Sports Illustrated highlighted a group of 2020 players who were expected to prioritize their college football families during pandemic play over any concern for personal health, well-being and future prospects. Rapper and rhetorician AD Carson references the dangers of uncritically buying into this football family based on the ways Clemson University has attempted to whitewash its history. These head coach shifts are just one example of how the exploitative narrative of a caring football family crumbles under pressure. When it comes to the players, these head coach transfers and hires matter because of how they belie the football family discourse coaches try so hard to maintain. This year at Duke University, where I now teach, Mike Elko made a late-night move to Texas A&M after initially denying rumors of the hire.Įach time this happened, football players enrolled in my fall classes expressed their struggle and disappointment with the handling of these decisions. I was a professor at the University of Notre Dame in 2021 when players only learned of Brian Kelly’s move to Louisiana State University from news reports. This is a phenomenon I’ve witnessed up close. Coaches take advantage of the family narrative and players are particularly affected because they are promised a certain experience that can no longer be executed.Īn exiting football coach resembles the proverbial absentee father. Coaches move from one alleged family to another, leaving behind confused and blindsided players, and it happens with very little regard for how those young men will manage in their absence. But when they do, these decisions are often made quickly and without players’ knowledge. Of course, head coaches should be able to leave their posts for other jobs, or retire as Saban did. The team is the most recognized representation of community and family in sport.Ĭoaches ditch this narrative of family when it no longer suits them. So much energy is put into convincing teammates they belong to the college’s football family and on some level, the attempt is nearly always successful. Universities where I conducted research printed these slogans on T-shirts and wristbands for players to wear. Social media posts boast mottos that infuse the team with the language and morality of family, like University of Illinois’ #famILLy, Northwestern University’s and University of Hawaii’s #BRADDAHHOOD. When high school players commit to college programs, they often note the family-like atmosphere they encounter during their visits. Coaches will applaud the ways their players overcome struggles and “come together as a team, despite our differences”, as a position coach told me during an interview.
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