Texas Tech suspends basketball coach, says he used 'Bible verses about ... slaves serving their masters,' later apologized. But coach tells different story.

Texas Tech University has suspended men’s basketball coach Mark Adams over an interaction with a player, Yahoo Sports reported.

What are the details?

"On Friday, Director of Athletics Kirby Hocutt was made aware of an incident regarding a coaching session between Adams and a member of the men’s basketball team," the school said in a statement, according to the outlet. "Adams was encouraging the student-athlete to be more receptive to coaching and referenced Bible verses about workers, teachers, parents, and slaves serving their masters. Adams immediately addressed this with the team and apologized. Upon learning of the incident, Hocutt addressed this matter with Adams and issued him a written reprimand. Hocutt subsequently made the decision to suspend Adams effective immediately in order to conduct a more thorough inquiry of Adams’ interactions with his players and staff."

But Adams told a bit of a different story to Stadium, a sports network.

The coach told Stadium his comments were not racist and that he was quoting a Bible verse when he told a player there is “always a master and a servant.”

“I was quoting the Scripture,” Adams added to Stadium. “It was a private conversation about coaching and when you have a job and being coachable.”

The coach added to Stadium, "I said that in the Bible that Jesus talks about how we all have bosses and we all are servants. I was quoting the Bible about that.”

In addition, Adams told Stadium that while he explained the situation to the team the following day, he didn't apologize: “One of my coaches said it bothered the player. I explained to them. I didn’t apologize.”

Stadium also reported that sources said a staff member notified Hocutt of the situation late last week and that Hocutt reached out to the player’s family.

TheBlaze on Monday asked Texas Tech whether Adams used the words "slave" or "slaves" in his interaction with the player and whether Adams disclosed to the college a specific Bible verse or verses he was using. Texas Tech did not respond to the questions by publication time Monday.

Another investigation

Stadium reported that Texas Tech also is investigating "a separate incident earlier in the season ... in which Adams spit on the player."

Adams told Stadium he had visited a doctor over a bad cough and slobbered on the player during a game. An individual close to the situation said Adams responded to the player, “I can spit on you whenever I want to,” Stadium reported.

However, Adams told Stadium, "I don’t remember ever saying that."

Anything else?

Yahoo Sports said Adams is in his second season as the team's head coach; last year Tech was 27-10 and went to the Sweet 16, where it lost to Duke. So far this year, Tech is 16-15. Stadium said there's more than $7 million remaining on Adams' contract and that the team plays West Virginia on Wednesday in the first round of the Big 12 tournament.

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