Q: What are the main objectives of your job as a football coach?

As a football coach my main objective is getting our players to graduate – I tell them, “you come to Guilford, our main objective is academics.” I try to let them know that I want them to be the best person on the field and the best person off the field as well. Q: What makes a student-athlete enrolled at Guilford successful while they’re here?

Like I said, the main objective is to graduate. If it’s an instance where they’re not on the football team, if they graduate, then they’re successful. We understand that this is division three sports. Not everybody here is going to go to the NFL or sign some great contract.

Q: Why do players quit?

The number one reason that players tend to quit is playing time. We come into this thing with 100 players; only 40 are going to be playing on the varsity level. That’s why we incorporated the JV level program to give guys a chance to play. Some guys just aren’t ready, and aren’t mature enough mentally and physically to play, so that’s why we created the JV program. And some guys don’t like that . in high school a lot of guys are on 40 or 50 people teams, so when you come here, there’s 100 people. You’re used to playing all the time, whereas here it’s different because we have double the amount of people.

Q: Do black players quit for different reasons than white players?

I haven’t had that sense. I have been here as a player for four years, and as a coach going on four years and never have I experienced anything like that. Obviously if I experienced something like that, being that I feel comfortable in this environment, I would have raised up and said something about that before now. I wouldn’t let eight years go by and then all of a sudden just bring up the issue.

Q: Diversity is one of Guilford’s seven core values. In terms of racial diversity, the football team is one of the most diverse organizations on campus. Race is a part of any individual’s life experience. Therefore, a wider range of life experiences are embodied in the team’s population. How do you deal with diversity on the team? Do obstacles, if any, arise because of the diversity that you have to deal with?

A: We really haven’t had any, as far as I can remember, issues in terms of diversity where things are said or things are done in a particular way just because of one’s race and they felt uncomfortable. We haven’t really had any situations like that. Does that mean (the issues) aren’t there? I’m not necessarily saying that. However, I haven’t experienced it. As far as interacting with the players, we have time management and position meetings with the black players and the white players and none of them have ever brought the issue to my attention.

Q: Do you think that black and white players face the same challenges off the field? Do you think that there are challenges that fluctuate according to race in terms of how white players and black players are integrated into the community in social and academic ways?

A: One thing that I admire about Guilford is its diversity. When I first got here I wasn’t as open-minded probably as some people are when they first come to college. So just being in this environment, from when I went to high school, it really opened up my mind and allowed me to realize that certain things aren’t always a certain way. Other people don’t always think like you. I was able to grasp that throughout my Guilford career. So if you’re asking me, are black people treated differently at Guilford than white people, if that’s what you’re asking me, maybe in some instances they are. However, I can speak from my personal experiences with the football team, I’ve never experienced anything where they have been treated differently. I’m not saying that that’s not the case in some situations, I just know the situation in the football department/athletic side, and it’s not that way.

Q: So then you don’t think that in general black and white players face different challenges off the field, you think they face the same challenges?

It’s all a cultural thing, it’s not a white/black thing to me because some black people grow up in a culture like Guilford. I think it’s more of cultural difference if you didn’t grow up in a culture that’s like this, yes, there’s going to be adjusting that’s going to have to happen. If that same black person grew up in a culture that’s like this then I think he feels more comfortable in that certain situation, in that certain culture.

Q: The majority of black male athletes enrolled in this institution statistically don’t graduate, many come here to play football, so to what extent is it your job to ensure that black players receive necessary social and academic support since statistically they are less likely to succeed?

Here’s the thing, we don’t necessarily single out just our black players; every person on the team we go through the same things with, we do the same things. We’re trying to treat everybody equal so that’s why we have time management sheets, every Wednesday or Thursday we sit down with our players, have them fill out their classes. We’re trying to set them up to be successful because some of the most work can get done through the hours between this class and this class. Not just our black players, because you know sometimes when we try to do that it can create a divide when we’re trying to look out for this certain amount of people, when really we’re looking out for the whole team. And I talk to my players, I encourage them to do stuff outside in the community, instead of football stuff. We have the multicultural department, we have all types of departments. Now if a black person doesn’t feel comfortable doing those things, does that mean I’m supposed to hand walk them over there to do something that they don’t want to do? I don’t think I should do that. But, when there’s a cultural difference I do feel it’s a part of my job to close that gap a little bit so my job is more to talk to them, to try to open up their minds a little bit. You have to be more open-minded and some players see that quicker than other players. It’s just different, who are you hanging around, who is it that you first meet? What are they doing? It’s a lot of different varieties of things and a lot of situations and that’s how I look at that whole situation. I’ve been here eight years. I’ve seen a lot.