Views on social issues, race play a bigger role in college sports recruiting

Eugene Rapay
Rockland/Westchester Journal News

Before recruits make a college commitment, they do some homework and review the basics, like what majors are popular, student-to-professor ratio and campus facilities, along with the pros and cons of the specific team and coach they might be playing for.

Lately, some recruits have raised new questions like, "Do Black lives matter?" or "What's your stance on a current social issue?" 

Athletes are playing closer attention to how coaches and colleges are addressing current events and sensitive topics. For some, it's even impacting the way they perceive certain programs during the recruitment process.

"Over these past few weeks or months, I definitely have been paying attention to how the different coaches and teams have responded to everything," Irvington standout and recent Yale women's basketball commit Grace Thybulle said. "As far as the schools that I was being recruited by, it was all liberal arts schools, so most of them were saying very similar things, but definitely just being outspoken was something that was important for me. Just seeing the team, as an organization, speaking out."

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Irvington's Grace Thybulle (24) waits to re-enter the game during the Class B girls basketball NYSPHSAA regional final against Carle Place at Pace University on Saturday, March 9, 2019.

Aside from the academic reputation of being an Ivy League school and a Division I program, Thybulle was also drawn to Yale for the team's passion for philanthropy, such as taking the initiative in hosting its own fundraiser for the Citywide Youth Coalition in New Haven. Her conversations with the Bulldogs' head coach, Allison Guth, about topics outside of basketball and checkups on her well-being throughout current events also left an impression on her.

For Stepinac basketball standout Malcolm Chimezie, he hasn't committed to a college yet and is busy sifting through his 17 Division I offers. 

As he goes through the recruiting process, he doesn't go out of his way to see what different statements individual coaches or programs are putting on social media, but he appreciates a coach that is not only vocal, but also willing to follow up with action.

"It's important because you don't want a quiet coach," Chimezie said. "A quiet coach is usually someone that doesn't want to mentor his players. A coach that's vocal not only about basketball, but also issues in society is very important. It can give you a way to think about change and work things out."

Stepinac's Malcolm Chimezie (13) puts up a shot in front of Iona's Keeshawn Jones (11)  during basketball action the Hynes Center at Iona College in New Rochelle Feb. 1, 2020.

"With me being a Black athlete, it's definitely nice to see that a coach cares about his or her recruits. It's definitely important that they make us feel welcome and that they don't just want us for our athletic abilities, but they want us to grow as people."

While athletes have commonly heard phrases like, "Stick to sports" or "Shut up and dribble," in response to social and political statements, the line between the two has been thinning. With COVID-19 putting sports on hold, current events like the ongoing nationwide protests in the aftermath of George Floyd's death have been magnified. Staying silent has become increasingly difficult.

According to an NCAA report published in March on diversity in college sports, 36% of student-athletes identified as non-white. Black student-athletes were the largest minority group in college sports, accounting for 16% of all athletes during the 2018-19 season. 

The topic of race has permeated sports in the past, but there's a greater awareness for it now. Athletes are keeping one eye on the news and one on what coaches, leagues and peers are saying.

"A lot of young athletes, when they're choosing their college destination, a large percentage of that choice is the coach that you're going to play for," said Andy Borman, director of the New York Renaissance AAU basketball team. "Not just how good a coach they are, but how good of a man or woman they are. It's important to the kids. I also think it depends on the kid. There's a lot of factors and there's a long process as kids make their decision of where they're going to college, but I think that (being outspoken on social issues) has certainly become one of the important factors."

Oklahoma State running back Chuba Hubbard (30) expressed his outrage on Twitter over head coach Mike Gundy wearing a One America News Network T-shirt. The two sides were able to reconcile and appear in a video together released on the team's social media accounts.

Power to the players

As professional athletes have become increasingly more vocal over the years, it's starting to trickle down to the youth as well. 

"No athlete is just an athlete," Chimezie said. "Basketball is just a sport. There are things way more important to the world than basketball. Me being a basketball player, and the other players out there, we shouldn't just stick to our sport, we should try to help to improve the lives in the world as well."

Players of all ages have marched in protests and engaged in discourse with teammates and friends. 

Some college athletes have been unafraid to candidly express their opinions on their coaches, an action that once seemed reserved for the pros.

At Florida State, co-captain of the football team and defensive tackle Marvin Wilson called out head coach Mike Norvell, after he mislabeled the way he was handling Black Lives Matter discussions to a reporter. Members of the football team threatened to boycott, but Norvell later apologized and resolved things with his players.

Meanwhile, at Oklahoma State, star running back Chuba Hubbard expressed his outrage over a photo of head coach Mike Gundy wearing a One America News shirt, a conservative-leaning television network, calling it "completely insensitive to everything that's going on in society" due to the network's dismissive outlook toward the Black Lives Matter movement. The two would later reconcile and appeared in a video together released on the team's social media.

There were other cases where amends couldn't be made. Two football players, Kei'Trel Clark and Tayvion Land, and women's basketball player Asia Todd decided to transfer out of Liberty University, citing racial insensitivity at the school.

"I think what you're looking at is kids learning to have a voice and learning that they do have rights, and they do have full control over themselves," Borman said. "I think that's a good thing. I also think it can be a bad thing, if they're not disciplined and if they're not aware that their voice needs to be used the right way, or that decisions need to be made the right way. It's a really good thing, but with power comes responsibility."

Stepinac's Malcolm Chimezie (13) does up for a shot during their 81-69 win over Monsignor Scanlan at Stepinac High School in White Plains on Friday, December 6, 2019.

Assessing values

Thybulle believes that the current climate will change the way athletes will go through the recruiting process.

"I think it's definitely just going to push people to really look deeper into the values of a coach and the values of the kinds of people they recruit," she said. "This will definitely push people to be more transparent, so I think it'll be a good thing."

Samantha Bischoff of Albertus Magnus does down while defending Grace Thybulle during a consolation game at the Slam Dunk Tournament at the Westchester County Center in White Plains Dec. 22, 2019. Magnus defeated Irvington 60-33.

Taking the extra time to do so is important, according to Thybulle. While she's open to disagreement, there are some topics where compromise is not possible.

"It's one thing to have a different political party or different views on how to handle the economy or whatever," she said. "When it comes to human rights and human rights issues, the way you treat people, and the way you view others, if you have different views on that, I really can't be associated with you, because that's not a political stance. It's something beyond politics."

As for Chimezie, he doesn't believe having different political and social viewpoints from his coach or teammates would be too big of an issue.

"I believe everyone's entitled to their own opinion," Chimezie said. "Let's just say my coach and I like two different presidents, I don't think that would be too much of a problem or get in the way of basketball. I feel like we can still get along and have a good relationship without having the same political opinions. As long as they have a good idea on race and stuff like that, obviously they'd have to be a good person, but I feel like we can have different opinions."

Once quarantine is over and sports resumes, Borman hopes that these topics don't go away either.

"I hope that this isn't a moment," he said. I hope this doesn't come and go. I hope that this is long-standing. I hope that anti-racism isn't a flash in the pan, or that Black Lives Matter is a flash in the pan. This is something that not only needs to be embraced in the moment, but that this is something that needs to endure."

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