Alexander backs off call for Wood firing

Ramon Alexander

By St. Clair Murraine
Outlook staff writer

Admitting that he was overcome by frustration and passion for his alma mater, state representative Ramon Alexander backed down Sunday from his call for the firing of head football coach Alex Wood.

 
In a tweet immediately after FAMU suffered its eighth loss Saturday evening, when it fell to Bethue-Cookman University at the Florida Class, Alexander pointed to a failed fake punt as his reason for Wood’s ouster. FAMU held a slim lead over the Wildcats at the time.

 
However, he said in a statement less than 24 hours after the game that he simply overreacted. Alexander is currently assisting the FAMU Boosters in their fund-raising campaign.

 
“Anyone that also personally knows me is fully aware that I have no problem with admitting when I could have handled my personal thoughts and frustrations differently,” Alexander said in the statement.

 
He added: “I was indeed frustrated with the game’s turn of events, and reacted as any die-heart fan would that has attended , up until this season, every single FAMU home football game at Bragg Memorial Stadium, since I was literally a three weeks old infant.”

 
Wood, whose contract expires next month, recently told members of the 220 Quarterback Club that there hasn’t been any discussion on renewing his contract. That plus the introduction of John Eason as interim athletic director last week have fueled speculations that Wood might not return.
Eason said he’d leave that decision up to  the interim president and outgoing AD Milton Overton, whose last day is Dec. 1. Overton resigned two weeks ago to take a similar job at Kennesaw State.

 
In his statement Sunday, Alexander said he backed off his earlier comments because he doesn’t want to influence any decision on Wood.
“To be very clear my reaction and personal opinions were in no way intended to directly influence the leadership of FAMU to make a specific decision about the future of Rattler football,” he said. “I was purely and extremely frustrated like thousands of other Rattlers that closely follow our football program and have a passionate vested interest in supporting our student athletes.”