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Ole Miss AD apologizes for use of Tommy Tuberville clip during A&M game
By Keith Farner
Published:
Ole Miss AD Ross Bjork issued a statement Sunday afternoon following backlash from fans for using a video during the Texas A&M game on Saturday of former coach Tommy Tuberville trying to fire up the crowd.
In the video shown on the video board, Tuberville said, “The players are ready. The coaches are ready. I have one question, are you ready?”
The video was met with boos from the crowd, who remember Tuberville’s exit as Ole Miss’ coach.
Bjork admitted, “we were trying to provide levity, but it was too polarizing.”
The former Ole Miss coach was in town to broadcast the game on ESPN with Mike Patrick. Earlier in the week, the Ole Miss football Twitter account tweeted, “word is they’re traveling to Oxford by pine box,” an obvious reference to one of Tuberville’s final statements as Ole Miss coach.
Tuberville left Ole Miss for Auburn in 1998 only a week after he declared, “They’ll have to carry me out of here in a pine box.”
— Ross Bjork (@RossBjorkAD) November 19, 2017
Earlier, an Ole Miss staff apologized for playing the video.
The TT 2nd half Hotty Toddy is 100% on me. I thought 20 years later people would see it how we intended – the ultimate troll of pine box. I’m truly sorry it ruined the experience for so many.
— Michael Thompson (@mtjrathletics) November 19, 2017
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
