Former football coach sues for wrongful termination over ‘All Lives Matter' sign

By Kate Anderson | Campus Reform

On August 11, a motion by Illinois State University’s (ISU) athletic administrators to dismiss former offensive coordinator Kurt Beathard's lawsuit against ISU for wrongful termination was denied. 

Beathard’s lawsuit alleges he was fired by Heach Coach Brock Spack over a sign Beathard put on his office door with the phrase “All Lives Matter To Our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ.” The sign replaced a Black Lives Matter poster Beathard found had been placed on his door.

The defendants include former Athletic Director Larry Lyons, Head Coach Spack, and current Athletic Director Kyle Brennan. 

They requested a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, alleging that the “[p]laintiff was acting in his official job duties in placing the replacement poster on his door" and so "is not entitled to First Amendment protections,” according to the lawsuit.  

In August 2020, the ISU Athletics department handed out signs with BLM messages, and one ended up on Beathard’s door. In response, Beathard took the sign down and replaced it with the aforementioned sign.

On August 29, 2020, Spack asked Beathard to take his sign down, after which, Beathard did remove it. However, on September 2, 2020, Beathard was terminated from his position as offensive coordinator by Spack because he “didn’t like the direction of the offense.”