Coach Mike Leach’s Twitter Ban Won’t Solve the Problem
So this week, the news was all a-twitter (pun intended) with word that Washington State University's football coach Mike Leach had banned his players from using Twitter. Apparently the drastic move came about because some of his players had been caught using the social media platform for sending "vulgar" and inappropriate communications.
When I was asked to comment on the ban by Q13 Fox on Wednesday evening, my mind was spinning with the many things that are wrong with Coach Leach's approach. And, apparently, I'm not the only person who takes issue with this move as you can see in the segment Q13's Tom Yazwinski shared that evening.
As I shared in the interview, I have several problems with how Coach Leach is handling this. While I certainly can empathize with his irritation and frustration at his players' behavior, banning Twitter is not going to solve the problem and may, actually, lead to more.
First of all, while I am not an attorney, I can imagine that the walls of Justice are literally frothing with discussions about the Constitutionality of this kind of ban. It is a ban against free speech, and as these players are adults (well, at least by virtue of age even if not by maturity), and they do have the right to say essentially what they want. Even if they have a "non-disaparagement clause" in their contracts, the students aren't trash-talking the school, the program or their coaches as even WSU's coaching staff admits. True, it does not make the school look good to have its football players publicly behaving like cretins for the whole 'Net to see, but banning Twitter isn't going to change that.
What Coach has done is essentially what we, as a culture, tend to do -- take away the toys when we have abused them. Problem is, it doesn't address the underlying reason for that abuse. No matter how this kind of communication is conducted, it's inappropriate and wrong. And these young men don't seem to understand that. Just because you take their tweets away, doesn't mean their attitudes have changed. I can pretty much guarantee that these kids have new Twitter ids that they are cleverly cloaking to keep anyone at WSU from recognizing them. All Coach has done is run one communication vehicle to ground. It's a Bandaid he has applied to a surface lesion while the cancer causing it remains alive and festering.
But, even if they do stay off Twitter, nothing "inside" has changed I'll bet you. The players likely still engage in communication that would not be "approved by the Parent Teacher Association" as one article described the controversial tweets. Part of that, sadly, is part and parcel of the male-dominated pro-sports culture. Locker room talk doesn't even really belong in the locker room, but it certainly does NOT belong in public forums. Is Coach now going to put bugs in the locker room to make sure his "boys" are behaving themselves in there, too?
The bigger picture here is that you can't change behavior by dealing with "externals." If you take away Twitter, what are you going to do about Facebook? Or, if that doesn't work, will you confiscate cell phones because they might be sending derogatory texts? Heck, you really want a ban: take away video games, television and all but G-rated music (if you can find that anymore!) The point is: garbage in-garbage out.
The fact that these young men seem to see nothing wrong with this kind of communication points to a lack of courtesy, compassion and respect for others. That's a character flaw, not a technology problem. I don't know how they were raised at home, but now that they are on their own, they show a remarkable lack of good judgement. You don't "fix" that by taking away their Twitter privileges, folks. Rather than see Coach Leach now suspend them if they are caught on Twitter (for any reason), why couldn't he just suspend them from the team for ANY incident showing lack of character? If playing football is a privilege as Graham Watson mentioned in a recent article, then impose the requirement that all players conduct themselves in a manner deserving of the investment and committment that playing for a noted and respected school represents? Heck, if you're going to school on a full- (or even partial-) ride, then EARN it. Be the type of student, athlete and person that is worthy of that privilege!
Now, Tweet that, Coach Mike!
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Did you like this? You can read more about Corinne Gregory's tips for positive social skills and professional success in her acclaimed book: "It's Not Who You Know, It's How You Treat Them"
