Let’s give credit where credit’s due – first to Arkansas Razorbacks head football coach, Sam Pittman, for the comments he made yesterday on mental health…& to the SEC & SEC Network for sharing these comments far & wide on social media.
These words were/are so important, I’d love to see every MH advocate sharing them on their pages, even if you’re not a sports fan.
Couple of pieces of background 1) they say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, & 2) most often those old dogs are telling you how much worse they had it “back in their day.” Neither of those clichés are being used by Coach Pittman here – who’s been a coach in college football since 1984 (40 yrs!), & it’s beautiful.
Instead Pittman talked abt how he didn’t even want to have a Twitter, but was told by his university it would help w recruiting, so he obliged.
After a 2-0 start, the team dropped 2 in a row & is now 2-2, which obv fans the flames of keyboard warriors. Pittman says he’s been the target of things like being called fat, having a big chest, & that his players – most recently his punter & his offensive line, have been ripped on, bc they didn’t have the greatest performance last wk.
What he shared was spot on if you go thru slides➡️ & videos:
– Critique my coaching all you want…even my kid’s play. Don’t talk abt me or my players & our personal lives/attributes.
– Kids now have it harder bc of “these” (& he holds up his phone). A guy who’s been coaching for 40yrs admitting that it may be harder on kids now than when he played? What a refreshing take.
– That he has kids on his team in counseling & even HE as a head coach, needs to be a counselor to players at times.
This is such a departure from old school ways: “MH doesn’t exist, or if it does, that’s for the assistant coaches or counseling dept separately.” We need more Coach Pittmans in sports at all levels.
Last slide➡️ awesome to see local media taking this & promoting it as a positive on their pages.
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(👀 Last two posts bc of the topics shared were majorly sUppr&ss&d, if you want to look back & see what you missed ⬇️ (blue & pink slides)).