Air Force Academy – Air Force football coach Fisher DeBerry was publicly reprimanded Wednesday for what academy officials called “seriously inappropriate” remarks he made a day earlier about black athletes.
A repentant DeBerry issued an apology at an afternoon news conference.
“There has been no consideration for stepping down from my job,” DeBerry told the media. “A couple of terms I used shouldn’t have been used in remarks that I would make to anyone. People know my heart, my team knows my heart, my players know me and how much I care about people. That’s the way I feel in my heart.”
AFA athletic director Hans Mueh said DeBerry, 67, received a strong oral reprimand from new academy superintendent Lt. Gen. John F. Regni, who took command this week and met DeBerry for the first time Wednesday at his home. Mueh issued a written reprimand, saying DeBerry’s apology should be looked at as the first step in a healing process.
“There is no other way to put this but to say this is totally against anything the Air Force Academy stands for and Fisher acknowledged that,” Mueh said. “The remarks were inappropriate and have no place in the recruiting methods the Air Force Academy uses. We as an academy apologize to those offended. The academy has a zero-tolerance policy for any racial or ethnic discrimination or discrimin- ation of any kind.”
At a Tuesday luncheon De- Berry, in discussing last week’s 48-10 loss to Texas Christian, said: “It’s very obvious they had a lot more Afro-American players than we did and they ran a lot faster than we did. It just seems to me to be that way, that Afro-American players can run very, very well. That doesn’t mean that Caucasian kids and other descents can’t run, but it’s very obvious to me that they run extremely well.”
On Wednesday, DeBerry read a statement then answered questions, reiterating that he used a poor choice of words.
“I realized on my way back yesterday afternoon (from the luncheon) that I had made a grave mistake. I wanted to come out and let you know that I’m deeply sorry if I offended anyone,” DeBerry said. “The academy is very sacred to my heart, my players are very sacred to my heart and I don’t want to do anything in any way to offend them. I made a mistake and I ask everyone’s forgiveness.”
Said Mueh: “It was a seriously, seriously inappropriate comment.”
Asked about recruitment of football players to the academy, Mueh said: “It’s getting harder and harder to find athletes to (complete) our program. We will not change our standards. We look for cadets and especially football players who have great character, great academics and great athleticism.”
Air Force is 3-5 this season and has lost five of its past six games. DeBerry, in his 22nd season as the Falcons’ head coach, is in danger of his first back-to-back losing seasons. AFA players and assistant coaches had varying reactions to the controversy.
Defensive line coach Ron Burton, who is black, said: “I’m not going to comment on his statement. He can deal with that on his own. We’re here to get quality student-athletes here regardless of color. That’s our job.”
Assistant coaches Capt. Blane Morgan and Capt. Jemal Singleton, who is black, played for DeBerry during the 1990s.
“I’ve been around Coach for eight years, and I know his heart,” Morgan said. “The words he used might have been out of line, but it was something that came out wrong and he regrets it. His heart always has been in the right place.”
Said Singleton: “I know he doesn’t have a racist bone in his body. Was the comment smart, probably not. I’ve never been offended by anything he said. I know the goodness he has in his heart for every player in this program.”
Wide receiver Jason Brown, who is black, said he “personally wasn’t offended. People saw how sincere he was today. I think he knows he shouldn’t have gone there. His intentions were different than what it came out to be.”
Added center Jon Wilson: “There are 250 players in our locker room and there wasn’t one offended. Sometimes I think the attention the media gives to things it picks and chooses creates a hypersensitive environment.”
The turmoil surrounding DeBerry’s remarks began Monday when he was answering questions about his team’s decline. He said he and his staff met Sunday night and discussed what the program needed to get better. He told reporters there had to be an upturn in recruiting minority athletes who could run well. Pressed at his weekly media luncheon Tuesday about the remark, DeBerry expanded to talk about TCU’s program.
Mueh acknowledged the frustrations of the season may have contributed to DeBerry’s remarks.
“He doesn’t like losing,” Mueh said. “He got a lot of questions that frustrated him after the TCU game. This could be his first back-to-back losing seasons and that may have contributed some to the comments he made. Those comments weren’t the Fisher DeBerry I know.”
Of the 64 players listed on Air Force’s depth chart, 11 are black.
State Sen. Dan Grossman, D- Denver, released a statement saying he was disappointed DeBerry was not fired for what he called the “shame and disgrace” the coach has brought Air Force.
But Colorado State coach Sonny Lubick supported his friend, saying: “Everyone who knows Fisher knows he’s just a good person. He has been taking care of his players all his life, given up his whole life to helping people, his players, the Air Force Academy. He’s a good man.”
Lubick said “foot-in-mouth” disease is an occupational hazard. “We should say, ‘We had a good game, the kids played hard, and that’s the end of it,”‘ he said.
Added Colorado coach Gary Barnett: “I’m a tremendous supporter of Fisher DeBerry’s as a coach and a person and a leader. So, if there was anything (inappropriate) said, I’m sure it was not intended to hurt anybody or stir up anything.”
Dick Enga, an AFA assistant coach for 28 years, including all of DeBerry’s tenure, said the discussions Sunday night among coaches centered on putting more recruiting effort into areas of large minority populations.
“The competition in recruiting always is there, and it’s getting tougher,” Enga said. “A lot of the problems aren’t so much with the players but more with the parents because of Iraq and things like that. We have a great product to sell and we as a staff do a pretty good job with that.”
This is the second off-field controversy surrounding DeBerry recently. A year ago he put up a banner with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes’ “Competitor’s Creed.” Included were the words, “I am a member of Team Jesus Christ.” At the time, the academy was dealing with issues of religious intolerance. The banner was removed two days later.
Staff writers Natalie Meisler and Chris Dempsey contributed to this report.
Staff writer Irv Moss can be reached at 303-820-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
