How Auburn athletes, coaches are talking about racial injustice, protests
Gus Malzahn didn’t mince words.
The Tigers head coach, during a Zoom call on June 2, recalled seeing the video documenting the killing of George Floyd. He called it “inexplicable” and “inhumane.”
Malzahn, who said that he’s “had a heavy heart these past few weeks,” was not alone in the sentiment. Numerous Auburn players have voiced opinions on social media, and what seems like every collegiate athletic department in the U.S. has issued statements condemning racial injustice.
For many inside Auburn Athletics, the situation presents the opportunity to ask the difficult and uncomfortable questions, and grow from them.
“I’ve been not sure how to really handle or respond,” Malzahn said Tuesday. “So I decided to listen.”
Malzahn, Auburn athletic director Allen Greene and basketball coach Bruce Pearl spoke last Friday over the phone concerning the state of affairs in the U.S. Malzahn met with his players, most of whom are black, and his coaching staff, separately.
Players and coaches spoke their hearts. According to the coach, the meetings were heartfelt and emotional. Tears were shed during both meetings.
“I’ve got a team and a staff that’s hurting,” Malzahn said. “I think they’re frustrated. In some cases they’re scared. And that breaks my heart.”
Malzahn told his team he’s committed to “positive change as a leader.” He’s not sure what that looks like right now, he admitted, “but I’m gonna listen, and I’m gonna learn.”
The conversations are not exclusive to Auburn’s football team.
Auburn Athletics held an all-staff town hall-style meeting Monday where, according to Greene, individuals “poured our hearts out to one another.”
Greene also attended a conference call with the SEC’s athletic directors Tuesday morning, where each AD detailed their personal experiences, and shared “what they’re dealing with right now.”
Greene, who considers himself a private individual, credits Malzahn with giving him the courage to film a nearly four-minute long video posted to his Twitter account in which he speaks his mind on racial injustice and systemic inequities. It wasn’t difficult to make the video, Greene said, but it was difficult to hit send.
“These moments we find ourselves in today ... even in times in a health pandemic, a financial crisis and civil unrest, we must continue to guide our young people,” Greene said in the video.
Greene spoke with around 90 student athletes for over an hour on Monday night.
Frustration was expressed from some of the school’s black student athletes who don’t understand “why the world is still the way it is,” and from the white student athletes who want to help make a difference.
As protests sweep the nation and riots result in curfews in many major cities, Greene says it’s time to come together. To ask the tough questions. To demonstrate that “it’s time to step out and share our thoughts on what’s wrong.”
Malzahn was asked the biggest lesson he learned from speaking to his players. He responded with three words: Listen. Listen. Listen.
“What we start to realize is, nobody is alone in their thoughts, in their hurt, in their pain and in their disgust,” Greene said. “It just takes a few people to step out on that limb.”
