EMCC HC Buddy Stephens wants Last Chance U to return to his school for a third season. (Steve Dietl/Netflix.) Last Chance U Season 2

Providing access to filmmakers can raise plenty of concerns for coaches, and we saw some of that in the second season of Netflix’s Last Chance U (out now). After seeing the response to and the popularity of the first season, East Mississippi Community College head coach Buddy Stephens and his players seemed both more aware of the cameras and occasionally more resistant to them in the second go-round. Director Greg Whiteley told our Alex Putterman that tension was expected, but there were times this year where Stephens in particular was very unhappy with the cameras recording him. However, Stephens told Chris Korman of For The Win that he wants the documentary season to return to EMCC for a third season despite that:

Throughout Season 2 Stephens is clearly frustrated with the cameras and he admitted that it was more difficult to ignore them during the second year of filming. The crew would flock to him at the earliest sign of a meltdown, which often hastened the meltdown. He called it the most stressful season of his career.

Still, he’d like the cameras to come back. He wondered whether the country wouldn’t be let down to not be able to follow his team again next year.

Stephens says his 2017 squad will be the fastest he’s ever had — recall that he’s won three national titles — and also believes the team’s new academic advisor, Abby Jenkins, would be a compelling character.

“There would be so much to show,” he said. “She’s doing the same thing as Brittany but she does it her way. Brittany was not the first person to love the kids, not the first person to walk a kid to class. That’s just the thing: she had her way of doing it, and now she’s moved on. She went to another job but she’s already left that and is trying something else. Abby does it differently. She’s a little bit more hardcore. That would be interesting to watch.”

It’s notable that Stephens is still advocating for the documentary to return to EMCC, despite his occasional frustrations with the cameras and despite him not always being thrilled with how he’s portrayed. It makes some sense for him, of course, especially as a recruiter; Last Chance U provides the Lions with an incredible amount of national and international exposure for a junior college program. But it’s not certain this will happen again; Whiteley told Korman “We’ve talked about going to a different school” for Season 3. It will be interesting to see what they decide.

[For The Win; photo from Steve Dietl/Netflix.]

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.

6 thoughts on “Despite frustration with cameras, ‘Last Chance U’ HC Buddy Stephens wants a third season

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  2. Go to a different school, please. This guy doesn’t deserve the money or the attention.

  3. This coach is a hypocrite and lacks even the basic leadership skills needed to pull the best out of people. It has been proven time and time again that people leave a job because of their boss above anything else. How many people have left this coaching staff to move on to other areas. Even the guy named “Head Coaching in Waiting” gave up coaching there.
    As a former Div. 1 football player at a very large university and current Corporate Executive, this College President should really look at who/what Buddy Stephens sets as an example and ambassador of his school. He needs to clearly examine his is true values for his school. Poor example of a person trying to help others excel in football and after.

  4. Different school please… Stephens obviously doesn’t show respect for the camera crew by yelling at them and even pushing them or see the benefit of the show. I would like to see a more positive Coach get this attention.

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