Post by ssu tiger fan on Jun 16, 2010 13:50:24 GMT -5
By Kristi E. Swartz
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
11:51 a.m. Wednesday, June 16, 2010
The January firing of Savannah State University head football coach Robert Wells was one of “the most poorly handled situations,” one school administrator said.
“This should have been addressed in January,” when Wells was given a “resign-or-be-fired” ultimatum from university officials after they called his coaching ethics into question two years after he was hired.
Wells last month sued the school and several administrators, including the interim athletic director and administration vice president Claud Flythe. Wells, the first white football coach in the school’s history, said he coached the team to the most victories it has had in years and that he was fired because his fiancée is black.
During his first year as coach, the team won five games -- equal to the total amount of victories during the five previous seasons. It was the school’s best season in 11 years, the lawsuit said. In Wells' second season, the Tigers were 2-8.
In speaking with the AJC, Flythe called Wells a “pathological liar” and is adamant that race had nothing to do with his dismissal.
“It’s ludicrous that someone would make those accusations,” a heated Flythe told the AJC.
Wells was given a one-year contract extension in December 2009.
The university confirmed other news reports that 13 of the players were ineligible to participate in spring practice and that 20 players had either quit or were dismissed from the team.
Wells started his coaching career as a graduate assistant under Lou Holtz at the University of South Carolina and then became the defensive coordinator for South Carolina State University three years later.
The sports information director at South Carolina State referred to a statement from the human resources office that said Wells resigned in 2005 “for personal reasons.”
Wells also coached at Benedict College for one year before going to Savannah State.
Flythe chaired the search committee for a new head football coach and said Wells did an “outstanding job” in his interview process.
Flythe said Wells also was hired on his promise to bring more money into the school, as there wasn't enough coming in from student fees to support the program.
The night before university officials were to decide whether to hire Wells, a restless Flythe said he called Willie Jeffries, a friend and nationally known former college football coach, and was adamant about meeting up with him and Wells. Agreeing to meet about halfway between Savannah and Columbia, S.C., on I-95, the three sat in a McDonald’s off of exit 78.
“I looked at Jeffries, he looked at Wells, they looked at me … I said, ‘Coach Wells … I have one question for you. Look me in the eye. Do not blink your eye. Can I trust you?’”
Wells responded with, "Yes, sir," Flythe said.
For Flythe, that was all he needed until January.
That’s when four officials from the athletics department met with Flythe to discuss what he said were “serious issues of the football program … things that could jeopardize the integrity of the university,” he said.
That was serious business for Flythe, who is leaving Savannah State at the end of the month. The football team was on probation. The university president had charged Flythe with three things: Get off probation, get certified as a Division I school and find a conference where the program would feel comfortable.
The list of concerns about Wells included a “misuse of travel money during the 2008 football season,” “has difficulty following the chain of command,” and is “receiving extra benefit that has not been reported through university channels.”
That led Flythe to start making decisions about Wells’ job.
Other concerns had been documented in a previous letter. The now former athletic director called Wells a self-promoter who “cares more about his image than his team.” The list accuses Wells of eating before the team did, taking cellphone calls during team meetings, and traveling back from games with his family and not with the players.
The letters also say Wells ordered equipment and hired staff without following “proper procedures,” and that the athletes “admittedly lack respect” for him.
Wells filed a lawsuit against the school, several officials and the state Board of Regents. His attorney, Debra Schwartz of Atlanta, said that he is telling the truth and that he has documents to support his allegations.
As for the letters that Flythe gave to the AJC, Schwartz said she hasn’t seen those.
“If his job performance was so poor, why give him a contract extension?” she said.
www.ajc.com/news/savannah-state-officials-respond-550312.html
