Braithwaite
- Thread starter EastPennHawk
- Start date
Wow, you really do skip around things don't you "Chief"? Not one thing you said really addressed anything I said. At what point did I say that people should not be allowed to speak their piece including RB? Never said he shouldn't say whatever he wants, I said, fairly clearly that he shouldn't be required or expected to say anything by you or anyone else. If he has something he wants to say, great. If not thats fine with me as well. Its like all the crap that MJ used to get because he wasn't more of a activist for the cause because he stayed quiet. Had no problem with that either. Just one mans two cents.......
OK, captain, and from my perspective, you're nuts. But whatever. I'm not saying he HAS to speak out and be a total activist about BLM or what happened ... just want to hear his side of things. Why is that so hard to understand?
I find the sly racism in this thread amusing, get it fixed or get left in the dust...I’m quite the moderate but I’m glad as hell the passing of the torch is happening. As someone who is under the age of 40 I can’t imagine living through segregation and having to adjust in seconds notice
Agree, it's more surprising or unsettling than amusing though. Although now I feel naive for being surprised.
Perhaps he was given the opportunity to speak publically but declined because he wants to focus on building internally before worrying about what people outside the circle think.
Why? We may have a good one on site.
True. It's also possible he's afraid of public speaking and/or they are putting him through the PR machine so when he comes out the other side he says all the right stuff.
Do any of you think it's possible that any of the hundreds of black athletes that have trained under Doyle don't agree with what the ones speaking out have been saying? Do you think it's a possibility that RB doesn'tagree with them? Maybe he's afraid to say what he thinks because he knows he'd be crucified if he didn't agree Doyle should have been terminated. Black lives matter, and they also have minds of their own!
Common sense answer to the issue. The UI Football program is currently the subject of an independent audit/investigation. While that is different from being a named party in a civil lawsuit, many of the same rules apply. And one of the key rules is: "No comment from anyone regarding the subject matter of the investigation until the investigation has been allowed to run its course."
While I fully understand that fans are clamoring for immediate comment to quench their thirst for Iowa football news, there is very little (if any) good that can be achieved by scheduling a press conference before a bunch of reporters when the response to questions such as "Did you see any conduct by Coach Doyle that you found to target the African American players on the team and, if so, did you ever raise that concern with others" will be "out of respect to the ongoing investigation, I'll refrain from offering any comments at this time."
That will only serve to frustrate media, fans and potentially fan the flames of distrust.
Also . . . FWIW . . . if what I'm being told is accurate, Coach Doyle's tactics - as applied to African American football players - had been noticed by certain members of the coaching staff and off the record comments had been made to at least one member of the media covering the football team. Further those comments had been made over the years and were not isolated to any singular incident.
Although the initial tsunami seems to have subsided and waters have somewhat calmed, I don't expect that will remain the case. I have no basis and cannot predict when the rough waters will return and whether it will come close to replicating what we say a couple of weeks ago but I am very much anticipating that the Husch Blackwell report may very well contain some uncomfortable conclusions and/or revelations.
IMO, the best thing that could happen is for the program to implement some significant material changes to which it can point as Husch Blackwell's investigation is progressing. The longer the process takes, the better opportunity to point to meaningful change and the opportunity for current players to comment on the effect of the changes.
I'm not convinced that Barta or either Ferentz is sleeping comfortably thinking that "this thing is now behind us."
While I fully understand that fans are clamoring for immediate comment to quench their thirst for Iowa football news, there is very little (if any) good that can be achieved by scheduling a press conference before a bunch of reporters when the response to questions such as "Did you see any conduct by Coach Doyle that you found to target the African American players on the team and, if so, did you ever raise that concern with others" will be "out of respect to the ongoing investigation, I'll refrain from offering any comments at this time."
That will only serve to frustrate media, fans and potentially fan the flames of distrust.
Also . . . FWIW . . . if what I'm being told is accurate, Coach Doyle's tactics - as applied to African American football players - had been noticed by certain members of the coaching staff and off the record comments had been made to at least one member of the media covering the football team. Further those comments had been made over the years and were not isolated to any singular incident.
Although the initial tsunami seems to have subsided and waters have somewhat calmed, I don't expect that will remain the case. I have no basis and cannot predict when the rough waters will return and whether it will come close to replicating what we say a couple of weeks ago but I am very much anticipating that the Husch Blackwell report may very well contain some uncomfortable conclusions and/or revelations.
IMO, the best thing that could happen is for the program to implement some significant material changes to which it can point as Husch Blackwell's investigation is progressing. The longer the process takes, the better opportunity to point to meaningful change and the opportunity for current players to comment on the effect of the changes.
I'm not convinced that Barta or either Ferentz is sleeping comfortably thinking that "this thing is now behind us."
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