SEC teams won’t be out on court for the anthem
Aggies have spent 15weekly sessions on social issues
COLLEGE STATION — Six years ago Buzz Williams, then the coach at Virginia Tech, urged his players to respect the national anthem played before games. He brought in military members to stand before his players as he explained what he considered the importance of the anthem.
“When the anthem is played, we’re going to stand like grown men and we’re going to honor men like this, that gave their life, so we can have a chair to sit in,” Williams said in a video that went viral. “And the two-and-a-half minutes that the song is played, or somebody sings it, we’re going to stand at attention and honor these men. We’re not going to sway back and forth, we’re not messing with our shorts, we’re not messing with our jerseys.
“Those two-and-a-half minutes we’re going to give to the people who earned these chairs, because that freedom allows us to do what we’re doing.”
Williams starts his second season at Texas A&M at 2 p.m. Sunday against New Orleans in Reed Arena, and much has changed since his first season with the Aggies ended abruptly at the SEC tournament in Nashville, Tenn., because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kneeling among college and pro athletes during the anthem has become more prevalent since the death of George Floyd, who grew up in Houston, in late May under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer. Asked how he will handle his players and the anthem this season, Williams said he’s changed his team’s pregame routine leading to tipoff.
“The SEC has adjusted their script as far as basketball games this year, so we’ve adjusted our protocol and how we’re going to handle it, we will not be on the floor for the anthem,” Williams said. “Because of how the script is going to play out, we’ll be back in the locker room… with our final prep.”
Williams added that his program this year has “been very transparent with all that’s going on.”
“Over the last eight months there has been a lot that has transpired,” he said. “After the George Floyd killing for 15 consecutive weeks every Tuesday night (meeting with the team) was only on social injustice.”
During the pandemic Williams said he had leaders from across the community and nation visit with his team via video teleconference regarding social issues.
“We’ve been very proactive in that regard, in learning from one another and trying to figure out how as a group we can be together in our communities, and be a part of positive change. We’ve attacked this from the very beginning.”
The A&M football team has long spent the anthem in the locker room, so that has not been a point of contention or even conversation in College Station this season. The A&M soccer and volleyball teams, however, had several players kneel during the anthem this fall, angering some fans.
A&M athletic director Ross Bjork was asked about his athletes kneeling during a recent virtual town hall via 12th Man Productions.
“Last time I checked, freedom of speech is alive and well in this country, (and) it’s alive and well at Texas A&M,” Bjork said. “All of those tie into what’s happening in our country right now. There are people who are hurting. Our Black student-athletes have been hurting for all summer and beyond.”
A&M senior quarterback Kellen Mond, who is Black, in the offseason led an oncampus protest and a march calling for the removal of a campus statue of Sul Ross, a Confederate general in the Civil War also credited with helping save A&M from closing as one of its first presidents in the late 1800s.
In addition, A&M’s sports teams wear a patch reading “Unified” on their uniforms.
“The goal here is to unify,” Bjork said. “We know people may have different thoughts about the anthem, and that’s fine. That’s why it’s a free country, last time I checked. Freedom of speech is alive and well and the reason they’re able to express themselves is because of the First Amendment and because people fought for those freedoms.
“If we’re going to err in any direction, we’re going to err on the side of our student-athletes every single time.”