NORMAL, Ill. — A college football coach abruptly quit and left a note on the way out, Fox News reports.
According to The Pantagraph, Illinois State Offensive Coordinator Kurt Beathard had put a sign on his office door that read "All Lives Matter to Our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ." Shortly thereafter, he was no longer with the team.
Three sources close to the football program told the daily newspaper a "Black Lives Matter" poster had recently been removed from an Illinois State locker room. Beathard told The Pantagraph he was not involved in taking down any posters in the locker room.
“That locker room crap is wrong," he reportedly told the newspaper. "I took the sign down somebody put on my door. That’s it. I didn’t take anything off that wasn’t put on my door. I wrote the message.”
Neither Beathard nor the university would comment on the specifics surrounding his departure, The Pantagraph said. However, the alleged removal of a poster was not the only recent controversy on campus.
According to Fox News, Beathard's departure comes after players took issue with Athletic Director Larry Lyons using the phrase “All Redbird Lives Matter” in a video, prompting student-athlete boycotts and a march in support of Black voices.
According to the school's website, Beathard returned to Illinois State in 2018 as an offensive coordinator and quarterback coach. It was his second stint on the staff. He previously served as the Redbirds’ offensive coordinator from 2014 to 2015.
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