Alabama Coach Accused of Racism

Two weeks before leaving for Alabama, former Texas Christian coach Dennis Franchione and linebackers coach Mark Parks were accused of racial discrimination and harassment by two players.

In a complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Education and obtained by the Houston Chronicle, the two TCU players said they were subjected to “racial slurs and stereotypical comments.”

Franchione denied the allegations, saying internal investigations at TCU “have uncovered no evidence of harassment or discrimination of any sort, and I am confident this situation will be resolved soon.”

“I have coached 28 years with a mission of developing people first and football players second,” Franchione said in a statement Saturday night. “In that spirit, I could not live with myself if I mistreated a person due to race, or for any other reason.

“I do not understand how the two players at TCU came to feel as they did, and I feel badly that they believed they had been mistreated.”

The documents do not identify the players, although Adrian and Allen Lewis have confirmed they are the “alleged injured parties” referred to in the documents.

The Lewises are twins whose father, Donald Lewis, is black and mother, Janelle, is white. The players state in the complaint that after having met their parents, Parks regularly would ask them if they were “black or white today.”

“That was his thing. If he saw me wearing a cap on backwards, he would say, ‘Oh, you must be black today,’ ” Allen Lewis said. “If I was dressed up nicely for something, he would say, ‘Oh, you’re white today?’ It just went on and on.”

The complaint describes three years of mistreatment, and attributes other racist comments to Parks, including: “I am glad we finally have some white players on the team, instead of the team being all black.”

Parks said he could not comment on specifics of the matter, but he denied that any of the allegations are true.

“I 100% totally deny making any such statements,” Parks told the Chronicle. “I’ve been doing this for 10 years, and this is the first time anything like this has ever been said about me.”

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There was a time when Utah receiver Steve Smith thought his career was over.

Two seasons ago, he broke his neck in a game against Brigham Young. But he returned for his senior year, and capped his college career Saturday with two touchdowns in the West’s 20-10 victory Saturday in the East-West Shrine Game at San Francisco.

“It really made me look at life differently,” he said about the injury. “You have to go full stride and not have any regrets.”

The 76th annual East-West game, which raises money for Shriners’ hospitals, has become a showcase for seniors like Smith, hoping to get another chance to impress NFL scouts looking for draftable talent.

Kansas State’s Jonathan Beasley was five of 10 for 117 yards and the two scoring passes to Smith. Nebraska’s Correll Buckhalter caught three passes for 61 yards and ran 10 times for 54 yards.

Boston College quarterback Tim Hasselbeck, playing for the East, was 13 of 28 for 164 yards, including a 51-yard scoring pass to Miami’s Andre King.

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Penn State’s Rashard Casey threw a six-yard touchdown pass to Florida State’s Ryan Sprague as Team Florida beat Team USA, 10-0, in the Rotary Gridiron Classic at Orlando, Fla.

Casey, the game’s most valuable player, connected with Sprague with 6:17 remaining in the third quarter. Casey completed six of 15 passes for 66 yards and rushed seven times for 41 yards.

Team USA had an opportunity to tie the score when Cincinnati quarterback Deontey Kenner moved the team to Florida’s 6. But on a third-and-goal play, Florida’s Chris Edmonds of West Virginia made a one-handed interception.

Team USA then forced Florida to punt, but USA quarterback Ortege Jenkins of Arizona was sacked and fumbled. Florida recovered and went 12 yards in six plays, resulting in a 23-yard field goal by Brian Kopka of Maryland for a 10-0 lead with 2:07 remaining in the game.