Players at Lane College threaten to leave if interim coach isn’t retained
Players at Lane College, a Division II school in Jackson, Tenn., are threatening to leave school if their interim coach is not kept on the coaching staff in 2014.
Malik Hoskins was named the interim coach at Lane on Wednesday after coach Derrick Burroughs said that he was leaving for Jackson State. Hoskins, who was the offensive coordinator last season, has been on staff since 2008.
Players had a meeting with Hoskins and the school's interim president Glenn Vaulx on Friday.
“We actually went in and got 106 withdrawal slips this morning,” wide receiver Greg Moore said Friday night.
Moore said he, quarterbacks Chris Rini and McKinsley Marbury and defensive back Jack Howard organized a petition to retain Hoskins. All four are seniors.
“They did have a petition the players signed to express their support,” said Darlette Samuels, Lane’s director of public relations and executive assistant to the president.
Rini told the Sun that he and other players had heard rumors that Hoskins would not be part of the next coaching staff despite the interim promotion. Rini was the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference player of the year in 2013 as Lane was 6-4.
Moore added "That's a bad look on the school" if the whole team leaves. He also predicted that the school may wait until after graduation to hire a coach since all of the organizing members of the movement are seniors.
Burroughs had been at the school since 2010 and will be the defensive coordinator at Jackson State for new head coach Harold Jackson. Jackson State went 8-4 in 2013 but fired the entire coaching staff after the season, citing the need for more local players on the team.
Plus, Jackson State is the school that Grambling State forfeited against in October after Grambling players boycotted the game in protest of the conditions. After the game was cancelled, Jackson State filed a lawsuit against Grambling for loss of revenue.
The player boycott at Grambling brought attention to the dwindling funding situation at the university. Will a similar move at Lane work out in its players favor?
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is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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