Albert Haynesworth accuses Tennessee football of racism

Albert Haynesworth has said for years that he believes his alma mater Tennessee engages in racist hiring practices, so it is hardly a surprise that he was unhappy when Josh Heupel was hired as the new head coach of the Vols on Wednesday.

After Tennessee hired Heupel, Haynesworth took to Facebook to urge people to boycott the program. He criticized Tennessee for not promoting assistant head coach Tee Martin, who was teammates with Haynesworth when both played for the Vols. You can read the text of the full post below:

“Obviously Tennessee Vols take Tee Martin for granted! Why do s— on him, hell he even reduce his salary to help the university out when he didn’t have to? Is it bc he’s black? UT won’t even interview him. I bring race into it bc UT has passed over good qualified black coaches like Kippy Brown and others in these past coaching searches. Majority of your players are African-American why not put a African-American coach to lead them especially the one that won Tennessee a championship? You guys give everyone except a black qualified man a chance! With this said I will not be attending any games or supporting until I see change in the university that I love so much! I hope my fellow black Tennessee alumnus will follow me in boycotting the university in showing how serious we are about not feeling the equality for our fellow qualified black coaches!!!”

Haynesworth, a former defensive tackle, won a national championship at Tennessee in 1998. Martin was the quarterback of that team. Martin was an assistant coach at USC from 2012-2018 before returning to Tennessee in a coaching role.

Former NFL wide receiver Peerless Price, another member of Tennessee’s 1998 championship team, said he spoke with Martin on Wednesday and that Martin is “hurting.”

Just got off the phone with my Quarterback Tee Martin and to say my guy his hurting is an understatement! My brother if my vision was ever clouded I have clear sight on everything you’ve sacrificed for our University. Damn the pain in my brothers voice I’ve never heard before!

— Peerless Price (@PeerlessTheVol) January 27, 2021

Haynesworth also unloaded on Tennessee in 2017 when they didn’t hire Martin. You can read what he said at that time here.