As Ole Miss released its statement officially firing football head coach Matt Luke, Athletics Director Keith Carter was in the team room in the Manning Center to address the team and answer questions. About five minutes after the meeting began, several players walked out to the parking lot to leave. Most of the players expressed their disapproval of Luke’s firing but declined to comment. Here’s what the players who did talk had to say:
Freshman defensive lineman Patrick Lucas
“I don’t think he should’ve gotten fired. It doesn’t take two years to build up something that you inherit that was full of crap. I came here and bought in to what he was trying to do.”
“I couldn’t take it anymore. Hearing that was awful. Yeah, we went 4-8, but we as a team from the inside felt that next year was going to be our year.”
“I don’t know what my options are. To the fans, y’all really don’t care about us honestly. If we win, they care if we lose; they hate us and bash us. I think we should have the choice to vote for who we follow. We all bought into coach Luke.”
Junior offensive lineman Chandler Tuitt
“Disappointed, lost really. Y’all made the decisions without even telling us, first of all. So, like, we’re just all lost. Half the team is talking about leaving if Luke leaves. If you clear house again, I don’t think anyone’s going to stay. You’ve got new recruits coming in next week and won’t have a head coach.”
“I’ve been here four years, and this is going to be our third coach coming in. You think it’s going to be bad now. If this new coach coming in isn’t about family, then you’re going to lose a lot of players. That’s just point blank.”
“There’s no program without players. You’re basing stuff off the fans, but we don’t care about the fans — that much I’m going to be honest with you. We love football, and if you don’t want to support us, that’s just your fault.”
“I love Keith (Carter), but I just didn’t want to hear it.”
Senior defensive back Myles Hartsfield
“It’s just tough losing your coach — a dude who actually cared about us and would do anything for us. We put a lot into this as seniors and to find out on Twitter? Come on, son.”
Freshman quarterback John Rhys Plumlee
“We have a group chat, so we were all texting, and they figured out about it. (The other players) informed me of (Luke’s firing).”
