As you might expect, University of Georgia football players were upset over the news that head coach Mark Richt had been dismissed after 15 seasons. Some of them were surely interested in expressing their displeasure to the local media and reporters covering the team were standing by ready to get some quotes.
Yet the Georgia athletic department, eager to control the message coming out of the football building, apparently had other ideas. Four security officers were deployed to keep players from talking to the media before and after meeting with their coach.
From AthensOnline:
“The men escorted players to the cars after reporters–including TV news crews–refused to go across the street as they were instructed to, but some–they were defensive players–wanted to speak their minds after they met with Richt and other assistant coaches for the first time since the coaching change.”
The security personnel was not made up of university employees either. As Marc Weiszer explains in his report, the guards were from CSC Event Management. You’re probably familiar with CSC’s work if you’ve ever attended a sporting event or concert, or any other sort of occasion that requires security checks and crowd control.
These are the folks wearing those bright yellow shirts with “CSC staff” printed on the back. The same people who ask you to pull up your shirt at the gate to make sure you’re not sneaking food (or worse) in, who shine a flashlight in your eyes to make sure you’re not smoking weed. But they saw smoke! Where’s it coming from?
Players were able to make limited remarks to reporters before guards stepped in, likely because they outnumbered the security staffers on hand. Senior linebacker Jordan Jenkins was among those who voiced his unhappiness with the decision to fire Richt after a 9-3 record this season and an overall mark of 145-51. Others expressed support for defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt replacing Richt before security stepped in.
Does using strong-arm tactics to prevent people from saying what they want to say ever look good? Sure, there are situations where outspokenness and candor aren’t appropriate. But on a college campus? Georgia players — many of whom likely chose the school to play for Richt — were upset and wanted to vent their frustrations. To be prevented from doing that is excessively controlling and insecure from the Georgia athletic department.
You have to wonder if there could be any repercussions from this in terms of players leaving the program or seeking out reporters on their own. Obviously, who Georgia hires to replace Richt will play a role in that. But attempting to muzzle young men who have something to say makes athletic director Greg McGarity look even worse than he already does.
