There’s an interesting story at USA Today about CFB head coaches endorsing political candidates.
On the one hand, I kind of sympathize with Mike Leach, who endorsed Donald Trump earlier this year, when he says,
“I think people in general are afraid to take a position on things, and I think it’s sad that our country drifted in that direction,” Leach said. “Some of that started with political correctness. You know, nobody is allowed to say anything unless everybody agrees on it, and we have to guess whether or not they’re going to agree on it before we ever say it. That’s ridiculous. That’s not the country we signed on for and that’s not why not we say the Pledge of Allegiance and have the First Amendment.”
On the other hand, I get this approach, too.
At Texas A&M, the employment contract for football coach Kevin Sumlin says that Sumlin “will not publicly endorse any political figure or cause.” This has been a university policy for A&M employees since 2008.
“The rationale is that coaches are state employees, and they cannot be seen as attempting to influence, elections or political donations,” said Jason Cook, senior associate athletics director at A&M.
Besides, I can see how it would be bad for business. Would Georgia have gotten the change to the open records law it sought if Kirby Smart were an open-throated Bernie Sanders supporter?