(Stats Perform) – Chattanooga fired its offensive line coach on Thursday for a derogatory social media post about Georgia voting rights activist Stacey Abrams.
The Twitter account of Chris Malone, who was in his second season at Chattanooga, was deleted following a tweet late Tuesday that made unflattering references to Abrams’ weight and accused her of “cheating in an election.”
Abrams, a Democrat, mobilized voters in her home state in support of the Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, who won the Senate run-off elections in Georgia. In 2018, Abrams lost in the state’s gubernatorial race as the first African-American female to be a major party’s nominee for governor.
Chattanooga released similar statements from athletic director Mark Wharton and head football coach Rusty Wright that denounced the post and said “that individual” – not referencing Malone by name – was no longer a part of the program. Malone’s bio was removed from the school’s athletics website Thursday morning.
Wharton called the post “appalling.”
Said Wright, a Chattanooga graduate in his second season: “Our football program has a clear set of standards. Those standards include respecting others. It is a message our players hear daily. It is a standard I will not waiver on.”
Later in the day, Pro Football Hall of Famer and former Mocs wide receiver Terrell Owens tweeted, “As a proud UTChattanooga alum, I stand by the decision of Mark Wharton, Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics along with my former teammate and our Head Coach, Rusty Wright, to remove OL Coach Chris Malone after his offensive tweet.”
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