Glenn “Shemy” Schembechler apologized on Sunday for offensive social media activity which led to him stepping down as Michigan’s assistant director of football recruiting just three days after he was hired.
Schembechler’s Twitter account was deactivated over the weekend after users discovered he had “liked” various racist tweets, including some “suggesting slavery and Jim Crow had the positive effect of strengthening Black individuals and families,” per ESPN’s Heather Dinich.
“Any words or philosophies that in any way seek to underplay the immeasurable suffering and long-term economic and social inequities that hundreds of years of slavery and the ‘Jim Crow’ era caused for Black Americans is wrong,” Schembechler said in a statement. “I was wrong. We must never sanitize morally unsanitary, historical behaviors that have hindered the Black community, or any other community. There are no historical silver linings for the experience of our brothers and sisters.”
Below is Schembechler’s full statement, which was issued on his behalf by a public relations firm on Sunday night.
Schembechler's statement, continued: (2/2) pic.twitter.com/Q4uQ5hMqDr
— Aaron McMann (@AaronMcMann) May 22, 2023
Schembechler’s hiring last Wednesday was big news in Ann Arbor. He is the son of legendary former Wolverines coach Bo Schembechler, who coached from 1969 to ’89 and won 13 Big Ten championships. The younger Schembechler had previously worked for the program as a graduate assistant in 1993. He then served various NFL teams as a scout, most recently with the Raiders.
