Kurt Beathard, a former assistant football coach for Illinois State University, is suing the school’s head football coach and its former athletic director, claiming his First Amendment rights were violated after he replaced a Black Lives Matter poster from his office door with another poster.

       The suit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court, alleges First Amendment retaliation and viewpoint discrimination against Beathard, who was the offensive coordinator for ISU.

       He was dismissed on Sept. 2, 2020, by head coach Brock Spack, and the decision to terminate was authorized by then-athletic director Larry Lyons, according to the suit.

       Beathard alleges that the Black Lives Matter poster was placed on his door while he was on leave during late spring and most of the summer of 2020 following the death of his wife from breast cancer. When he returned, he removed the Black Lives Matter poster and replaced it with a poster he had written that read: “All Lives Matter to Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” the suit says.

       The sign was left up for less than two weeks, but he took it down before he was fired, the suit says.

       Beathard claims he was told he was fired because Spack did not like the direction of the offense. The lawsuit claims Spack and Lyons terminated Beathard because “he did not toe the party line regarding Black Lives Matter.”

       Messages for Spack seeking comment were not immediately returned. Attempts to reach Lyons were unsuccessful.

       The complaint also says that Beathard had the right to freely express his views as an employee of a public university.

       The suit states that Beathard set several records and that the team achieved national ranking with his offense in 2014 and 2015 and again in 2018 and 2019.

       Upon his return in August from his leave, according to the suit, Beathard noticed tension on the ISU campus. The campus community was grappling with the high-profile police shootings of unarmed Black people including Breonna Taylor, who died that March, and George Floyd, who died that May.

       Black Lives Matter became a movement on campus. It’s something Spack called “freaking nuts” when welcoming Beathard back to ISU, according to the lawsuit.

       Illinois State athletes sit out practices after athletic director said, ‘All Redbird Lives Matter,’ during a video call about race ？

       As an act of solidarity, according to the lawsuit, several football coaches posted Black Lives Matter posters on their office doors.

       While Beathard was away, someone taped a sign to his door. When he returned, he took the sign off and put his own poster up.

       On or around Aug. 27, 2020, Lyons led a Zoom meeting with student-athletes to encourage unity. Toward the end of the meeting, Lyons said “All Redbirds Lives Matter,” according to the lawsuit. Redbirds is the nickname of the school.

       Lyons’ message was not received well by some of the athletes, which led to an apology by Lyons, the suit said. He retired from ISU roughly a month later in October 2020.

       A campuswide boycott ensued and a list of demands was created by ISU students. One of the demands was for the department of athletics to publicly support the Black Lives Matter movement.

       The athletics department responded by creating an “Action Plan for Social Change,” which pushed for training about diversity and inclusion.

       ‘There’s some anger and I understand that.’ Embattled Illinois State AD pledges change after ‘All Redbirds Lives Matter’ comment sparks athlete boycott and protest ？

       About two days after the Lyons’ meeting, Beathard was approached by Spack and he was asked to remove the sign he created from his door, according to the lawsuit. Beathard took the poster down that day.

       But a colleague of Beathard’s shared a picture of the poster he recently took down. In response, some football players boycotted practice, according to the lawsuit.

       A few days later, Beathard was fired.

       As a result of the series of incidents, the lawsuit states, Beathard suffered from mental and emotional distress as well as economic damages due to the loss of income.

       Eric Jome, the director of media relations at ISU, said as part of its standard practice, the university cannot provide comment on pending litigation.

       Doug Churdar, Beathard’s attorney, maintains that Beathard’s views should have been respected in a public university.

       “It’s come to this. If you put the government’s message on your door, you keep your job,” Churdar wrote in a news release. “If you replace it with your own message, you’re fired. That’s exactly what happened.

       “There’s only one reason Beathard isn’t offensive coordinator at ISU: he did not toe the party line on BLM.”

       After Chicago activist is barred from courthouse during Smollett trial, judge issues statement saying he didn’t intend to ban anyone

       53m

       After sitting through freezing rain at Bears game, some fans warm to the idea of a new stadium in Arlington Heights

       1h

       Horoscopes Daily horoscope for December 5, 2021

       12:00 AM

       Breaking Sports Minnie Mi？oso and Buck O’Neil are voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame by special committees, but Dick Allen falls short

       53m

       Horoscopes Daily horoscope for December 4, 2021

       Dec 4, 2021