Coastal Carolina football has done an about-face and deleted a controversial photo of coach Tim Beck standing on a beach shirtless in the center of a line of ten bikini-clad beauties.
The photo was initially posted by Coastal Carolina’s football program in connection with the EasyPost Hawai’i Bowl, TMZ reported.
In the photo, Coach Beck is standing on the beach with the school’s dance team and the team’s mascot, Chauncey the Chanticleer.
Beck also shared the photo on his Instagram account with the dance team, replying, “Glad we ran into you at the beach today. Thanks for the picture.”
But after posting the image, the coach and school were beset by Karen-like protests. Soon, the photo was deleted.
“There was no intent to try to generate any particular kind of response one way or the other of how that was. So, I mean, that that’s kind of my statement really on it,” Beck said after he deleted the image. He also said, “It was a very spontaneous event.”
CCU Director of Communication Jerry Rashid dismissed the controversy.
“Coach Beck has stated that the photo was taken spontaneously while members of the University’s travel group were on the beach together. There was no intent to generate a particular response,” Rashid wrote in an email, according to The Sun. “The photo was taken as part of the football team’s documentation of its trip to Honolulu to participate in the Hawaii Bowl. The Chanticleers look forward to playing in the bowl game on Saturday.”
Still, neither the school nor the coach explained why the photo was deleted.
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