If you're talking about my post the other day, I wasn't at all saying CP was trying to put anyone in their place. I'm simply loving the contrast we're getting to see between a guy who lives and breathes diversity and inclusion compared with academic/administrative people who use it to leverage their way into power, with rules of engagement about what can and can't be said, who can be hired based on their allegiance to DEI principals (see Kennedy), and so on. And yes, again, I wasn't fair in my comments about the people in that meeting. My venting was misdirected. My fault.

I do expect, though, that CP is making a bunch of CU staff who are all in on the DEI stuff uncomfortable. He's saying things the DEI people I work around would sh!t themselves over - "I have nicknames for all my players. We have black snapper, black punter, Si Senior " "What about you, sweatheart?" "Let's get started with a prayer." So are we really inclusive? Are we OK with CP taking the way he talks and doing the things he does based on his beliefs, cracking jokes I'd get fired for, using terms I'd get fired for, openly expressing his religious beliefs while representing CU? I hope we are, because I think it will make CU better and it will be part of creating a winning environment.

I have no desire to get partisan - donkey vs elephant. But I really do want CU to be forced to face what I think is a politically motivated, one-sided image they project that happens to be a-OK with people of one political persuasion but alienates the other side. IMO, the politics at CU has directly affected athletics - support for the program, ability to hire good coaches, ability to recruit. DEI everywhere + bogus Title IX compliance policies/punishments + academic elitism. I hope CP's example absolutely sucks the air out of the politics of DEI and makes it more genuine - like how about if some of the CU faculty show up with some football players to the high schools in my area that are 50% Hispanic, hand out CU t-shirts, go class-to-class to encourage those kids to consider CU, tell them how much they want them there, setup meetings with their parents to explain financial aid, help them get scholarships instead of letting them figure it out on their own or relying on HS counselors, etc. Since the DEI people apparently could never get it done, it would be great if CP's reign forces CU to accept perfectly legit transfer credits from places like JSU, so we can compete forevermore in the portal. And CU needs to go out of their way to avoid the perception of virtue signalling and be genuine like CP is. If it keeps going the way it's going, with CP as the ambassador of CU, the state will be Black and Gold from Utah to Kansas before we even win a game, and it wasn't trending that way before at all. Lots of people I've talked with over the past 15 years feel completely disconnected from CU for many of the same reasons I gripe about related to CU's perceived politics and elitism, not just because of 1-11 seasons. Maybe a state full of CU fans can legit compete with other P5 schools to fund NIL efforts, get the damn games on in every sports bar, force the Coloradans for Nebraska to stay home, and be relevant again.



[Post edited by Gonzo at 01/20/2023 02:17AM]