The fallout from a pair of Texas A&M assistants getting their Beavis & Butthead on continues, with the boss of Aggie bosses making his feelings on the situation known to the public. And seemingly putting his head football coach on notice for good measure.
Late last week, A&M offensive line coach Jim Turner and special teams coordinator/tight ends coach Jeff Banks were suspended two weeks without pay by head coach Kevin Sumlin Friday for a train wreck of a presentation at a women’s football clinic. Photos leaked to various media outlets showed a slide show with various “pass-blocking rules” that included such helpful tips as “spread your legs,” “enter-front/not-behind, “get erect,” “stay erect” and “bang him hard.”
In a statement sent out Monday, A&M president Michael Young expressed that he “was and remain[s] dismayed, disappointed and angry” over what he described as “insensitive, disrespectful content” that was “totally unacceptable.” Below is Young’s statement, in its entirety:As you may know, presentations containing insensitive, disrespectful content were given by two coaches at a football “Chalk Talk for Women” event hosted by the Athletic Department. Like many of you who learned of this, I was and remain dismayed, disappointed and angry. This behavior is not who we as Aggies are and is totally unacceptable. To be clear, this is not a females-only concern, but a human one. In fact, the majority of those weighing in with their disdain have been men who are equally as disturbed by the content presented.
The suspension of the two coaches involved, as well as other disciplinary measures taken, were made swiftly by Coach Sumlin. Of course, this is only a start. To that end, for example, the Athletic Department is engaged in ongoing education that will address this issue.
I have the privilege of witnessing daily the core value of respect demonstrated by our faculty, administrators, staff, students, athletes and coaches. We were proud to announce in July that Texas A&M University was named by College Choice as one of the nation’s top universities for women. We must also be aware of when we fall short of our aspirations and values. We must be willing to be honest when this occurs and work together to drive the positive, enriching, respectful environment that our community deserves.
Just a piece of advice to Sumlin, who I still believe is one of the most talented head coaches in the sport: thanks to this incident -- and one of the men involved in it that you hired -- as well as an embarrassing social media meltdown of one of your assistants earlier this year, not to mention an 11-13 record in SEC play the past three years, you had better win and win big this year. And I mean big.
After an 11-2 first season in College Station that coincided with the program’s first in the SEC, who would’ve thought Sumlin would be on the hot seat a mere four years later?