Tennessee-Chattanooga OL coach fired for offensive tweet about Stacey Abrams

Tennessee-Chattanooga offensive line coach Chris Malone was fired due to a racist tweet in which he mocked Georgia politician Stacey Abrams in response to Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff winning their run-off races to officially give the Democrats the majority in the U.S. Senate.

Malone deleted the tweet that led to his dismal, but the damage was already done. The Tennessee-Chattanooga football program was informed about the assistant coach's behavior, and he was terminated from his position shortly after. Head coach Rusty Wright and athletic director Mark Wharton both released statements condemning Malone's tweet and making it clear his views were not consistent with the school.

"Our football program has a clear set of standards," Wright said. "Those standards include respecting others. It is a message our players hear daily. It is a standard I will not waiver on. What was posted on social media by a member of my staff is unacceptable and not any part of what I stand for or what Chattanooga Football stands for."

Abrams served in Georgia's House of Representatives from 2007 to 2017, becoming the minority leader from 2011 to 2017. She ran for governor of the state in 2018 and lost, but she was quickly identified as a rising star in the Democratic party and became a leading voice in Warnock's and Ossoff's successful campaigns.