(ThyBlackMan.com) Before February 27, 2021, it was safe to say that most sports fans recognized the name, Greg McDermott, as Creighton men’s basketball head coach and the father of current NBA player Doug McDermott, who also played basketball for his father at Creighton. Now in his 11th season as Creighton men’s basketball coach, Greg McDermott has been successful winning games and even developing NBA players like his son and Justin Patton. This season, the Creighton men’s basketball team has had another quality season and will be an NCAA Tournament team this month. After the comments by Greg McDermott following Creighton’s loss to Xavier on February 27, 2021, most sports fans now know the name of Greg McDermott in an unfavorable way. In his postgame comments to his players after the loss, he said, “Guys, we got to stick together. We need both feet in. I need everybody to stay on the plantation. I can’t have anybody leave the plantation”. The Creighton Bluejays men’s basketball team features several Black young men on the roster who had to hear those shocking comments from their white head coach. The young men of the Creighton basketball team have shown resolve in their response to their head coach’s terrible comments.
On March 4th, 2021, Greg McDermott was suspended from all team activities by Creighton University for those racist comments but not fired. McDermott said that he offered to resign over his comments but that the players did not ask for him to resign. It should not be surprising that the players did not want him to lose his job over the comments given the relationships he has built with his players over years but that decision should have been made by Creighton University regardless of how successful a head coach Greg McDermott has been for Creighton. Like all collegiate “student-athletes”, college basketball players are relatively powerless when they sign their letters-of-intent to play for a college or university. They are not financially compensated by their schools to play college sports and do not have many rights other than the possible threat of a transfer. In big time college sports, the head coaches yield the power in the coach-player relationship compared to professional sports like the NBA, where a star player being paid more than a head coach has more “power”.
During a pregame video for Creighton’s basketball game against the Butler on March 6, 2021, five Black players spoke regarding their head coach’s previous comments. The video was a compilation of their words blended together in a thoughtful, artistic way. Bluejays forward Christian Bishop started the video by saying, “James Baldwin said not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed without being faced”. Next, Creighton guard Shereef Mitchell said, “For slaves, life on a plantation was filled with mental, emotional, physical, psychological and sexual abuse. You were owned as property and not human. Slaves had no rights and no voice. They were branded like cattle, forced from their homeland and stripped of their culture, language and basic human rights. They worked 18 hours a day six days a week. Any sign of wrongdoing such as lack of productivity, not following instructions or resistance would result in beatings or death and that is why …”.
Those words were followed by guard Denzel Mahoney explaining, “What Coach Mac said hurt me and my teammates,”. Guard Antwann Jones then said, “People speak about inequalities and equalities but don’t truly know what it means to be equal. And I feel like this is the start for a new conversation to be had in the future. Let’s continue to educate each other, and let’s continue to grow.” The last comments were by forward Damien Jefferson who said, “If I was your son, would it matter then? Let’s not be OK with racism. Let’s start the conversation.” The 2020-21 basketball season for the Creighton men’s basketball team has had more ups than downs and facing this controversy started by their head coach, those young men can strengthen their bond disrupted by their coach’s racist words.
Staff Writer; Peter Brown