Eastern Michigan AD apologizes for brawl after 68 Ventures Bowl vs. South Alabama

An ugly postgame scene marred an already unfortunate bowl trip for the Eastern Michigan football program on Saturday, when an Eagles player apparently sucker punched a South Alabama player following a 59-10 loss. On Sunday, EMU athletic director Scott Wetherbee issued a statement, apologizing for the incident and promising accountability for those involved.

Wetherbee stated that he and Eagles head coach Chris Creighton have spoken to their counterparts at South Alabama and apologized. He also added that what happened is not acceptable for Eastern Michigan athletics.

“We strongly condemn the actions of some of the student-athletes on the EMU football team in the ugly incident that took place following last night’s 68 Ventures Bowl. We are deeply upset and embarrassed by what happened. Their conduct does not reflect the great pride and high standards we place on the game and our program, and the expectations for good sportsmanship and exemplary conduct of student-athletes on and off the field. What happened was completely unacceptable. We apologize to the Eastern Michigan University community and to the South Alabama team and their fans,” Wetherbee said in a statement shared by the school.

Wetherbee’s statement continued, adding that he and his staff are working not only with South Alabama but the Mid-American Conference to fully investigate what happened and appropriately punish those involved.

“We are committed to sharing information and video to fully understand all that occurred. As Coach Creighton stated in the postgame press conference, there is absolutely no place for this kind of incident in the Eastern Michigan University football program. University President James Smith and I have been in contact with Mid-American Conference Commissioner Dr. Jon Steinbrecher and we are committed to working jointly to investigate the incident in accordance with institutional and Conference policies. We are continuing to review the situation and the conduct of the student-athletes involved and will take appropriate action as more information is gathered,” Wetherbee said.

Both coaches addressed the brawl postgame

South Alabama coach Kane Wommack was asked about the incident following the win.

“This is a very special game, it’s a hard game,” Wommack said, via AL.com. “It’s a team game and you do everything you can on a football field to be the best for your teammates. And at times, things get emotional and they get passionate and we ask these guys to play on the line of that emotion and passion in every single way. Those are never things that you want to end a game with.

“We will certainly take ownership of our part. We will look and find out exactly what happened. I couldn’t tell you exactly what did. I’ll get more information as we go. … We’re going to win, but it’s also how we win. And so we want to make sure that we hold people accountable to the standard that we want to operate, in the way we want to represent the city of Mobile and the University of South Alabama.”

Unfortunately for both sides, it wasn’t immediately clear what sparked the outburst.

“Those will be things that we’ll get to the bottom of, but this is a night to really be proud of the things that we’ve accomplished and the young men that do things the right way,” Wommack said. “And that’s why we’re here.”

Creighton was also asked about the postgame brawl.

“I didn’t see things when they happened,” Creighton said. “But I definitely saw the intensity of what had just happened. We had a really good, long talk in the locker room afterwards. We want to be first-class all the time, no matter the circumstances, no matter what the scoreboard is, no matter what other factors, people, whatever are involved. And anything short of being first-class is not living up to the standard that we have in Eastern Michigan football.

“I think that our guys care a lot about performing well. I’m sure we were embarrassed by how we played and it probably didn’t take too much to get our guys into a place that we hope that they never get.”