Grambling players walk out on meeting, skip practice
By Tom Fornelli | College Football Writer
The good news for Grambling is that its football team is united. The bad news is that they seem to be united against the school.
Following practice on Tuesday Grambling president Frank Pogue, athletic director Aaron James and student goverment president Jordan Harvey all met with the players. It was a meeting that would end abrubtly as The News Star reports the players would walk out of the meeting. Then when coach George Ragsdale showed up for practice on Wednesday, he found himself alone as his team did not.
“Things are rough, and we understand our players' frustration,” Grambling spokesman Will Sutton told the paper. “The president is frustrated, the A.D. is frustrated, the students are frustrated, the alumni are frustrated, so we fully understand our players' frustration.”
The frustration stems from the fact that the team has lost 17 straight games and coach Doug Williams was fired two weeks into the season. Williams' firing was then followed by the dismissal of defensive line coach Ezil Bibbs a few weeks later. Williams' son, D.J. Williams, is a quarterback on the team, and his firing was interpreted as the result of a power struggle between him and president Pogue.
Pogue addressed Williams' firing with the team -- as well as bus rides to places like Kansas City and Indianapolis and the condition of Grambling's facilities -- during the meeting on Wednesday, but his answers reportedly frustrated the players. One player reportedly voiced his opinion using "disrespectful language" before leading a group of his fellow players out of the room.
The school expects the team to show up for practice on Thursday but doesn't know for sure that they will.
The good news for Grambling is that its football team is united. The bad news is that they seem to be united against the school.
Following practice on Tuesday Grambling president Frank Pogue, athletic director Aaron James and student goverment president Jordan Harvey all met with the players. It was a meeting that would end abrubtly as The News Star reports the players would walk out of the meeting. Then when coach George Ragsdale showed up for practice on Wednesday, he found himself alone as his team did not.
“Things are rough, and we understand our players' frustration,” Grambling spokesman Will Sutton told the paper. “The president is frustrated, the A.D. is frustrated, the students are frustrated, the alumni are frustrated, so we fully understand our players' frustration.”
The frustration stems from the fact that the team has lost 17 straight games and coach Doug Williams was fired two weeks into the season. Williams' firing was then followed by the dismissal of defensive line coach Ezil Bibbs a few weeks later. Williams' son, D.J. Williams, is a quarterback on the team, and his firing was interpreted as the result of a power struggle between him and president Pogue.
Pogue addressed Williams' firing with the team -- as well as bus rides to places like Kansas City and Indianapolis and the condition of Grambling's facilities -- during the meeting on Wednesday, but his answers reportedly frustrated the players. One player reportedly voiced his opinion using "disrespectful language" before leading a group of his fellow players out of the room.
The school expects the team to show up for practice on Thursday but doesn't know for sure that they will.
