Ole Miss' Andy Kennedy Pleads Guilty 4 Months After Proclaiming Innocence

Four months ago, Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy was arrested (video above) after a cab driver said Kennedy punched him and taunted him with racial insults. At the time Kennedy claimed he would be exonerated. Now Kennedy has pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct.

Kennedy's guilty plea is to reduced charges (he was sentenced to just 40 hours of community service and six months' probation; he faced up to six months in jail on the original assault charge), but pleading guilty to anything is a major departure from what he claimed at the time. In his comments after the arrest, Kennedy couldn't have been any clearer in saying he had done absolutely nothing wrong.

"I vehemently deny the charges levied against me, and am completely confident that I will be fully exonerated of all charges," Kennedy said in a statement released shortly after the arrest.

Kennedy still denies that he punched the cabbie or used racist insults, but he now says, "I acknowledge using poor judgment which resulted in an adverse reflection on me, my family, our program and the university that I so proudly represent." Ole Miss assistant coach Bill Armstrong (who can be heard in the above video) also pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in connection with the case.

The school has said Kennedy won't get a contract extension that he otherwise would have received, but overall Kennedy seems like he's getting off very easily here. If he had been telling the truth when he said after his arrest that he didn't do anything wrong, he wouldn't be pleading guilty now. He's lucky prosecutors are letting him plead guilty to lesser charges, and lucky that Ole Miss is letting him off with a slap on the wrist.