Tuskegee University head basketball coach Benjy Taylor was taken off the court in handcuffs following his team's 77-69 loss against Morehouse College in Atlanta on Saturday.
Tuskegee athletic director Reginald Ruffin said in a statement to HBCU Gameday that his coach was trying to ensure conference-mandated security protocols were enforced after what he described as a “security breach" in the postgame handshake line in which Morehouse football players joined.
Ruffin described the postgame scene as two teams finishing “a tough game” and preparing to shake hands, when football players entered the line.
“We have security measures for our protection of our officials, our student athlete coaches and spectators,” Ruffin told HBCU Gameday, adding, "You got to intermingle football players shaking hands with the team,” he said. “You don’t do that… that’s a security breach.”
Taylor reportedly notified security and asked for the football players to be removed from the line, but, according to the athletic director, security claimed that Taylor was “very aggressive” and “the aggressor,” which is why he was placed in handcuffs.
In a statement, Taylor, who was eventually released and allowed to travel back with the team, said he felt "violated" by his treatment for wanting to get the football players out of the line in what he felt was a "very dangerous situation."
Taylor told The Field of 68, “I am at a loss for words and I am upset about how I was violated and treated today. For my players, my family and people of Tuskegee to witness that is heartbreaking for me. I was simply trying to get the football team out of the handshake line as they were following right behind me and the team yelling obscenities! It was a very dangerous situation.”
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