Students are protesting as Texas Southern looks to hire a new head men’s basketball coach after the departure of former head coach Johnny Jones. Student-athletes are making their voices heard. The men’s basketball players are pushing the university’s board of trustees to keep interim head coach Shyrone Chatman in the position.
Terrence Harris of the Houston Defender detailed the situation at Texas Southern in a report on Tuesday.
“In the meantime, there has been plenty of drama in the background. Basketball student-athletes and their parents are frustrated because they learned, as they were set to move to campus this past weekend, that a coaching move had been made and that the man who recruited them last spring would be out.”
He added, “Chatman, who interviewed for the head coaching job, has recruited eight new players to the team who are now on campus, has been working them out all summer, and has set the entire non-conference schedule for the upcoming season. If Lowery is approved on Wednesday, he inherits Chatman’s work.”
On Friday, Harris reported that the Texas Southern University Board of Regents rejected Corey Lowery’s candidacy for the head coaching job. The rejection comes after Lowery had reportedly been on track to be hired by the institution. Instead, the board advanced the candidacy of Jackson State athletic director Ashley Robinson, setting up a vote later this week.
Several factors contributed to Lowery’s candidacy stalling, most notably a lawsuit and a leave of absence stemming from his time as a high school principal, details that are absent from his official biography. According to a TapInto Union report obtained by Harris and the Houston Defender, Lowery was sued while serving as principal of Union High School in Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, a position he held from 2015 to 2018 before being placed on paid administrative leave that September.
Township of Union Schools Athletic Director Linda Ionta filed the lawsuit, accusing Lowery of engaging in conduct meant to undermine her authority in the role. Lowery responded with a countersuit against the Board of Education president, per the report. Harris also reports that Lowery contacted at least two current TSU basketball players while still employed at Seton Hall, contact that could put him at risk of an NCAA violation for impermissible communication with student-athletes at another program.
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