As predicted here, Damon Evans, a.k.a. Mr. Red Panties, is being forced to resign. Sources told WSB-TV that UGA President Michael Adams asked for and received Evans’ resignation after he was pulled over Wednesday night and charged with DUI. I can’t say that I am surprised that Evans is being forced to resign because he had a lot of things working against him.
First, the fact that he was drinking and driving is the obvious problem. Had he just mixed in a cab with his drunken night of cheating on his wife, none of this would have happened. He also messed up by playing the “do you know who I am card” a few times during the arrest. I mean even his side chick, Courtney Fuhrmann, dropped the “power play” by saying: “Just to let you know, it will be erased because he is the athletic director of UGA and he has that power.”
Maybe the problem for Damon Evans (that he could not change) was being black. Let me be clear about this: Damon Evans was the first ever black athletic director in the SEC. If you don’t believe race played some role in this, we are not living on the same planet. I still maintain that the South, while it has improved on race relations, is still not nearly as accepting as some would want you to believe. I bet those petitions that went around wanting Evans fired would have come around a lot slower if he was white.
You don’t believe me? Well, how about this: Rick Pitino was found to break lamps with a woman who was not his wife, in a restaurant bathroom, then pay for her abortion. He at least gave her some hush money before she began to extort him. Rick is still coaching. Louisville’s President did not ask for his resignation. So if Damon Evans was named Rick Pitino, would he be cleaning out his office tomorrow? I am going to say no.
Reports say that Damon was arrested just before a new five-year contract extension could kick in that would raise his annual pay to $550,000. By the time he was escorted to the Atlanta jail, the officer said in the report that Evans began to “cry uncontrollably.” If I got caught up in some mess like this, there is a chance I would have shed some tears, too. I don’t mean fake tears, Chris Brown-style either.