"Last Chance U" Coach Jason Brown Resigns After Hitler Remark

Submitted by BursleyHall82 on February 25th, 2019 at 10:45 AM

It's always a good idea to keep Hitler's name out of your mouth. In this case, "Last Chance U" Coach Jason Brown sent a text to a German player telling him that he was the player's "new Hitler." He resigned today. LINK.

Brown was former U-M RB Kingston Davis' coach at Independence Community College; Davis was heavily featured on the Netflix series. Davis then transferred to UAB and got kicked off the team and charged with domestic violence in December. LINK.

Sopwith

February 25th, 2019 at 12:24 PM ^

Unrelated, but know what else is a good rule of thumb?

If you're going to hire some dudes to fake a homophobic/racist assault in hopes of improving your salary negotiating position with a TV show, DON'T MAKE PAYMENT WITH A PERSONAL CHECK.

Also...

If you're going to make calls to set up hookers on your road trips, DON'T USE THE WORK-ISSUED CELL PHONE THAT OLE MISS GAVE YOU. 

I could go on with this.

WestQuad

February 25th, 2019 at 1:56 PM ^

I was watching "You" on Netflix which is like a bad version of Dexter set in NYC with rich hipsters, and the killer dude answered a phone call at the site he was burying a body.  I'm like "Dude, have you never watched a movie?  They can triangulate your position from the cell towers within X meters."  

Also did you hear about the guy who committed suicide with a gun attached to a helium balloon to collect the insurance for his family?  They went into his Google searches and figured out that it was a suicide because he googled the setup 3-4 years before....

freelion

February 25th, 2019 at 11:06 AM ^

Don't call players Hitler or King Kong. Are there any others on the banned list? Is Genghis Khan acceptable? Attilla the Hun? Is it also wrong to compare a player to an admire person such as Mother Teresa? "Player X, you are tackling like Mother Teresa today"

jmblue

February 25th, 2019 at 11:26 AM ^

He didn't call the player Hitler.  He compared himself to Hitler (and insulted the player's German nationality in other ways, apparently).   Considering that there are many people alive today who either directly suffered under the Nazis or had family members who did, I don't think that's a great choice.

Reggie Dunlop

February 25th, 2019 at 1:59 PM ^

First, I think Maizet is being sarcastic. Just my take on that.

But the coach wasn't trying to "attract a German recruit". The kid was a RS Freshman on the team who had a string of discipline issues. The coach was explaining via text that the player had accumulated 18 disciplinary points (where 25 gets you booted) and followed it with "I'm your new Hitler figure out your life". I interpret that as "I'm the dictator here. I make the rules. You have no say. Clean it up."

The player admits to behavioral issues that allegedly include "disturbing dorms and classes and teachers and basketball coaches and every other thing". The player, Alexandros Alexiou, said he was at some fault with problems he caused... “I know I did some stupid things to get suspension, but there are a lot of other incidents on the team that do not get reported.”

This isn't some innocent kid who was threatened with the gas chamber. He was a discipline problem who turned to the local media with some hot Hitler texts from the big time TV star because his complaints weren't gaining any traction with the school (whose Board of Trustees reviewed the incident and took no action).

Now does that mean it was a good idea for Brown to invoke the name of Adolf Hitler? Of course not. Nor does it mean it's a good idea to judge a story by its splashy headline. 

Space Coyote

February 25th, 2019 at 2:47 PM ^

Brown should have been fired upon review of Season 3, Episode 1 of "Last Chance U". This remark ranks in the 100s of reasons he should be gone, and is still worthy of termination when talking to a German player (for all the reasons people on this post are saying).

"But he wins", so on and so forth.

bacon1431

February 25th, 2019 at 7:55 PM ^

The kid could have been the worst person in program history and it wouldn’t matter. His actions are irrelevant to the content of the coach’s statement. Don’t give a little asshole any material to go to the media with and nobody is talking about this. 

jmblue

February 25th, 2019 at 1:52 PM ^

If you're a young German person, like the player he insulted (or Moe Wagner), here's Hitler's legacy to your country:

-Millions of Germans were killed between 1939 and 1949 (including the post-war killings) - probably some of your relatives.

-Probably some of your friends/relatives are descendants of the something like 14 million Germans who were ethnically cleansed out of Eastern Europe after the war (and around a million of them were killed before they made it to Germany). 

-A quarter of your country (again, probably including people you know) was under Communist occupation for 45 years and is still economically a mess today.  

-Your country's reputation is still damaged from that man's rule.  Millions of Europeans outside your country still hate your guts for things that happened 70+ years ago and will give you a hard time when you visit their countries. 

-The popularity of your language (once spoken by millions of  Americans at home) declined sharply.

-And of course the whole genocidal institutional killing of 11 million people in the Holocaust, that thing too.  You're forever known as the country that committed the Holocaust.

That's the legacy that man left behind for you.  Suffice it to say he's not real popular in Germany today, and it's a pretty big dick move for your football coach to tell you "I'm your Hitler."   

MBAgoblue

February 25th, 2019 at 6:46 PM ^

Also, the systematic rape of an estimated 2 million German women, particularly by the Red Army. A quarter of a million died, and in East Prussia women from 8 to 80 years old were victimized. I had a German colleague who was the result of his mother’s rape by a French soldier and he was traumatized by that 50 years later. 

michymich

February 25th, 2019 at 11:59 AM ^

Here is the next obvious question. If you can't use Hitler as a joke/insult, can you use Hitler references to political opponents you don't like. I remember as a kid seeing posters of Reagan with a mustache. Vague recollection.

 

Be careful with the PC sensitivity movement. Is this sort of like the N word thing where white people can't use the N word and non Jewish people can't use the H word? Maybe not because a woman recently called another woman the C word and got in trouble. That's right, Samantha Bee.

 

Now, I am curious about one other thing. If I write the N word, is that somehow better than typing out the entire word? What happens if the word is actually expressed in my mind? Is this like a human violation? What happens if I am watching Pulp Fiction or Jackie Brown and I actually listen to the entire word or see it pop up on the television?

 

Is there a progressive book I can reference going forward that encompasses both words, phrases and appropriate greetings toward individuals? How about Hello my friend? Is that presumptuous? Maybe, good morning my fellow contemporary?

Gucci Mane

February 25th, 2019 at 2:17 PM ^

Michymich, Your post was a little weird but I think I get your point. PC was out of control a decade ago and it has only gotten worse. The other day I said “ thank you sir” to a man. He got upset that I used sir. Like wtf how would I know this random stranger is offended by sir ? Yikes. 

UMFanatic96

February 25th, 2019 at 11:11 AM ^

It will be interesting to see how long it takes for him to get another coaching job if he does get one at all. Can't wait to see what he will do with his 6 Cadillacs when he has no more income.

michymich

February 25th, 2019 at 11:23 AM ^

I told my friend back in the day (30 years or so ago) that there wasn't anything funny about the Holocaust. He responded by saying, Do you know why Hitler lost the war? I said No. He said, he couldn't afford his gas bill.

I said, you're right. I stand corrected. That is funny. Would you he be fired now for saying that? Would it be okay if he said that at a comedy club? I am assuming the German guy will be o.k. and not have to go to therapy right?

 

Update: The guy who told me the joke was Jewish. Sorry to leave that tidbit out.

Brimley

February 25th, 2019 at 1:38 PM ^

True story:  I was watching Hogan's Heroes as a re-run on Channel 50 in the early 70s and Major Hoffsteder was on it.  My dad stormed into the room, slammed the off switch and said, "There's not one goddamn thing funny about the SS."  That was about the time I realized he was part of the group that liberated Buchenwald.  And about the last time I saw that show.

Eng1980

February 25th, 2019 at 7:41 PM ^

I admire your father's resolve.  Hogan's Heroes reruns are still on the air nightly and I will now think of your father whenever I see HH flipping through the channels.

I believe that they ran Hogan's Heroes in Germany and enough people enjoyed the satire to keep it on for a few years.  I was always intrigued to find an American show on the air while in Germany.

The latest hit show on German television is "Hogan's Heroes." The 1960s sitcom -- about a group of Allied prisoners in a German POW camp -- draws nearly a million viewers a day in Germany.May 31, 1996

Charlie Chaplin and Jack Benny took turns skewering the Nazis with satirical movies so I guess satire is acceptable in the eyes of the beholder.

You hit many nerves, my Dad was occupier of Japan and loved HH.  I am currently reading "The Longest Winter" by Alex Kershaw about an in intelligence platoon in the Battle of the Bulge.

Damn, my personality profile warns me that I am easily distracted.

Gucci Mane

February 25th, 2019 at 8:18 PM ^

Had no idea Hogan's Heroes was run in Germany. I never loved it because the plots were always outrageous and I like a little more realism, even in comedy. I will admit there was a couple slapstick moments dad made me laugh. Good like getting through that book without getting distracted ! haha

Brimley

February 25th, 2019 at 9:34 PM ^

In fairness, Werner Kempler's family fled Nazis and the guy who played LeBeau was in a concentration camp.  As the above poster said, sometimes the best revenge is to laugh at someone but my dad sure as shit disagreed in this case.  He saw his share of awful (someday I'll tell the story of what HE did with a guard at Buchenwald which he felt awful about), and I didn't need to poke at that because of some a very dumb TV show.