Utah DC suspended for 2013 text
- Thread starter chugspig
- Start date
Wow. I didn't think people other than complete idiots even used that word any more.
Aside from public perception, how do you command a kid's respect when they find out? What is recruiting like after that? Take public perception and personal conduct out of it, even after that, once you're outed as somebody who tosses that stuff around, your authority and desirability in a lot of coaching circles is just gone. Coaching is as much about mentoring as anything else, especially below the pro level. This is uh, not conduct becoming a mentor.
I'm not a fan of racial slurs and not very tolerant when exposed to it, but how many people can say that they've never uttered, typed, or texted anything in the last 10 years that wouldn't get thoroughly chastised in today's hyper sensitive world? I don't know anything about this DC and for all I know he deserved to get canned for his general body of work, but God help us all if someone decides to look at each of our pasts with a fine-tooth comb, has the freedom to cherry pick whatever moment of misguided commentary they could find in order to elicit the reaction they want, and then throws it up in front of today's hand-wringing crowd for "justice". First thought that went through my mind when I saw that was it was a pretty stupid thing to say/text on the part of the coach, second thought was that if all football coaches and players are going to be judged by this same criteria then we won't have many of either left, and third thing was to wonder who in the hell goes searching for 7 year old texts to find something like this and why? Our society seems to have a little bit of a witch hunt mentality that I find kind of weird.
Apart from the entire rap industry and most black professional athletes and entertainers.
It’s hard to imagine the coaches at Utah we’re not aware of this back when it happened. Pure speculation on my part.
I don't know about any of that, if only because I've never heard the n-word used in my entire life (live - I saw people say it on TV, etc.), and it's not like I grew up in a commune or in a PC household. I just knew through general media and popular culture back in the day that it was wrong, and neither my parents nor anyone else used it. It's just unimaginable to me anyone would write something like that it. More generally, I am in the legal field and more measured in what I'm out there saying or texting than most, I suppose.
Generally, though, I get your point about the witch hunt mentality. It's weird. Should a career be ruined based on a dumb text 7 years ago? You can argue either way. On the one hand, there is just no tolerance for racist behavior, nor should there be, and in his case, needing to relate to young men of color, he's pretty much blown that. On the other hand is your point, and there's something to that, at least for certain types of transgressions. In this case it's likely a moot point since if he wrote that, he probably was doing other racist things.
Much more significant to me, though, is how we simultaneously can be told what a terrible society we live in, with no progress made since times of open, widely-held and expressed racism, yet it's a national story when this guy sent one text using that word 7 years ago ... and his career is ruined as a result (he'll surely be canned). Seriously, think about this. America: a racist cesspool ... yet a place where it's national news, with a career ruined, for this lone private text with one word in it 7 years ago. Indeed, not only that, but the fact he sent that text several years ago is held out as evidence that America is a racist hellhole, too. That's the part that surprises me more than the mentality you describe.
Not only is he done, but the coach he sent it to is going to take heat for not reporting it at the time.
My first thought was: "I hope he was black (because then it would be 'OK'), then realizing it wouldn't be news if he were, my second thought was: "I wonder who was holding on to that tweet to release it at just the 'right' time".
I believe perspective is important to these things and am no fan of cancel culture but overt racism is simply unacceptable.
I don't see a context where these comments are remotely ok. A couple of white guys talking to themselves using the N word isn't cool. The bigger question is how common this language is with Utah staff. This was 7 years ago (and these comments weren't ok then either). If someone really wants to dig into this I'm guessing its going to be ugly for the Utes.
In general, I'm not a fan of digging up comments made years and years ago and using them to attack people. I know a lot of people that have said a dumb thing or two over the decades and I'd hate to see them get in trouble in an overblown attempt at being PC. However, egregious cases and situations where it was obviously not an isolated case deserve a little more scrutiny. Given all that, It's hard to excuse a coach who is supposed to be leading young black men who is ignorant enough to do that and more so when a second player comes forward and says, "Yeah, that guy was a racist dick".
The text was disturbing and with that kind of stuff it's rarely an isolated deal. I'm not for firing people unless it's obviously a pattern of behavior that calls for it. I think the quick ax is part of the reason we are more or less in the same place we were when Jimmy the Greek was fired for his drunk comments 30 years ago.
The only people who use that word as casually as the coach are rappers and card carrying racists, and I haven't seen his 7" single drop so...
Also, I don't think its a big secret that young men are among the stupidest of us on the planet, which is why Coaches are essential in the framing and building of these young men and molding them into the best that they can be.
What does it say when you speak of the men that you're supposed to be leading with such disdain? Like I said, he's no rapper so we must assume that he used it as a pejorative.
Lastly - I hate cancel culture. However, I don't see how Utah can continue to have him on staff. He can get another shot at another school and down the road he can work his way back up, but I'm not sure that racial sensitivity classes are what this guy needs or deserves.
What does it say when you speak of the men that you're supposed to be leading with such disdain? Like I said, he's no rapper so we must assume that he used it as a pejorative.
Lastly - I hate cancel culture. However, I don't see how Utah can continue to have him on staff. He can get another shot at another school and down the road he can work his way back up, but I'm not sure that racial sensitivity classes are what this guy needs or deserves.
