Reactions pour in after Ole Miss coach's head-turning testimony about new fathers during football season

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Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss was awarded a sixth year of eligibility by a Mississippi judge Thursday, but not before one of his coaches’ testimonies raised eyebrows.

Joe Judge, Ole Miss' quarterbacks coach, took the stand Thursday to discuss how important recovery is to athletes, considering one of Chambliss' arguments was that he deserved a medical redshirt for the 2022 season because of a severe case of tonsillitis that prevented him from sleeping properly and performing at full capacity.

Judge, who once gave a nearly 12-minute answer during his tumultuous time as the New York Giants head coach, then rambled about how fathers who are athletes "got to have different priorities" if they have a newborn during the season.

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Ole Miss head coach of offense and quarterbacks coach Joe Judge testifies during the hearing of Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss in his lawsuit against the NCAA at Calhoun County Courthouse in Pittsboro, Miss., on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (Ayrton Breckenridge/Clarion Ledger / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)

"This is always a tough conversation to have, it’s not even popular. We would have to educate significant others who may have been pregnant during the season or have a baby during the season, and you have to educate them on, ‘You have this baby in the middle of season, that father has to play good football,'" Judge said.

"It’s a day-by-day production business. He has to be ready to perform and go out there and play. And when I say that is, you need to let him sleep, he needs to be in another room detached. You have to explain to the mother