It’s far from unusual for the “Days Without An Arrest” ticker to be reset to double zeroes over the weekend. What’s unusual, however, is for an assistant coach to be responsible for triggering a reset.
That, unfortunately, is the situation USF finds itself in at the moment, with the Tampa Bay Times reporting that defensive line coach Eric Mathies was arrested early Saturday morning on a charge of driving under the influence. The charge stemmed from a traffic stop, after which Mathies refused to take a breathalyzer test.
No details of what led to the stop by Tampa police at around 3:40 a.m. ET were given, and the team has yet to address what if any punitive measures the assistant may be facing.
Mathies was hired in January of 2013, coming along with head coach Willie Taggart from Western Kentucky. According to the coach’s profile on the team’s official website, “Mathies guided a strong defensive line that helped the Bulls rank 12th in the FBS posting 7.6 tackles for loss per game and 21st in total defense allowing 350.8 yards per game while nearly tripling their forced turnovers from nine the previous season to 25 and scoring three defensive touchdowns.”
(Photo credit: USF athletics)