OT: Marvin Wilson says FSU players won't work out for HC Mike Norvell until further notice
In an interview with The Athletic this week, Mike Norvell said that he reached out individually to all 85 players to understand how they're feeling after the murder of George Floyd. Marvin Wilson, star DT and team leader that came back for his senior season after having a first round grade, says that did not happen. What he says he and his teammates received was a generic text blast that was sent to all players. He said the team will not work out until further notice. Story linked below.
There are a lot of coaches that are going to have to figure out very quickly how they're going to communicate and reach their players right now. I would suggest "disingenuously" is the worst way.
I suppose this all stems from what the definition of "individually" is to different people.
I suspect that will be the excuse even though my definition of individually would be "not that".
I don't think any definition involves sending out a mass (text) message...
Unless he took the time to copy&paste the message in individual texts to all 85 people separately. But I doubt that's what happened.
To me, individually means 1
group of 85.
I don't get what Norvell was thinking. Why lie about something so innocuous? He could have just as easily said we will address things at our first team meeting.
Exactly. Did he think nobody would call him out? He's a new coach and barely any of these guys were recruited by him. They haven't developed any allegiance to him.
He tried to pull a Dabo Swinney... And guess what it worked ? not with the team but in a different way you've convinced the whole nation your dabo. Congrats Mike!
I truly and honestly know people who think that what he did actually is individual. I mean... it isn't... but still those people do exist. So it's plausible he wasn't lying, just... wrong.
FSU can’t catch a break with their head coach hires recently
You misspelled Michigan.
ba dum tsss
Has Bomani Jones always been this big of a clown? This is a simple communication error somewhere along the line, not a fireable offense.
Bomani Jones is far from a clown. Dude is the only reporter at ESPN that called out Donald Sterling for being a slum lord back in 2006 before it became cool to be a social activist (looks at Stephen A Smith). His thoughts on Chicago have always been poignant as well.
Sure maybe his opinion on this Norvell situation is a little OD. So what. It happens.
Unhinged opinions are ok if they align with the radical side you subscribe to, got it.
If you want to take a strictly business POV, the product is football and the primary labor is football players. If one of your first public actions as coach is to lose your players, it's a fireable offense.
Now I'm seeing tweets that there was a team meeting this morning and that some of Marvin's teammates were confused at his anger towards Norvell. Says the mass text encouraged players to reply to coach and some went back and forth.
Might've also been helpful for him to speak to Norvell directly before spouting off to the Twitter cancel culture mob.
If you're seeing exculpatory tweets, it'd be helpful to your argument to link them.
Check your favorite around the horn contestants Twitter that indicated he should be fired.
"My Canadian girlfriend is in fact extremely hot, and it's up to you to verify this."
Don't be a hoser.
Not wanting to wade through a mess of twitter replies to try to find something that might convince yourself of an argument that someone else made and is too lazy to defend: being a hoser.
A search for "norvell meeting' will even filter the blue checks to the top for you, champ.
Control-c, control-v work just fine, bub.
[EDIT: indulging your laziness returns nothing particularly relevant to your claim, outside of boilerplate from the AD. Which is why supporting one's own claims is kind of useful...]
I'll keep wasting your time out of spite. You could've just spent the extra seconds on a quick search. Maybe you can publish elements of style for board posts ?
I have, in fact, conducted the search that you recommended, even before our back-and-forth about your laziness. And I've yet to see anything that backs up your specific claim. Which is why it's on you to provide it. This shouldn't be a controversial stance. I thank you for implying that my time is more valuable than yours, though.
Not sure why this gets a downvote. Pretty reasonable to say back up your argument.
Wilson pointed out that Norvell claiming he spoke to each player "individually" wasn't true because it was a single mass text that then encouraged players to respond. It's like when someone from a campaign texts you a "candidate X really wants to hear from you". The candidate didn't ACTUALLY type each one individually, even if my name was included. It's all automatic. And so if you are going to tell reporters that you reached out to each player individually and in fact all you did was send out a mass message, I can see how that would piss off a player. It's technically true but obviously not in the spirit of the term, and if you're a new head coach at a program and you haven't seen your players in months, it might be worth your effort to reach out to them each.
He had a meeting today and I'm sure they spoke about it; some players may wonder why Wilson had as much of an issue with the mass text as he did, but it doesn't refute what Norvell sent or how Wilson interpreted it. You're free to agree with Norvell if you want and think Wilson is overreacting, but dismissing a player's real issue with what his coach said he did versus what he actually did just because you don't like the fact pattern isn't in the cards.
It's worse than "technically true" -- Norvell explicitly claims to have gone "back and forth" with every player individually, which is clearly not what happened. He might have simply misspoken, but this is a really bad time to misspeak the way he did, and at a minimum he owes a lot of apologies.
I'm guessing all the "confused" teammates were white. Here, the residual effects cannot be good.
Here's Norvell's statement that's in dispute. I'll leave to everyone to decide for themselves whether that's a simple communication error.
Just to be clear, Marvin Wilson said the only communication from Norvell was a text message and that all the players got the same one.
Here are a couple of question. How are the players supposed to feel when they read this? That their coach is expecting them to cover for him? Seems to me he put them in a very difficult position. I doubt he would keep his job at Michigan unless an important part of the story is wrong. Maybe it is.
It wouldn’t have been hard to say, “I’ve let all my players know that I’m happy to talk to them about this and I’ve had individual conversations with many of them”
Especially when his job is to communicate with his players, and he doesn't seem to understand exactly what that means.
Here's the original mass text for those doing detective work
Bonsoir Jean-Francois I wanted to let you know Marie Antoinette and I are praying for every landowner and peasant as well as for France. For all those who have been victims of subjugation, injustice and starvation we lift them up in our thoughts and seek justice. We live in an unfair and volatile world but I want you to know that you are loved and counted on to make a difference for France's future. I know that there are strong feeling that come with each day and every experience but please know that better days are ahead because of YOU. Be safe and please always know we are always here for you as royalty and nobility if you ever need to talk. You have a tremendous platform as a member of our peasantry. Let's be different and let our actions be heard in Service, Sacrifice and Respect. Thank you for the opportunity to rule you and stand by your side!
Sincerely,
Louis XVI
Yeah, that sounds more like a boilerplate statement than anything. "We are here for you if you ever need to talk" seems to put the onus on the players to reach out to the staff.
It's hilarious to me that a person who doesnt know shit about FSU can call for a guy's job and for a broke ass school and athletic department to write a 25 million dollar check. Their job is to manufacture drama. It's pathetic.
Bomani blocked me on Twitter over a year ago because I said he was being sensitive. It was a sad day for me. He’s a great analyst, and he loves Pink Floyd.
I was blocked by Bomani as well. I was agreeing with his point and he perceived it the opposite way. Very sad because I miss his insights.
Paywalled--can you give us the gist of the article. Interested, because I am in Tallahassee.
My mistake. The ESPN link below covers it about the same. Serves me right for trying to go with the local source.
Adblocked for me, but not paywalled. Summary in OP is pretty complete
Good point. In fairness to the Op, I have probably read my five articles for the month.
It is mind boggling to me when tasks like recruiting and motivating are such an important part of your job that you’d ever find yourself in a situation like this.
I'm outraged and will also not be working out.
20oz curls all weekend for me
20 oz?
Forgetting that your players have a platform is so dumb.
It's nice to have the coach who was name-dropped by Obama that "he's been on the right side of this" for some time. Feels like his players might be on his side.
As Obama noted, he’s also been involved for awhile. He’s already built up some credibility before now.
It's crazy to think that this program, which has been in disarray for several years now, has won a national title within the last decade. It's nice to be located on a goldmine of recruiting talent.
That house is not in order.
I would be pissed on both sides.