TUSKEGEE, Ala. — An HBCU rivalry between Tuskegee and Morehouse that spiraled into controversy is now headed to court, with Benjy Taylor set to appear Friday to announce a lawsuit tied to the postgame handcuffing incident.
Tuskegee officials said Taylor — the Golden Tigers’ head men’s basketball coach — will join his attorneys at 11:00 a.m. Friday, March 20 for a news conference. They will announce the filing of a lawsuit against Morehouse as well as campus police officers R. Clark and M. Roberson.
The lawsuit stems from the Jan. 31 game in Atlanta that drew national attention. Video circulated showing Benjy Taylor being handcuffed and escorted off the court in the moments following Tuskegee’s Division II matchup with Morehouse. Tuskegee’s account has consistently been that Taylor was trying to de-escalate a growing safety issue during the postgame handshake line. It maintained he detained after asking an officer to enforce conference-mandated security procedures.
Tuskegee’s Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics and Athletic Director Reginald Ruffin has been one of Taylor’s loudest defenders. In comments to HBCU Gameday during the SIAC Tournament, Ruffin described the continued replaying and rehashing of the incident as harmful to his coach, his players, and the broader HBCU community. Ruffin said the programs had worked to move forward after the Tuskegee-Morehouse game, and he expressed frustration with media outlets that kept dragging the image back into the spotlight.
Ruffin’s critique focused on narrative — the idea that a respected coach’s identity was being reduced to a viral moment. He argued that the coverage ignored the work Benjy Taylor does daily, and he said the repeated public replaying of the clip “broke” his and his team mentally. Ruffin also said it was wrong for the clip to be aired in a game setting where players could be forced to relive it in real time.
Taylor’s legal team includes civil rights attorneys Harry Daniels and John Burris, along with attorneys Gerald Griggs and Gregory Reynald Williams. Tuskegee noted Daniels has represented high-profile clients, and Burris has represented notable clients as well, while Griggs is the immediate past president of the Georgia NAACP.
HBCU rivalry heads to courtroom
Beyond the legal filing, the announcement signals the dispute is no longer just about a chaotic ending to an HBCU game. It is now a formal challenge over how security was handled, how authority was exercised, and what accountability looks like.
A father of four and grandfather of five, Benjy Taylor has coached basketball for 35 years and has been the head coach at Tuskegee since 2019. And as Tuskegee prepares to stand alongside its coach publicly, the lawsuit places new pressure on Morehouse and the institutions connected to the night that neither program has been able to shake.