STATEMENT ON BEHALF OF COACH JIM BOONE

New evidence reveals that Tyler Williams intended to transfer from UA-FS all along and knew
that, unless he could show his transfer was the result of being mistreated by the coaching staff or
being “run off,” the NCAA rules would prohibit him playing basketball at another school next
year.

Coach Boone’s counsel has conducted lengthy interviews with two of Tyler Williams’
teammates, both of whom recounted the details of conversations they had with Tyler Williams and
his mother related to Tyler’s departure from the UA-FS basketball program. Among other things,
these student-athletes addressed the following topics:

(a) Tyler’s statements in the presence of his teammates about his concern that Coach Boone
was likely to favor two players who had joined the team from Delta State University and
Ole Miss and therefore diminish Tyler’s role on the team;

(b) A statement by Tyler Williams’ mother shortly after the meeting with Coach Boone in
which she said in the presence of Tyler’s teammates that Coach Boone was going to “favor
his boys,” a reference to Brian Halums and Matthew Wilson, who had both recently joined
the UA-FS basketball team; and

(c) Tyler’s statement to a teammate in early August 2019 that he wanted to transfer from UA-
FS but knew that he’d be prohibited from playing at another school next year unless he left
under adverse circumstances created by the coaching staff that would allow him to obtain
a waiver from the NCAA.

Based on their recollection of statements made by Tyler Williams and his mother at various
times in early August 2019, and their personal knowledge of other relevant facts, these two student-
athletes made powerful statements in support of Coach Boone and were highly critical of Tyler
Williams:

(a) One player said that Tyler left the program because he wanted to leave and that what he’s
saying now is “just not true.” This African American player said his experience being
 recruited by Coach Boone was “the complete opposite of discrimination” and that he felt
compelled to speak out because: (1) Tyler Williams’ claims were “an injustice” to Coach
Boone; and (2) Tyler Williams “playing the race card” when there was no racism involved
in his decision to leave could diminish legitimate claims of racism by other African
Americans.

(b) The other player said he was “100 percent certain” that Tyler intended to transfer from UA-
FS, that Tyler probably hoped the meeting with Coach Boone would allow him to create a
scenario he could later use to seek a waiver so he could play at another school, and that,
despite what he’s saying now, Tyler “chose to quit.”

Earlier today, both of these players met with Chancellor Terisa Riley and shared their
recollection of statements made by Tyler Williams and his mother, expressed their support for
Coach Boone, and voiced their opinions about the injustice suffered by Coach Boone as the result
of Tyler Williams’ actions.

In addition to the information provided by these two student-athletes, further investigation

of this matter has established the following:

As soon as Tyler Williams arrived on campus on August 15th and went to the locker room,
he called the AD and texted an assistant coach complaining about the location of his locker and
demanded that he be given his old locker. When his demands weren’t met, he then asked if he and
his parents could meet with Coach Boone the next day.

The audio recording of the Williams’ meeting with Coach Boone that Tyler Williams
reportedly gave to The Oklahoman, and which is widely available online, was edited by Tyler
Williams. The full audio recording is twice as long as the recording that was given to the media.

The online version of the audio recording sounds more like a badgering cross-examination
of a hostile witness than a discussion with a head coach about legitimate concerns. When Coach
Boone calmly explained his point of view and attempted to correct various misstatements by Tyler
Williams, he was interrupted, met with questions about his Mississippi roots and “buzz cut,”
pressed to explain a locker assignment he had nothing to do with, and confronted with
mischaracterizations of a conversation with Tyler that occurred months ago. Eventually, Tyler got
what he came for when Coach Boone had enough and said:

“Listen, I’m not going to go through all of this. I’m not here for that. You need to
go somewhere else.”

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 Instead of the response you’d expect from the parents of a student-athlete who had no
intention of leaving the program and wanted to stay, the immediate response from Tyler Williams’
father was: “We will. Appreciate it, thank you.” Tyler Williams’ parents then asked Coach Boone
a couple of questions about who they needed to see to begin the transfer process. Mr. Williams’
last words to Coach Boone were “Thank you, sir,” at which point the Williams family left and
headed to the locker room.

Tyler, however, made a big mistake. He forgot to turn off the recorder function on his cell
phone when he and his parents left the meeting. As a consequence, the full audio recording in the
possession of UA-FS and Coach Boone includes the audio of the Williams family as they walk
down the hall and enter the locker room. It also includes the Williams family having a friendly
conversation with the assistant coach who had assigned Tyler the locker he had complained about
the previous evening. Tyler can be heard laughing loudly at various times during the roughly nine
minutes of audio that was captured on the recording after the meeting with Coach Boone.

The actual “full audio” is revealing not just because it sounds like Tyler Williams and his
family were in good spirits following the meeting. It’s also revealing in what can’t be heard on the
audio recording. If everyone with a Twitter account or press credentials listened to the actual “full
audio,” they wouldn’t hear any comments or conversations of the kind you’d expect from a
student-athlete and his parents after being told he needed to go somewhere else – unless, of course,
that was exactly what they wanted to hear in the first place. They also wouldn’t hear Tyler Williams
saying anything to Coach Boone about wanting to stay at UA-FS, which you’d expect to hear on
the audio if there was any truth to what Tyler told the Arkansas-Democrat Gazette, as reported
yesterday:

"After the discussion we had, I told him I still wanted to stay. I told him I still
wanted to play," Tyler Williams said. But the coach "just told me that I could keep
my scholarship, but I'm no longer in his program.”

The actual “full audio” conclusively proves that Tyler Williams never said anything like
that either during the meeting or as he and his parents walked to the locker room. Nor did he or his
parents ever communicate with Coach Boone after the meeting to indicate that Tyler didn’t want
to leave. To the contrary, by 5:30 p.m. that day, Tyler had registered in the NCAA transfer portal
to begin the process of transferring, which appears to have been his intention all along.

To correct the countless misstatements on social media, the truth about Coach Boone’s hair
length policy is as follows:

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• Coach Boone’s policy regarding hair length and players not wearing earrings during team
activities was common knowledge in the UA-FS Athletics Department. Not once did
anyone in the Athletics Department voice concerns that his hair length policy might be
viewed as racist or that it might be seen as an infringement on the ability of African
American players to express their cultural heritage through a certain hair style.

• Coach Boone’s hair policy for UA-FS basketball players only addressed the length of his
players’ hair – not the style. There was nothing about Coach Boone’s policy that would
have prevented or discouraged African American players from choosing to wear their hair
in dreadlocks. Coach Boone does not consider dreadlocks to be unprofessional or
inappropriate, and he’s never indicated otherwise to Tyler Williams or anyone else. What’s
more, one of his other players had fairly long dreadlocks when Coach Boone recruited him
and hasn’t changed anything about his hair since joining the team.

• Recent photos of the UA-FS basketball team and individual photos of Tyler Williams’
African American teammates show that all of the UA-FS African American players wore
their hair in various styles that can be found on any website featuring the latest and most
popular hairstyles for African American men. One of them also wore a full beard.

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• As Tyler’s teammates would confirm, their personal decisions about their hairstyle and
personal grooming were not influenced directly or indirectly by Coach Boone’s policy or
his opinions.

• Furthermore, photos of Tyler Williams make clear that he was exempted from Coach
Boone’s hair length policy and has worn his hair in long dreadlocks ever since Coach
Boone became the head coach at UA-FS.