Mark Adams, Texas Tech University‘s white men’s basketball coach was suspended by the school after making a religious yet racially insensitive statement to a player.
The university released
a statement pertaining to the issue.“On Friday, Director of Athletics Kirby Hocutt was made aware of an incident regarding a coaching session between Adams and a member of the men’s basketball team. Adams was encouraging the student-athlete to be more receptive to coaching and referenced Bible verses about workers, teachers, parents, and slaves serving their masters. Adams immediately addressed this with the team and apologized.
“Upon learning of the incident, Hocutt addressed this matter with Adams and issued him a
written reprimand. Hocutt subsequently made the decision to suspend Adams effective immediately in order to conduct a more thorough inquiry of Adams’ interactions with his players and staff.”Adams explained to Stadium that the comments were not racist as he was quoting a Bible verse in saying to one of his players that there is “always a master and a servant.”
“I was quoting the scripture,” Adams told the media outlet. “It was a private conversation about coaching and when you have a job and being coachable.” “I said that in the Bible that Jesus talks about how we all have bosses, and we all are servants. I was quoting the Bible about that.”
The 66-year-old coach addressed the team about his comments—and that was it.
“One of my coaches said it bothered the player,” Adams said. “I explained to them. I didn’t apologize.”
According to ESPN, on Monday, Texas Tech named Corey Williams interim head coach for the upcoming Big 12 tournament.