Ole Miss AD Ross Bjork said the current climate around intercollegiate athletics, including the power that players wield, marks the dawn of a "new day in student-athlete voice." Speaking after a luncheon at the Tupelo Rotary Club, Bjork said, "We have more of a student-athlete voice in the NCAA governance structure, we have more within the SEC structure, we have more on our campus. It’s really a movement to say that, ‘This is why we’re here. We’re here because of students, we’re here because of student-athletes." Bjork praised the leaders at the Univ. of Missouri for handling the recent protest by the football team, saying, "There's no manual for any of that stuff." Bjork: "You just have to lead with knowledge, you have to lead with inspiration." He added, "Dialogue with our student-athletes, communicating with our student-athletes, educating them on all the different sides happening in society is our obligation. ... I feel really good about where we are with the welfare, the well-being of our student-athletes. We’re going to keep a pulse on what’s happening moving forward” (WTVA.com, 11/16).
BIG MOMENT FOR COLLEGE ATHLETES: ESPN's Desmond Howard said the Missouri boycott was the "single most significant game-changing occurrence to happen in collegiate athletics in my lifetime." He said, "When I saw what the Missouri football team did, I said, ‘Somebody finally woke up that sleeping giant.’ You don't have to unionize to show your power. All you have to do is come together as a group, which is what they did." Howard noted he is not concerned about team boycotts becoming the norm. He said, "You have to understand, the men in that locker room didn't come to that university to become activists. They came to play football and get a degree. They don't want to jeopardize that, especially if there are a lot of kids who think they're going to play for that shield, the NFL. ... It has to be a lot on their plate for them to put that in jeopardy. The situation that Missouri was so dire that those kids collectively came together." But ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit said the Missouri situation does make people "wonder about other causes, where you might want to come together and say if this coach maybe isn’t is fired, we're going to walk out as a group." Herbstreit: "We had Northwestern trying to form a union. You wonder if players might look at this and think, ‘You know, we do have the power to be able to go out there and make a stance on something we all believe in.’ ... You don't know what this could potentially lead to" ("College GameDay," ESPN, 11/14).
OPENING SOME NEW DOORS: In Raleigh, Barry Jacobs wrote the football team's participation "tipped the balance toward change" at Missouri, and the leverage they brought to the situation "serves to highlight the significance of the moment." Duke S Jeremy Cash said, "This definitely can be a catalyst for future boycotting, standing up for (rights). Anything's possible now. This has really opened up the door for athletes to stand up for themselves, to have their own voice." North Carolina men's basketball F Brice Johnson said, "If a team here did that, say the Carolina basketball team did something like that, that guy would probably be out like two minutes after. The Carolina basketball program is very powerful" (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 11/15). The N.Y. Daily News' Mike Lupica said of the Missouri situation, "If you're watching this from other schools around this country, you're afraid now because it finally happened that athletes stood up.” ESPN's Howard Bryant said the actions at Missouri did not feel like a "revolutionary sort of track." However, he noted the situation did not reach a critical mass until the football team "got involved, and that showed how much power these players have." Bryant said, "If you begin to tie those dots around the country, you could really have something." ESPN's Israel Gutierrez said he did not know "how many of us would have known what was happening on this campus if the football team did not get involved here." He added, "It's obviously a good sign and it shows other teams across the country and other programs across the country that you're not powerless” (“The Sports Reporters,” ESPN2, 11/15).
STILL A PART OF CAMPUS LIFE: In N.Y., William Rhoden wrote the activism by the Missouri football team is "being celebrated as an example of what can be achieved when athletes lend their celebrity to a cause." However, what some people found "extraordinary about the affair is that athletes stepped out of the sports cocoon." UConn AD Warde Manuel said, "It was a way for them to get together as a group and support a student issue on campus. To me, that's a great thing to see. It showed me that those kids at Missouri were immersed enough in the issues that they wanted to make a statement to support what they felt was an issue for them and the students on that campus. I don't see anything wrong with that" (N.Y. TIMES, 11/16). NCAA President Mark Emmert said it is "really terrific that student-athletes, like all students on a campus, feel that they should be involved in issues of great importance to their campus and their community." Emmert: "I'm glad when student-athletes act like students" ("Inside College Basketball," CBS Sports Network, 11/14).
