Key Takeaways
- The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) served a fine over security standards following a basketball postgame incident.
- Tuskegee coach Benjy Taylor’s legal team is considering a civil lawsuit after he was handcuffed.
- The incident has raised broader questions about postgame safety and coach treatment in HBCU sports.
On Tuesday (Feb. 3), NBC News revealed that Tuskegee University men’s basketball coach Benjy Taylor hired a legal team after briefly being handcuffed and escorted off the court. The incident took place while Taylor tried to intervene in a postgame situation at Morehouse College in Atlanta.
The incident reportedly happened on Saturday (Jan. 31) following the teams’ handshake line after a Division II game that Morehouse won 77-69. Taylor was released shortly afterward and returned home with the team. While he was not charged, the coach retained civil rights attorney Harry Daniels as well as attorneys Gregory Reynald Williams and Gerald Griggs, who say they are considering a civil lawsuit connected to the incident.
In a statement from Daniels’ office, Taylor said he grew concerned as the postgame scene turned tense and more people entered the area around the court. It further claimed that Taylor asked a second officer to help enforce protocols and calm the situation, but the officer instead handcuffed him and escorted him from the court. Daniels argued that Taylor was trying to protect his players and said what happened in front of Taylor’s team, family, and fans was an embarrassment. “To put him in handcuffs, humiliate him and treat him like a criminal… is absolutely disgusting,” Daniels said, per NBC News.
Tuskegee President Mark Brown and athletic director Reginald Ruffin also backed their coach, saying he was acting out of his duty to safeguard the program and that game-management and security protocols were not properly carried out. “[He] acted solely out of his fundamental responsibility to protect his student-athletes and staff,” the statement read.
How the SIAC responded
Morehouse College did not immediately respond to a request for comment. On Monday, the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC), an NCAA Division II league, said it fined Morehouse an undisclosed amount after determining the host institution did not satisfy required security standards under its security policy, citing crowd control and the safe entry and exit of visiting teams and game participants. The conference said it will also require corrective measures to ensure full compliance with conference security policies moving forward.