'Last Chance U' coach Stephens out at EMCC.
East Mississippi Community College coach Buddy Stephens, who won five national titles, is out after making critical comments about changes made by the conference. Stephens was not mentioned in EMCC's news release, but a statement posted to the college's Facebook page, attributed to university president Scott Alsobrooks, apologized for comments in a recent media report.
The MACCC added one game to its regular season to allow for an equal number of home and road contests, and changed the playoff format to include only the two division champions rather than the top two teams from each division. Stephens told the Dispatch that some school presidents did not want to spend money on travel for the national junior college playoffs and crafted a format in which they would be more likely to host national playoff games.
"We wouldn't have won two national championships because we were the second-place team in the North [division]. It's not a very well thought-out process," said Stephens, who led EMCC to national titles in 2011, 2013, 2014, 2017 and 2018.
"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."
KEY POINTS
- 'Last Chance U' coach Stephens out at EMCC.
- EMCC announced Monday night that offensive coordinator and associate head coach Preston Rice will serve as interim head coach for the Lions, who began their season Thursday with a win against Southwest Mississippi.
- Stephens, who had led EMCC's program since 2008, told The Commercial Dispatch newspaper that the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference leaders who changed the season format are "idiots."
- Netflix profiled EMCC during the 2015 and 2016 seasons before taking the "Last Chance U" series to other junior college programs.