Coach Pulls Team Off Court Due To Alleged Racial Slurs, Team Forfeits

Warren County was fined $500 by the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association because boys basketball Coach Malcolm Montgomery removed his team from the floor in last Friday’s overtime game at Van Buren County with more than two minutes left.

Montgomery, who is black, told TSSAA Executive Director Bernard Childress that Warren County players were complaining that Van Buren County players were making racial slurs throughout the game. Warren County forfeited the game, trailing 61-56 in Spencer. Attempts to reach Montgomery on Tuesday were unsuccessful.

Warren County has three minority players. Van Buren County has none.

After hearing complaints about the slurs, Montgomery became upset about two Van Buren County students wearing a gorilla costume and a banana costume, Childress said. Van Buren County Principal Chris Binkley told Childress the costumes are part of a homecoming tradition and are not meant to be racial.

“All of the comments that (Warren County) said were made have not been substantiated in any way,” Childress said. “You talk to the people at Van Buren County and they will swear to you that nothing like that was ever said. If you talk to the people at Warren County the coach would say, ‘Yeah, those things were said.’ ”

Pulling a team from the court before the game ends is an automatic $500 fine, according to TSSAA rules.

A coach in that situation is supposed to report a slur to game officials or the game administrator to get it stopped, Childress said.

Two technical fouls were called against Warren County prior to the team’s departure. One was a bench technical, the other a technical on Montgomery.

Childress and TSSAA Assistant Executive Director Gene Menees met with Montgomery, Warren County Principal Tony Cassel and Athletics Director Todd Willmore on Monday and viewed video.

“There was a series of events that occurred that led (Montgomery) to believe his team was in an unsafe environment,” Willmore said. “Right or wrong, he chose to get them out of that environment.”

The Southern Standard in McMinnville reported that Montgomery was upset about racial slurs from Van Buren County fans. Van Buren County Coach Dustin Sullivan said school officials talked to fans who were sitting behind the Warren County bench and could not substantiate any racial slurs.

“I’ve never heard a racial slur from our crowd,” Sullivan said. “I know most of the people sitting behind (Coach Montgomery). We’re not going to tolerate that.”