Recruiting Forum Football Talk III

[Jackcrevol]

I agree too many people bring skin color into too many discussions; but 1) the post you quoted was a pretty good one to mention skin color and 2) almost every player on every P5 team is black, so from a strictly logical and recruiting standpoint, it makes sense to make sure those prospects feel like they are represented.

almost every player on a P5 team is black?

let's just start by listening to other people's viewpoints, and empathizing. reserve judgment for later.

 

[GiggerVol]

Scott Alitzer coming back. JH is killing it with the off field recruiting staff

Not familiar with him. Will he be a good addition?

 

[jave36]

almost every player on a P5 team is black?

let's just start by listening to other people's viewpoints, and empathizing. reserve judgment for later.

Hyperbole man, cut me some slack. Would "clear majority" satisfy your overly literal sense of rhetoric? Lol

 

[InVOLuntary]

Just how many black coaches do we have to be turned down by before we can be considered "inclusive"? Do we need to get to DIV II? Juco? Highschool? We've attempted to hire African Americans for both the head coach and the DC position and have been turned down each time. In two cases they were first time opportunities. We need to hire the best coach for the job rather than by the color of their skin. I wouldn't even want to be hired because of my race. To me it would be insulting.

 

[Leeleesteeth]

I’d imagine within you guys circles, y’all don’t understand the feelings outside of the program.
There is a feeling that Tennessee has a ways to go when it comes to being inclusive.
No one wants to talk about it without angry accusations or scoffing at it but it’s real.
when kids are discouraged from coming here, high character coaches are told stay away, it’s a PROBLEM.

I am a strength coach, I’ve helped with camps for about 7 years down here. when I ask kids or mention Tennessee, the prevalent answers are they feel unwelcome.
I’ve mentioned this before but One of the top, if not the top QB coaches in America has nothing but bad things to say about the university.

So a new AD coming in and letting it be know that “you’re” important, will be included, and can thrive here is pretty important message to get across when the overall feeling hasn’t been that

(and when I say “feeling”, this is coming from parents, kids, other coaches)

Me, Being a lifelong Tennessee fan who’s black gives me a little different perspective.
when I’m rocking my T gear, I often get scrunched faces & asked “Tennessee? What!?!”

So to answer what does this have to do with coaching, it has to do with opening doors that were closing on us.
by no means am I taking the Haynesworth route and going on a race rage, I’m just pointing out that there is bad feeling out there
And Fat Albert is on one extreme and the people who claim “there are no issues like that here” are on the other end of the extreme.

Good post. To be blunt, I have always sought to hire qualified black coaches whenever possible when I worked with majority black athletes. No matter how much I listen, there are places I can't get to and experiences I can't relate to. My take is that young athletes need role models with similar life experiences. That being said, at some point when a job (in this case, the DC job ) has been offered to and turned down (supposedly) by several minority candidates, you reach a point where you have to move past diversity concerns and seek what you can find. To say that efforts to be inclusive and diverse in hiring are not needed is very short-sighted. To say you should follow these guidelines at all costs is equally damaging. Just my take .

 

[Jackcrevol]

Hyperbole man, cute some slack. Would "clear majority" satisfy your overly literal sense of rhetoric? Lol

fair enough. didnt mean to single poster out.

think we're all burned out...with all due respect to this issue.

 

[drvenner]

I’d imagine within you guys circles, y’all don’t understand the feelings outside of the program.
There is a feeling that Tennessee has a ways to go when it comes to being inclusive.
No one wants to talk about it without angry accusations or scoffing at it but it’s real.
when kids are discouraged from coming here, high character coaches are told stay away, it’s a PROBLEM.

I am a strength coach, I’ve helped with camps for about 7 years down here. when I ask kids or mention Tennessee, the prevalent answers are they feel unwelcome.
I’ve mentioned this before but One of the top, if not the top QB coaches in America has nothing but bad things to say about the university.

So a new AD coming in and letting it be know that “you’re” important, will be included, and can thrive here is pretty important message to get across when the overall feeling hasn’t been that

(and when I say “feeling”, this is coming from parents, kids, other coaches)

Me, Being a lifelong Tennessee fan who’s black gives me a little different perspective.
when I’m rocking my T gear, I often get scrunched faces & asked “Tennessee? What!?!”

So to answer what does this have to do with coaching, it has to do with opening doors that were closing on us.
by no means am I taking the Haynesworth route and going on a race rage, I’m just pointing out that there is bad feeling out there
And Fat Albert is on one extreme and the people who claim “there are no issues like that here” are on the other end of the extreme.

Awesome post. Thank you for sharing your perspective.

 

[BigOrangeGoose]

New slogan - DWJC

Don’t Win, Just Care

We never win, but we all seem to still care lol

 

[Rishvol]

I’d imagine within you guys circles, y’all don’t understand the feelings outside of the program.
There is a feeling that Tennessee has a ways to go when it comes to being inclusive.
No one wants to talk about it without angry accusations or scoffing at it but it’s real.
when kids are discouraged from coming here, high character coaches are told stay away, it’s a PROBLEM.

I am a strength coach, I’ve helped with camps for about 7 years down here. when I ask kids or mention Tennessee, the prevalent answers are they feel unwelcome.
I’ve mentioned this before but One of the top, if not the top QB coaches in America has nothing but bad things to say about the university.

So a new AD coming in and letting it be know that “you’re” important, will be included, and can thrive here is pretty important message to get across when the overall feeling hasn’t been that

(and when I say “feeling”, this is coming from parents, kids, other coaches)

Me, Being a lifelong Tennessee fan who’s black gives me a little different perspective.
when I’m rocking my T gear, I often get scrunched faces & asked “Tennessee? What!?!”

So to answer what does this have to do with coaching, it has to do with opening doors that were closing on us.
by no means am I taking the Haynesworth route and going on a race rage, I’m just pointing out that there is bad feeling out there
And Fat Albert is on one extreme and the people who claim “there are no issues like that here” are on the other end of the extreme.

If Tennessee was going for the "inclusion" hire to make the kids feel like they belong sure go ahead, but the way this is going doesn't feel like that. This DC hire feels more like a forced "diversity" hire so plowman and DW can pay themselves on the back and say "good job me". All speculation of course

 

[thistime]

I don’t have any answers for you brother.

one difference could be Saban has had 3 former minority coordinators end up with head coaching jobs and two other minority RB coaches get head coaching jobs as well.
not really sure but there’s a disconnect and I don’t know when it happened but it’s there.

Thank you so much for the reply. I know as do most that things need to change in many areas of society but we will never get anywhere as long as only parts of the truths, either real or perceived, are thrown around as fact.

I have never laid eyes on you but I would be willing to bet we could set down and have a simple conversation and find we may agree on more than we either could imagine and that's a good thing.
Boycotts and screaming cause nothing but more harm to the ones of us that need it the least. Any man or woman deserves a chance and that chance should be earned by their talents and not their social station.

 

[Weezer]

I’d imagine within you guys circles, y’all don’t understand the feelings outside of the program.
There is a feeling that Tennessee has a ways to go when it comes to being inclusive.
No one wants to talk about it without angry accusations or scoffing at it but it’s real.
when kids are discouraged from coming here, high character coaches are told stay away, it’s a PROBLEM.

I am a strength coach, I’ve helped with camps for about 7 years down here. when I ask kids or mention Tennessee, the prevalent answers are they feel unwelcome.
I’ve mentioned this before but One of the top, if not the top QB coaches in America has nothing but bad things to say about the university.

So a new AD coming in and letting it be know that “you’re” important, will be included, and can thrive here is pretty important message to get across when the overall feeling hasn’t been that

(and when I say “feeling”, this is coming from parents, kids, other coaches)

Me, Being a lifelong Tennessee fan who’s black gives me a little different perspective.
when I’m rocking my T gear, I often get scrunched faces & asked “Tennessee? What!?!”

So to answer what does this have to do with coaching, it has to do with opening doors that were closing on us.
by no means am I taking the Haynesworth route and going on a race rage, I’m just pointing out that there is bad feeling out there
And Fat Albert is on one extreme and the people who claim “there are no issues like that here” are on the other end of the extreme.

Some people want to see racism even when it's not there. Not saying that racism doesn't exist on some level here. I'm sure it does, just as it does at every university. But that's the point, we're no different than any other university. The problem isn't actually racism, it's perception. People are more likely to believe perception, even when truth is staring them in the face.

 

[drylo]

 

[columbia vol]

I will say this, I believe that any competitive college or pro football team will be willing to hire whoever they think will give them the best chance to win regardless if they are purple polka dotted

 

[Nuctech777]

In puerto rico for the week, Google chrome automatically translates from Spanish to English on all the web pages. Even team name abbreviations. The Do Not Pelicans are going toe to toe with DAL.

You from Kingsport?

 

[I4Jay]

Thank you so much for the reply. I know as do most that things need to change in many areas of society but we will never get anywhere as long as only parts of the truths, either real or perceived, are thrown around as fact.

I have never laid eyes on you but I would be willing to bet we could set down and have a simple conversation and find we may agree on more than we either could imagine and that's a good thing.
Boycotts and screaming cause nothing but more harm to the ones of us that need it the least. Any man or woman deserves a chance and that chance should be earned by their talents and not their social station.

Thank you.
I have these conversations often enough that it’s a pretty comfortable space. Mostly, Bc I’ve been blessed to have friends from so many different backgrounds. And we all listen and challenge each other. We don’t always agree but we respect each other enough to actually listen and be empathetic.
We all have soooo much more in common than we do differences.

 

[KB5252]

If Tennessee was going for the "inclusion" hire to make the kids feel like they belong sure go ahead, but the way this is going doesn't feel like that. This DC hire feels more like a forced "diversity" hire so plowman and DW can pay themselves on the back and say "good job me". All speculation of course

I'm not an insider, and I don't have any sources but my take is DW is listening to the student athletes. He's met with many groups on campus and asked for input, what they wanted of him. I believe he was told that was important and he is doing everything he can to follow through and earn their trust and respect. I
That's the way this feels to me anyway.

 

[jave36]

You from Kingsport?

Nope, but I do enjoy the area. Have many good friends up there.

 

[Rishvol]

I'm not an insider, and I don't have any sources but my take is DW is listening to the student athletes. He's met with many groups on campus and asked for input, what they wanted of him. I believe he was told that was important and he is doing everything he can to follow through and earn their trust and respect. I
That's the way this feels to me anyway.

That's good but there is a point to where you are starting to hurt the players by focusing solely on "diversity" instead of the best you can get. If it's both perfect. That doesn't seem to be the case anymore as it seems we've been denied by the top 10 on the list

 

[Catbone]

If y'all were betting men women and everything in between, do y'all think we will have a DC before Monday?

 

[captainfalcon777]

If y'all were betting men women and everything in between, do y'all think we will have a DC before Monday?

No.

 

[VFL28]

If y'all were betting men women and everything in between, do y'all think we will have a DC before Monday?

Gee I'd hope so, need somebody.

 

[PreacherWebb'sSon]

View attachment 351119

...................I thought you retired from comedy like 2 seconds ago...........

 

[captainfalcon777]

When does spring practice start?

I’d expect us to have a DC by then.

 

[preacherwebb]

Okay, so I just got back from doing the Valentine's stuff with the wife ... pretty good ribeye from Longhorn, but the wings are even better ... AAAAaaaannnnyway ... We still ain't hired a DC? And somebody said something about a trivial detail derailing the whole thing, when we had one signed?

 

[engineerVOL]

Just had a scare....

The two-year old evidently hid some legos in the fireplace. Turned that baby on after they went down for bed and after few minutes we had a raging, pungent inferno of molten Ninjagos in the living room.

Daddy needs a drink..

PSA: always have a fire extinguisher on hand. Not sure how bad that could have gotten.