Fresno State coach in wake of George Floyd killing: Bulldogs must use their platform
The messages from college football coaches trickled out after the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota and the protests that have followed across the country and the world, most grasping for the right words after the death of another unarmed black man at the hands of police.
Fresno State coach Kalen DeBoer was no different. At 11 p.m. last Friday he hit Twitter to express his anguish, his frustration. But his message on social media also ended with a promise.
“We pledge to work in our Fresno community and beyond,” DeBoer wrote, “to help tackle the difficulties that lay ahead for our country.”
Those words have some heft to them – it’s something that he has been pressing since he was hired back in December.
DeBoer said that he wants the Bulldogs to feel empowered, repeating words that he had shared last week with his coaches, staff and team in a brief remote meeting. He wants his players to have a voice and to be involved in the community, to be engaged, to be socially conscious, to become leaders in whatever they do and wherever they go.
“I wanted to make sure that our team knows how I feel about racial injustice, that it is totally unacceptable,” he said.
“We’re in a unique role. I’m in a unique role, as a coach. Our players are in unique roles as great leaders and role models that people look up to, and I’m extremely confident in how our players represent their families, our football family, our university and the Valley. We talk about that every single week when we meet and they’ve lived up to that expectation. I think it’s becoming who we are.”
DeBoer and his staff know that Bulldogs football players have a standing in the San Joaquin Valley. That gives them a platform and with it a responsibility, and some Fresno State players past and present as well as assistant coaches and staff have followed with supportive social media messages.
“We know how important the community is, not just on Saturdays when we step on the field,” DeBoer said. “For that support to happen we know we have to give back and we can do that, as a college football program. The players, the staff, all of us together, we have this platform and we need to make sure that we’re using it.
“I would love for us to be a source of strength for others.”
Before the coronavirus pandemic hit, DeBoer had an assistant coach working on just that, on getting players in front of the community, at schools and elsewhere, where they could be seen and heard and make an impact.
“I struggle, knowing that some of my best friends and some of the most influential people in my life are hurting right now,” DeBoer said. “These are black men and women that I’ve shared some of my greatest moments with, sports-related or not. …”
His tweet started with this: “My heart aches when I think about the events leading to the death of George Floyd. To say that I have the answers to racial injustices that exist in our country would be foolish. We do have a voice and it is an important time for us ALL to take a stand and to count ourselves amongst those that will be part of the answer.
“Making a statement on social media is by no means a solution, but it can help begin the dialogue to facilitate desperately needed change. A critical component is what comes next. We must follow our words with action.”