Auburn University head baseball coach Butch Thompson on Tuesday said he was "stunned" to learn Birmingham-Southern College (BSC), where he pitched and met his now-wife, was closing its doors at the end of the school year.
BSC is closing after legislation to give the financially distressed college a $30 million loan stalled in the Alabama House.
Thompson, who played at BSC and then served two stints as an assistant coach at his alma mater, likened hearing the news to learning someone had died, telling reporters after a dominant win over Jacksonville State on Tuesday night he "was sad about that today."
“Kind of stunned all day, although it’s like somebody passing and you know they’re probably going to pass, but until it happens, you know,” Thompson said. “I was sad about that today.”
“I know it was an uphill battle once the college got to a certain place,” he added.
The coach voiced his concern for the student-athletes, especially the baseball team, which has been a very successful program over the years, including 2004, in which it went 47-18 and was a No. 3 seed in a regional tournament when it was in Division 1.
“There’s a baseball team up there, student-athletes up there,” he stated. “There’s people that have given a lot to that; that won’t exist.”
“Hopefully, all the adults in the room, if this gavel has landed to end that school, which hasn’t hit me yet, the proper response is going take care of those kids that are there now and what’s right. It’s pretty unbelievable," Thompson added.
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