The former baseball coach at UAPB told a radio audience on Monday that remarks he made in a story in The Commercial contributed to his departure from the program.
Just shy of a week since announcing he was leaving, former University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff baseball coach Carlos James spoke on “The Zone” on 103.7 The Buzz about his departure from UAPB and his future, among other things. He did not directly state how his departure came about, but he connected it to his comments to The Commercial about the financial state of the UAPB baseball program.
“I’ve always been taught to speak my mind, especially when I know I’m telling the truth,” James told The Zone. “My struggles as far as scholarships and things like that, it just continued to get worse. It was more of a cry for help than anything. Sometimes, people take things the wrong way, and it leads to other things happening.”
In a May 19 story in The Commercial, the Pine Bluff native was outspoken about how dwindling funding had made it difficult to compete in the SWAC, saying he was only able to offer four scholarships to players. James, the 2013 SWAC Coach of the Year, led UAPB to four SWAC tournaments and three SWAC West Division titles in his 14 years with the Golden Lions, but UAPB hadn’t reached the postseason since 2018.
“It just continued to get worse over the years,” James said on the radio program. “It got to a point to where we could compete at first, and then we won some league titles. And then, after a while, it just kept getting worse and worse and worse, and then you just couldn’t compete really at all. … You have to make decisions, and my decision was to speak out about it, and it led to this, but I’m not sorry for what I said, and I’ll never be sorry for what I said.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
James said he has “nothing but love” for UAPB and his time there. He said he isn’t angry or upset with how his tenure ended. Rather, he is relieved he, at least for now, doesn’t have to worry about recruiting or putting together a team amidst a difficult situation. He has been spending his recent free time resting and watching NCAA baseball regionals.
He said he hopes to return to coaching soon. He said he would prefer another college job and coyly alluded to “a good college job in the state of Arkansas that may have just came open.” Arkansas State parted ways with head coach Tommy Raffo last week. However, he is open to high school or professional opportunities, too.
James ended his radio appearance by saying his departure from UAPB won’t keep him down, especially after he survived a 2020 Covid 19 scare.
“This is nothing compared to being at the Arkansas Heart Hospital in the bed and you may not live,” James said. “This is nothing. I’ll bounce back from this pretty quick. Actually, I’m already over it. It’s time to move on to something else. I’ve been there 14 years. Regardless of what happened or how it happened, it’s just time for a new voice. If I had to do it all over again, I would have left after year seven. I think seven years was enough for where I was.”
UAPB was asked last week for comment on James’ departure but did not respond.