A former football coach at Savannah State University has accused the school of forcing him to resign because his fiancée is black.
Robert Wells, who is white, was fired in January, one month after he had accepted a one-year contract extension. He filed suit against the university, the state Board of Regents and several school officials this week after comments some officials made in interviews with other media outlets, including ESPN.
In the lawsuit, filed in Fulton County Superior Court, Wells accuses the university of discrimination. Wells also claims the school is trying to hurt his reputation as a football coach by saying he violated recruiting rules.
Wells said school officials told him that Savannah would disapprove that his fiancée is black, according to the lawsuit. The suit said the school also wrongfully denied football scholarships as well as spots on the team to the five white students he recruited.
Wells is the first white football coach in the school's history. He said in the lawsuit that he was hired in 2007 to turn the university’s football program around. During his first year as coach, the team won five games -- equal to the total amount of victories during the five previous seasons.
It was the school’s best season in 11 years, the lawsuit said. The team’s success prompted a university vice president to say publicly that Wells “has a job as long as I have one here.”
The lawsuit also said Wells made sure his players’ grades improved.
But, Wells and university and athletic officials soon clashed.
During the 2009 football season, Wells used his own money to produce a “coach’s show” for television, the lawsuit said. The show -- hosted by Wells’ fiancée -- was a behind-the-scenes look at SSU’s football program and included commentary and game highlights.
According to the lawsuit, Wells said university officials criticized him for letting his fiancée host the show as well as ride with him on a parade float and accompany him on away games.
The Tigers were 2-8 that season.
Wells was told during a January 2010 meeting that he “would never have the support of the citizens of Savannah because he is white and his fiancée is black,” the lawsuit states.
At a second meeting, on Jan. 28, Wells was told that he had to resign immediately or he would be fired, the suit alleges.
According to the lawsuit, Wells was told that if he were fired, he would lose his benefits and the university would give him “a poor recommendation” when he searched for another coaching job.
Both meetings took place just before National Signing Day for high school seniors.
Wells said he had been recruiting players “from southern Florida up the entire Eastern seaboard and into Canada,” according to the lawsuit, following the university’s directive to “go out and recruit the best players possible from the class of 2010 high school graduates.”
After Wells was fired, Savannah State’s interim football coach, Julius Dixon, told reporters that the school’s directive was “not to recruit high school seniors from outside the state of Georgia,” according to the lawsuit.
In interviews that aired on ESPN, university officials said Wells did not follow the rules and file the right paperwork in signing five white recruits to play for Savannah State. In the lawsuit, Wells said officials said those things to hurt his reputation as a coach.
Neither the interim athletic director, Marilynn Stacey-Suggs, nor the assistant, Shed Dawson Jr., returned phone calls seeking comment. Claud Flythe, the university’s vice president of administration, did not respond to e-mails or phone calls seeking comment.
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
