Menu
Download the app

SBJ subscribers – Enhance your experience with the revamped iOS app

Colleges

Roy Williams, Current, Former UNC Athletes Decry Silent Sam Statue

Four current UNC basketball players recently signed the letter against the statue's re-erectionGETTY IMAGES

North Carolina men's basketball coach Roy Williams said that he is "not in favor of the university re-erecting the Silent Sam statue," which portrays a Confederate soldier, and a group of more than 240 current and former student-athletes signed an "open letter condemning the university’s proposal" for the statue, according to Jonathan Alexander of the Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER. UNC earlier this month "proposed a plan to put the statue in a secured" $5.3M history center on campus, but that plan was "rejected by the UNC system Board of Governors in a meeting on Friday." Four current UNC basketball players -- G K.J. Smith., F Garrison Brooks, G Brandon Robinson and F Sterling Manley -- "signed the letter" against the statue's re-erection. Williams said, “I talked to our guys about it and told them if they feel strongly about it, go right ahead. I think it’s their individual rights, and I think they should if they feel strongly about it.” He also said, in his belief, "it would be best" for the statue to "not be here" (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 12/15). In N.Y., Marc Tracy noted signers of the open letter against the proposal also included former NBAer Jerry Stackhouse, Hawks F Vince Carter and Mavericks F Harrison Barnes, who all played at UNC, as well as "more recent stars" like Nets F Theo Pinson and Kings F Justin Jackson (N.Y. TIMES, 12/15).

POWER PLAYERS: In Raleigh, Luke DeCock wrote it is "going to be hard for university leaders to dismiss the anger of this growing group of principled and determined athletes from across all sports." Athletics is more important to UNC than the academic world "would ever care to admit, and having such a wide cross-section of athletes from varying sports and diverse backgrounds demanding action isn’t going to help the university’s image." These athletes are "awakening to something college athletes around the country are slowly discovering: They have, by virtue of their sports, tremendous power." If UNC’s basketball team "were to decide that Silent Sam is important enough to take some kind of action, some kind of protest, even threaten to boycott a game if it comes to that, the entire battleground would shift" (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 12/15).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2018/12/17/Colleges/Carolina.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2018/12/17/Colleges/Carolina.aspx

CLOSE