Thanks to the Ray Rice situation -- and the NFL’s ineptness in handling it -- the travesty that is violence against women has seemingly captured the focus of the entire nation over the past 36 hours or so.
Because of the attention paid to the knockout video that shocked anyone who watched it -- and because of situations like Dorial Green-Beckham‘s messy departure from Missouri and Joe Mixon’s season-long suspension from Oklahoma -- college coaches are being asked about their football program’s policy toward domestic violence. One such coach is Steve Spurrier, who is not one to normally mince many if any words.
Tuesday, there was no mincing at all as Spurrier sent a very loud and clear message to all of his ball players, both current and future.
“I’ve had a rule ever since I’ve been here that if you ever hit a girl, you’re not going to play on our team. You’re finished,” the coach said. “We’re not going to have any player on our team that’s done that. I can’t understand why every coach doesn’t have that rule and why every company doesn’t have that rule for their employees. I think it could put a pretty good end to this stuff.
“Really, it’s amazing that America has sorta put up with it or compromised, but that is something that should never happen. Our players know that they’re gone if they hit a girl. They know it.
Spurrier went on to add that “we’ve had two players here - one was about seven years ago, the other was about nine years ago” who were dismissed because of this very issue. He also continued taking some unnamed fellow coaches to task for putting up with or turning a blind eye toward the issue.
“I would think that every coach would have that rule, but I don’t think they do,” Spurrier said. “I think some of they say, ‘Well, let’s wait and look at the situation.’ And you do have to do that, but once you know it’s happened, you do have to put an end to it.”
Bravo, OBC. It’s too bad, as you stated, not everyone in your profession takes such a black-and-white stance on violence against women. There’s just too much coach-fostered gray area when it comes to this issue, and that needs to change.