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The 2010 NFLPA, Kentucky Chapter Blanton Collier Award
JIM BROWN RECEIVED NFL/COLLIER AWARD ON JUNE 18, 2010
Jim Brown, the Hall of Fame record setting running back for the 1964 World Champion Cleveland Browns, and Founder of the Amer-I-Can Foundation to assist young people who might otherwise fall through society’s cracks came to Lexington to receive the Kentucky Chapter NFL Hall of Fame BLANTON COLLIER AWARD for giving back with integrity off the field as well as on. The BLANTON COLLIER SPORTSMANSHIP GROUP, a non-profit established to promote ethics, education and excellence in athletics joined with the KY Chapter NFL in the presentation of the award and other activities during Brown’s visit to Lexington. Click here for the article.
Retired MLB pitcher Curt Schilling’s article on coaches win if they make their players better people
April 19, 2010
The following is a link to an USA Today article on how coaches win if they make their players better people. Click here for the article.
Cincinnati Bell News Story: NFL combine puts more emphasis on concussions
February 27, 2010
The following is a link to an AP article discussing progress in the NFL concerning concussions. Click here for the article.
Oregon's troubles are traceable to 'the punch'
February 24, 2010
The following is a link to an article discussing the negative signal that may be given to a team when there are no proper consequences for an athlete’s actions.
Oregon's troubles are traceable to 'the punch' Opinion: Six months later, the punch still is reverberating - through a suddenly controversial offseason, through public perception about a string of recent arrests, through the entire Oregon football program. Click here for the article.
Recent Articles on Head Injuries & Football
February 16, 2010
The following are links to three interesting articles concerning repetitive football injuries and what may be done to help eliminate them.
- Time Magazine article 'The Problem with Football: How to Make It Safer'. Click here for the article.
- Time Magazine article 'Texas Football and the Price of Paralysis'. Click here for the article.
- AP article 'Concussion Awareness Grabbing Hold Across the NFL'. Click here for the article.
By Billy Reed January 11, 2010
I’m a founding board member of the Blanton Collier Sportsmanship Group, an organization designed to promote coaching excellence and deplore coaching excess by stressing the principles of the late Cleveland Browns and University of Kentucky football coach.
Collier was both a gentleman and a gentle man – the Tony Dungy of his day. His methods were completely different from the likes of Paul “Bear” Bryant, Woody Hayes, and other coaching icons of the time. He spoke softly, never cursed, and treated his players like human beings at all times.
But because he didn’t win as Bryant had, Collier was fired by UK in 1962 and replaced by Bryant disciple Charlie Bradshaw, who instituted a reign of terror and abuse that even his mentor probably would disavow. He ran off many of Collier’s recruits, most of whom were excellent football players.
The physical and mental torture exacted by Bradshaw and his assistants left scars that are still visible today. In fact, it was a cathartic reunion of the Bradshaw victims that led to the book, “The Thin Thirty,” and the founding of the Blanton Collier Sportsmanship Group.
After leaving UK, Collier replaced his mentor, Paul Brown, as head coach of the NFL’s Cleveland Browns. In 1964, the Browns won the NFL championship with a team built around Jim Brown, the greatest running back in pro history. To a man, the Browns players loved their quiet, scholarly coach.
It is the purpose of our group, first and foremost, to promote the ideals for which Collier stood – education, excellence, and integrity. And I want to make it crystal-clear that we are not anti-coach by any means. We are not about punishment as much as we are about enlightenment.
If you don’t think there’s a need for a group like ours, consider some startling recent developments:
- Mike Mansion resigned at Kansas amid charges that he mistreated his players. He was voted coach of the year by multiple media outlets in 2007 after guiding the Jayhawks to a 12-1 record and an Orange Bowl victory.
- Mike Leach got fired at Texas Tech for reportedly ordering that player Adam James, son of ESPN analyst and former SMU star Craig James, be locked up in a dark place after suffering a concussion. Even at Guantanamo Bay, this would be cruel and unusual punishment.
- South Florida fired Jim Leavitt, who had just completed the second season of a seven-year, $12.6 million contract, after a school investigation concluded that he grabbed one of his players by the throat, slapped him in the face, and then lied about it.
If the Leavitt case sounds familiar, it’s because the charges against him are roughly the same as those lodged against basketball coach Bob Knight in the Neil Reed case. Knight was not fired at the time, but that incident proved to be the beginning of the end for him.
Oh, yeah. Florida State finally forced out Bobby Bowden, a serial cheater, years after it should have. On the way out at Notre Dame, Charlie Weis threw Southern Cal’s Pete Carroll under the bus, implying that he had engaged in an affair with a student.
I’m sure if I keep thinking, I can come up with other examples of coaches behaving badly. This isn’t new, but the culture in American society is. It is clear that educators and parents no longer will tolerate abusive behavior from coaches, no matter how successful they are.
It can only be hoped that the message trickles down to the high-school level, middle-school, and playground levels. For years, far too many coaches have been guilty of trying to imitate the big-name guys they see on TV all the time – especially the ones who do the most ranting and raving.
No telling how many young psyches and bodies have been bruised by some ill-prepared Woody Hayes or Vince Lombardi wannabe. You know the type I’m talking about. Every Little League and Junior Pro League in the nation has a few of them. They are a pox on our society.
Fortunately, the bad coaches are a minority that’s gradually being exposed and eliminated. Today’s aspiring coaches are emulating the likes of Dungy, Urban Meyer, Nick Sabin, Rich Brooks and others who are much closer to Collier philosophically than to the raging taskmasters who have been glamorized by countless books and movies.
A book and made-for-TV movie about Bryant, “The Junction Boys,” illustrated just how abusive the Bear was in his younger days. It’s interesting to wonder how many young coaches watched the movie and then tried to adopt Bryant’s methods. Hell, don’t give those boys any water. The Bear didn’t do it and I’m not, either.
If you are interested in supporting positive coaching methods and eliminating bad ones, if your son or daughter is suffering under a Jim Leavitt or Mike Leach on training wheels, you might want to check out the Blanton Collier Sportsmanship Group’s website, www.CoachCollierGroup.org
Our address is P.O. Box 4052, Midway, Ky., 40347.
Hall of Fame sportswriter joins NSJC
Indiana University School of Journalism Web Report – August 12, 2009
The following press release concerning our Director Billy Reed was released by the Indiana University's School of Journalism.
Sportswriter William F. "Billy" Reed brings 50 years of experience to his new post at the IU National Sports Journalism Center. He visited IU in 2006 as a panelist at a sportswriting workshop.
William F."Billy" Reed, a former senior writer for Sports Illustrated and a national hall of fame sportswriter and author, will teach at Indiana University's National Sports Journalism Center this fall.
Reed will teach two courses as an adjunct faculty member at the center located at the IU School of Journalism at IUPUI.
"As I pass the 50th anniversary of my career in journalism, I'm thrilled to have this opportunity to work with the sports journalists of the future," Reed said. "The craft I love is changing, not dying, and it's comforting to know that by establishing this center, IU is embracing the challenges of change in a positive and exciting way."
Tim Franklin, the center's director and the Louis A. Weil, Jr. Endowed Chair at the School of Journalism, said Reed is a nationally accomplished sports writer who will inspire students to be the best in the industry.
"Billy Reed is exactly the kind of instructor one expects in America's premier sports journalism center," said Franklin, former editor of The Baltimore Sun who joined IU in January. "He has covered many of the biggest sports stories in the world over the course of his illustrious career, and he's done it for a magazine tha t is the gold standard for outstanding sports writing. He also brings a passion to teach and help students prepare for a career in sports media. We're thrilled to have someone with his credentials in our program."
Reed is as member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Hall of Fame, the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame and the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame. He has won National Headliner Awards for investigative reporting and sports columns and a national Sigma Delta Chi Award for general reporting. He has been named Kentucky Sports Writer of the Year eight times.
"Impressive as his achievements are, they run a distant second to his passion for the practice of the craft," said Dave Kindred, a former long-time sports columnist for The Washington Post and an NSJC advisory board member. He also is a member of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame and is a winner of the Red Smith Award for lifetime achievement in sports journalism. "He believes the unchanging fundamentals of journalism are the foundation of storytelling that works anywhere anytime."
Reed worked two stints at Sports Illustrated for a total of 29 years, the last 10 of which he had the title senior writer. Reed also was sports editor and columnist for the (Louisville) Courier-Journal from 1977 to 1986. He later was a sports columnist for the (Lexington, Ky.) Herald-Leader. He has authored or contributed to 14 books. In recent years, he has been a public relations e xecutive for the State of Kentucky in various capacities.
In the fall semester, Reed will two teach sports journalism courses: J154 Introduction to Sports Journalism: Controversy, Conflict and Characters, and J152 Introduction to Sports Media in Society. Those classes will be based at the IUPUI campus in Indianapolis, but also offered via videoconference to students in Bloomington. They are two of the four courses being offered to students this fall as part of the NSJC's new curriculum.
Minnifield Honored
LOUISVILLE, Ky. July 23, 2009 -- Frank Minnifield, a founding board member of the Blanton Collier Sportsmanship Group, Inc. was one of four former players honored at the Governor's Cup festivities kicking off the countdown to the Kentucky-Louisville football game on Sept. 19 in Commonwealth Stadium. The winning team receives the Governor's Cup, sponsored by Kroger's.
Minnifield was an outstanding defensive back and kick returner at Louisville in the late 1970s. Although he wasn't a high draft pick, he became an All-Pro cornerback for the Cleveland Browns and, with teammate Hanford Dixon, founded the "Dawg Pound," which has become an institution at Browns' home games. After making a good play, Minnifield and Dixon would bark at each other like dogs, a practice that quickly was adopted by fans in the end zone.
Naturally, then, Minnifield was greeted with barks when he was introduced at the Governor's Cup dinner and silent auction on July 22 at the Henry Clay in Louisville. More barking ensued the next day when he was introduced again at the luncheon and press conference built around head coaches Rich Brooks of Kentucky, a member of the BCSG advisory board, and Steve Kragthorpe of Louisville.
"This is a great honor and I appreciate it very much," said Minnifield, a graduate of Henry Clay High School in Lexington. "Coach Fran Curci didn't recruit me at Kentucky so I had to walk on at Louisville. But things worked out pretty well and I'm grateful for the opportunity to play football both in college and the NFL.
Minnifield and John Madyea, a quarterback for the Cards and then-coach Lee Corso in the early 1970s, were this year's Louisville honorees. The Kentucky honorees were Bob Hardy, who quarterbacked the Wildcats to three consecutive wins over Tennessee in the 1950s, and Joe Federspiel, an all-Southeastern Conference linebacker in 1970 who went on to a stellar NFL career with the New Orleans Saints.
All proceeds from the Governor's Cup festivities -- dinner, silent auction, media luncheon, and golf scramble -- go to Visually Impaired Preschool Services, an organization that helps young children who have vision problems.
After his retirement from the NFL, Minnifield returned to Lexington and launched a successful business career. He's a member of the Kentucky Chapter of the NFL Hall of Fame and the U of L board of directors.
The 2009 NFLPA, Kentucky Chapter Blanton Collier Award
The Recipient Of The 2009 NFLPA, Kentucky Chapter Blanton Collier Award – Coach Tony Dungy!
Coach Tony Dungy, retired head coach of the Indianapolis Colts and the Tampa Bay Bucaneers has been named the recipient of the 2009 NFLPA- Kentucky Chapter's 3rd Annual Blanton Collier Award for INTEGRITY ON AND OFF THE FIELD. He was presented the award at the 7th annual Kentucky Chapter NFL Hall of Fame Ceremony on Friday evening, June 19th, at the Opera House in Lexington, Kentucky.
Most Caring Coach
Picked from 1,503 nominees to USA Weekend, three mentors stood tall.
By Allyson Dickman, Vicki Kriz and Adaora Otiji USA Weekend 5/29/09-5/31/09
FOR THE 17th year, readers nominated outstanding youth coaches who inspire their young charges. Our judges chose three winners from 10 finalists. Each receives $1,000 and will be honored this summer by the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame. One of the three finalists is coach Danny Carothers from Bowling Green, KY.
Helping boys keep their eyes on the ball and on what's important
Danny Carothers, 48, has found concrete ways to support the 10- to-12-year old boys he coaches on the west side of Bowling Green, where youth football is more than an outlet. Many of Carothers' players have no male role model, and some come from homes where poverty, drugs and abuse are present.
"Carothers believes the anger and aggressiveness the players take out on the field begins at home," says nominator Elizabeth Lauer.
Off the field, the father of six treats the boys to outings like skating and high school football games, meals and hanging out at his house with his 12-year-old son. He invites community leaders - policemen, doctors, teachers and former players - to talk to his boys. "The older kids see they are important as role models, and the younger kids see what they can achieve," says Ron Whitlock. Carothers, Whitlock and and four other men also helped start West Side Camp, a summer enrichment program held on Whitlock's farm for boys on and off the team. "He wholeheartedly gives of himself," says team mom Judy Burnam. "It's him seeing a need and not wanting these kids to fall short and not fall into the wrong hands."
Carothers is a long-term figure in his players' lives. "Their motto is 'Once a Bear, always a Bear,' " says Roger LaPoint, whose son played for Carothers. "Danny's their surrogate father - they want to share their accomplishments with him - and he's there to support them."
"Danny was my role model as a kid," adds former Bear Jared Carpenter, now at Northwestern University. "He was the man who made the game fun. We played hard for him because you never knew when he would come get you and take you out for ice cream. When I grew up, he kept me confident, always complimenting me and always watching me play even though he wasn't coaching me. He became more of a mentor for me and one of my biggest fans."
More important, he keeps the boys active in their community. The Bears regularly visit residents at a local nursing home and distribute Thanksgiving turkeys to neighbors. One year, the boys met an old friend of Carothers who was raising her two grandchildren while battling cancer. With a little encouragement from their coach, the players brought that family a Christmas dinner and gifts, and some of the boys gave the family $5 of their own allowance.
Carothers has taken players in and has them over on weekends. And when a player needs anything - from a coat to a hot meal - the coach is there to provide it, either from his own pocket or gathered help from the community.
To Carothers, the wins on the field don't matter. His greatest joy comes from simply being with his young men. "I get to interact with these kids - it gives me a chance to be very close to them," Carothers says. "It's all about knowing that you've got them around you for a couple of hours every week."
Let's Stop Tolerating All Abusive Coaches
By Mike Giuliano – April 10, 2005
Dr. Mike Giuliano was the women's soccer coach at San Diego State at the time of this article.
He yelled profanities at our kids. He called them names. He became a serious challenge to the development of their self-esteem. He was spiteful toward them. He was downright mean to them.
And we paid him many thousands of dollars to do all of this to our sons and daughters.
I know, scores of columnists and talk-show hosts have lamented the sorry state of youth coaching in our society. They scare us with stories of abuse, both physical and mental, all in the name of winning. And yet, every week, I hear and see score and scores of atrocities that don't make it on the talk-show circuit.
As a Division I collegiate soccer coach, much of my time is spent patrolling the sidelines in search of the next Mia Hamm. Add to that many more hours I spend cheering on my three kids as they play their various sports of choice. I see lots of youth coaching, from the AYSO volunteer parent-coach to the club coach making nearly six figures to run a nationally ranked program. And at all of those levels, I still cannot believe what I see and hear: 10-year-old boys being screamed at by red-faced volunteer coaches, and 18-year-old girls being called the vilest of things, simply because they are not playing up to the standards of their coach.
Last summer I attended a high-powered club tournament in the East. I had the unfortunate opportunity to witness a coach in the middle of a halftime meltdown. With sweat streaming down his face, he proceeded to direct a profanity-laced assault at almost every player on the team. To win this tournament meant scholarships for all of them to major colleges, he screamed, adding that their uninspired play was sure to sicken the recruiters, just as it sickened him. On and on he went, and yet the parents of the players sat nearby through it all, straining to hear with one ear while exchanging chatter about the latest community gossip with the other.
One of those parents was in my office a few weeks later, explaining to me why his daughter was truly Mia II. The subject of his daughter's club coach came up.
"Yeah, the guy is certifiably insane," he began. "But, hey, he makes them into winners. Before he came, they hadn't won the league title in over five years!" The father didn't scream at his child (at least not that I knew of). The father didn't belittle her ability or her weight or her lack of heart in front of her friends. The father didn't find the most sarcastic ways possible to tell her how she was ruining it all for her teammates. But he paid another man handsomely to do it instead.
It is not getting better, and, in my view, in many circles it is getting worse.
At the high school level, there is so much concern over the price of college that any coach who may increase our children's chances of securing an athletic scholarship is treated with reverence, regardless of his or her demeanor. It is often worse at the college level, for the financial stakes are even higher for the institution. And, sadly, it is often just as bad at the youth level.
The outcome of all of this has been well-documented in scores of studies of childhood development. These kids are more likely to develop serious self-esteem problems. These kids are more likely to marry abusive spouses. These kids are more likely to abuse their own spouses, for they have learned that verbal abuse unleashed for a "good cause" is justified.
We wouldn't let classroom teachers talk to our kids this way. We may not even let parents publicly treat their own kids this way. And yet, our pragmatically driven approach to youth sports causes us to turn a deaf ear and a blind eye when such behavior is accompanied with on-field success.
The youth/collegiate sports community must come to embrace three truths:
1) While fear and intimidation can motivate us, the negative by-products of such behavior far outweigh the advantages.
2) What our kids learn in the arena of sport, they will practice in society.
3) It doesn't have to be this way. At every level of sport, there are great examples of coaches who motivate and teach their athletes with compassion instead of anger. They teach us that winning and learning and fun and respect and dignity can all play in the same orchestra, often with stunning results.
But if we can't change youth sports culture overnight, we can at least change the future of our own children. Never, ever let your child play for a coach who has forgotten that at the end of the day, it is still just a game. Never, ever let your child be taught that verbal harassment has a useful purpose in society. If we just rescue one child at a time, perhaps one day the abusive coach will end up with no kids left to abuse.