the school’s Facebook page Monday night that the college “strongly disavows the remarks published in a recent article,” without mentioning Stephens or the context of the comments.
“These comments are inconsistent with the college’s core values and standards of professionalism, respect, and civility and do not reflect the views, mission, or expectations of EMCC,” Alsobrooks said. “While the college supports open and constructive dialogue, personal attacks have no place in that discourse and are contrary to the standards we uphold within our college community. EMCC sincerely apologizes for the concerns raised by these comments and remains committed to fostering a respectful, professional, and collegial environment for all.”
Last Chance U focused on community college football programs giving troubled players an opportunity to turn their lives around.
The series shifted to Independence Community College in Kansas for Seasons 3 and 4 before finishing with Laney College in Oakland for Season 5.
The series spawned a two-season basketball spinoff.
