Tuskegee men’s basketball coach Benjy Taylor is considering legal action after being handcuffed and led off court at the end of his team’s loss to Morehouse College on Saturday.
Tuskegee athletic director Reginald Ruffin said Taylor had attempted to make sure protocols were followed when opposing Morehouse football players joining the basketball players in the postgame handshake line.
“You don’t do that … that’s a security breach,” Ruffin told HBCU Gameday. “We have security measures for our protection of our officials, our student athlete coaches and spectators.”
Videos of the incident soon spread online. Taylor is clearly animated in the footage, but did not appear to be physically aggressive before he was handcuffed by a police officer and taken away from the court.
Taylor’s attorney, Gregory Reynald Williams, said the coach was “concerned about a group of players from Morehouse’s football team who were acting aggressively towards the Tuskegee players and their parents.”
Taylor was was later released and rejoined his players as they left the arena. He told The Field of 68 that the incident was humiliating.
“I am at a loss for words and I am upset about how I was violated and treated today,” he said. “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.”
Williams said Taylor and his legal team were considering whether to bring a civil lawsuit over the incident. “Coach Taylor is a good man who did the right thing to protect his team and deescalate a dangerous situation and this officer put him in chains for his troubles,” Williams said.
Taylor has been Tuskegee coach since 2019. The 58-year-old has also coached Hawaii and Chicago State.
