Texas Wesleyan has fired head baseball coach Mike Jeffcoat, John M. Veilleux, TWU's vice president for enrollment, marketing and communications, told the Star-Telegram on Thursday.
Texas Wesleyan President Fred Slabach and athletic director Steve Trachier made the announcement during a news conference on Thursday, according to KRLD.
The announcement comes less than 24 hours after the former Rangers pitcher made controversial remarks about Colorado politicians and the state's marijuana laws. Jeffcoat stated that he and the program would not recruit from Colorado because players from there might fail a drug test.
The comments were sent in an email to 18-year-old Gavin Bell, a senior at Cherokee Trail High School in Aurora, Colo.
"Mike Jeffcoat is no longer an employee with Texas Wesleyan University," Slabach said at the news conference, according to KRLD. "He was separated from the university due to the discriminatory remarks contained in an email to a potential recruit from the state of Colorado and for another factor that we have been investigating for the last week. This additional factor is an NAIA rule violation that has recently come to our attention."
Slabach would not go into detail about what the NAIA rule violation was, per KRLD, but he did say it concerned the "eligibility of players and in no way centers around Title IX violation."
In an interview with KCNC-TV in Denver, Bell said he "didn't know what to think" when he got the email from Jeffcoat.
"My intention really wasn't to do anything to hurt anybody or get anybody fired," Bell said. "It was just me talking to my coaches and my loved ones about what do I do with this."
