Netflix’s “Last Chance U” first captivated football fans everywhere 10 years ago. The documentary series, which featured JUCO sports across the country — originally football for five seasons and then basketball for two more in a spin-off — initially spotlighted Scooba, Mississippi, and, more specifically, East Mississippi Community College.
EMCC served as the site of the firs two seasons of the critically acclaimed doc. And program frontman Buddy Stephens turned into a household name. His nonstop barking as well as his undeniable successful made him an unforgettable figure.
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But, after leading the Lions to five National Junior College Athletic Association national championships, Stephens is out as head coach.
EMCC announced Monday that it’s named associate head coach and offensive coordinator Preston Rice the team’s interim head coach. Stephens isn’t mentioned by the school in its statement.
The news arrived in the wake of Stephens making critical comments about EMCC and Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference (MACCC) leadership in an article published last week in The Commercial Dispatch.
Stephens, who spent 18 years in his post while amassing a 155–31 record, condemned the recent changes to the MACCC’s regular season and playoff formats.
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As reported by the Dispatch, the league announced earlier this year that was increasing the regular season from nine games to 10, with each team now playing five home games and five away games. Plus, the MACCC altered its postseason qualification requirements. Instead of the top two teams from both the North and South divisions competing for the state championship, only the No. 1 seeds from each division have a chance to play for the title.
On the team’s media day, Stephens claimed that the initial plan was for the MACCC to sport a 10-game regular-season schedule with two playoff games, even though that model would have bled into the NJCAA national playoff schedule.
“Ultimately this is what happened,” Stephens said, per the Dispatch, which reported that he called the leaders in charge of the structure modifications “idiots.”
“Some of the presidents in the state didn’t want to have to go to the national playoffs because they didn’t want to travel the first week. … The presidents decided they didn’t want to have to spend a lot of money to travel, so they did our system, our playoffs and our yearly schedule in order for them to be able to back out of the [NJCAA] playoffs if they wanted to and stay in our playoffs. But if they were going to be a No. 1 or No. 2 seed and they were going to get to host and they didn’t have to travel, then they’d get out of our playoffs and opt into the national playoffs so they can host.”
According to Stephens, the NJCAA caught a whiff of that alleged plan and forced MACCC teams to announce in the summer if they wanted to be in the national playoffs. That’s why the MACCC settled for 10 regular season games and one playoff game, Stephens said, via the Dispatch.
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That system frustrated Stephens, who led second-seeded North division teams to NJCAA national championships twice, squads who needed that league playoff run to boost their national ranking to make the four-team national field but were clearly capable of winning it all.
Stephens described the format shift’s process as “junkified,” according to the Dispatch.
EMCC president Scott Alsobrooks responded Monday with a statement posted on the school’s Facebook page, in which he noted the college “strongly disavows the remarks published in a recent article.”
Alsobrooks also said: “These comments are inconsistent with the college’s core values and standards of professionalism, respect, and civility, and do not reflect the views, mission, or expectations of EMCC. While the college supports open and constructive dialogue, personal attacks have no place in that discourse and are contrary to the standards we uphold within our college community.”
