FSU AD Stan Wilcox’s Silence is Deafening

By refusing to talk to the media, Florida State University Athletic Director Stan Wilcox has compounded FSU’s issues over the past week.

Regardless of how you feel about Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston’s recent suspension, there’s no denying that Florida State’s administration botched things badly this weekend.

Maybe you think Winston deserved to sit out the game, maybe you don’t– that’s irrelevant.

What is relevant is the deafening silence currently emanating from atop the Florida State athletic department– in particular, the silence coming from Athletic Director Stan Wilcox.

It was curious when Florida State announced Winston’s suspension with a Wednesday press release that featured Wilcox and interim university president Garnett Stokes’ names– but not head coach Jimbo Fisher’s.

It was even more curious when Florida State issued another press release, this time on Friday at 11:08 PM — well after most newspapers’ deadlines — extending Winston’s half game suspension to a full game. The release, once again, featured the names of Florida State’s AD and interim president, but not Fisher’s.

But where things really break down was when Wilcox refused to address the school’s decision and chose to hide behind that press release, as he did on Saturday morning. Instead Fisher — who was rumored not to be on board with the punishment — was tasked with fielding questions from reporters about the school’s choice of discipline and how the timeline of events had played out after the game on Saturday night.

Fisher read from a set of prepared remarks, then refused to expound on further questions about the situation. The distaste on his face was obvious. In the background Wilcox stood up against the wall, intently staring at his phone, once again avoiding the questions of the reporters nearby.

In the two days since, more and more rumors have continued to surface.

There was the one about Winston getting kicked off the team on Monday. There were theories about Garnett Stokes making a unilateral play to kick Winston out of the school. There have been stories about a rift forming between Fisher and Wilcox. And just today, on 1010 XL in Jacksonville, it was reported that Wilcox flat out wants Winston off the football team.

All the while Wilcox continues to enable these rumors with his silence.

It didn’t have to be this way. It didn’t have to get this far. If Wilcox had gotten out in front of this last week, if he had spoken to reporters the morning after FSU’s late night change of course — heck, if he’d just taken a few questions after the game on Saturday — none of this would be an issue right now.

But rather than taking control of the narrative himself — as a good leader is wont to do — Wilcox has avoided giving comment, has avoided saying anything.

Now the narrative is whatever the media wants to make it out to be. And only Wilcox has the power to change that.

The optics from last week say dozens of things– none of them good. It’s not a good look when your coach says one thing on the ACC Coaches Teleconference and just over an hour later the athletic department releases a statement without his name on it saying something else.

That in turn makes it harder to take Fisher’s post-game comments on Winston — that he would be back for good on Monday — on their face. It completely undermines Fisher’s credibility. And it invites the media to call FSU’s head coach an enabler while continuing to excoriate the school and its quarterback.

But Wilcox could have put it all to rest. He could have done it one fell swoop.

He could have come out with a reasoned statement, condemning Winston’s actions while setting forth a very concrete set of expectations for Winston going forward. It would have been a strong statement. It could have gotten the jackals in the national media off of the program’s back. It could have helped avoid letting this incident spill over into the next week.

Instead Stan Wilcox said nothing.

And the silence is deafening.