The New England Patriots are off this week, allowing the spotlight to be shifted to other areas on the world of sports. By now pretty much everyone knows there's smoke coming from Hawaii and no I don't mean the valcanos. Head coach Todd Graham of the Rainbow Warriors football team has had some serious allegations made against him and 9 players have left the program via the transfer portal, a record amount but the problems maybe worse than realized.
Hawaii has a bowl game coming up against Memphis but according to Marc Delucchi of SFgate, the players no longer want Graham at the university. Delucchi quoted one player saying, “A lot of players want him fired, especially the starters.”
There has to be something wrong in the relationship between a player and coach if they want you fired. However, when it's a group of players or more, then there's something wrong with the head coach.
Delucchi had another player tell him, “Me and a lot of others can truthfully say Graham has killed our love and passion for football.”
Who are these players one might ask, out of fear of retaliation, SFGate kept their names secret. If the University or NCAA wants to know, they need to get off their rears and talk to the players.
Delucchi goes on to say players are looking into what they can to leave the program including quitting and that the university refused to respond when asked to talk. There were more statements made but you have to go check out SFgate.com for what was said.
There's allegations of mistreatment and abuse among many other serious things. Graham is also accused of refusing to talk to some of his players and playing favoritism.
Graham released a statement on this matter after it broke and part of it is sure not to sit well with those making allegations.
Graham said. "Obviously, I can’t meet with 125 people. But each one of our coaches is meeting with each one of them, and make sure we’re listening, and make sure that we’re learning, and getting better at what we’re doing.”
First, it's BS that he cannot meet with 125 people. He could do it in five to six days, having 30 minute meetings with each and having each of them submit any issues they have in writing. Would take about 13 hours a day including one meal break.
Second, refusing to meet with players is part of the allegations against Todd Graham and he cannot find a way to make time to meet with his players? To make matters worse there are allegations that Graham doesn't even talk with all the members of his staff. This just goes to side with the players.
There are some allegations that I listed that are more severe but the more this story plays out, and with the way Graham and the university of Hawaii are handling this, I have to side more and more with the players and staff making the allegations.
This isn't the first time there have been accusations made against Graham. Arizona state bought out his contract over allegations of being an unfit coach, giving credit to the accusations. The foot program means a lot to the University of Hawaii and it needs to handle this before too much damage is done. Hawaii is in the process of building a new stadium and sports complex but how can it expect to get players to come or fans in the stands with this looming over head?
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