On Chris Petersen, OKG, and Racism.

This is a really important topic for UW fans to be talking about. If you have been paying attention to UW news over the last week (and if you were REALLY paying attention for the last year) you will know that there are some problems with the UW program concerning it's perception on race issues. In this post I will be reviewing the events that have led to this point, why it is important, and question whether or not it is valid.

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Background: Last week, THE best player in the history of Washington state (Garfield and Kennedy HS) went out of his way to give an interview with Brandon Huffman of 247 sports saying that he is no longer seriously considering Washington. This news was quite shocking to most UW fans as UW have made him their number 1 priority in recruiting and despite his social media presence showing love to many different schools, UW seemed to get the most consistent praise and posts.

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Word came out quickly after that Oregon coaches and players as well as people in his camp have been telling him that the UW OKG model is racist and elitist, and he should go to a school that creates a better environment for black athletes who don't come from higher income backgrounds.

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Why is this important? There are many reasons to care about this, the first is that is a HORRIBLE reputation for any institution to have, and is especially damaging for one that relies on the recruitment of black athletes for their success. In a more immediate sense, Sav'ell is the best prospect ever to come out of Washington and it is not hyperbole to say he is likely THE single most important recruit in Washington's history (this obviously is looking from a recruit sense not a results sense, Steve Entman is the most important player recruited. You get the point). I can go into further explanation of why Savvy is so important in the comments if you want, but these are legitimately the stakes.

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Is this valid? Here is the real question. Most husky fans look at all this as preposterous. Chris Petersen racist?! The idea seems crazy. I think it will be helpful to break this down further into Perception and Intent.

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Perception: Why it's valid

• UW has recruited a fewer number of black athletes than average, especially black athletes who come from lower income backgrounds
• The culture of the team is very buttoned up and proper. There is no flash and very little fun shown to fans (even though most people say Petersen is an extremely fun guy)
• Petersen and staff expect recruits to behave in a very specific way that often does not align with the upbringing of kids from low socio-economic backgrounds

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It would be easy to write off the obvious callous motivation that Oregon would have for spreading this perception (and christ, why wouldn't they try to keep him away from UW?), there are a few questions to be asked, namely, is there validity to what is being said? and, why haven't they taken the steps to prevent this perception?

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The Coaches Intent

If presented with someone saying that Chris Petersen is racist, I think almost any husky fan would respond with. "Fuck Off." The idea seems absurd! And at the end of the day, I do not believe he is racist. I also believe that he has build a program that provides institutional barriers for African-American athletes from low income backgrounds. By demanding that his recruits and players behave in a very specific way, he is subconsciously saying that if you don't understand and adhere to our culture you aren't good enough.

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Many will respond to my statement above by saying things like "If he doesn't match our standards than we don't want him!" or, "Not everyone is a culture fit!" Both of these have some truth to them, but I would counter with, "If Petersen's culture can't handle a few kids who are outside the norm but are genuinely good kids who want to work hard is his culture real at all?" The answer is we already KNOW what happens when kids who aren't his typical recruit are in his program, they flourish. The holdovers from the Sark years had incredible careers and development under Pete, look at Kevin King, Elijah Qualls, Keishawn Bierria, and many, many more. Kids notice this stuff. They see a program that can be great for them, but they aren't being let in despite having good enough talent because of their background. I don't blame Sav'ell for thinking that is bullshit, even if it's not the true intent. The perception has been enough.

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I hope UW football can take a step forward and start making an environment where everyone feels included. Pete is too good a coach and person to let bullshit like this bring him down, but I do hold him responsible for these problems. One of the reasons I have always loved Pete is because he doesn't just treat his players like meat to throw on the field to kill themselves for him and be used, he genuinely cares about their success. (I have always been a little uncomfortable with how many college teams use black athletes as a means to an end). Let's have a good dialogue, and move forward as a community who doesn't just rip on a kid for making a decision, blame Oregon for all our problems, and has conversations and recognizes these things like adults. We should make everyone understand how amazing Washington is, and why it will make a positive impact on their lives.