The latest episode of ESPN’s College Football podcast mainly focuses on the social issues in America and how it affects college athletes. The season is officially underway after Saturday night’s FCS kickoff game between Central Arkansas and Austin Peay, but this is an issue that will stay in the news for the foreseeable future.
One of Kevin Negandhi’s guests was staff writer Harry Lyles Jr. (You can hear the interview beginning at the 27:42 mark of the episode). Lyles had a lot to say during this episode and the first topic that was mentioned was about the cancellations of practice that took place over the last week from players.
“When you talk about all these cancellations that are going on right now, I think you got a lot of coaches, AD’s, and presidents who are like ‘let’s get all of this out of the way right now,'” he said. “They do not want the Pac-12’s problem. They don’t want to have to answer for anything. They don’t want to lose games, they don’t want to upset their dollars and cents. I should be specific about that, those are racist dollars and cents because if you do not care about the livelihood of these black athletes, then that makes you a racist and I think that we need to start saying that.”
As for the role of coaches, athletic directors, school presidents, and conference commissioners, Lyles made it perfectly clear by saying they have to listen to their players and keep the mental health of the student-athletes in mind.
“They have to care. I know you hear the frustration in my voice, but it is tiring,” Lyles said. “What else do black people have to say to get you to realize that this is not just a trend, a social media movement? This is a battle. Black people did not pick this…The role of these coaches, AD’s, presidents needs to be you have to care about other people who do not look like you.”
Throughout this interview, you will hear about the conversations that Lyles has had with some of the PAC-12 student-athletes (not just football) and the issue of voter suppression as well with the NCAA recommending athletes have Election Day off.
