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A white college baseball coach is under investigation after a viral TikTok recorded him telling a Black player he couldn't join the team because of his long hair. While you can't see either person, a man identifying himself as the "head coach" is heard criticizing the player in footage captioned "Valdosta State University 2023 or 1945."
A source identified the coach as VSU's Head Baseball Coach Greg Guilliams and the player as 21-year-old Asher Akridge, according to WLAB. Reporters claim Akridge came back this season with shorter hair, but the head coach still denied him.
“It’s not short enough to be on the baseball team," the head coach is heard saying.
“My hair is not short enough to be on the team?” the player retorts, and the coach swiftly replies, "No."
The coach continues, "No. I’m the head coach. OK? I’m the one who sets the rules. I can set whatever rules that I want.”
The player claims there are other people on the team with longer hair, and the coach didn't enforce the policy on them nor kick them off the team. While the coach conceded he should've clarified the rules to the player beforehand, but changed course when the player kept pointing out "discrepancies" in the coach's rules.
"We are not talking about other guys," the head coach said. "I told you before on the phone, we are not going down that route, why would I go down this route again?”
WLAB also dropped by VSU's baseball practice on Thursday (August 24), where they found both Black and white players with long hair. Guilliams was not there that day.
The TikTok has racked up over 460,000 views as of Friday morning (August 25), sparking outrage amongst community members and VSU alumni.
“I played alongside athletes that also had longer hair than that gentleman we saw in the video," Sterlin Sanders, a VSU alumnus and former employee, told reporters. "Long hair did not prevent us from winning the national championship."
VSU says they're looking into the incident in a statement obtained by WLAB:
“In keeping with the Valdosta State University Non-Discrimination Policy, the university is committed to maintaining a fair, respectful, and non-discriminatory environment for all. The VSU Office of Human Resources is conducting a comprehensive inquiry into the current matter and will address any personnel actions that are deemed to violate university policy if the inquiry reveals anything. We are progressing through the required due process procedures.”