Over this past weekend, Louisville women’s basketball coach Jeff Walz laid into the participation trophy culture that seems to run rampant in today’s players and recruits.
It didn’t take long for that post game press conference moment to catch fire and go viral.
WOW Louisville basketball coach SLAMS participation trophy culture and how we as a culture make losing ok. Must watch and share! pic.twitter.com/dvsJVgfFp8
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) December 4, 2016
Today, while Colts head coach Chuck Pagano was talking about Sunday’s match up with the Texans, he referenced Walz’s rant before adding “That ain’t real life. There’s only one trophy.”
Chuck Pagano's on Sunday's game vs. the Texans: pic.twitter.com/BmxljRL9gH
— Zak Keefer (@zkeefer) December 9, 2016
Both coaches have outstanding points.
While it’s fun and popular to rail against the participation trophy culture that has been created, I find it fascinating to reflect on HOW it has become such a problem. How did this entitled culture come to be in the first place? We certainly can’t hold the younger generation accountable – they weren’t the ones begging for the participation trophies. So where does that leave us?
That reminds me of this tweet I saw recently…
College football coaches: Don't complain about the "everybody gets a trophy" culture when you use a 6-6 bowl game bid as a recruiting pitch.
— Jordan Stauber (@JordanStauber) December 2, 2016
