Texas Wesleyan Coach Fired Over Discriminatory Email

FORT WORTH, TX — The head baseball coach at Texas Wesleyan University has been fired, university president Fred Slabach said Thursday morning in a press conference. The firing came only a day after a descriminatory email from the coach, Mike Jeffcoat, went viral on Twitter.

In the email, Jeffocat told a recruit from Colorado he would not be accepted to the university's baseball program because of his home state's marijuana legalization laws.

"We have made a decision not to take a chance on Student-athletes from your state..." Jeffcoat wrote in the email.

"You can thank your liberal politicians," he later added.

Slabach said in the conference Jeffcoat was also under investigation for a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletes rule violation at the time the email was sent. The investigation into the violation began a week ago and was reported Thursday to the NAIA.

Details of the investigation were not available, but Slabach said it dealt with student eligibility.

The student, Slabach said, is still encouraged and welcome to pursue Wesleyan's baseball program.

The university has not named an interim coach to serve in Jeffcoat's absence.

The student told 9NEWS in Denver he was not trying to get anyone in trouble.

"I'm not trying to get anybody in trouble here," he told 9NEWS. "My intention wasn't trying to get this guy fired. My intention was just to try to play baseball. This wasn't meant to go viral for me or anything."

The school released a public statement Wednesday in response to the email, which stated, in part, that Jeffcoat's opinion is "in no way a reflection of Texas Wesleyan University, its values or its recruiting practices."