FSU football seems to have turned a negative situation into a positive one in light of Thursday’s team meeting. Here are three positives from the situation.
Many FSU football fans went to bed Wednesday night unknowing the negative publicity they’d awake too because one of its most prominent players disputed a statement Mike Norvell made.
It was interesting to watch it unfold and shows the power of the FSU football brand despite going 18-20 over the last three seasons.
Clemson has had race relations issues going on the past few days which have largely been given a pass by national media.
Oh, not FSU football. One player tweeted something that was much less controversial than what happened at Clemson and national media were quick to pounce.
Bomani Jones, Jemele Hill, Jack McGuire, and Carron Phillips were just a few who were quick to voice their opinions on the matter, despite not having all the information.
They didn’t have the same energy for Clemson as that has been swept under the rug without Dabo Swinney issuing any sort of statement on what happened.
Not to mention the Clemson coach in question is still employed and never faced any sort of reprimand for his actions. Nevertheless, I spoke about how Mike Norvell handled this difficult situation about as well as one could hope. It was bad, but ultimately this was turned into a positive by the FSU football program.
Here are three positives from Mike Norvell’s mistake and apology.
How Mike Norvell Handles Adversity
Any football fans want a coach that they believe has integrity and does things the right way. That’s especially the case when a coach hasn’t been on the job long enough to coach an actual game.
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Some people didn’t think Mike Norvell would be able to come back from this situation. Like, they thought he wouldn’t coach a game in the season over a miss-communication.
However, what we learned from this situation is Mike Norvell isn’t afraid of adversity. He took the adversity and welcomed it to his front door and let it in and addressed promptly.
Not only that, but he listened to what the team had to say and left that meeting with a plan to address some of the issues the players brought to his attention.
Marvin Wilson addressed those plans in the video he released after the team meeting. Wilson tweeted his original statement not long before midnight Wednesday night.
The team met around 9:30 a.m. Thursday morning and this situation was nipped in the bud shortly after 12 p.m. with players posting their support for coach on social media.
That’s what you want to see from a head coach.
Players Recognize Their Impact
I still think Marvin Wilson should have gone directly to Mike Norvell before posting on social media.
However, I do believe everything happens for a reason and maybe all the positives that came out of this wouldn’t have if Wilson had done that.
I’m not saying Mike Norvell would have swept things under the rug, but having a team meeting likely allowed more players to voice their opinion while finding solutions to some of their issues.
Marvin Wilson has always been active on Twitter but usually refrains from posting videos of him speaking on current issues.
However, the passionate video response he released after the team meeting already has over 300,000 views and climbing.
That’s powerful. It allows players on the roster to see the power of their platform. It allows recruits and parents to see what FSU football is all about. It gives Mike Norvell something tangible to point to
how he relates and identifies with his players.
I would think that would be encouraging for current and future Noles.
Team Grew Closer Together
Once I saw players tweeting after the team meeting I felt like things would be OK. I felt like it was a moment that bonded a team that was still trying to get familiar with its new coach.
After all, they’ve only been around him for about 2 months total because of Christmas break and the coronavirus shutdown.
We grew as a team today .. 🖤🍢 https://t.co/s8fFzwTNwI
— Curtis Fann Jr . (@curt_8_) June 4, 2020
I couldn’t have said it better myself. This situation reminded me of a family dispute where there’s a quarrel of some sort, but ultimately you end up closer because of it.
I wish the miscommunication could have been avoided altogether, but I think this is something that will bond this team and staff. Especially with how the media were so quick to pounce and pass judgement.
It was also a lesson in learning how to handle things properly. I’m sure Mike Norvell stressed how they should operate as a family and how he hopes his players feel comfortable coming to him when they have issues.
It was a teaching moment and this team and program should be better because of it.