College baseball coach in Texas fired after rejecting a recruit because of Colorado’s pot laws
A college baseball coach has been fired after informing a potential recruit that the team doesn’t take players from Colorado because of the state’s policies on marijuana.
A Feb. 20 email from Texas Wesleyan coach Mike Jeffcoat wrote to a high school athlete reads:
“Thanks for the interest in our program. 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.”
Adults 21 and older can legally purchase and possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana in Colorado.
The email has gone viral on social media, and the Houston Chronicle confirmed that it was sent from Jeffcoat to a student at Cherokee Trail High in Aurora, Colo.
“I’ve never seen a coach send an email like that to a kid,” Allan Dyer, the student-athlete’s former high school coach, told the Houston Chronicle. “I was kind of shocked a coach would connect a political issue to a kid,” Dyer told Chron.com on Wednesday afternoon.
“It just made no sense. The student has not been in trouble one time at our school.”
Jeffcoat, who pitched 10 seasons in the major leagues, has yet to comment on the matter. Texas Wesleyan released a statement Wednesday:
“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.”
University president Fred Slabach said in a news conference Thursday that Jeffcoat had been fired, citing the controversial email and an unrelated National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics rule violation that had recently been discovered.
Twitter: @chewkiii
UPDATES:
11:40 a.m.: This article was updated after Mike Jeffcoat was fired by Texas Wesleyan.
This article was originally published at 9:25 a.m.
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