Trent Dilfer issued a statement on Twitter Saturday night after a video of him exploding on one of his players went viral.
Dilfer is the football coach for Lipscomb Academy in Nashville, Tenn. His school had its second game of the season on Friday and annihilated Independence 62-7.
The video that went viral showed Dilfer blowing up on one of his players on the sideline. Dilfer is seen pushing the player away on the sideline and yelling at the player forcefully to sit down.
Trent Dilfer doesn’t like when his high school players talk back at him pic.twitter.com/xZA15WHVhn
— BroBible (@BroBible) August 28, 2021
The video clip that went viral does not show anything that preceded Dilfer’s reaction. The video clip’s caption only says that Dilfer does not like when his players talk back. There is no information beyond that.
However, Bro Bible provided some more context.
They say the incident occurred when Lipscomb was leading 28-7 late in the first quarter. According to a teammate, tight end Beau Dawson ran the wrong route on a play and talked back to Dilfer as he was coming off the field.
“Beau ran the wrong route and was coming off the field and said something to Dilfer and he lost it,” Lipscomb receiver Caden Thieman apparently said.
Dawson is the son of Phil Dawson, the former longtime NFL kicker. Dawson and Dilfer are friends from their time as teammates in Cleveland. Dawson is the special teams coordinator on the team.
After the video went viral, Dilfer addressed it in a statement. Dilfer said he took full responsibility for not deescalating the situation. He also acknowledged that he singled out Dawson.
A statement from our Head Coach Trent Dilfer on the viral video going around #BeSetApart pic.twitter.com/uzS1DFt03D
— Lipscomb Academy Football (@LAmustangFB) August 29, 2021
Dilfer further explained that he was trying to get his players to play with more discipline.
Dilfer’s team is now 2-0 and has outscored opponents 138-14.
Dilfer played 13 seasons in the NFL, making one Pro Bowl and winning a Super Bowl. The 49-year-old worked as an analyst for ESPN after retiring but was let go in 2017.
