Jason Brown, coach featured on 'Last Chance U,' resigns after controversial texts with player

Jason Brown’s time at Independence Community College has come to an end.

Brown, who rose to prominence when Independence’s football program was featured on the third season of Netflix series “Last Chance U,” announced his resignation on Sunday night. Brown, known for his brash style, came under fire last week when a German-born player publicly shared a series of text messages between him and Brown. In one, Brown tells the player, “I’m your new Hitler.”

Brown announced his resignation in a message posted to Twitter. In the message, he lists the football program’s accomplishments during his time as ICC head coach and thanks his players, staff and supporters before addressing the recent controversy.

“The events of the past few weeks has led me to resign,” Brown wrote. “Given what has most recently been allowed to transpire, it is clear, that is will be nearly impossible to stay here. More plainly, the Montgomery County Chronicle has greatly diminished my ability to successfully do my job, has set this football program back significantly, and the cumulative effect of all these detrimental factors I believe clearly constitute a constructive discharge of my employment.

“I have been working with the college to achieve greatness for 3.5 years, and I believe we accomplished this. I urge all the naysayers on campus and in town to really look at yourself in the mirror and do a self-evaluation of yourself before so hardly judging others.”

“This has been a painful episode for the entire campus and community, and its conclusion allows us to fully focus on the students we serve,” ICC president Dan Barwick said in a statement. “As a college, we should be defined by the outstanding educational quality and value we create for our students, and we believe we can move past this together with our community, faculty, staff and student body. The college has no further comment on this matter.”

Text exchange between Brown and player published in local paper

The Montgomery County Chronicle reported about the exchange between Brown and Alexandros Alexiou last week. Brown informs Alexiou that he has “17 points” in reference to the team’s disciplinary program (25 points gets you kicked off the team). In the message with the Hitler reference, Brown calls Alexiou a “German f—” and tells him, “figure out your life.”

In the aftermath, Alexiou told the Montgomery County Chronicle that he filed a report of discrimination.

“I don’t think it’s right,” he told the Chronicle. “I know I did some stupid things to get a suspension, but there are a lot of other incidents on the team that do not get reported.”

After the texts emerged publicly, the ICC Board of Trustees called a Thursday night meeting to discuss the matter. It did not take any action at that point.

Brown was Independence’s head coach for 3 seasons

Brown was hired as ICC’s head coach in 2016, tasked with turning around a program with a recent history of losing. The Pirates went 5-4 in his first season and 9-2 in his second season.

The turnaround led to ICC being featured on “Last Chance U,” a documentary series that focuses on junior college programs that become landing spots for high-level prospects trying to get scholarships to FBS programs.

Brown was heavily featured, including his upbringing in Compton, Calif.

The fourth season of Last Chance U was also shot at ICC and is scheduled to be released in the summer.

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