SCOOBA — Winning football games has become the business for East Mississippi Community College.
EMCC won the National Junior College Athletic Association national championship in 2011, 2013, and 2014. The Lions also spent parts of the 2012 and 2015 seasons ranked No. 1 in the nation.
However, the 2015 season proved the most difficult in Buddy Stephens’ eight seasons as head coach.
“Each year you learn from things,” Stephens said. “In 2008, we learned you can’t let up (in a playoff loss to Pearl River C.C.). In 2009, we learned you have to play the entire season. In 2010, we made mistakes with personnel and we learned we had to handle recruiting better. In 2011, we learned you can win a national championship without playing great defense. In 2012, we learned you can’t let the other team get to you (in a regular-season ending loss to Itawamba C.C.). In 2013 and 2014, we learned how to play with pressure, expectations.
“This season, we learned about adversity. We grew a lot through the season even though it didn’t end as we wanted.”
The season began with EMCC confirming the enrollment of quarterback De’Andre Johnson, who was dismissed from Florida State after video surfaced of him punching a female student in a bar. Stephens confirmed Johnson was part of the program but that he wouldn’t join the team full time until he completed anger management classes and a full semester of classes in the fall. The confirmation came after a weekend in which EMCC received national media scrutiny for taking on the troubled standout.
During the regular season, EMCC saw its 25-game winning streak snapped in an overtime loss at Copiah-Lincoln C.C. in its second game.
On Homecoming, Stephens didn’t finish a 48-24 victory against ICC after being in an on-field altercation with an alternate referee. The altercation was physical between the coach and official and resulted in Stephens having to serve a school-mandated two-game suspension.
Still, EMCC overcame those challenges, beat Northwest Mississippi C.C. to win the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges North Division title, and had earned enough points in the national rankings to have an outside chance at an unprecedented third-straight national title.
A brawl then took place in the final game of the regular season against Mississippi Delta C.C. Called before halftime, EMCC finished 8-1 with a 48-0 victory at Jim Randall Stadium in Moorhead. The next day, the MACJC banned EMCC from postseason play.
It was the first time since 2007 EMCC didn’t play in the state playoffs.
After the incident, EMCC administrators and coaches had to figure out what changes — if any — needed to be made to the program.
“No matter how the season ends, you always need to be in a position to review what went well and what didn’t go well,” EMCC President Dr. Thomas Huebner said. “There will always be things you could do differently to elevate the status of your program. I have been impressed by coach Stephens’ willingness to look at a lot of facets of the program. I believe he is genuine and sincere. He is very positive in his desire to represent this institution in a positive light. He wants our student-athletes to be successful on and off the field.
“He has been very contemplative and has been very open in considering how we can improve.”
While Huebner declined to name specific things that might change, it’s clear the administration doesn’t want several things that happened this season to be repeated.
Stephens admitted his on-field altercation with an alternate referee was “the biggest mistake of (his) coaching career.” He said his program always has prided itself in a high level of discipline, and that his level of discipline wasn’t where it needed to be that day.
“I thought we had a great football team,” Stephens said. “It was the deepest team we have had here. In the second week of the season, we lost a game. In the grand scheme of things, one loss is not a big deal. For our program, it is. I think the kids were really devastated for a couple of weeks because they thought we had lost our chance at a national championship.
“After the fifth game, we really started clicking. The fight at the end of the year is difficult. I think we get a bad rap because of who we are. If you see the film, you realize our kids had great restraint.”
Stephens makes no apologies for a coaching style that often results in EMCC winning by large margins against outmanned opponents. Stephens has said more than once that other schools could have similar success to EMCC if they invested and did some of the same things.
“We aren’t changing,” Stephens said. “I make no apologies for who we are. Other coaches are saying negative, untrue things about us on the recruiting trail. We are going to defend our program. We have a great group of kids who have come here to win championships. Everything we do is by design. It is to give these players an opportunity to play on the next level. We will not back down from our commitment to these kids and their families.”
EMCC Athletic Director Mikey Stokes said the school is taking the 2015 season in stride. However, evaluations will be made and changes will be implemented to make sure some situations aren’t repeated.
“We definitely had some unique things happen this year,” Stokes said. “You want to look at what happened and evaluate it. You need to take measures to address it. After the fact, you can say we should have done this or done that. We have talked to our coaching staff. They have talked amongst themselves, too. You speak with the people you need to speak with. Then you create preventative measures so that these things don’t happen again.”
Stokes said the school hadn’t contacted the MACJC office about safety concerns on the road prior to the game against Mississippi Delta this season. However, the school will look at doing that in 2016. The school also will take additional administrators and law enforcement to road venues.
From an on-field standpoint, Stokes expects very little change. He believes in Stephens and the program’s recruiting philosophy, which has included singing numerous out-of-state prospects, some with checkered pasts.
“We have a top quality program with a fantastic group of coaches,” Stokes said. “They do a great job of recruiting the kids and coaching them up once they get here. We offer a lot to help student-athletes athletically and academically as they prepare for a senior college and the real world. Our job is to help them be prepared for the next level. With the success we have had, kids are attracted to us. We have had some who have transferred here because they were unhappy where they were at a four-year school. They come here for one year and move on. Like Chad Kelly, who is now at Ole Miss.
“We offer a lot of opportunities for players. No matter what sport you are in, there is room for improvement. We have had things occur this year that you want to learn from. You can use these things as teachable moments. Overall, I feel like we have a fantastic program with men of character leading it.”
In 2011, the MACJC eliminated recruiting districts. Prior to that, each of the MACJC’s 14 schools could protect 22 players from their local district. Those players had to play at the local community college or play out of state. Now players can sign anywhere in the state. The 55-man MACJC rosters are limited to eight out-of-state players.
Stephens said his program might tweak its statewide recruiting philosophy in response to the brawl. Signing more local kids should mean those kids will have a stronger investment to the community.
Stephens also said the players will be better aware of dangerous situations before certain games are played.
“All we can control is our kids and the environment they are going to play in,” Stephens said. “It is up to MACJC to control whatever they can control. I think you can do something like that. All I know is from now on when we play we will have a plan in place that will handle anything that goes on on the sidelines. There are plans in place at all levels for the safety of players and fans. As a league, we need to take a close look at it. Here we are going to make sure that this doesn’t happen again. I will take the blame. I should have put more in-depth thought into this. I should have been prepared. You have to prepare for all different types of things. I didn’t think anything like this would happen.
“I don’t think or kids understood the full ramifications of leaving the bench area. That is our fault.”
The MACJC dismissed EMCC’s appeal of its postseason ban. The NJCAA also dropped EMCC from No. 3 to No. 10 in its latest national rankings.
Stephens knows his list of enemies is much longer than his list of friends at the national level.
“Whether we get a fair shake (from the MACJC and the NJCAA) is not my concern,” Stephens said. “We are not going to get the same shake. We won’t get the same ruling as someone else. If that fight happens here, we may be banned forever. Our job is to win games and overcome everything. We did a really good job of that in 2013 and 2014. In 2015, not so much.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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