Column: Grambling State football players take a stand

The Grambling State football team has been in the news this past week, unfortunately for all the wrong reasons.

The team had boycotted games, looking to make a stand against what is severe mistreatment. The boycott started a week ago and ended Monday night.

The players on the team voiced their opinions about traveling, the conditions of the facilities and the coaching situation, among other issues.

The players wrote a letter to the administration explaining their frustrations.

In the letter, they said there are certain factors hindering the team from reaching their goals.

It’s about time players stood up to schools and authority figures. It’s great they took a stand for what they believed was right.

Team members said they didn’t agree with the school on how to travel to games.

Grambling State, located in Louisiana, traveled to Kansas City and Indianapolis by bus. Those trips took 14 and 17 hours, respectively.

Players’ resulting fatigue was apparent when the team lost to Alcorn State, 48-0.

Whenever a team travels that far, it should fly. There’s no reason a team should have to ride a bus for over half a day and then be expected to play in a football game later.

That’s just not fair.

But that’s not the only injustice.

The equipment and the condition of the practice facilities aren’t up to par.

In the players’ letter, they said, “Mildew and mold can be seen on the ceiling, walls and floor and are contributing to water leaks because of faltering walls and ceilings.”

The floor is coming up in the weight room.

Athletes shouldn’t have to deal with this. A Division-I FCS school should provide better.

The letter also says, “The uniforms are poorly cleaned and contribute to the multiple cases (of) staph infection.”

Players also didn’t like that they had to pay for things such as Gatorade, a costly commodity that adds up for student-athletes and is provided to most athletes by their programs.

The last of the problems addressed in the letter was the coaching situation. Doug Williams was fired early in the season.

The team was not consulted. Interim coach George Ragsdale received no support from the team.

The players supported three other coaches, Dirt Winston, Vyron Brown, and C.C Culpepper and wished one of them had been named interim coach.

Winston was named head coach Thursday.

Ragsdale’s dismissal was one of the conditions to end the boycott, since he allegedly contributed to five of the past seven losses.

Most of the team didn’t show up to the bus Friday as the buses’ departure time was pushed back an hour.

The game was later canceled.

Jackson State was awarded the win by forfeit, since Grambling State never boarded the buses.

Southwestern Athletic Conference commissioner Duer Sharp said late Friday night that, according to league rules, Grambling will forfeit and the school will be fined.

Earlier in the week, Grambling players walked out of a meeting with school officials Tuesday and did not show up at practice Wednesday.

Grambling State was bold this week and set a precedent for other schools to follow, if necessary.

Rarely have players challenged their college and not practiced.

The players took a stand and stopped Grambling State’s athletic department from running over them.

The school needs to cancel the rest of the season to fix these huge problems.

Grambling State has been in the news for the wrong reasons, but the players are more than right.

­— jayljohn@indiana.edu
Follow columnist Jaylen Johnson on Twitter @nelyaJohnsonIDS.