USC senior Anthony Brown accused coach Steve Sarkisian of being a racist on Thursday, saying that it was the reason why he decided to quit the team.
Brown posted a striking photo on his Instagram and Facebook account where he wrote: "Sark treated me like a slave in his Office...Can't play for a racist MAN!!!!! #Fighton."
The post has been deleted, but Sarkisian said that he saw the statement. The newly-appointed coach said that he was shocked with Brown's accusation, saying that it is a ridiculous allegation.
"I think it's ridiculous," Sarkisian said via ESPN. "Any of you guys that know me and if you ask anybody in our building, any of our players - feel free to - that's about the furthest thing from the truth. Quite honestly, I'm shocked."
Sarkisian pointed out that he is puzzled why Brown made such allegations when he even tried to convince the senior to reconsider his decision when he informed that team that he wants to stop playing last week.
Brown suffered an elbow injury in training camp, but Sarkisian said that the 23-year-old could have played a crucial role for them this season, while also adding that they even gave into his request to move from being a corner back to a running back.
"We obviously tried to encourage him not to quit. We thought he could be an asset to our team, especially when healthy," Sarkisian said. "We really tried to make it a point to accommodate the position change he wanted. He wanted to move to running back, and we did so. He unfortunately got injured in training camp and was working his way back and decided he didn't want to play anymore."
Brown's accusation came after the team announced that Josh Shaw was handed an indefinite suspension for lying about his ankle injury, but Sarkisian reiterated that he has no room to worry about things that are out of his control.
"I've got over 100 guys in that locker room that are more important or just as important than these two isolated incidents," Sarkisian said. "I owe it to those guys to do the best job that I can do to prepare our staff and to prepare them to play a great football game on Saturday, and that's what my focus is on."
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