During a weekend of protests across North Carolina and the U.S., professional and collegiate coaches have been called on to use their platforms to speak out on the death of George Floyd.
Floyd died while in custody of the Minneapolis Police Department on May 25 when an officer put his knee on Floyd's neck, not allowing him to breathe. Protests started in Minneapolis last week and quickly spread across the country, including in Raleigh where two nights of protests turned violent, leading to Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin setting a city-wide curfew beginning Monday night.
College coaches in the Triangle have heeded that call, taking to Twitter to share their thoughts.
"Unfortunately, there will always be ignorant and heartless people in the world," N.C. State women's basketball coach Wes Moore wrote on Twitter on May 28 _ two days before protests began in Raleigh.
Moore was the first area coach to speak up, before Kevin Keatts, Dave Doeren and others in the area followed suit.
"How do we stop this from happening in the future to our kids, our brothers, or myself?" Wolfpack men's basketball coach Keatts said. "Our path forward must be one of change, peace, compassion towards mankind and a willingness to do better as a collective society."
Doeren, head football coach, retweeted Keatts' official statement before adding his own. He acknowledged his platform as a Power 5 coach, adding that he doesn't use it enough.
He also shared statements from defensive coordinator Tony Gibson and co-offensive coordinator George McDonald:
While some college athletic directors have issued statements on behalf of their entire departments, N.C. State's Boo Corrigan retweeted Keatts' statement and one from Chancellor Dr. Randy Woodson.
Duke Vice President and athletic director Kevin White released a statement from the Duke Athletics Twitter account.
"In this time when obstacles appear greater than before, we must rise to the challenges of enhancing our commitment to honoring our neighbors of all backgrounds with warranted respect, building communities with a foundation of trust and inclusion, and preparing our great nation for future generations that will look to history _ our present _ as a road map for their endeavors," White said.
Duke football coach David Cutcliffe posted a longer response. He and his wife, Karen, adopted their African-American son, Marcus Hilliard, when he was a freshman in high school.
"It's frightening what I've heard from so many young men I love," Cutcliffe said. "I also know many of the finest individuals I've met in my life are police officers. As I see it, the broad brush so many people use to paint a race, a profession, or a culture create the seed of hate and mistrust that continue in our society."
UNC football coach Mack Brown shared his thoughts on May 29, asking people to "listen, learn, empathize."
Men's basketball coach Roy Williams wrote via the team's Twitter account:
"The people of Minneapolis and others around the country who are peacefully protesting injustice have my complete support. What happened to George Floyd is a tragedy and is something we can no longer tolerate as a country."
Mike Krzyzewski, Duke's basketball coach, issued a statement via the team's official Twitter on Monday afternoon.
"No matter how much I love my current and former players and their families, I cannot feel the depth of what they are feeling right now," he said. "I have never experienced what it is like to be a black man in America."
As of 1:30 p.m. Monday, UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham had not released a public statement.
