Ex-Bearcat coach arrested for assault

[DesperateDerelict]

This is really weird.

Mississippi coach Kennedy charged with assault of cabbie

By Andy Katz

ESPN.com

Updated: December 18, 2008, 2:19 PM ET

Mississippi coach Andy Kennedy will coach Thursday night against No. 9 Louisville despite being arrested early Thursday morning for allegedly assaulting a cab driver in downtown Cincinnati.

Kennedy was at the Rebels' shootaround after his attorney, Mike Allen, entered a written plea of not guilty in Hamilton County Municipal Court on a misdemeanor assault charge. Kennedy is accused of punching the cab driver in the face while shouting racial slurs.

The Rebels (7-3), considered one of the best teams in the SEC West entering this season, are in Cincinnati as part of the Big East/SEC Invitational.

"I regret this situation," Kennedy said in a statement. "The focus should be on the players and the game, not on me. I vehemently deny the charges levied against me, and am completely confident that I will be fully exonerated of all charges."

A pre-trial hearing has been set for Jan. 16.

"Clearly, this is an unfortunate situation. However, after a full discussion with Andy Kennedy and his staff, who were with him, I have the utmost confidence that once all the facts are known, Coach Kennedy will be cleared of all charges," athletics director Pete Boone, who is with the team, said in a statement.

According to Cincinnati police, Kennedy allegedly assaulted 25-year-old cab driver Mohammed Ould Jiddou at 1 a.m. ET in downtown Cincinnati.

The police report said Kennedy "was the aggressor that punched listed victim with a closed fist. [Kennedy] also was using racial slurs while punching victim."

Police also arrested Bill Armstrong, director of operations for the basketball team.

Jiddou, a native of the northwest Africa country of Mauritania, replied, "Good," when asked how he was doing Thursday afternoon. But he declined to answer any other questions when reached at his home in northern Kentucky.

Rusty O'Brien, a Louisville, Ky., attorney, said Jiddou told him Kennedy called him "Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein."

O'Brien said Kennedy became upset when the driver refused to allow five passengers into his taxi.

Jiddou, according to the police report, sustained injuries described as a "swollen left face."

O'Brien said Jiddou is a legal permanent resident of the United States and has been in the country for several years. He planned to meet Thursday with Jiddou to discuss the case.

Kennedy, in his third season with the Rebels, was the interim head coach of Cincinnati after his good friend Bob Huggins was fired prior to the 2005-06 season. He had been an assistant with the Bearcats for the previous five seasons.

[COB]

Since he coaches for Mississippi, this will probably get him a contract extension.