by Jeroslyn JoVonn
February 3, 2026
“I’m puzzled and I’m upset about how I used to be violated and handled immediately,” Benjy Taylor stated.
Morehouse School is going through fines from the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Convention (SIAC) after a college safety guard handcuffed Tuskegee basketball coach Benjy Taylor following a males’s basketball sport.
Taylor stated he was simply asking safety to take away Morehouse soccer gamers from the handshake line following Morehouse’s 77-69 win towards Tuskegee on Saturday, Jan. 31, HBCU Gameday reviews.
Following a short alternate, video exhibits Taylor being put in handcuffs and led off the courtroom at Forbes Area in Atlanta.
“I’m puzzled and I’m upset about how I used to be violated and handled immediately,” Taylor, who employed a civil rights lawyer after the incident, stated in an announcement. “For my gamers, my household and other people of Tuskegee to witness that’s heartbreaking for me. I used to be merely making an attempt to get the soccer group out of the handshake line as they had been following proper behind me and the group yelling obscenities! It was a really harmful state of affairs.”
Taylor was reportedly launched after the sport and traveled with the group. Tuskegee athletic director Reginald Ruffin stated soccer gamers becoming a member of the road is towards convention coverage.
“We’ve safety measures for our safety of our officers, our scholar athlete coaches, and spectators,” defined Ruffin, who disagreed with the officer’s account that Taylor was performing aggressively.
A Morehouse spokesperson stated the college is conscious of the incident and has launched an inside investigation.
The SIAC, following its personal investigation, stated it would effective Morehouse an “undisclosed quantity” and can mandate “corrective measures to make sure full compliance with convention safety insurance policies going ahead.”
Based on SIAC, Morehouse didn’t “fulfill the required safety requirements for a number establishment, particularly because it pertains to crowd management and guaranteeing the secure entry and exit of visiting groups and sport individuals.”
“The SIAC holds its member establishments to the best requirements of sportsmanship, professionalism, and institutional accountability,” SIAC Commissioner Anthony Holloman added. “Our historic establishments are anticipated to supply aggressive environments that prioritize the security, dignity, and mutual respect of student-athletes, coaches, officers, and followers. The convention stays dedicated to upholding these expectations and to making sure that each one SIAC contests are performed in a way in line with our shared values.”
Tuskegee College launched a letter signed by Ruffin and college President Mark A. Brown extending assist to Taylor and expressing concern over Morehouse’s safety measures.
“At no time did Coach Taylor interact in habits that might be characterised as unbecoming, unprofessional, or inconsistent with the requirements of Tuskegee College, the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Convention (SIAC), Morehouse School, or intercollegiate athletics broadly,” the assertion stated. “Conversely, the circumstances that culminated in Coach Taylor being handcuffed—albeit briefly—fall nicely outdoors the bounds of what’s regular, acceptable, or acceptable in collegiate athletic environments. No coach ought to ever be positioned in such a place for finishing up their obligation to safeguard student-athletes.
“Tuskegee College is deeply involved in regards to the breakdown in established safety procedures that contributed to this incident.”
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