‘The best thing I can do is listen’: Matt Rhule on learning from others leading to change
Panthers head coach Matt Rhule is not typically short on words.
Wednesday was no different. Rhule, conducting his first press conference since the NFL draft in late April, started with a five minute statement on the recent events around the country following the death of Minneapolis resident George Floyd while in police custody.
But this time Rhule said that he still felt compelled to speak out publicly as demonstrations continue across the country.
“I want to look back sometime and have my kids and my grandkids say, ‘well, my mom and dad, they were on the right side of history,’ and it’s time for a change,” Rhule said.
He spoke with the team Friday, canceling a comedian that was scheduled to come speak during their virtual meetings because “it didn’t feel like now was the time to get up there and start laughing.”
The team released a statement Saturday stating, “The Carolina Panthers send our deepest condolences to the Floyd family and all who have been impacted by the cruel and senseless death of George Floyd. The Floyd family has faced this tragedy with extraordinary grace and dignity. We must work together and take meaningful, sustained action to find solutions and enact change that is so desperately needed to end racial and social injustice. We are committed to doing our part.”
Rhule shared that the team’s statement was written with the player impact committee, which team owner David Tepper made sure was involved.
In the early portion of the week, Panthers players did everything from demonstrating in a “justice walk” in Charlotte — Shaq Thompson, Tre Boston, Andre Smith, Chris Manhertz and Ian Thomas all participated — to Reggie Bonnafon helping clean up his hometown of Louisville following demonstrations. Rhule said that those weren’t things they asked him about doing and that he wants the players to use their voices.
Over the course of the more than 45-minute press conferece, Rhule touched on a variety of topics, but largely shared his thoughts on the race issues in the country today. There will come a time for more football talk. Here’s some of what he had to say, edited and condensed for clarity:
Opening thoughts:
Rhule: “As I sit there at night and I watch the news with my kids, my 15-year old, seven-year old, I have a four year old about to turn five, it’s really clear to me, I can’t speak for other people, I can only speak for me, but what’s clear to me is that history will look back at where we stood in this time. And I know that my kids, when little Leona is in college, 14 years from now, they’ll look back at this time and this place, and they’ll want to know where their father stood, where their mother stood, you know, our grandkids will want to know where we stood in this time. And that’s a tremendous thing to think about. And I know what it means for me is that I know I can’t shy away from this moment. I don’t think any of us can shy away from this moment. It is time for a fundamental change in our societies, it’s time for a fundamental change in the way that we do things, and I certainly don’t have all the answers, but I know as for me, for my house and for the way that I do things, it’s up to me to find every which way that I can have a fundamental change, it’s important that we make statements, but it’s really important that those statements lead to discourse, which eventually leads to action.
“… I’m a big Bob Dylan fan, so many years ago he sang so eloquently, ‘the times they are a changin,’’ but you sit there and say, have they really?’ And if they haven’t changed, and it appears they haven’t when you turn on the news and then it’s time for a change. As white men, white women, as white people, we might sometimes feel afraid to participate in the discussion but it’s time for us to do so.”
On having conversations with players:
“I think it’s just been a conversation and it’s really just been being there for each other. As I said, as a white man sitting there talking to Shaq (Thompson), what’s the best thing I can do? The best thing I can do is listen. I can’t understand what it’s like to have racism pressed against me. I can try to understand, but I can’t understand it. The best I can do though is listen to the guys who dealt with it, and allow me to understand where they’re coming from, so I can better understand what they’re saying, so I can make changes in my life, if that makes sense. So I think just that discourse has been the thing.”
On the topic of players kneeling during the national anthem:
“I’ve always supported our players when they’ve decided to make statements. Players making a statement, whatever way that they do it, whether it’s with their voice, whether it’s on social media. To me, I’ve never had an issue with that. So, I don’t know where people will turn moving forward, but as I move forward, I want to make sure our players understand that I’m going to always support them. When you make a statement, there’s always a responsibility behind that and so I think that’s why I’m very careful with the statements that I make. I think that we have really great leaders on our team who are gonna do things that mean something and do it the right way.”
How do you talk to your kids about these issues?
“When you’re talking to kids they have a tendency just to keep asking why. And that’s the hard thing about this. I can’t answer why. I can’t say why did this man die, I can’t answer that. But as I said I think what’s important with my kids is that they understand that this is what our family believes. I think all of us at this time, you know, we’ve been stay at home for months now. I’ve tried to use this as a time to improve myself, improve myself as a coach, improve myself as a father, prove myself as a husband and family man as a son… This is a time really for introspection because the day to day grind of going to work has been gone and so it’s my own personal life I’ve been like, ‘hey, I need to change this, I need to improve that.’ So, I think just being honest with my kids right now is an important thing.”
What are your players and coaches saying to you?
“I hear my guys saying that there’s an issue and that there’s a problem and that it’s deeply affecting them. Some of the guys on my staff are some of my best friends and I hear them saying to me, ‘Coach, you have to understand’ or even one of the players on this team, like the fear that I have of letting my son get in the car and go outside. That’s so hard as a man just... I don’t have that fear, necessarily, and so I think all of us, I think, law enforcement, I think, society I think everyone would say that hey this isn’t right, that people have this fear.
“... I don’t have all the answers, but I think hearing that, and then starting to say, ‘OK, what can I do, what can we do?’ … It just can’t stop there. It has to lead to action which leads to change. And so you hope that, like I said, you hope that it’s time, that it’s time for something to get started, that we look back in 10 years when our kids are in history class, when they look back, they talk about the change that came from this.”
This story was originally published June 3, 2020 at 5:06 PM.
