Greenlee said he was eventually able to accept Pearman’s apology.
“From there on forward, coach Pearman apologized, yeah. The whole team, everybody knew this. I was that one guy that was like, ‘Well, I see what I’m dealing with.’ I just handled it and said I’ll go on. I’m not going to hold a grudge on nobody. It is what it is. He said it. He apologized. But it still didn’t do the justice for him saying it.”
Pearman is currently the assistant head coach, tight ends coach and special teams coordinator for the Tigers.
In a statement Tuesday night, Pearman said:
“Three years ago on the practice field, I made a grave mistake involving D.J. Greenlee. I repeated a racial slur I overheard when trying to stop the word from being used on the practice field. What I overheard, I had no right to repeat.
While I did not direct the term at any player, I know there is no excuse for me using the language in any circumstance. I never should have repeated the phrase. It was wrong when I said it, and it is wrong today.
I apologized to D.J. at the conclusion of practice, who then appropriately raised his concern to Coach Swinney. Coach and I met to discuss the incident, and he reiterated that my language was unacceptable. I later apologized again as well as expressed my sincere regret to our position group the following day.
I love the young men who choose to come to our university, and I would never do anything to intentionally hurt them. I sincerely apologize to D.J., his family, our team and our staff.”
Swinney on Monday joined other coaches from around the country in speaking out against racism during a conference call with reporters. It was his first public comments since George Floyd died last week in Minnesota after a police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes.
“I know that we are all hurting for the Floyd family and our country,” Swinney said. “I can speak for our entire staff and our entire team in that regard, for sure. We have all witnessed just disgusting acts of evil. That’s really the only word I can appropriately use over the past recent week here and beyond.”
He a redneck, southern conservative. As is a lot of ya'll favorite coaches.
