Otis Hughley may or may not return as the college basketball coach at Alabama A&M. He reportedly got fired less than five minutes after a season-ending loss in the conference tournament on Tuesday.
The timing of said report could not be more brutal for all involved parties.
Hughley, 60, was an unusual hire for a college basketball program that has not made the NCAA Tournament since 2005, which was also the last time it finished above .500. His career as a head coach took place entirely overseas in Nigeria, Chinese Taipei and Taiwan or on the high school level in Alabama. He also spent time as an assistant with the Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors.
Alabama A&M hired Hughley in 2022. The Bulldogs went 15-18 in 2022-23, 12-23 in 2023-24 and 10-22 in 2024-25. They lost in the opening round of the SWAC Tournament on Tuesday.
The game, played in Atlanta, finished at approximately 3:50 p.m. EST. Maybe a minute or two before. Let’s call it 3:47 to account for a brief buffer between the final buzzer and the posting of the final score on social media.
No more than five minutes later, a prominent college basketball account on X announced that Otis Hughley had been fired. The announcement was posted at 3:52 p.m. EST with WILD wording.
Alabama A&M has opened, or will be open very soon.
— Coaching Changes (@CoachingChanges) March 11, 2025
We know who will likely get it but saying who would burn our source.
This may be breaking news. Have not checked the timeline.
As of this writing, neither Alabama A&M nor any other person in the entire world has declared the official ouster of the third-year head basketball coach. Only @CoachingChanges on X.
True or not, this timing of this report could not be more awkward.
If the report is true, Hughley got fired through an anonymous account on social media less than five minutes after a loss in the conference tournament. He did not even get a chance to meet with the university. He found out he was fired through X immediately after losing to Grambling.
If the report is not true, this was all for nothing. I would say that is even worse, but then Otis Hughley keeps his job so that would be good.
Either way, regardless of what happens at Alabama A&M in the coming hours, days and weeks, a college basketball coach was reportedly fired on social media just two-to-five minutes after losing. That’s brutal.