Texas Wesleyan Baseball Coach Gets Canned After Rejecting Recruit Because Of Colorado’s Weed Laws

Socrates Johnson8 years ago

♫ I was gonna play baseball at Texas Wesleyan University, but then I got high. ♫

This is the ditty that former TWU baseball coach Mike Jeffcoat probably assumed was playing in the head of every Colorado high school baseball player. If you had to ask Coach Mike what goes down at high schools in the Centennial State, it’s doobie rolling and marijuanas taking.

But, there was no room for potheads and druggies (also known as Colorado high school kids) on Coach Mike’s baseball team, and he expressed as much in a letter to a Colorado-based high school senior who was hoping to play ball for the squad. It was a letter that got Coach Mike, who had a 529-358-1 record with the program, more canned than a thing of Dole’s pineapple slices.

From New York Daily News:

Mike Jeffcoat, the coach at Texas Wesleyan University and a former major-league pitcher, has been fired after saying in an email to a Colorado high school prospect that the university no longer recruits players from the state due to failed drug tests.

“Thanks for the interest in our program,” Jeffcoat wrote to Cherokee Trail High School senior Gavin Bell on Feb. 20. “Unfortunately, we are not recruiting players from the state of Colorado. In the past, players have had trouble passing our drug test. We have made a decision to not take a chance on student-athletes from your state. You can thank your liberal politicians. Best of luck wherever you decide to play.”

Now, Coach Mike didn’t specifically mention weed in his letter, but if you’re a high school athlete who lives in a state where weed is legal, you’re probably not (allegedly) failing drug tests by hitting the crack pipe.

Obviously, assuming every kid from Colorado is hitting the devil’s lettuce is an absurd take, and Jeffcoat’s letter stirred up quite the controversy. That’s when Texas Wesleyan came in with the most college-y official statement of all time ahead of Jeffcoat’s firing.

We are aware of the email sent by our baseball coach, and the comments he made are in no way a reflection of Texas Wesleyan University, its values or its recruiting practices.

This is a personnel matter and it is currently under investigation. It is our University policy to not discuss personnel matters, but we want to reiterate that this email does not reflect our values and we do not condone discrimination. This includes discrimination on the basis of race, color, origin, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, disability or sexuality; or the political legislation of one’s home state. We are committed to providing an inclusive campus for all of our students, faculty, staff, visitors, potential students and their families.

Texas Wesleyan has a long tradition of excellence in athletics and we are committed to recruiting student-athletes who will excel at our university. Like the NAIA’s core values, we are focused on building and recruiting champions of character.

Gotta love how they covered all their bases with that “discrimination” line, — “Race, color, origin, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, disability or sexuality” — and then left the crux of the issue until last: “the political legislation of one’s home state.”

It’s too bad that Jeffcoat had to lose his job, especially after doing so much for the program. But his biggest flaw wasn’t his outrageous logic, it was his consistency. Because after all his hootin’ and hollerin’ about them no-good Colorado kids, he still let this kid on his team.

.

[via New York Daily News]

Image via Flickr