In college sports, when players are not going to be part of a game, the decision is usually made by the coach and commonly the reason is due to a team violation by a player. On occasion, you may hear of a player not being happy with his/her situation and that usually results in the player transferring to another institution.
This past week the players of the Grambling State University football team made a monumental and historic move when they walked out of a team meeting with school officials on Tuesday, not showing up to practice on Wednesday and then walking out of another team meeting on Friday and deciding not to play in Saturday’s game against Jackson State University.
Grambling State players had become disgruntled and upset with the team’s poor training facilities, travel accommodations, and the coaching carrousel in which former NFL quarterback Doug Williams was fired in September as the head football coach.
The Grambling situation has gained national attention and university officials are hoping they can find a resolution that will have the players returning to the field. Here are four reasons the Grambling State football team hold out is an embarrassing moment for the institution.
National Attention
If the allegations by the players are true, there is a good chance the conditions that have the players upset have been going on for some time. However, instead of the players and staff being the only ones that really knew about the poor conditions, now the national spotlight is on Grambling’s sports program.
Recruiting
Historically, Grambling State has been one of the nation’s top HBCU football programs. They have been part of a Thanksgiving tradition, the Bayou Classic since, 1974 and many players made their decision to attend the university based on that tradition alone.
History and Tradition
HBCUs are proud institutions. Though they do not have the large numbers of students and athletic programs, alumni of schools such as Grambling are proud graduates. Grambling being one of the most popular of the HBCUs, especially for football, has been held in high regard; however, the school may now add shame to its list of reasons for fame.
Lack of Leadership
The firing of the head coach and the interim coach within the past couple of months shows that there is a clear lack of true leadership over the football program at Grambling. This negative publicity could make it difficult to find a great replacement.
-Daminon Lewis
