Let’s talk about freedom.
It’s a favorite topic of Florida coach Jim McElwain, who rambles endlessly about how his players have “freedom of choice, but not freedom of consequence.”
For example, freshmen Tyrie Cleveland and Rick Wells had the freedom to shoot BB guns at a UF residence hall. As consequence, they were suspended for UF’s season opener.
That seems like a reasonable consequence. They did something that could’ve hurt people. It was a stupid thing to do. They got punished. The end.
But this weekend, Oklahoma football coach Bob Stoops took that line of thinking to the extreme. It started with a comment made by his backup quarterback, Austin Kendall, on a Fox Sports TV show.
“I think they have a really basic defense,” Kendall said, according to Cleveland.com. The remark was directed at Ohio State's defense.
As a result of the comments, Stoops restricted media access to a select few players who “understand” how to deal with the media.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” Stoops added. “We talk all the time about there should never be anything but a positive comment about anyone you’re going to compete against.”
It’s unclear what exactly ticked Stoops off — whether it was the fact that his player criticized another team or that he said something controversial in general — but regardless, his response is pathetic.
Kendall’s comments weren’t over the top by any reasonable standard. Athletes talk about beating their opponents all the time. For proof, look at this week’s Florida-Tennessee game.
UF cornerback Jalen Tabor, for example, tweeted this back in June: “they ain’t tripping they just can’t hang,” he wrote about the Cleveland Cavaliers, “something like UT in the forth lol.”
Tabor wasn’t gagged as a result, and Kendall and his teammates shouldn’t be either. Because when they are, it discourages college athletes from speaking out on issues that matter to them.
As an example of speaking on something that matters, look at former Florida quarterback Josh Grady, who served as Treon Harris’ backup in 2015 before graduating.
He posted the following status update on Facebook Tuesday in response to the shooting of Terence Crutcher in Tulsa:
“Where is the outrage over the MURDER of Terence Crutcher by the police? No gun, hands up, still shot down by the police,” He wrote. “We had so much to say about Kaep KNEELING TOWARDS A FLAG but no one wants to say anything about the continuous injustice and oppression that he was kneeling against? This country so backwards and the sad part is people can’t even see that. RIP my brother.”
Agree or disagree with him, but the point is he said it.
When’s the last time you heard a college football player say/post anything like that? Because for me, it’s never.
And the reason is coaches like Stoops, who want their players to be shills who say pretty things to make the program look good rather than their actual thoughts. In essence, they want players to be PR people. If I wanted a PR response, I’d go to a PR person.
And look, I get that there’s an unwritten code that athletes shouldn’t cause controversy for their teams. It’s understandable. But silencing them unilaterally if they don’t speak like promotional robots is unacceptable.
College athletes are adults. Their opinions may sometimes be unpopular, but they’re allowed to have them and express them. They have that freedom.
And while college coaches have the power to silence them as consequence, it doesn’t mean they should.
Ethan Bauer is the assistant sports editor. Contact him at ebauer@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @ebaueri.
Cornerback Jalen Tabor (31) celebrates after successfully defending wide receiver Josh Hammond (10) during the Orange & Blue Debut on April 8, 2016, at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
