Former East Mississippi Community College head coach Buddy Stephens stands on the sidelines in this file photo. Stephens, who won five national championships in 18 years with the Lions, was replaced by an interim coach, the school announced Monday. 	
			Five-time national champion head coach Buddy Stephens is no longer the head coach at East Mississippi Community College.
The college announced Monday night that associate head football coach/offensive coordinator Preston Rice has been named the Lions’ interim head football coach “effective immediately.”
Stephens, who spent 18 years at the helm and won national championships in 2011, 2013-14, and 2017-18, will be replaced by Rice for the remainder of the season. Stephens led the Lions to an overall record of 155-31, a .833 winning percentage, during his tenure.
In a Dispatch article published Thursday, Stephens offered pointed criticism of EMCC and Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference leadership regarding football scheduling and playoff changes with which he disagreed, calling them “idiots.”
“It was really ‘junkified,’ the way they decided they were going to do it and there wasn’t a lot of real thought,” Stephens said. “I was very surprised at how it came out because there were actual people who have doctorates that came up with this.”
In a statement posted to the EMCC Facebook page on Monday, President Scott Alsobrooks said EMCC “strongly disavows the remarks published in a recent article. These comments are inconsistent with the college’s core values and standards of professionalism, respect, and civility and do not reflect the views, mission, or expectations of EMCC. While the college supports open and constructive dialogue, personal attacks have no place in that discourse and are contrary to the standards we uphold within our college community. EMCC sincerely apologizes for the concerns raised by these comments and remains committed to fostering a respectful, professional, and collegial environment for all.”

			
			
				
				Scott Alsobrooks
				
		

Beyond this statement, EMCC’s administration has refused to comment on Stephens’ employment status. The Dispatch filed a public records request with the school Tuesday.
Stephens, a Huntsville, Alabama, native and former offensive lineman at Pearl River Community College and Delta State University, served as an assistant coach at Pearl River from 2001-2007 before he took over EMCC’s football program in 2008 in his first head coaching opportunity.
Stephens became a popular figure after the debut of the Netflix documentary “Last Chance U,” the first two seasons of which chronicled the Lions’ 2015 and 2016 football seasons and their meteoric rise to fame after winning back-to-back NJCAA national championships in 2013-2014.
In that 2015 season, Stephens and the Lions were disqualified from the MACCC playoffs after a brawl broke out during a game against Mississippi Delta Community College, eliminating their chances of competing for a third straight national title.
The team again fell short of advancing to the NJCAA playoffs the following year but went on to win titles in 2017 and 2018. Stephens and the Lions most recently played for a national championship in 2023 but suffered their first loss on the big stage in a 61-14 defeat at the hands of Iowa Western Community College. Since then he led the team to a 5-4 record in 2024 and a 7-3 mark last season, which was good enough for an MACCC North title.
Along with five national championships, Stephens finishes his career at EMCC with nine MACCC championships and 14 MACCC North Division titles.
The Lions opened the 2026 football season on Thursday in a 14-6 win over Southwest Mississippi Community College and are back in action tomorrow in their first home game of the year against Hinds Community College – this time under new leadership for the first time in 18 years.
Rice is in his second year with the Lions and first served as the team’s quarterbacks coach in 2025 before embarking on a short stint as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Shorter University, a NCAA Division II program. He returned to EMCC to be the Lions’ offensive coordinator in June after Cade Wilkerson was promoted to be the university’s athletic director.
Along with serving as the interim head coach, Rice will also be the teams’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
Stephens did not respond to The Dispatch’s multiple requests for comment.
			
						
						
			
      
      
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        Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 43 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.