Morgan Scalley no longer suspended

For a text sent in 2013 that included a racial slur.

I’m torn on this. People should be held accountable. But so many have gotten away with much worse (especially in the political arena) and without apology that this seems pretty harsh.

I’m not really torn. This seems like a forgiveable offense. Of course, I haven’t seen the text, and I don’t know its context.

Seems like someone waited a long time for the right moment to share it, though. If not for all the craziness going on right now, this likely doesn’t register.

I would expect his black players (current and past) and teammates to speak up and either defend him as someone who is not racist or condemn him as someone who is.

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The cancel culture is out of control, so I can only hope that the team is allowed to dictate his fate, and not some outsiders with an agenda. The people who work alongside him, and the kids who play for him should be allowed to decide for themselves if this is something that Scalley can overcome. I’ll respect their decision whether they welcome him back into the fold or reject him altogether.

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I know Morgan. I don’t know the context of this, but a suspension and explanation may be in order.

I can tell you this - Morgan takes other cultures seriously, has respect for people from other groups. For example, he’s one of the few coaches I know that take the time to learn how to properly pronounce Polynesian names (which aren’t always easy or intuitive).

I can tell you the innate respect Scalley has for specific players we’ve had that I’ve had conversations with him about - from Robert Johnson to Eric Rowe to Keith McGill to Marcus Williams to Javelin Guidry to Julian Blackmon to Terrell Burgess… going back to teammates like Antoine Sanders and Joe Dale.

Extended conversations reveal what people think. Don’t know what Scalley said to whom, what the context was, but I think we’ll see his players come to his defense.

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I kinda thought we’d have seen it already by now.

Yeah, the timing seems awfully strange. That’s not to give Scalley a pass, but it seems that someone has an axe to grind. IMO, and it’s opinion only, if she really had an issue with it 7 years ago, she should’ve said something seven years ago. Again, just an opinion. I have no knowledge of the situation other than what we’ve seen. This, on Scalley’s part seems to be a lapse of judgement, not a character issue, again, just my opinion. I don’t know him at all, just interviews.

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Yeah. Considering the speed at which news travels in the social media world, the silence is a bit concerning tbh.

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Yeah, and Harlan and Coach Whitt have known for a few days at least. You’d think they’d have players ready.

What a great week this has been.

To those who know Scalley, this seems out of character.

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That’s a fair observation. I think there’s a lot of people in shock. I am. I think Morgan is in hell right now, thinking of how this impacts people he cares a lot about.

We’ll see what happens.

Massive mistake, I think out of character, from being around the guy a fair amount.

Two things. First, not claiming to be an HR expert but this is typical and textbook for this situation. Immediate suspension to distance the person from the (team, business, organization, etc.) “pending an investigation”. I think there will be and should be ramifications for Morgan. How severe they are remains to be seen.

Secondly, I am likewise not a PR expert. But myself, Newbomb, 72, LA (I think) and others are old enough to have lived through Watergate. People weren’t so much pissed at Nixon for breaking into the DNC, they were pissed that he lied and continued to lie about it. Just my thought but based on what we know, here’s what I think would blunt the blow. Take the Andy Pettit approach. Get so far out in front of it and admit everything.

I’ve always said that if a couple of days after Watergate, Nixon would have addressed the nation and said, “Two days ago the DNC headquarters at the Watergate hotel were burglarized. The following members of this administration planned and carried out that operation. (List everyone here) I am the President and I take full responsibility. This is not how America works. These people are fired from this administration immediately.” People would have still been pissed but would have been more likely to accept that Nixon didn’t know and fire everyone as soon as he knew about it. If any of them had turned on him, the sentiment would have been that, hey, they’re just pissed that he fired them and are trying to drag him down with them.

Same with Scalley. Personally I’d trot him and whoever the text was meant for (I’m guessing Shah) out to every radio show, every local sports reporter, every print reporter, blogger, every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in the area. Do the Andy Pettit mea culpa. Yes, I did it. At that time I thought it was light-hearted joshing with a friend (of a different culture if it was Shah). I realized immediately it was wrong. I’ve talked to the coaches involved, I’ve learned a lot about a culture and history that I have never experienced. We came to an agreement, I apologized to them and we agreed it was water under the bridge and we moved on privately. Now that it’s surfaced, I want you to know that if I could go back in time and not speak those insensitive words, I’d do it 1,000 times regardless of the cost. I apologize to all people, regardless of color, for what was a terrible mistake.

It doesn’t make the issue go away but it does tons to address it in the most positive way possible. That and accepting and being as contrite as possible is, as Bryan Cranston said in Argo, “the best bad option we have” in my opinion.

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You’re right, the South is a bit different. I was born in El Paso to a couple of Army brats, grew up on the east bench of Utah, lived in Austin, moved back to Utah, and moved here to Ea. NC. The biggest culture shock for me was moving to and living in Austin. It’s, as folks like to say of Park City, if in Texas but not of Texas. Yet moving to this part of NC, even with the racial differences the culture isn’t terribly different that Utah, socially conservative, family oriented, mostly hard working. The notable difference being the value of education, it’s generally not valued here.

Here in Ea. NC, the population is by a very large majority black. Many are African immigrants, so it’s not fair to use African American. That said, rarely does a day go by that I don’t hear everybody’s “favorite” word, and it doesn’t start with an “F.” It’s just part of the culture here. I don’t hear it often from whites, but it’s not unheard of either, and almost always from the older generation(s), boomers and older. If anyone young says it, and they’re white it’s because of who their friends are, and who they are with at that time. So it’s just everyday slang for some.

As for whether Scalley was looking for an in, or what not is irrelevant IMO. There are some words that you just don’t use, if you’re not part of the culture. Back to the original tweet that started this convo, the timing seems awfully suspicious. Why now, what does she gain from it? What is her axe to grind?

I’m almost positive the Scalley greatly regrets ever using the term.

If Scalley used the n word in a tweet, then I don’t want him representing the U. Period.

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Yeah he screwed up, but this looks like extortion.

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What if he used it in a text?

The question is what was said and does he still withhold these viewpoints?
Give him month without pay and re-education. That’s it. If he doesn’t want to do that, he doesn’t have to.
We should all be held accountable but forgiveness policies like they did after apartheid. Go away, think about it, come back in a month and tell us what you learned.
I think meritorious people are capable of making mistakes.
As we bear witness, those among us help us work towards bliss.
Transparency and dialogue. That’s the only way out of this

I’m sure. Every white person knows not to use that word. I’m sure Scalley is absolutely surrounded by that word. I’m sure he hears music with it all the time, and I’m sure he hears his players use it all the time. And, like Maake pointed out, he surely heard it all the time while recruiting Texas. It sounds like the text was a response to another text. Maybe he was responding in kind.

But, man, everyone knows that word is not okay for white people. Come on, Morgan.

OK, the approach I talked about likely isn’t going to work. Scalley is starting to get called out by former players, most notably Sean Smith & Ryan Lacey. Players also coming to his defense. His claim that, yes, he said it but only once is not a good one.