Ex-NFL player Ray Roberts explains the problem with Tom Izzo’s outburst
Mar 22, 2019, 9:30 PM | Updated: 11:31 pm
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The first round of this year’s NCAA Tournament provided several memorable moments, but one stood out from the others because it wasn’t a key shot in a comeback or stellar showing of athleticism.
NCAA Tournament: Gonzaga-Baylor preview | UW knocks off Utah State
Longtime Michigan State coach Tom Izzo raised eyebrows for how he showed his displeasure with Aaron Henry, a freshman forward for the Spartans, during a timeout in Michigan State’s 76-65 win over Bradley on Thursday. Izzo was shown on camera yelling at Henry, pointing his finger in Henry’s face, and was even restrained by other members of the team before the players returned to the floor.
Tom Izzo goes after Aaron Henry pretty hard. pic.twitter.com/A4KUMT6XWa
— Jordan Heck (@JordanHeckFF) March 21, 2019
Izzo’s outburst didn’t sit right with Seahawks Radio Network analyst Ray Roberts, a former NFL offensive lineman and Lake Washington High School football coach, so he joined Bob, Groz and Tom in the 710 ESPN Seattle studio on Friday to explain why.
“There is nowhere in training for coaching or leadership or any of those types of things where you’re out front and you’re leading a group of people that has the checkmark for (putting) your finger in their face and scream and yell at them in front of… millions of people, and shame, belittle and embarrass them, and then hope that that’s gonna get them fired up,” Roberts said.
It’s an issue that Roberts, who earned a master’s degree in intercollegiate athletic leadership from the University of Washington in 2007, feels particularly passionate about. And it’s something he has experienced on both sides of the conversation.
“I read (the book Season of Life by Jeffrey Marx) cover to cover in about one day because it spoke to what I’ve always thought as a player, and that was that coaching doesn’t need to be screaming and yelling,” Roberts said. “It doesn’t need to be a coach getting into your face, being aggressive, showing aggression with your fist balled up and your face intense and red – it doesn’t require that. And one of the tenets in their book is that it’s not about cursing and shaming but about correcting and encouraging.
“So when I coached at Lake Washington, I had every one of my coaches read the book. They couldn’t start coaching until they read the book, and that’s how we went about coaching. And even within that, I had a moment on the sideline of a game one time. We just weren’t playing well, and I was talking to the team and I got a little amped up, and I had a clipboard in my hand and I snapped the clipboard. The guys ran back onto the field, and this one player stood right beside me and said, ‘Coach, I thought you told us to keep our cool?’ It was just an indication that it did mean something to them, too.”
And when Roberts was a player, he too spoke up when he thought one of his coaches had lost their cool with him in a way that wasn’t productive.
“I’ve had two coaches yell at me like (Izzo yelled at Henry), and both times I’ve had them in their office. I said, ‘You know what, if you want to make this man to man, we can. But if you want to coach me, coach me.’ Because my dad never spoke to me like that, and my dad is as tough as anybody you’ll ever meet. … He never put his hand in my face. He never shamed me in front of people like that. So I’m going to let a coach do that – for football? Nah, it ain’t gonna happen.”
The reason why Roberts found the situation with Izzo alarming is the message it sends to his players that might one day be coaches themselves.
“Someone on Tom Izzo’s team is taking cues to his coaching style, and when they get a chance to coach, they’re gonna coach the same way, because they were coached that way. So it’s a vicious cycle,” Roberts said. “Everything about sports and everything about human interaction evolves, except that type of coaching.”
You can hear the full conversation with Roberts in the player embedded in this post, or you can download it in podcast form at this link.
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