College coach fired over 'Survivor' appearance

• by Soccer America , Feb 19, 2009

[OFF THE POST] If remains to be seen how far Ben Wade gets on "Survivor: Tocantins," but his college soccer coaching appears to be over. Wade says he plans on dedicating himself to acting after he was fired as head women's soccer coach at Southwest Baptist University less than a week after he debuted on the 2009 CBS "Survivor" show.

Wade was fired for leaving the team with two weeks left in the season and failing to tell the school where he was going. He said he would be gone a week; he only returned from the Brazilian Highlands eight weeks later.

"He said he was going to be gone for a week,"  SBU athletic director Brent Good told the Springfield News-Leader. "And the week went beyond that, which went beyond that, which went beyond that."

SBU bought out the last three months of Wade's contract.

"The administration felt like 'Survivor' was me going to Hollywood," Wade responded. "I loved my time at SBU. Obviously, now I'm off to pursue adventures in Hollywood."