Benji Taylor’s Disturbing Incident After Rivalry Game

For over 35 years, Benji Taylor has made his mark in college basketball coaching. However, Saturday took an unexpected turn when he found himself handcuffed and escorted off the court by local law enforcement following a heated rivalry match.

Taylor, who is the head coach at Tuskegee University, a Division II Historically Black College and University (HBCU), was captured in a video alongside a police officer after an altercation broke out. Although the situation seemed to diffuse at times, the officer ultimately handcuffed Taylor and led him away from the game.

Things got complicated for Tuskegee after they lost 77-69 to Morehouse College, following a significant injury. After the game, players from the Morehouse football team crowded the court. Reginald Ruffin, the athletic director at Tuskegee, later explained that Taylor was enforcing security protocols related to an incident involving a football player that posed a disturbance risk.

Taylor later expressed his shock and distress about the event in a statement, saying, “I am speechless and shaken by how I was assaulted and treated today. It’s heartbreaking for my players, my family, and the people of Tuskegee to witness that. The football team was right behind me, yelling obscenities, and I was attempting to clear them from the handshake line. It felt very dangerous.”

In a conversation with HBCU Gameday, Ruffin mentioned that the officer characterized Taylor as “very aggressive” and designated him as the “aggressor,” claims that Ruffin firmly disputed.

After the incident, Taylor was released and made his way home with his team on a bus. So far, the Southern Interscholastic Athletic Conference (SIAC) has not publicly addressed the incident; their recap of Morehouse’s victory over Tuskegee ignored the troubling events concerning Taylor and the police.