Longtime UofL cheer coach says contract not renewed 'due to budgets'
· Yahoo Sports
For more than four decades, James Speed has been a champ at cheering on the University of Louisville from the sidelines. As of early May, though, Speed’s longtime run with UofL cheerleading has come to an end.
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The 64-year-old Louisville native first joined UofL’s cheer program as a student in 1980. After spending a few years coaching at the University of Kansas, he returned to coach at his former college in 1990.
For the next 36 years, Speed played the long game as a beloved coach who won big. Under his leadership, the program earned 47 national titles.
When Speed announced on Facebook on May 14 that his “time has sadly come to an end,” several hundred comments rolled in calling Speed a “living legend,” an “icon” or “the GOAT.”
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His Facebook statement made one thing clear: “I would never willingly walk away from this program, or the athletes who I’ve built and poured everything into for the last 4 decades," Speed wrote. "However, due to circumstances beyond my control, I have been forced to close the door on my coaching career at the University of Louisville.”
In a May 7 meeting, Speed said he was informed that his contract would not be renewed "due to budgets and cuts," he told The Courier Journal on May 16.
“I feel that they probably had a lot of budgetary pressures and they couldn't afford to probably fund it the way it needed to be funded, so the answer was just to move in another direction,” Speed told The Courier Journal. “You have to set priorities and, right now, unfortunately, my job and the large coed team is not one of those priorities.”
In his online statement, Speed put it this way: "Due to circumstances beyond my control, I have been forced to close the door on my coaching career at the University of Louisville. Due to the current situation throughout collegiate athletics, there are constant changes, reorganizations, and financial stressors that are forcing traditions in programs we love to move in a different direction."
Messages from The Courier Journal to the University of Louisville on May 16 were not immediately returned.“It's just sad for me,” Speed told The Courier Journal. “It's my life. It's a total life change for me.”
He said Misty Hodges will continue in the role of cheer coach at UofL.
“I still love UofL. I still love the program. I really hope that it succeeds,” Speed said. “I'm very proud of what we were able to accomplish with very little funding and just a whole lot of heart and a whole lot of work."
Speed, who also owns GymTyme All Stars, said he's considering other coaching opportunities and looks forward to "whatever this next chapter holds."
“I don't want anybody to feel sorry for me and I don't want people not to support this program," he said. "They are doing the best that they can and they're trying to navigate this. They got enough on their plate and it's not their fault. We're all just victims of circumstance.”
Reach reporter Amanda Hancock at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: UofL cheer coach James Speed says his contract was not renewed