CINCINNATI -- Police arrested Mississippi men's basketball coach Andy Kennedy early Thursday after a cab driver said the coach punched him while calling him "bin Laden" and other racial insults.
A pretrial hearing has been set for Jan. 16. Kennedy was charged with a first-degree misdemeanor count of assault, which would carry a maximum sentence of six months in jail for conviction.
Kennedy denied the allegations and his attorney, Mike Allen, entered a written plea of not guilty in Hamilton County Municipal Court on Thursday.
Kennedy, a former assistant and interim head coach at Cincinnati, coached the Rebels in a 77-68 loss to No. 9 Louisville in the SEC/Big East Invitational on Thursday night.
"I regret this situation," Kennedy said in a pregame statement released by Mississippi. "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."
Following the game, Kennedy said he's been told not to talk about what he called the "heinous accusations" for now. He said he regretted that the arrest became the focus of his team's visit.
"Obviously it took a little bit of the luster off," Kennedy said. "I was looking forward to being back. It was a tremendous challenge for us against Coach (Rick) Pitino and that Louisville team. I was really looking forward to it, obviously.
"The goings-on in the last 24 hours took a little bit of my focus away from that. For that, I apologized to the team. This really should have been about them."
Before the game, Pitino spent some time talking with Kennedy.
"I just told him to keep his head up, coach basketball and just stay positive," Pitino said.
The complaint filed in Municipal Court alleges that Kennedy assaulted Mohamed Moctar Ould Jiddou and "punched victim with a closed fist while shouting racial slurs." Kennedy, 40, was arrested at 1:15 a.m., police documents show.
"I just don't think it passes the smell test," Allen said. He said Kennedy did not hit or slur anyone.
Police subsequently arrested Bill Armstrong, director of operations for the basketball team, on a charge of disorderly conduct. Armstrong, 31, was intoxicated and had been ejected from the Lodge Bar Cincinnati downtown, and had continued taunting the taxi driver, the police report stated. Allen also entered a not guilty plea for him and his pretrial hearing was also set for Jan. 16.
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