College football coach famed for Netflix show fired after calling officials ‘idiots’

Buddy Stephens, who was featured on Last Chance U, publicly criticized his school and league hierarchy

A college football coach who rose to prominence in a Netflix documentary series about student athletes trying to make the big time on their final opportunity has been fired after publicly calling officials “idiots” for changing the structure of the league in which his team competed.

Buddy Stephens, the coach in question, starred in the first two seasons of the gritty reality show Last Chance U that chronicled the struggles endured by football players at East Mississippi Community College (EMCC) as they juggled academics, challenging home lives and their full-contact sport in their efforts to reach the NFL .

The show, which ran for five seasons between 2016 and 2020 while eventually covering programs other than EMCC, was a ratings success – with Stephens and his players coming close to a national championship appearance in the years they were featured.

EMCC on Monday announced that Stephens had been let go from his position as head coach that he held for 18 years, days after he appeared at the college football program’s media day and criticized his school along with the hierarchy of the league in which it competes: the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference.

“They’re idiots,” Stephens said in comments reported by the Dispatch, a local newspaper, about a restructuring adding an additional game to each team’s schedule and altering the structure of the league’s play-offs.

“It’s not a very well thought-out process,” he remarked. “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.”

The changes, Stephens said, were made because some colleges were trying to avoid spending money on travel to play-off games and were concocting a scenario in which they were much more likely to become a host.

A statement by EMCC on Monday did not mention Stephens, who won five national titles for the college from 2011 to 2018, all during seasons in which the program was not part of Last Chance U. It also did not provide a reason for why Preston Rice, the college’s associate head coach and offensive coordinator, had been appointed interim head coach “for the remainder of the season”.

However, in comments in a post to the college’s Facebook page on Monday night, the EMCC president, Scott Alsobrooks, clearly alluded to Stephens, saying his institution “strongly disavows the remarks published in a recent article”.

“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,” Alsobrooks said.

Alsobrooks also wrote: “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.”

The college, he wrote, “sincerely apologizes for the concerns raised by these comments and remains committed to fostering a respectful, professional, and collegial environment for all”.

Stephens, who led the college to a 27 August season opening win at Southwest Mississippi Community College, did not immediately comment on his dismissal publicly.

During his tenure at EMCC, several players went on to achieve success in the NFL. They include Jarran Reed, defensive tackle for the Seattle Seahawks; Dakota Allen, a linebacker who played four seasons in the professional ranks for various teams; and Za’Darius Smith, defensive end for the Atlanta Falcons.