The president of East Mississippi Community College has suspended the school’s football coach for two games following an on-field altercation last weekend between the coach and an alternate official.
Thomas Huebner Jr., the school’s president, announced the suspension for eighth-year head coach Buddy Stephens on Wednesday afternoon.
“EMCC has completed it’s review of Saturday’s on-field incident involving our football coach, Buddy Stephens, and an MACJC official,” Huebner’s said in a statement. “While I believe Coach Stephens did not initiate physical contact, he did respond in the heat of the moment in a manner not consistent with our institutional expectations. Accordingly, I have suspended Coach Stephens for two games.”
The incident occurred during EMCC’s game against Itawamba Community College on Saturday in Scooba.
In video footage circulating online, an alternate official, while standing along EMCC’s sideline, appears to throw a clipboard and possibly a punch at Stephens. Stephens responds by either throwing a punch or lunging at the game administrator — the video is not clear. The two are then separated by coaches and players.
The incident stopped the game for approximately 10 minutes. Afterward, Stephens coached the rest of the game from the press box. He told The Dispatch after the game he volunteered to leave the playing field. The alternate official — who The Dispatch has been unable to identify — left the field, as well.
“I take responsibility for everything on the sideline,” Stephens said after the game. “It was an overreaction on my part. Things like that can’t happen because they are a reflection of the program. We are not like that.”
Huebner, in his statement Wednesday, said the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges and National Junior College Athletic Association both “accepted our self-imposed penalties.”
Jim Southward, the MACJC commissioner, in a message to The Dispatch, said his office has “thoroughly investigated the incident.” The MACJC, he said, has allowed EMCC and “the officials’ association to administer any sanctions or penalties to the two individuals involved.”
Huebner said he hopes the situation is a learning experience.
“The EMCC football program has excelled under the leadership of Coach Stephens and our hope is that this will be a great teaching opportunity for our coaches and student-athletes,” Huebner said. “I have been impressed by Coach Stephens’ reaction to this incident and am confident this situation will have a positive outcome for many.”
EMCC won Saturday’s game, 48-24. It was a heated atmosphere — eight personal fouls were called and two players were ejected.
It was EMCC’s homecoming.
“This situation is over,” Stephens said after the game. “I don’t want it to detract from our guys winning a game, but it will. I don’t think it detracts from our guys but for adults it does. It happened on homecoming. That is ridiculous.”
EMCC travels to Ellisville tonight to face Jones County Junior College. The team travels to Goodman next week to face Holmes Community College.
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