Bozeman said that he was called by Kerr around 11 p.m., Sunday to inform him that he was suspended pending an investigation into the incident, which involved what Bozeman had characterized as "accidental contact" with senior guard Larry Bastfield.
On the advice of his attorney, Bozeman asked Kerr to send him a letter in writing. Kerr then sent him an email stating that Bozeman was to return to Baltimore from Savannah, Ga., where the Bears are scheduled to play Savannah State tonight.Bozeman said that Kerr informed him that he was to "separate" himself from the team and have no further contact with any of his players or assistant coaches until further notice. Bozeman said Kerr would not explain why he was being suspended.
The incident led the president of the host school to bring in campus police to see if the player wanted to press charges against his coach.
Some who viewed the incident in person, including school president George E. Cooper, thought that Bozeman had punched Bastfield in the face. Both Bozeman and Bastfield said Sunday night that the incident had been blown out of proportion.
In a telephone interview, Bastfield said that he "exaggerated" his reaction to the contact with Bozeman. Bastfield staggered a few feet backwards after contact with Bozeman, who, according to witnesses, yelled at Bastfield, "Get back here!" after he retreated.
"These people are completely off the charts" with the allegation, Bozeman said in a telephone interview. "I didn't hit him in the face."
But Christopher Johnson, a South Carolina State graduate who was attending the game, said that he and others clearly saw Bozeman strike the player and hear him yell at Bastfield moments later. Johnson said he was sitting in the front row of the upper level of the small gym.
"The fans all went, 'Ohhhhhhh' when it happened," Johnson said. "It was pretty dramatic."
Johnson emailed The Baltimore Sun Sunday about the incident, which took place in the final two minutes of Morgan State's victory, only the team's third win in 12 games of a season that began with seven straight defeats.
"If [Bozeman] had just grabbed his jersey, I wouldn't have contacted anyone," said Johnson, who also reached out to a reporter from ESPN via Twitter. "But there were a lot of people there who thought the coach was out of line."
One of them was Cooper, who Bozeman said tapped him on the shoulder after the team went through the customary post-game handshake to express his feelings about what he thought was inappropriate behavior by the coach.
Bozeman said that he did not know who Cooper was and that Cooper identified himself as "Dr. Cooper" but not as South Carolina State's president. Bozeman said that Cooper said that he was going to call the authorities, and Bozeman gave him Morgan State athletic director Floyd Kerr's phone number.
In the locker room after the game, Bozeman told his players that he was proud of their efforts in starting conference play with a victory, and informed them of Cooper's accusation. the accusation by Cooper. He said that he apologized to Bastfield for his aggressive manner, and that some thought he had hit the player.
Bastfield said that he didn't think much about it until he went to the bus taking the players from Orangeburg, S.C., to Savannah, Ga., for Monday's game. Before he got on the bus, two campus police officers asked if he wanted to press charges against Bozeman.
"They said they were told he hit me in the face," said Bastfield, a Towson Catholic graduate who is in his second year at Morgan after starting his college career at Toledo. "I told him that he accidently bumped me in the chest. It was something that happens in the heat of the game."
Bozeman said that given his size -- "I'm 6-5, 240" -- that he would have "left a mark" on the 5-11, 205-pound Bastfield if he had struck the player. Bozeman admitted that he is "an emotional guy when I'm coaching," but said that he has never struck a player in his coaching career.
Bozeman said that this was not the first time fans attending a Morgan State road game expressed their displeasure with his coaching style. But he said that fans have also told him that they could see the way "I hug my players or dance with them" after winning the Mid-Eastern Conference title three years ago.
Bozeman said that he spoke with Kerr, who was called by Cooper, immediately after the game to assure the longtime athletic director that his actions were misrepresented. Neither Kerr nor Copper could not be reached for comment Sunday night.
Not only has Bozeman resurrected the Bears in his six years as coach, taking the team to the NCAA tournament twice, but he also revived his own career. Once considered an up-and-coming star while coaching the likes of Jason Kidd at Cal, Bozeman's career was derailed when the Golden Bears were placed on probation amid charges that he paid $30,000 to the parents of a recruit.
Bozeman was out of college coaching for a decade as a result of a show-cause order by the NCAA, meaning that a school that hired Bozeman during that period of time would be subject to sanctions. In 2007, Bozeman was charged with assaulting a female worker at a restaurant in Longwood, Va., after a game, but the charged was later dropped when the coach apologized.
don.markus@baltsun.com
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