Originally Posted by
CajunT
I've been reading this thread since the story broke yesterday. I would like to make a few points that seem to have been overlooked. The first point is obvious, the football student athlete RCAF donation announcement should have been handled in a much different, perhaps more professional manner from the Athletic Department.
Any change, or new announcement in regards to RCAF have been handled by the AD, Asst. AD or the RCAF Director in the past. While Coach Napier has a role in the decision to implement this new policy, it's not his job to make a public announcement at a press conference, hand out materials to the media present and get notes national media that wish to interview him afterwards. This is the responsibility of the Athletic Department, new RCAF Director and down to the SID. In other words, there should have been better planned coordination between Dr. Maggard, Nick Yanco, DeLeon and the SID. This didn't happen and we had a football coach make the announcement and wasn't prepared to answer questions in regards to the policy implementation and it's goal.
Our Athletic Department should have been prepared for what was going to be a regional and national reaction to something that is new to the college athletic world. They should have had a press release prepared with notes in the regards to NCAA Compliance, it's origins and goals. They should have prepped coach to answer questions and allow several athletes to answer questions in regards to their support for the new policy, for local and national media.
I've praised our current AD on many occasions for his vision and commitment to moving this program forward. But today, the blame begins with him as the head of the Athletic Department. It is not the job of our head football coach to make such announcement and prepare the correct information for the media. We have an Athletic Director, Sports Information Department and an RCAF Director.