Creighton Men’s Basketball Coach, Greg McDermott, has offered to resign after racially insensitive comments that he made to his team following a loss. In the locker room after a game, McDermott said “Guys we have to stick together. We need to have both feet in. I need everybody to stay on the plantation. I can’t have anybody leave the plantation.” 

McDermott has now released a statement saying that he is extremely disappointed in himself for the comments that he made and apologizes for the pain that he caused his players. “The pain that I caused my players who look at me as a mentor and as a leader, the pain I saw in their eyes was immense,” McDermott said. The coach added that he has now apologized to all of his players, coaching staff, athletic director and the president of the university. The school has now released a statement that any disciplinary action will remain confidential. 

Although it may be easy to call McDermott a racist and a deplorable human being for his words, at least he had the humility to admit he was wrong for what he said, which is the first step to make change in our behavior. We need to eliminate  “cancel culture” as a societal norm. Who amongst hasn’t said things we aren’t proud of?

Let’s face it, we are all human beings that make mistakes. McDermott should absolutely face disciplinary action for his words, but should he lose his career over one poorly worded statement? I’m not sure. Although in the social climate we are living in currently, it will be hard for Creighton to publicly stand behind their Men’s Basketball coach, that is the leader of a team that is predominantly African-American.