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Matt Luke on the road recruiting when he found out about his dismissal
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
In a stunning move on Sunday evening, Matt Luke will reportedly not return as head coach of the Rebels in 2020, just days after a 21-20 Egg Bowl loss to Mississippi State that was marred by a penalty following a dog urination celebration by Elijah Moore and a missed extra point at the end of the game.
Luke was out on the road recruiting when he found out about the news that he had been fired.
247Sports Ole Miss writer Ben Garrett reported originally that Luke was visiting a commitment from the 2020 class when he learned that the university was parting ways with him. He later removed that report from social media and clarified his original report.
The original report read, “Matt Luke was in the home of three-star Ole Miss commitment De’Rickey Wright when news broke. Wright, obviously, took it hard, but Luke advised him to stay patient and pray about his pledge. Say what you want about everything else, but Luke’s always been a stand-up guy.”
The clarification is below:
I deleted the original because it caught fire and was getting circulated without any acknowledgment of my clarification, located at the link. Regardless of what some might think, I'm not trying to stir crap up or play Twitter for 3k likes. https://t.co/OzcEMhfBDj
— Ben Garrett (@SpiritBen) December 2, 2019
Wright posted a tweet to his account shortly after 8 p.m. ET presumably reacting to the news.
?
— De'Rickey Wright (@d__wright14) December 2, 2019
While Wright is currently committed, he is not yet signed to the program and has every reason to re-open his recruitment as a result. Or, he is free to stay put and proceed with signing with the class and with whichever coach the university brings on.
Credit belongs to Luke for the way he handled things, though. Instead of turning negative as a result of the firing, he advised Wright to take his time to consider his options before making his choice.
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
