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U Washington HC Jody Wynn Statement

 
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osubeavers



Joined: 07 Jan 2017
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PostPosted: 06/03/20 1:49 pm    ::: U Washington HC Jody Wynn Statement Reply Reply with quote

https://twitter.com/DejaStrother/status/1267329788835815430

This will get some comment.



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LitePal



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PostPosted: 06/03/20 3:09 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

That was a few days ago and overall, not a lot of publicity.

Wynn has also deleted her Twitter account, which is not a good sign.


Stormeo



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PostPosted: 06/03/20 3:32 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

I did see her original statement on her twitter, which has now apparently been de-activated if not deleted. People were calling her out on it here & there, and she was responding to them civilly last I saw, but now this. The team's twitter account never made a statement other than participating in #BlackOutTuesday (which, if that's all you're doing, ya may as well do nothing at all!). In my opinion, the original statement is pretty messy, yet somehow still not the worst statement I've seen from an official - I think she even tried releasing another one? (unconfirmed since she deleted her twitter and it's not on the team's twitter!) But she makes several gaffes in her original and appears very out of touch. It shouldn't take having black family members - or even friends - to care about achieving a racially equal society & world. And everyone should know not to say, "All lives matter" or "I don't see color" at this point - both phrases side-step the notion that black people largely don't feel that they live in a world where they're on equal footing thereby invalidating their experience of living as a person of color. "I see your color, acknowledge your experience with your color, and will aim to uplift your voice." is something more in the ballpark, as an example. "Black, brown, yellow..."?? Whew, that was quite a way to end a paragraph in a statement with this subject matter.

For potential context about where this is coming from: Déja Strother was part of the Wynn regime her last two years but never played a single game and had medically retired by the start of her senior year due to a foot injury. Still, she was never off the team at any point as an active student. Although, Wynn always said she wanted her system to feature post players who could 'run the floor' - and Strother just wasn't that type of player. So now it seems like it's possible that Strother and Wynn clashed and it might've led to Strother simply choosing to sit out. I'd hate for that to be the reason - Strother's 6'5 and a former Top-100 prospect. We could've used her badly at the time. That'd be a colossal screw-up by Wynn if Strother was actually healthy for any part of the time and could've played if there weren't these kinds of tensions going on at the time.

Heck, another notable former player (Aari McDonald, who of course transferred to Arizona soon after Neighbors left & Wynn took over) 'liked' Strother's tweet - maybe this contributed to why she left so quickly. Additionally, one of our other former players, Talia Walton (who if you’ll recall was a big part of our Final-4 run and got drafted almost solely because of it), also retweeted Strother's statement and added her own commentary in a separate tweet that same day, a tweet that Kelsey Plum herself retweeted. Until this past school year where Plum wasn't playing overseas and worked out with the team on multiple occasions, she had been pretty distant publicly from UW's WBB program since she graduated. Maybe this will make her distant again.

Another possibly relevant tidbit: One of our walk-ons who was awarded a scholarship and played in 2018-2019 actually disappeared from the roster by last December. No one commented on it and the reasons why were never made public. Could she have left because of this body-shaming culture? Who knows anymore.

From what I've seen, neither the current players nor other former players have released any statement one way or another about this. As it relates to the allegation of Wynn not believing in mental illness, one of our former players who graduated at the same time Strother did (Spring 2019) publicly revealed her battle with depression and Wynn did talk about it; It didn't seem like Wynn didn't take it seriously. But Strother was on the team then, fwiw, so she would know what the truth really was behind the scenes.

We have four incoming players for 2020. We already have three verbal commits for 2021. I'm not ready to write Wynn off yet (ok, I am, but not necessarily like this), mostly because this seemingly hasn't yet gained a whole lot of traction. Maybe it never will. And even if more players start speaking their mind, and/or if players start de-committing/transferring, we're in the middle of a pandemic where universities can't really afford to fire any head coaches. The AD's hands are tied unless Wynn resigns. Regardless, I hope an investigation of some sort occurs and players that know/have played under Wynn start making public statements if they have anything meaningful (but particularly bad) to say. Maybe this isn't the right way to look at it, but to me, the fans have a right to know if any coach/coaching staff has been mistreating their players in any way.

Boy, that 'family' culture she's been trying to build really hasn't gotten her anywhere thus far...


calbearman76



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PostPosted: 06/03/20 4:49 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

This is very troubling. Talking of a color blind society is in many ways a goal, and in most circumstances I am able to accept this type of comment in a more accepting way. But this is a basketball coach at a major university. This is someone who must relate to all of her players and must understand the different backgrounds from which they come. And she must understand not only the words themselves but also how they are interpreted in this day and time.

Her statement about mental health is also problematic. Dealing with 18-21 year old women she must show compassion and an ability to relate. Taken together we see a coach who is out of touch with the times and unable to understand her players.

I have previously supported Wynn based on some discussions I had with Long Beach St. boosters I met in Las Vegas during her first season at U-dub. They had driven to Vegas in large part to root on their team's former coach. From what they said I believed that she was someone who could rebuild a program that was left in tatters by Mike Neighbors. I no longer believe that.


Stormeo



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PostPosted: 06/03/20 10:16 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

UPDATE: Wynn re-activated her twitter account (you can find her revised version of her original statement from May 31 that she re-posted as a tweet thread here) and posted an apology for her original remarks. You can find her apology here. The quick de-activation sure seemed like a total overreaction. Her critics (of which there really weren't that many, probably because of how much disinterest there is in our mediocre program) called her out more for her poor coaching, recruiting, and player development than they did for those comments. Laughing

Wynn doesn't address Strother's accusations at all. Although, I have no idea how she'd touch that flaming hot mess, especially since as we said above, the allegations haven't really picked up steam yet. It looks like she's choosing to sweep them under the rug entirely and hope they go away, rather than address them with a head-on denial in order to avoid bringing them publicity and them gaining traction that way. We'll see how that decision pans out...

Too, the apology was retweeted by the team's official account. What a cringy way for the team account to address these historic times - a 'blackout' post and an apology from the coach. And nothing else. Rolling Eyes

I'm very intrigued to see the coming responses to this, particularly from Strother (amongst other players). Regardless of Wynn completely screwing up her own imperfect message about race, she should absolutely get canned if anything that Strother accused her of is true. That's why I really hope we hear from other players who may have a similar experience to Strother's. It'll be tough for Strother if she ends up being on an island with what she's alleging.


ClayK



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PostPosted: 06/04/20 10:54 am    ::: Reply Reply with quote

Deja Strother was a big, slow post who couldn't defend man-to-man and was limited offensively. She might have fit in the game 15 or 20 years ago, but not now ...

And from my understanding, she wasn't the most willing worker or flexible player.

Wynn's tweet has its own issues, but I don't think her decision on Strother, healthy or otherwise, should be part of any criticism of that tweet.



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Howee



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PostPosted: 06/04/20 10:58 am    ::: Re: U Washington HC Jody Wynn Statement Reply Reply with quote

osubeavers wrote:
https://twitter.com/DejaStrother/status/1267329788835815430

This will get some comment.


Hmmm. Pardon my ignorance, but....in viewing the OP here, I can't get too offended by what she wrote. What's the offensive part, that she wrote "All Lives Matter"...?? Cuz I can't deem that as 'offensive'. It's preceded by the listing of all *colors* of race, so....

If I'm missing something, please inform.

[Qualifier: I know little-to-nothing about her as a coach, don't follow U-Dub at all, but am going strictly by the words posted in the tweet]



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Stormeo



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PostPosted: 06/04/20 11:44 am    ::: Reply Reply with quote

ClayK wrote:
Deja Strother was a big, slow post who couldn't defend man-to-man and was limited offensively. She might have fit in the game 15 or 20 years ago, but not now ...

And from my understanding, she wasn't the most willing worker or flexible player.

Wynn's tweet has its own issues, but I don't think her decision on Strother, healthy or otherwise, should be part of any criticism of that tweet.


I wasn't trying to conflate Wynn's statement with Strother's allegations. Apologies if that's how it came across. I was really speculating aloud what had actually taken place in the past with Strother, amongst others, as they relate to her allegations. There's a good chance she really was injured her entire last two years and Wynn couldn't have played her even if she wanted to. However, these allegations open the door for doubting that and giving historical details (which were mundane at the time) like Strother's injury more scrutiny.

As for your analysis of Strother, we'll have to agree to disagree on how much she would've helped the team. In Strother’s first two years, she didn’t play much but was always recording blocks. She would’ve at least been some sort of defensive presence as a big body in the lane. The team had no players above 6’1 in Strother’s third year/Wynn’s first year and one player (a freshman) above 6’1 in Strother’s last/Wynn’s second. I get the notion that Strother wouldn’t have deserved playing time due to maybe not being a hard worker, but the bottom line is, Wynn needed someone like Strother for her own sake. Strother would’ve single-handedly affected the entire play of the team. Wynn not using her if she were healthy at any point would’ve only hurt Wynn herself. A better record & use of a ‘homegrown’ 6’5 player would’ve had a bigger effect on general fan opinion and on recruiting.

And just this past year, Wynn could only watch as two local-area Top-100 post products committed to Cal, one committed to ASU, and maybe the worst one: the younger, taller sister of our Australian post player chose Utah over UW. The ‘family culture’ pitch couldn’t even work on someone who was literally family. So I can’t say for sure playing Strother would’ve helped, but I just don’t think it would’ve hurt.




Last edited by Stormeo on 06/04/20 1:29 pm; edited 1 time in total
Stormeo



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PostPosted: 06/04/20 12:01 pm    ::: Re: U Washington HC Jody Wynn Statement Reply Reply with quote

Howee wrote:
Hmmm. Pardon my ignorance, but....in viewing the OP here, I can't get too offended by what she wrote. What's the offensive part, that she wrote "All Lives Matter"...?? Cuz I can't deem that as 'offensive'. It's preceded by the listing of all *colors* of race, so....

If I'm missing something, please inform.


I’ve written a sh!t-ton on this topic page thus far, so anyone is forgiven if they missed my two-cents on the original statement in my first post:

Stormeo wrote:
It shouldn't take having black family members - or even friends - to care about achieving a racially equal society & world. And everyone should know not to say, "All lives matter" or "I don't see color" at this point - both phrases side-step the notion that black people largely don't feel that they live in a world where they're on equal footing thereby invalidating their experience of living as a person of color. "I see your color, acknowledge your experience with your color, and will aim to uplift your voice." is something more in the ballpark, as an example. "Black, brown, yellow..."?? Whew, that was quite a way to end a paragraph in a statement with this subject matter.


To add on to the last part, Wynn did specify black lives in the sentence before, but then went on to mention ‘brown’ which is typically attributed to non-black people of color (Latinx, Native American, Indian, some Asians, etc.), and then ‘yellow’. The heart of this issue is strictly about black lives and how they feel they’re treated, so any official making statements should only address black lives if they’re going to talk about a specific race in a general sense in order to keep the focus on where it should be.

On top of that, the original statement has one or two missing words/sentences that need grammatical revision, which contributes to the idea that it just wasn't carefully written or well thought-out in general. Hope that clears things up!


vossy



Joined: 13 Aug 2019
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PostPosted: 06/06/20 12:01 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

Sometimes when you are not a fan of someone for whatever reasons, you can find flaws in everything they do.

Usually criticisms of "All lives matter" and "I don't see color" are directed at people who either deny racism or just want to move on without addressing systemic racism and existing disparities that need to be remedied. This isn't Jody Wynn. She is married to a black man and they have two daughters together -- do you really think she is clueless about what black people experience?

As for brown and yellow, unaccounted for numbers of brown refugee children are still separated from their parents and yellow people have been attacked for "starting the China virus"; they are also victims of racism. I understand that referencing them detracts from what blacks have experienced and still experience in this country, and that black voices are important and necessary to hear (and I want to hear them, just to be clear).

Could her initial statement have been better articulated, quicker, more polished, sure. She has tried to remedy that, and I believe she is sincere.


bcdawg04



Joined: 12 Apr 2016
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PostPosted: 06/12/20 3:05 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

I don't think "yellow" is an acceptable racial term/label. Maybe at some point the language surrounding how we discuss race will evolve to the point where it is a socially acceptable racial term, but currently, it is not.

Coach Wynn made a poorly-worded statement and then acknowledged her error and apologized for it. OK. Words matter, but I won't judge her based on the initial statement.

Strother's tweet, though, is alarming. Sounds like Cohen needs to have a heart to heart with her student athletes and some of the recent grads.


Stormeo



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PostPosted: 06/14/20 2:01 am    ::: Reply Reply with quote

Well it looks like nothing's going to come of any of it. I can get over Wynn's fiasco-level handling of her own statements about current events, but it's very disappointing how Strother's allegations about Wynn haven't seemed to amount to anything. No other past or present player to my knowledge has spoken out in support of or against them specifically, so the chances of an official investigation being conducted to look into them only dwindle as each day passes. They simply never gained any traction to warrant one - not that that's how it should work. Conversely, the chances that Strother's perception/poor experience was just an outlier seem to grow (too, she hasn't re-addressed her allegations since her original post, fwiw). No matter what the real truth is, it's clear that Strother has a lot of disdain for Wynn, which is a shame.

Anyway, whenever Wynn's time is up as Head Coach here, I'm just hoping that by then, this Seattle-area-raised guy will still be available and make himself available for the position.


willtalk



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PostPosted: 06/23/20 3:38 pm    ::: Re: U Washington HC Jody Wynn Statement Reply Reply with quote

Howee wrote:
osubeavers wrote:
https://twitter.com/DejaStrother/status/1267329788835815430

This will get some comment.


Hmmm. Pardon my ignorance, but....in viewing the OP here, I can't get too offended by what she wrote. What's the offensive part, that she wrote "All Lives Matter"...?? Cuz I can't deem that as 'offensive'. It's preceded by the listing of all *colors* of race, so....

If I'm missing something, please inform.

[Qualifier: I know little-to-nothing about her as a coach, don't follow U-Dub at all, but am going strictly by the words posted in the tweet]


The standards for what is PC in respect to a prespective on race has moved at hyperspeed. In our not that distant past there was a relatively clear defnition as to what was not going to be racist or a racist implied statement. Her situaton gave her a fasle sense of security that she would not be consdered racially insensitive. Well surprise! It is obvious that PC is not really about race but a method o more the bar to a place so that anyone who does not support a political agenda will be labeled and put on the defensive as racist and insensitive. the tearing down and defancing statues of pople like US Grant who was the first Civil rights president are an example of that the ends actually are.

It's a great tactic if you can manipulate opinion to the point that anyone that does not agree with you social or political agenda can be labled as racist or insensative Of course no on considers how insenstative it is to the person that is labeled a racist or insensative to social justice.



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calbearman76



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PostPosted: 06/25/20 12:44 am    ::: Re: U Washington HC Jody Wynn Statement Reply Reply with quote

willtalk wrote:
Howee wrote:
osubeavers wrote:
https://twitter.com/DejaStrother/status/1267329788835815430

This will get some comment.


Hmmm. Pardon my ignorance, but....in viewing the OP here, I can't get too offended by what she wrote. What's the offensive part, that she wrote "All Lives Matter"...?? Cuz I can't deem that as 'offensive'. It's preceded by the listing of all *colors* of race, so....

If I'm missing something, please inform.

[Qualifier: I know little-to-nothing about her as a coach, don't follow U-Dub at all, but am going strictly by the words posted in the tweet]


The standards for what is PC in respect to a prespective on race has moved at hyperspeed. In our not that distant past there was a relatively clear defnition as to what was not going to be racist or a racist implied statement. Her situaton gave her a fasle sense of security that she would not be consdered racially insensitive. Well surprise! It is obvious that PC is not really about race but a method o more the bar to a place so that anyone who does not support a political agenda will be labeled and put on the defensive as racist and insensitive. the tearing down and defancing statues of pople like US Grant who was the first Civil rights president are an example of that the ends actually are.

It's a great tactic if you can manipulate opinion to the point that anyone that does not agree with you social or political agenda can be labled as racist or insensative Of course no on considers how insenstative it is to the person that is labeled a racist or insensative to social justice.


It should be remembered that the initial issue was over mental health and she didn't handle that well. That put her under the microscope and her attempt to clean this up tripped her up further. None of this is to say she is racist. But as someone who is leading young women she should have been more in tune with what her words could be taken to mean.

Racism isn't the issue; the way these words are heard is the problem.


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