FSU Football Star Marvin Wilson Calls Out Coach Norvell for George Floyd Lies

Is it seriously so difficult to get this right? There are two sides to our nation’s racism problem, one is right and the other really needs to shut the fuck up. From the latter camp, we get plenty of examples of ignorant people espousing their true beliefs, but we also get a lot of commentary that may have been well intended, but exposes more of the underbelly of the problem. This incident might have been cast as an idiotic public relations mistake most other days. These are not most other days for the nation, Florida State University (FSU) Seminoles coach Mike Norvell needs to realize.

At the outset of the national unrest from the murder of George Floyd, most sports teams and organizations issued statements on the matter. As he told it to The Athletic’s Tashan Reed, Norvell took the time to go “back and forth with every individual player” about these complex, emotional, critical issues.

#FSU head coach Mike Norvell (@Coach_Norvell) had individual conversations with every player on his roster this past weekend focused on the events surrounding the death of George Floyd. Here's his full quote to @TheAthletic: pic.twitter.com/eM3yZZH4db

— Tashan Reed (@tashanreed) June 2, 2020

Pretty nice, well-thought-out sentiment from an FSU coach who obviously cares about his players, how they feel and what their own life experiences with these issues has been. It’s important to listen to those stories. Norvell laid out a beautiful story of what every school and parent would want in a Head Coach …

Yeah, apparently none of that actually happened, and I have no idea what made Norvell think he could get away with it. He’s on Twitter, he’s aware the world exists. As FSU Seminoles captain and star defensive tackle tells it himself:

Man this 💩 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 💯 #hunchoout https://t.co/6Uuy6K7Eu3

— Marvin Wilson (@marvinwilson21) June 4, 2020

A canned group text is a great way to update people about the status of your weekend barbecue, not so much for discussing the complexities of 400 years of systemic racism. And it’s about the furthest thing from a direct one-on-one back-and-forth with every player.

Why would Norvell tell this blatant a lie this publicly? Did he think he was off the record during the discussion? Did he not weigh the impact of what he was saying? Did he feel like his players would cover for him? Did he think to run the idea by FSU’s PR department? Or is he just one more in a long line of idiot old white dudes who just don’t get it? Regardless, the fallout here is potentially massive for FSU. Already the players have committed to boycotting team workouts, with many of the Seminoles retweeting or affirming Wilson’s sentiments.

Related

• ASU Coach Bobby Hurley Went Off On His AD For The Standoffish Way They Handled Alleged Sexual Harassment From A Booster
• Michael Porter Jr. Asked People On Twitter To Pray For The Police Officers In The George Floyd Murder & It Didn’t Go Over Well
• This 103 Year-Old Grandma Who Beat Coronavirus And Celebrated With A Bud Light Is A True Queen

Naturally, some of Twitter’s worst, and a lot of FSU fans, came to the defense of the coach, with geniuses like these weighing in to accuse the reporter of either laziness or ineptitude.

To be honest, this “quote” doesn’t really sound like @Coach_Norvell … it doesn’t include key words like family or character or FSU or Noles…

This could have just as easily been a quote from some high school coach that @tashanreed screwed up and attributed to @Coach_Norvell

— Ryan Johnson, PharmD, BCPS (@johnson8707) June 4, 2020

Excuse me? https://t.co/JJkcEvVq1X

— Tashan Reed (@tashanreed) June 4, 2020

To be clear, Reed’s conduct and journalistic integrity here are 100% fine. Interviews do not require that fact-check if you’re presenting what someone said they did in their own words like that. Some of Reed’s colleagues and other writers were quick to jump to his defense.

https://twitter.com/NicoleAuerbach/status/1268565524314828801?s=20

Norvell and FSU are yet to comment on the fallout, but we could see heads roll if the coach has lost his players to this degree. Stay tuned.

Check us out on TWITTER, where we talk sports, share articles, and have lots of giveaways!