A white baseball supervisor at a Georgia faculty, Valdosta State College, is dealing with criticism for reportedly telling a black participant that he couldn’t be on the group as a result of his lengthy hair, which didn’t adhere to the coach’s guidelines.
The incident was recorded secretly throughout a gathering between the coach, Greg Guilliams, and the previous participant, Asher Akridge, the place Akridge questioned the coach’s choice to take away him from the group due to his hair size.
A TikTok video shared by Akridge from Valdosta State College captured him expressing his respect and compliance with the strict hair coverage to the coach. The coach responded by indicating that if the participant had adopted his directions and lower his hair, he wouldn’t have needed to repeatedly deal with the problem, implying that he had beforehand instructed the participant to trim his lengthy hair on a number of events.
Coach Guilliams, aged 61, accepted partial accountability for not clearly instructing Akridge, aged 21, on methods to adjust to the baseball group’s hair guidelines. Nevertheless, he stays agency in his perception that he was proper in eradicating the school pupil from the group.
Guilliams acknowledged his mistake in failing to offer clear steering from the beginning and admitted that he might have given Akridge the fallacious impression. He acknowledged that each events share some accountability and will have communicated higher. Particularly, he admitted that he ought to have initially outlined the hair necessities and solely allowed Akridge to take part as soon as he complied, which he didn’t do.
Akridge, who initially joined FIU in 2019 and performed for Jacksonville State College in 2022 as a freshman earlier than transferring to Valdosta State, tried to spotlight inconsistencies in Coach Guilliams’ hair coverage.
He identified that different gamers with lengthy hair weren’t faraway from the group, per the video. Nevertheless, Coach Guilliams rejected his argument, stating that they need to not talk about different gamers and reminded Akridge that that they had agreed to not revisit this situation.
Coach Guilliams asserted that he doesn’t care in regards to the opinions of different gamers, emphasizing that the matter is solely between him and Akridge. He questioned why he ought to take into account permitting Akridge again on the group when they’re discussing the identical situation once more. Akridge responded by saying his hair had been lower, however the coach disagreed, stating that it was nonetheless not quick sufficient to satisfy the group’s necessities.
Akridge expresses confusion in regards to the coach’s assertion that his hair isn’t quick sufficient. In response, Guilliams explains that he’s the one who establishes the group’s guidelines and may create them in response to his personal discretion. He reaffirms his authority by stating, “I’m the one which units the principles; I can set no matter rule I would like,” he mentioned, in response to the video seen by the New York Submit.
