FSU player: Coach lied about individual talks
New Florida State football coach Mike Norvell bragged to a reporter about his empathetic outreach to his black players in the wake of police killing George Floyd. His star players accused him of lying about it and threatened to boycott workouts, but after a team meeting Thursday, the players appear to have backed off.
Tashan Reed, a writer for The Athletic, says he asked Norvell, who is white if “given the racial construction of the roster, whether (FSU) had done anything as a staff to check in with them a little bit more in what may be a challenging time for them on another level?”
“We’ve had a lot of open communication with our team, our players and our coaches,” Norvell told Reed. “I went back and forth individually with every player this weekend. And that was something that was important to me because this is a heartbreaking time in our country.”
Reed tweeted that part of the interview on Tuesday evening. Early Thursday morning, defensive tackle Marvin Wilson said “This (poop emoji) did not happen mane. We got a generated text that was sent to everybody. There was no one on one talk between us and coach. This is a lie and me and my teammates as a whole are outraged and we will not be working out until further notice.”
Several other Florida State players retweeted or shared Wilson’s original post, but Norvell’s job looks safe after Thursday’s team meeting.
“Took a stand we got what we wanted & we are moving forward,” Wilson wrote on Instagram. “I appreciate @coachnorvell for encouraging me to use my platform and speak for what me and teammates believe in.” In a video, Wilson said that the Florida State team will all register to vote and begin doing fundraisers for college scholarships for black and local high school students.
Wilson is a consensus top-10 NFL draft prospect.
Norvell, 38, was hired by Florida State in December. He’s replacing Willie Taggart, who was the first black coach in school history and was fired after just 21 games.